I'm Creating A New Company (Pen Related) - Need Feedback

[Oranges and Apples]

I'd be interested. I am interested in Pilot, Sailor, and Platinum pens.

 

And I'd assume the person renting the pen would have to pay with a credit or debit card so if any damages or if the pen would not be returned the credit or debit card would be on file and the damages would be charged.

 

This is like people renting tennis racquets. People could rent several at a time to try out which best fits their style.

 

Sounds like a great idea to me.

 

And imagine all of those who are interested in the Pilot Vanishing Point, they would have the chance to try it if they had no local shops around.

Edited January 17, 2014 by Oranges and Apples

[owend]

I think the problem is going to be damage by the renter, however inadvertent, and getting the repair bill paid by him/her, and I can't see many people renting a pen anyway.

 

What about an extension to the normal retail model - the customer buys a pen, has a month to decide for certain, then they can return the pen for, say, 90% refund. Then you've got 10% of the value as rental if it's returned. If it's damaged you can keep as much as you need to make good and refund the rest. And after a month many customers would probably have got used to the pen and decide to keep it. If they do return it within a month, 10% retention is, in round figures allowing for service time, 100% return a year, and that's very good!

 

Most businesses would only refund if the pen was faulty, this way a potential customer living miles from the nearest pen shop (eg me) could try an expensive pen knowing that I could return it if it was unsuitable, for a relatively small payment. Could be way to get people to try (and buy?) pens they wouldn't risk buying outright.

[kalali]

Perhaps it was a joke to get everyone thinking and commenting. I personally see no merit in this business proposition.

[Dickkooty2]

On the other hand, it is interesting how many things are for rent:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowds_on_Demand

 

Full disclosure … a family tie

Edited January 17, 2014 by Dickkooty2

[Inkling13]

Do it.

Put me down first for an OMAS 360 a Pelikan M800 and a Pilot Justus please.

 

Just had a thought though. How on earth would you accommodate all the nib variations?

Ha. That too! I can't even keep track of my pens with their own variations, let alone a fleet of pens, all the same, with different nibs... It'd sure be a lot of money to start up...

[AnnieB123]

I used to work for a jeweler who rented out eye poppingly, sweat inducingly expensive jewelry. I wouldn't see pen rental as all that much different. (Except the terms of rental would have to be different.. .most of the jewelry rented by my former employer was on a nightly or weekly basis).

 

The insurance for the venture was really expensive, and everything had to be authenticated on return (goes without saying). In all the years I worked there though, there were only a couple of problems (both with loss/damage). So I really think people are fundamentally honest.. at least when dealing with belongings that cost more than the price of some houses...

[523]

Its an interesting proposal. There are companies that rent out DSLR camera lenses, they rent them out to anyone and many of these lenses cost several thousand dollars and are relatively delicate. If there is a market for this and jewelry, as AnnieB123 mentions above, I think there would be a market for fountain pens as well. The question becomes at the prices you would have to charge to cover the insurance, maintenance and shipping could you make a profit or would the prices be to high and push most people out of the market to rent.

[BrandonA]

I used to work for a jeweler who rented out eye poppingly, sweat inducingly expensive jewelry. I wouldn't see pen rental as all that much different. (Except the terms of rental would have to be different.. .most of the jewelry rented by my former employer was on a nightly or weekly basis).

 

I do to see how you can make this comparison. You'd rent jewellery for a special event. You rarely have a need to use a pen in a special event. For example, people wear jewellery to flash parties. More people would go to these and want to impress than would need to sign something, for example at a wedding one document needs signing by one pen - and in the UK you can't use your own pen as the registar uses a pen with a permanent ink.

[GTD]

Hi fellow collectors,

First of all, thank you very much for your helpful comments, views, and opinions. This info is very valuable to the foundation of the new business. I am working on the details as we speak about the rental process, fees, damages to the pens, which brands to focus, variations of nib sizes, etc... This business will be geared to satisfy us (FP collectors) with products that are out of our economical reach, limited editions, try new models/nibs etc... Hopefully I will have more details in by next week, and I will make sure to communicate any updates! I am really excited to work on this, especially with all the support, knowledge, energy and experience we have on this forum!

Looking forward to hear more about your expectations, suggestions, or any type of advice. Thanks again!

[Inkling13]

I think the problem is going to be damage by the renter, however inadvertent, and getting the repair bill paid by him/her, and I can't see many people renting a pen anyway.

 

What about an extension to the normal retail model - the customer buys a pen, has a month to decide for certain, then they can return the pen for, say, 90% refund. Then you've got 10% of the value as rental if it's returned. If it's damaged you can keep as much as you need to make good and refund the rest. And after a month many customers would probably have got used to the pen and decide to keep it. If they do return it within a month, 10% retention is, in round figures allowing for service time, 100% return a year, and that's very good!

 

Most businesses would only refund if the pen was faulty, this way a potential customer living miles from the nearest pen shop (eg me) could try an expensive pen knowing that I could return it if it was unsuitable, for a relatively small payment. Could be way to get people to try (and buy?) pens they wouldn't risk buying outright.

Most companies would only accept a pen back if it were in a resalable condition, and being that some pens can lose $500 just by being "used". Just look at a MB 149. You can buy used here for $400, but to buy new, it would cost $900+. Saying I could return it for 90% of my cost would mean the dealer would have to suck up the rest of the loss from having a new pen turned into a used pen. I certainly wouldn't care to rent a cheap pen, as I would sooner buy it, but I'd be hard pressed to find someone willing to risk losing LE pens, let along swallow the depreciation.

