Engeika Ebay Store

[msolok]

Hey guys. After recently starting looking at Sailor Pens I found Engeika on eBay. His prices seemed good, and he has excellent feedback on ebay (there are a few negatives there, but not a huge amount). So I decided to get a few pens from him and see how I go.

 

In the end I got 2 Sailor 1911's (gold trim with B nib, rhodium trim with M nib) in one transaction, another 1911 in another transaction, and a Sailor Pro Gear Realo in Bordeaux in a third. Theses are my experiences with this seller:

 

1st Transaction: Absolutely perfect. Pen where posted pretty much immediately after paying and were with me in a few days. Pens worked flawlessly and are both a pleasure to use.

 

2nd Transaction: Started off similar to the first. Shipped quickly and got to me in a couple of days. The pen, however, was less than stellar. It looked fine, but wrote rubbish. Very scratchy (so much so that it catches and rips thinner paper!). So I used the Contact Seller button on the eBay sale to try and find out what could be done. I got no response from them. So I sent another email and still got no response. During this time I was receiving a response from them in regards to other questions I had sent through, so it was looking a bit suss.

So next I decided to contact Sailor and see what they recommended. Sailor’s initial response was to say I should contact the retailer and get them to sort it. I explained that I was getting no response, to which the response was saying they get this often with sellers who aren't official retailers and they don’t offer warranty on goods which aren’t sold through their approved retailers. They asked who I got the pen on so they can check. I heard back from Sailor and they have informed me that while Engeika are an official Sailor retailer in Japan, they are not authorised International retailer. They also said that they have noticed Engenika often refuses to handle any issues with Sailor pens after sales!!!!!

So I attempted to contact the seller again (and as I am in Aus, Japan is only 2 hours behind us the response delay should not be large) but still got no response. So, I had really reached the end of my options, and fearing I would be left with a total dud of a Sailor, I logged a PayPal dispute and requested a refund. Within an hour and a half of logging the dispute I had a response which simply said to post the pen back to Engeika and the nib would be swapped. So it seems like the seller was simply ignoring my emails in regards to the issue and hoped I wouldn't take it further (at least, that's my take on it).

I am waiting for details from Sailor in Japan for a repair, as I feel this will be safer option than dealing with Engeika for the repair.

 

3rd Transaction: Was the Pro Gear Realo which I won an auction for. I paid for this right after the auction finished and was hoping for fairly quick shipping (as this pen was to be a gift). I heard nothing about it for a week (much longer than their eBay claim of shipping within 3 days). So I sent a contact through ebay asking what was happening. I got a response after a few hours saying this was a special edition pen (no mention of this in the auction) and they were hoping for delivery from Sailor but this was delayed. I asked how long the delay was, but I got no response. So after a few days I sent another email asking the same question and pointing out that the pen was for a present so I needed it within 2 weeks. I got a response with an apology saying they were still waiting on the pen, and asking when the birthday was so they could try and have it to me by then. I gave the date (Mid March) and within 2 hours I had a response saying it had been shipped??? I have yet to receive the pen, but I have concerns about what I will recieve. It was literally a difference of a few hours between them saying it was a long delay from Sailor and the item being shipped. I am wondering if they have sent a different colour to the one I had one in auction.

I should hopefully get it in the next day or 2, and when I do I will let you know.

 

 

So, as you can see my dealings with Engeika haven’t been very smooth. They seem to be selling things on their eBay store which they don’t have in stock, slow shipping times, poor after sales / warranty support, and (my biggest concern really) they are not international retailers for Sailor although they make it out that they are.

 

How has other peoples recent history with Engeika been? I know people who dealt with them a few years ago have had rave things to say, but has the quality of this store really slipped of late?

Edited March 4, 2013 by msolok

[hari317]

Yes it happens like this with them sometimes. as you can see when it is good, it is very very good but when it is bad, it is horrid.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/index.php?/topic/226742-engelika-japan/

[fuchsiaprincess]

I would suggest proceeding with a PayPal dispute. That should spur them into some sort of action. Otherwise, you should at least get your money back.

 

Good luck!

[fphilipp]

Next time you buy a a Japanese pen, try pisuke2005 on eBay. I have ordered two pens from him in the recent past and his service is excellent. He uses the same prices as Engeika, even a bit lower. ( no affiliation, just a happy customer)

[dspeers58]

pisuke2005 is a very good seller. Very quick and good prices.

