I've always been pretty honest and open about things so I don't mind explaining my stance on this in blunt terms. No offense intended to anyone who asks for pass arounds and for companies who do them. By now you know I like this forum and I take nothing personally. It's a no-brainer for the customer because they get to try things out with no investment. But this is my rationale for why I don't do that from a business perspective. Honestly, the idea of sending a product out for free for all to try is one of the most insane ideas I've ever heard and, from my personal experience, it seems to be exclusive to this market.
First, it raises a lot of questions. Who should get to try it? Every wet shaver in the world? Only the members of a certain forum? Why that forum? Why not all forums? How about Facebook groups with 5k members? How long should each person use it for? Should I cap the list? Do I really want to spend my time managing some list and bothering John to send the razor on to the next guy? Compared to people who do actually important things, my time is valueless. But to me, my time is pretty important and I hate spending it doing silly things like managing adult men to follow the rules.
Next, it disincentives purchases. This is debatable, obviously, but the reality is that a lot of people will buy the next new thing for the express purpose of just trying it because it's new. If you can just try it for free for a week to satiate that fear of missing out, why buy one? Just wait for the next new thing to have its pass around. This is a business. It's not my personal hobby or a side project. I have a lot of fun with it, but I'm here to grow my business and it turns out that sales are pretty important.
My final point, along with managing a passaround list, is probably the most prudent reason I don't do pass arounds. I don't need to. Maybe 3-4 years ago it would have been helpful. But by now I've built a reasonably strong reputation and fan base and I know that any razor I make will immediately sell a few hundred regardless of the hype and buildup or if every person on a forum has tried it. Then these super fans spread the good word and everyone hears about the razor anyway. These people also tend to be the most passionate wet shavers who are very active on groups and forums so people trust them and their opinions.
Now I will say that members of a non-USA forum have a stronger case for a pass around because you can't really return it. But I take the all-or-nothing approach on this one because I get requests from US forums, too, and I don't want them to say "well you did it over there!".
I hope that helps. Let's not dwell on this for too long since this thread isn't about pass arounds. Thanks for reading and understanding!
