Buying Ink Off Ebay

December 9, 2014

I have bought ink off ebay before, but this last one has me rethinking that.

I bought 2 bottles of ink (Waterman FLorida Blue & Skrip Emerald Green 1970s--which is the one I wanted). I opened the Florida Blue & It was like sludge. I dipped a pen in it, and it was blue-black. Dipped same pen in water, thinking it had been horribly evaporated, and now looks even more like blue-black. OK then. I open the Skrip green, and it looks diluted before I even dipped a pen in it. And on paper, it was just as bad. Hmmm...what's the evaporation rate until it becomes normal consistency again? Maybe Grandma diluted her green ink and dumped the blue-black into the blue bottle? I'm giving the seller grace because they don't sell pens and they probably really didn't know and just listed it like it looked to them.

But has it happened to you? Ever buy a bottle of ink that has been diluted to make it look fuller?

December 9, 2014

If you can conceive of the idea, so can a con-artist.

That said, the vast majority of folks I've dealt with on flea-bay are honest and are moving goods they believe to be genuine.

I've bought both Waterman (new) and Parker (vintage '51') from ebay and was pleased both times.

When buying vintage inks, I'll probably stay with sellers that have a track-record of ink and/or pen sales as well as a 99%+ positive feedback rating.

Sorry for your situation. At least it wasn't a $1500 fake MB!

Jack

December 9, 2014

I bought a vintage bottle (unopened, AFAIK) of Quink Brown, a couple of years ago without issues. -- I have also bought an unopened 8 oz bottle of Quink Violet, which appeared to have no issues either (well, other than the fact that it probably needed to have some sort of nozzle attachment to use as pour spout). I did ask a lot of questions of the seller (but that it had been reconstituted was one that hadn't occurred to me -- I was more concerned about SITB...).

The bottle of Quink Violet had a rubber stopper with some sort of wick down into the ink, so I haven't been able to try it before now. I just ordered some amber glass bottles to transfer the ink into -- as well as the contents of a approximately 2/3 full 16 oz bottle of Skrip Peacock Blue that I happened onto in an antiques mall north of Clarion, PA over the summer; the bottles arrived this evening (haven't even had a chance to open the box yet...). I got about a half-dozen 4 oz bottles with polyseal cones inside the caps and about the same number of 2 oz. bottles (you have to call the company to get the polyseal caps, because they only show bottles with the foam circles in the caps) because I wanted to get a little extra protection for the inks. The company threw in a couple of 4 oz amber glass bottles with eyedropper caps as "samples". I will use the regular cap bottles for backups/long term storage), and use the eyedropper caps as the "working bottles" and the small bottles for inkwells, travel size bottles, or to give away ink samples in larger amounts than fits in a standard size vial (although I would probably still use vials or nalgene bottles for inks I'd be mailing off to anyone).

The only concern I have about the new bottles is whether they and the caps should be sterilized before using (as opposed to just washing them and letting them air-dry). My husband used to do a lot of homebrewing and we still have the stuff he used for making sterilization solution (the advantage to it over bleach is that it is easier to wash off; basically the stuff, which IIRC correctly is called "B-brite" is a strong oxidizer).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

December 9, 2014

I have bought ink off ebay before, but this last one has me rethinking that.

I bought 2 bottles of ink (Waterman FLorida Blue & Skrip Emerald Green 1970s--which is the one I wanted). I opened the Florida Blue & It was like sludge. I dipped a pen in it, and it was blue-black. Dipped same pen in water, thinking it had been horribly evaporated, and now looks even more like blue-black. OK then. I open the Skrip green, and it looks diluted before I even dipped a pen in it. And on paper, it was just as bad. Hmmm...what's the evaporation rate until it becomes normal consistency again? Maybe Grandma diluted her green ink and dumped the blue-black into the blue bottle? I'm giving the seller grace because they don't sell pens and they probably really didn't know and just listed it like it looked to them.

But has it happened to you? Ever buy a bottle of ink that has been diluted to make it look fuller?

Given the circumstances, have you contacted the seller with the information you posted? Even if they did post the information in good faith, they should be willing to make some accommodation. It really is incumbent upon them to make reasonably sure that what they "advertise/post" is accurate.

Once bought a franken pen that was advertised as such. When I received it the cap was too big for the body (no way this cap would stay on). In response the seller gave me a full refund and told me to keep the pen (which I used for parts because I didn't have a cap that would fit it either). Based on that experience I ended up buying several other items from the dealer.

Just my thoughts...