[nicholasyeo]

Sellers sometimes get too big for their own good... I suggest trying Pisuke too. I would advise you that you shouldn't expect anything to write perfect out of the box. If it really was that bad, I personally consider it to be the price I pay for buying online and try to fix it with a nibmeister.

[jacksterp]

msolok - Thanks for the advice. I'm seriously considering a Platinum 3776. As a result of your past experience, I know who I will not be getting it from.

[msolok]

I would advise you that you shouldn't expect anything to write perfect out of the box. If it really was that bad, I personally consider it to be the price I pay for buying online and try to fix it with a nibmeister.

 

I'm sorry, but in my opinion that is total rubbish. Of course I can expect something to write perfect out of the box, that's what I am paying for. I maybe can't expect them to write to me exact liking (they can't, after all, fit them to everyone's tastes), but I can expect a product I buy to work as advertised. Sailor boasts to have the best quality nibs in the world, so that's what I expect. A nib which is so scratchy that it catches paper and even rips thin paper means it is defective.

 

If you went out and bought a toaster would you expect it to work out of the box, without having to pay for additional repairs? If it did not (eg: spring which pops the toast back up when it is done was not working) would you take it back and ask for a Replacement? So why are fountain pens different? They are a product just like any other, so they should do as they are meant out of the box without any further costs. I refuse to double the price of a pen in 'repairs' straight out of the box because, for some reason, I can't expect pens to do what all other products are expected to do - WORK. I'm sorry but if the manufacturers can't get this right then they really need to review what theya re doing! The fact that a $5 Chinese pen can get it right out of the box means I should expect a $100 Sailor pen to be perfect. The fact that my far cheaper Lamy Safari's and Kaweco Sports all work flawlessly out of the box means I should expect the Sailors to do the same.

 

As for the suggestion for the nibmeister, not so easy for us down in Australia. There aren't many around, and those that are are expensive. I refuse to pay a 50%-100% premium on a pens price to get it writing well. Shipping to a Nibmeister in Europe, UK, or US will leave me in the same boat (shipping both ways plus price of repair). In all honesty, no one should expect a new product to have to go through that!

 

 

Thanks all for the suggestions to go use pisuke2005. I had seen this seller on eBay and thought they looked good. Will definately consider for my next Japanese pen purchase.

[Ghost Plane]

Good to know as I adore the specialty nibs.

[Laura N]

Well, any pen can be flawed from the factory. It's how the seller responds that matters. If it helps, I had a similar disappointing experience with his company, with a defective Pilot VP, and I haven't been back since. I too switched to Pisuke2005, and have been very happy.

[msolok]

Well, any pen can be flawed from the factory. It's how the seller responds that matters. If it helps, I had a similar disappointing experience with his company, with a defective Pilot VP, and I haven't been back since. I too switched to Pisuke2005, and have been very happy.

 

Ohh, I agree. There will always be defects with some products, things just slip through QC. That's not my issue. My issue in this regard isn't that the pen was defective, it's that the seller ignores all requests to have it repaired UNTIL you lodge a dispute against them. Even Sailor has noted that this seller does this (and that's usually not a good sign).

My rant above was more about the comments of accepting that pens should come defective and I should pay to have them rectified. That's not acceptable, and not what any consumer should expect or any product.

[lemanfan]

How a dealer handle complaints is what separates the good from the bad. I've purchased a number of working pens from Taizo-san, but I have experiences similar to yours from another Asian pen-seller with a marshal arts inspired name.

 

The prices from these sellers are however so much lower than what I'd pay in Europe that I feel it's worth it.

[msolok]

OK so I received my outstanding Sailor Pro Gear Realo from Engieka today. I am happy to report that I have received the correct pen, it looks and feels great, has the correct nib, and, from a quick dip test, it writes fantastically! That makes me very happy as it means I don't have to run around trying to send it back to anyone.

Why Engieka suddenly got it in stock after telling me it was going to be a while, I can't know. It did take a while to get here, which is annoying, but it eventually did.

 

The thing that has me most confused is the box contents. I got the pen in the standard Navy Blue Sailor box. When I opened the box, sitting next to the pen is a Sailor converter. It has no business being there, as the Realo is a Piston Filler. Lift the fake floor of the box, and sitting under with the booklets is 2 ink carts as well. I'm not complaining, as I now have a spare converter for my other pens and some extra carts, but I have no idea why they were even in the box. If you only have the 1 Sailor pen they would be useless.

