Goby built a quiet but loyal following as a direct-to-consumer electric toothbrush brand. Its pitch was simple: a well-designed rechargeable brush at a reasonable price, with replacement heads shipped to your door on a schedule. No pharmacy runs, no overpaying for a brand name.
But lately, customers are asking a different kind of question. Not “should I buy one?” but “is there even a company left to buy from?”
This article looks at what Goby was, what the current signals suggest about its status, and what you should do if you already own one of their brushes.
What Goby Was and How It Built Its Business
Goby launched in October 2016 as a purely online brand. There were no retail shelves, no middlemen — just a website, a subscription model, and a toothbrush.
The brush itself sold for around $50 with a subscription or $65 without one. Replacement heads shipped every one to three months at $6 each, with free shipping included. The whole setup borrowed a page from razor subscription brands like Harry’s: get customers on a recurring order and build a reliable revenue stream from a low-cost consumable.
The company raised a $2 million seed round from investors including Lerer Hippeau and Red Sea Ventures. It positioned itself against premium electric toothbrush brands with a clear message — roughly “half the bells and whistles for half the price.” That kind of straightforward value proposition worked well with younger, online-first consumers who were already comfortable buying personal care products through subscriptions.
For a while, it seemed like a solid fit for the moment. The brand was clean, the product was functional, and the business model made sense on paper.
The Signals That Suggest Goby Is No Longer Operating
Something has shifted. And the clearest evidence comes from customers, not the company itself.
A 2024 thread in the Reddit community r/Teethcare opens with the line: “Well, now that Goby no longer exists…” Users in the thread discussed alternatives and noted that the toothbrush was “no longer available.” The tone throughout was matter-of-fact — people who had moved on and were looking for what to buy next.
Trustpilot reviews tell a similar story. Goby’s rating sits at roughly one star, with multiple customers describing batteries that failed early, warranty claims that went nowhere, and emails that were never answered. These aren’t one-off complaints — the pattern across reviews points to a company that stopped responding to customers at some point.
To be clear: there is no public announcement of a shutdown. No press release, no bankruptcy filing, no statement from founders or investors. The company has not formally said it is closed.
But the absence of that announcement is itself worth noting. Small direct-to-consumer startups often don’t make formal exit announcements. They just go quiet. The lights stay on digitally, but nothing actually works anymore. That appears to be what has happened here, based on the available evidence.
Why the Website and Social Profiles Still Look Active
If Goby is effectively gone, why does the website still describe an “affordable electric toothbrush designed to elevate your daily routine” with promises of free shipping and free returns? Why does the Instagram account still show promotional content?
This is one of the more confusing parts of the situation, but it has a straightforward explanation. Web infrastructure is cheap to maintain and easy to leave running. Social profiles don’t expire. A startup can stop fulfilling orders, stop answering support tickets, and stop paying most of its bills — and the public-facing digital presence can remain intact for months or years.
A live website is not proof that a company is operating. It’s proof that the website was built and paid for at some point in the past.
If you want to know whether Goby is actually functional right now, the more useful tests are: Can you complete a purchase? Does customer service respond? Are there recent social media comments from people who successfully received an order? Based on current user reports, those tests do not appear to pass.
Before assuming the brand is active, look for those specific signals rather than relying on the fact that a homepage loads.
What to Do If You Already Own a Goby Toothbrush
This is probably why most people are reading this article. They own a Goby brush, something has gone wrong or is about to, and they need to know their options.
If You Need Replacement Heads
Goby used a proprietary brush head design. That means there are no widely available third-party replacements. The market was too small and the design too specific for aftermarket manufacturers to fill the gap. If you can’t order heads directly from Goby — and user reports suggest you can’t — you’re likely looking at a dead end on that front.
The practical answer is to transition to a different brush. Most mid-range electric toothbrushes from established brands run between $40 and $80. Replacement heads for those brands are available at pharmacies, grocery stores, and online with no subscription required. Brands like Oral-B and Philips Sonicare have widespread retail availability and robust replacement head supply chains.
If Your Battery Has Failed
This is the scenario most commonly described in Trustpilot reviews. The battery dies, the customer contacts Goby for a warranty resolution, and nothing happens.
You can still attempt to contact Goby’s support email — it’s worth trying. But based on what customers have reported, don’t plan around a response. Treat the device as if manufacturer support is unavailable, because that appears to be the reality.
Think of it like owning a printer that uses proprietary ink cartridges when the manufacturer stops making them. The device might still technically work, but its useful life is limited. Once a Goby brush’s battery is gone or the last usable head wears out, the product has effectively reached end of life.
If You Have a Warranty Claim
Document everything — keep your purchase records and any email correspondence. If you paid by credit card, check whether your card provider offers purchase protection for products from companies that have stopped operating. Some cards cover this under their dispute or buyer protection policies.
Beyond that, formal warranty resolution through Goby is unlikely based on what users have reported. This is frustrating, but it’s the honest picture the available evidence paints.
What This Situation Reveals About DTC Hardware Brands
Goby’s situation is not unique. It fits a pattern that has played out across a number of direct-to-consumer hardware startups from that era.
The model sounds clean in a pitch deck: build a great product, sell direct, establish a subscription revenue stream. But hardware is expensive to support. Batteries fail. Customers expect warranty coverage. And the economics of servicing a $50 device — especially at low volume — are harder than they look.
Goby also relied on a single product with no retail distribution. There were no physical stores to drive awareness, no backup revenue streams, and no easy path to the kind of scale that would make the unit economics work long-term. When growth slows and capital runs out, brands like this often just stop — quietly, with no public explanation.
For coverage of similar business stories across industries, Business Base covers how companies grow, struggle, and sometimes quietly exit.
If you’re evaluating any DTC subscription hardware brand in the future, a few questions are worth asking before you commit:
- Is the product available anywhere beyond the company’s own website?
- Are there third-party replacement parts, or is everything proprietary?
- What do warranty and support reviews actually say?
- Has the brand been around long enough to suggest stability?
Those aren’t meant to make you skeptical of every new brand — just more informed about where the real risks sit.
The Bottom Line
Goby has not made a formal public announcement of closure. No bankruptcy filing has been found, and no official statement has been issued. That’s worth being precise about.
But what customers are experiencing tells a consistent story. Products appear to be unavailable. Support is unresponsive. Users discuss the brand in the past tense. That combination — even without a press release — paints a clear enough picture for anyone trying to make a practical decision.
If you own a Goby toothbrush that’s still working, use it until it doesn’t. If it’s already failed or you need replacement heads, the most useful path forward is choosing a brush from a brand with reliable retail availability and an established support track record.
Sometimes the most helpful thing an article can do is confirm what you already suspected — so you can stop waiting for a response that probably isn’t coming and move on.
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