[brunico]

Its an interesting proposal. There are companies that rent out DSLR camera lenses, they rent them out to anyone and many of these lenses cost several thousand dollars and are relatively delicate. If there is a market for this and jewelry, as AnnieB123 mentions above, I think there would be a market for fountain pens as well.

 

Except that lens rental companies don't rent lenses so that photographers can be seen in all the right places with a swanky new lens every month. They rent them so that photographers who can't justify buying a particular expensive lens can get the job done when a certain situation comes their way, e.g., ultrawide interiors. And I suspect lighting rather than lenses makes up most of their business, even if there's a tiny market for amateur photographers who want to try out a rangefinder for a day before paying Leica prices (though it would be cheaper to buy a Zorki to try out). Unlike camera lenses, there's no job an expensive fountain pen can do that an inexpensive one can't.

[Iscribe]

I personally would not rent a fountain pen. I would aso worrying about any damage that might have sustained by the pen before it was in my hands.

[MisterBoll]

Perhaps it was a joke to get everyone thinking and commenting. I personally see no merit in this business proposition.

 

Could be. Lots of threads on here end up being just that.

[ajcoleman]

If I were in the market for a new expensive pen ( say about $350 and up in my case) and was trying to decide between various models, I would consider renting them if it were not two expensive - say less than $50 total.

 

It would mostly be so I could see how they feel and write, so it would be fine if they were used -- even well used. In fact it might be better. I would be less nervous with them, and would perhaps get a feel for what kind of wear and tear I might experience.

 

My alternatives are to accept the risk that I may pick a pen I don't like and have to resell at a loss, negotiate with the dealer and try to get them to take back a pen that is not defective but just doesn't work for me, or invest in traveling to a pen show where I would perhaps get to try the pens I am interested in but where I would probably blow my pen budget completely before I decided!

[Dad of Sapling]

As a one who is fairly new, I would be interested in order to try different pens before I buy. However, I see a lot of failure modes that will have to be addressed. Most of which have already been covered. With that said, you could make this work, although it would be a niche market.

[bleair]

As more and more pen sales happen via mail order and not by real stores, being able to try a pen and pay a fraction of the purchase cost so I can try it before pulling the trigger sounds great to me. There are so many differences in how a pen feels and looks and behaves in person that trying a pen first hand would be valuable to me. I'd also echo the other comment that I'd appreciate a rent-to-purchase path, because even within the exact same model of a pen a second instance behaves differently, so if I did rent a pen that I truly loved I'd like to be able to just buy it outright. I'm curious about the high end pens, like the Pelikan 1000 and the high end Italian and Japanese pens, but the high purchase cost prevents me from just buying purely based upon descriptions I've read online.

 

Are you thinking of a subscription business model where I'd be paying every month and I'd have a queue of pens (and N points of value per month that I could allocate as I wished among the varying values of pens). Or was the idea more of a rent-on-demand model?

 

Sign me up.

[GTD]

Will you be more interested in renting on a monthly basis, or have a fixed rental period (say 3/6/9/12 months, etc...). Thanks for the help.

[Newjelan]

Good idea though I am unsure who the target customers might be.

How about selling some ink samples to the people renting out the pens?

I'm not sure how much of an income stream rented pens would provide, but I love the idea and would be interested. I think the idea of selling ink samples as part of the deal is brilliant.

 

I also like the rent to purchase idea. I have bought a large no. of expensive pens online, largely based on reviews on this network and my knowledge of lower end pens of the same brand. It's a risk and so far it's paid off, but rent to buy would be like insurance for me. (Pathetic only issue is I'm on a self-imposed ban preventing me from buying pens for at least 6 months.)

[Buzz_130]

This is a very interesting idea, but I would argue that you are going to need more than "just" pens. If I rent a camera lens, I rent one for the camera body I own (and presumably know how to use), already have the memory card, and the computer to download the photos. If I rent a car, then I already have a license and have the capability to get gas to refuel. If I rent jewelry, then the assumption that the person has an invitation to the event and perhaps the rest of the clothing required. We could go on for many other rental opportunities.

 

For the fountain pen business, I don't think you can take the ink and paper for granted. The "infrastructure" isn't there. A person who picks up a rented pen will expect it to write right out of the envelope. I'm not sure we want to send the renters to ink sample companies (Goulets, etc) to find the ink they will like with the pen and nib. (Hope that it's not a drafting or India ink?) We have all experienced paper problems. So we want to make sure they have a good paper to write with their new pen.

 

As the problem is more complex than just renting pens, I think you have to go back to the fundamental statement from Peter Drucker, "The purpose of a business is to create and keep a customer." What customer are you trying to keep? Existing FP users who already have ink and paper and want to try a new pen? Or bring into the fold new pen users? That's two different companies.

 

Good luck with the endeavor.

 

Buzz

[ajcoleman]

Will you be more interested in renting on a monthly basis, or have a fixed rental period (say 3/6/9/12 months, etc...). Thanks for the help.

Since in my case, this would be renting to try out a pen, I would be looking for a short fixed time rental, like two weeks.

 

I just don't see a case where I would rent a pen for long term use. There are just too many good pens that I can buy outright.