[Ghost Plane]

I think that's a standard box setup they use. My piston Realo came with them as well.

[kauloltran]

Keep in mind that Engeika does not like to offer after sales service on auction items. When you're buying something off of auctions, you are entering into a "sold as is" contract with him. His rule states that he does not exchange nibs if you buy from auctions. Even with the drawbacks, his auctions are seriously irresistible as you can easily buy Japanese pens at 1/3 of retail . He probably doesn't make any measurable profits selling pens at auction prices. I always wonder how other retailers that sale Japanese pens manage to stay in business when there's someone like Engeika who puts up hundreds of auctions every week. You can find basically every kinds of Japanese pens from him, and pay little to nothing. I feel lucky to own a few nice Sailors without breaking the bank, and my transactions have been smooth thus far. Always remember to pressure him to send out the shipment, or he never will. I gave him pressures to ship my most recent purchase, using the "birthday gift" excuse, and he sent it out via Express mail that only took 3 days to get here. On my previous purchase, 3 weeks went by without him shipping the pen, it finally took an email to fix things.

Edited March 5, 2013 by kauloltran

[nicholasyeo]

I would advise you that you shouldn't expect anything to write perfect out of the box. If it really was that bad, I personally consider it to be the price I pay for buying online and try to fix it with a nibmeister.

 

I'm sorry, but in my opinion that is total rubbish. Of course I can expect something to write perfect out of the box, that's what I am paying for. I maybe can't expect them to write to me exact liking (they can't, after all, fit them to everyone's tastes), but I can expect a product I buy to work as advertised. Sailor boasts to have the best quality nibs in the world, so that's what I expect. A nib which is so scratchy that it catches paper and even rips thin paper means it is defective.

 

If you went out and bought a toaster would you expect it to work out of the box, without having to pay for additional repairs? If it did not (eg: spring which pops the toast back up when it is done was not working) would you take it back and ask for a Replacement? So why are fountain pens different? They are a product just like any other, so they should do as they are meant out of the box without any further costs. I refuse to double the price of a pen in 'repairs' straight out of the box because, for some reason, I can't expect pens to do what all other products are expected to do - WORK. I'm sorry but if the manufacturers can't get this right then they really need to review what theya re doing! The fact that a $5 Chinese pen can get it right out of the box means I should expect a $100 Sailor pen to be perfect. The fact that my far cheaper Lamy Safari's and Kaweco Sports all work flawlessly out of the box means I should expect the Sailors to do the same.

 

As for the suggestion for the nibmeister, not so easy for us down in Australia. There aren't many around, and those that are are expensive. I refuse to pay a 50%-100% premium on a pens price to get it writing well. Shipping to a Nibmeister in Europe, UK, or US will leave me in the same boat (shipping both ways plus price of repair). In all honesty, no one should expect a new product to have to go through that!

 

 

Thanks all for the suggestions to go use pisuke2005. I had seen this seller on eBay and thought they looked good. Will definately consider for my next Japanese pen purchase.

 

I feel your pain... I have encountered bad Sailor nibs before and I sent them to nibmeisters to fix. I also understand how difficult it is to get good pens in Australia at reasonable prices. My Sailor Pro Gear wrote scratchy at first and I sent it to Mike Masuyama for fixing.

 

Anyway, I thought I should share with you guys my reasons why I came to the conclusion that internet purchases should not be expected to write perfect or even well out of the box -

 

Sometime last year I started buying pens from Engeika. After Engeika, I tried Pisuke. Pisuke's pens, unlike Engeika, are sealed and seem to not be touched before shipping. Engeika's pens came in the box and weren't sealed in the plastic wrapper. I assume he needed to photograph the pens for his listings because his photos were better than Pisuke who used stock pictures of the pens probably provided by the brands/distributor. But the results prove that pens can be bad in spite of where you got them from.

 

So I bought these things online and not all were from eBay-

 

Sailor Professional Gear A-mode (Was scratchy)

Sailor Professional Gear Demo (Wrote horrid, caught paper)

Sailor 1911 Matte Black FL

Sailor Chizusugi Cedar Wood Sapporo

Pilot Custom 823 Smoke x2 (One wrote really scratchy and had lots of feedback)

Pilot Decimo (Wrote really scratchy and with feedback)

 

Thankfully, the seller who sold me my Pro Gear Demo sent me a replacement section and got me to return the nib. But not all sellers do this. The trick is finding one that does.

