Gillette Mach 3 cartridge blades---not all the same

[mullard]

I have purchased Gillette Mach 3 cartridge blades from ebay that are not as sharp as the ones at Walmart. They were terrible. I simply could not use them and I tried several different cartridges. I noticed that the manufacturing location on the back of the box is different than the ones from Walmart. I cannot remember the different locations. I had to throw away the ones I bought from ebay. Brand new blades thrown away I know from the safety razor Gillette blades that the Swedish Gillettes are superior to others. Or at least that seems to be the most popular belief. Has anyone found the best(sharpest) mach 3 cartridge blades?

 

[MooingLizard]

I know that there have been reports of counterfeit M3 blades showing up on eBay. My guess (and I know nothing here) is that you may have bought some. Search the forums or wait fore others to chime in with more info.

Any chance that you could contact Gillette to verify the blades' authenticity, and/or do a chargeback on the credit card (assuming you used your CC with PayPal to fund the purchase)?

Good luck and let us know how it turns out

 

[iron maiden]

......makes me think ebay might be a bad idea.....


or it could be a sign for you to get a DE razor

 

[arcman]

Is it even legal regarding patent issues to produce generic Mach 3 blades? I've seen generic Trac II and Atra blades by ASR/Personna, but not for the Sensor or for the Mach III, which I assume is because Gillette's patents on those cartridges are still active and producing generic ones would be a violation of patent law.

 

[minstrel]

I think you might want to check out this site. Seems there are counterfeit blades out there, and they are somewhat easy to spot if you look carefully enough at the cartridges (and not just the price)...

Since cartridges are so expensive, people see a way of making money from counterfeits, just like with any other expensive thing out there, from jeans to watches.

Seriously, if you buy cartridges on eBay in order to cut the costs, you really should look into starting shaving with a DE instead.

 

[Aevum]

theres tons of old tricks, counterfit, repackaing old or used blades,

also take in to account that the ones sold in germany arent manufactred in the same place as the ones sold in the US or japan, plus, if they want to push a product in a market where the purchessing power is less, they will manufacture the same product but to a different quality standart to drop prices, so dont expect a mach 3 cartrige bought in egypt or vietnam to be the same quality as one bought in england or the states,

which brings us to one of the major money makers in ebay, taking a product which is cheaper in one area of the world and selling it where its more expencive, so, while a pack of 4 mach 3 blades might cost $12 in the USA, it might costs $4-$5 in hong kong, sell it for $8-$9 a unit, and you make a profit, but as the price goes down, they have to reduce production price, meaning that the blades might pass a looser quality control and be manufactured to a lower standart, i know coorporations say "our product is the same here and in china" but we all know thats not true, alot of us compared a gillette DE blade manufactured in sweden to one manufactured in russia, and we know the differance,

 

[MooingLizard]

which brings us to one of the major money makers in ebay, taking a product which is cheaper in one area of the world and selling it where its more expencive, so, while a pack of 4 mach 3 blades might cost $12 in the USA, it might costs $4-$5 in hong kong, sell it for $8-$9 a unit, and you make a profit, but as the price goes down, they have to reduce production price, meaning that the blades might pass a looser quality control and be manufactured to a lower standart, i know coorporations say "our product is the same here and in china" but we all know thats not true, alot of us compared a gillette DE blade manufactured in sweden to one manufactured in russia, and we know the differance,

Nothing like good old fashioned arbitrage!

 

[dash]

I think you might want to check out this site. Seems there are counterfeit blades out there, and they are somewhat easy to spot if you look carefully enough at the cartridges (and not just the price)...

From that site:"the majority of Gillette razor blade cartridges sold on eBay are counterfeit."

The site further says that sellers, verifying their blades with Gillette, were surprised their blades were fake!

 

[RichGem]

Is it even legal regarding patent issues to produce generic Mach 3 blades? I've seen generic Trac II and Atra blades by ASR/Personna, but not for the Sensor or for the Mach III, which I assume is because Gillette's patents on those cartridges are still active and producing generic ones would be a violation of patent law.

I can't swear to it, but I think I remember seeing generic M3 carts on the Walgreens website.

 

[dash]

I know from the safety razor Gillette blades that the Swedish Gillettes are superior to others. Or at least that seems to be the most popular belief.

There are local differences in DE blades.

Gillette hopes DE shaving will go away and be replaced by cartridge shaving. They want shavers to switch to Fusion, but any Gillette cartridge will do.

I do not believe Gillette makes different grades of Mach3's in different markets. I don't think they want their reputation tarnished on their premium cartridges.

 

[Aevum]

actually, this is something i have verified, i use to shave with a wilkinson/schick extreme 3, and then went to the quatro, the thing is, the blades were getting expencive and between 18 euros for 8 cartriges and 12 euros for 10, i went back to the extreme 3, and it seems wilkinson lowered the quality of the extreme 3 cartriges to "underline" the better shave quality of the quatro, i couldnt belive that the cartiges that were giving me decent shaves before were now cutting me up like hell, the only conclusion i can reach is that wilkinson lowers the quality of its older products to push people to the next one,

 

[cvixx]

There are several tutorials on E-bay concerning fake cartridges. But it is buyer beware, as from my experience, E-bay will do nothing to stop their sales. For them the profit margin is what they are concerned with. Millions use E-bay so your problem is not their problem. Unfortunately.

 

[RichGem]

There are local differences in DE blades.

Gillette hopes DE shaving will go away and be replaced by cartridge shaving. They want shavers to switch to Fusion , but any Gillette cartridge will do.

I do not believe Gillette makes different grades of Mach3's in different markets. I don't think they want their reputation tarnished on their premium cartridges.

Well, that is until Gillette invents a 7 or 8 blade cart. I can see it now.... "So close you won't be able to shave for a week. (Skin grafts extra.)" "All this for $7 a cart. "