I was poking around eBay looking for some ties, and was surprised to find that you can get brand new ties from China shipped to your door for under $5. In some cases, very far under $5. I’ve ordered three ties from different sellers to check the quality out, and see if they are any good. I can imagine placing a bulk order of like 25 ties for something like $50-60. Anyways, here are the contenders:
The first contender is all of two dollars, including shipping. You can see the ebay listing here (I ordered A035). As you can see, the vendor assures me that:
I can’t wait to try out my gloriously made tie and be full satisfied in my formal place.
The second contender cost me $3.74, including shipping. This was an excellent deal at 25% off the original price of $4.99. You can see the tie here. Like the first tie, this one is made in a gloriously voluminous manner, but is 100% silk, instead of 50/50 Rayon and Silk. This one seems more promising, as it will fully satisfy my expectation, and not just in my working place, party, or formal place.
The last cost me the princely sum of $4.99, including shipping. The auction is here and, unlike the others, this one does not seem to be made in a gloriously voluminous manner. It seems to be slightly wider, though comes with no promise of fully satisfying my expectations.
I’m not really sure what to expect from these. I’ve always felt that ties seemed to be priced way higher than they should be. For example, if you go to brooksbrothers.com, most of their ties are more expensive than their classic cotton dress shirts. There doesn’t seem to be anything very complex about making ties, and it’s not like they are subject to that much abuse, so build quality isn’t all that important. I guess we will see.
Unfortunately, shipping from China takes a bit. The first one says between Sept 27-Oct 3, the last Oct. 2-16, and I haven’t seen an estimate for the second. I will update as they come in.