 

And it is rare, because (you said, "that's what I'm paying for" but I beg to differ) if you buy it in an auction or really cheap, you didn't quite pay for what you were paying for (to them, at least) and are not worth their time spent troubleshooting. Thankfully with a shim I could fix the 823 and it writes beautifully.

 

Sometimes the products are sealed as well and wrote acceptably for many people, so I couldn't really blame anyone. The Decimo ended up being sold off. I hope that I can change people's expectations about buying things online, because it is a terrible feeling to be disappointed at something and get no response.

 

Today, I see online sales in a more cynical way. Unless it is advertised to "write perfect out of the box", I treat it as a 50-50 chance of being either good or bad, and weigh my risk of having to get it fixed myself.

 

That's why I only expect my product to contain what was advertised now - the correct pen, box contents and nib, but not for it to perform. I suspect that online sales can be a great way for sellers to dispose of bad nibs anyway! This theory can never be proved but it highly possible.

 

My local pen shop actually does QC by making sure the nibs are decent. Then the last line of QC happens when I test the pen I buy. So that's why I eventually started to buy local more...

 

Eitherways, I wish you all the best!

[murfie]

Over the past five years I have had numerous transactions with Taizo (eBay Engeika). In the past the service was excellent, with instant feedback, acknowledgement of receipt of payment and quick delivery. The only problem was getting Taizo to remember to send me the shipping number for tracking. I never had any problems with any of the pens purchased, and they all worked perfectly out of the box.

 

My last purchases from him just before Xmas were full of hassles. None of the usual acknowledgments, waited ages for a correct invoice with postage adjusted for multiple purchases, then on arrival I found that half the order wasn't in the box. I sent a message reporting same and was told that they knew about it and they are waiting for stock to come in. Great, well how about telling the customer too! Finally after another week, I received the rest of the order. The experience has deterred me from using him again.

 

As for his web site Wancher ... I sent an email regarding a stock item query early yesterday and so far no response. Looks like I can scrub them off the list as well. Addendum: Still no reply 24 hours later. Definite scrub!

 

I tried pisuke2005 (eBay) as recommended above early this week. It was an eBay BIN transaction that was paid for within 2 minutes of buying. The pen was actually shipped EMS that day, but I didn't receive any acknowledgement whatsoever until I sent a message late the day following the purchase, which was responded to overnight. There was an apology plus the EMS shipping number. So I'm impressed by the speedy delivery but not enamored with the lack of response until prompted, but it could have been a simple rare oversight. I'll sit on judgement until I buy something else from him.

On the issue - should a pen write straight out of the box - of course it should. I've bought very cheap ($10) Chinese pens that have done so, but I also bought a Pilot VP from a prominent U.S. nibmeister that, out of the box, wrote like a rusty nail. The nib had been 'tuned' before shipping and a small certificate was included to attest to this. Needless to say, another Pilot VP shipped without any tuning after an eBay purchase, wrote beautifully out of the box.

All of the pens that I have purchased from John Mottishaw (CFP) have been exceptionally tuned, both for smoothness and ink flow.

Edited March 15, 2013 by murfie

[de_pen_dent]

I deal with the local subsidiary of Wancher and they are nothing but fantastic to deal with. They even imported me a pen to try out with the option of returning if I didnt like it (I could have gotten a full refund but chose to apply it towards another purchase).

[Leftytoo]

Just a word about Sailor. I have has the same experiences. If you want a Sailor, buy it from an authorized dealer in your own country, and hope he will service any problem that arises. If your dealer is bad, Sailor does not care and that is where the story ends.

Bob

[Gloucesterman]

Just out of curiosity I went to eBay to check out pricing from pisuke2005. Granted, I only checked one item, A Pilot Custom 823, "F". It's a BIN for $262.00 plus $13.00 shipping.

 

Then I went to Goulet Pens where the same (apparently) pen was available for $288.00. The difference is $13.00.

 

With my current perspective, aka always looking for a bargain, I would rather buy from Goulet and spend the extra $13.00 (I'll bet I could get free or discounted shipping if I asked) to shop "local - U.S. and have a dealer who I can turn to if needed.

 

Based on my personal experiences with Goulet (only one or two purchases) and what I have read here, they are totally focused on pleasing us, their customers.

 

I'll be other of "our local dealers" can match some of the "deals" that people might go to eBay for.

 

BTW, no affiliation with any pen stores, vendors or brands.

-S-