Strengthening U.s.d. And Pelikan Prices

[canibanoglu]

Actually they do get pretty decent discounts. Appelboompennen.nl currently has a 15% discount on everything except Montblancs.

 

Edit: I think you meant discounts from Pelikan directly, my bad. I don't think they'd ever go that way.

Edited March 14, 2015 by canibanoglu

[shawndp]

I sort of decided I wanted an 800 or 1000 just after Christmas and in the time the US dollar as risen dramatically against the Canadian dollar - means I haven't been ordering from my favourite US vendors anymore. My last two orders are out of the Netherlands - you get VAT deducted so prices are more reasonable...

[Recoil Rob]

FYI, right now the best price I can find for an M1000 is Massdrop, $469.99, shipped in the US. It's a limited drop, about half of the 110 pens are spoken for. EF, F, M & B, Black and Green/Black.

[Calabria]

The downward correction of the Euro should mean better deals on German pens. If not, buy them abroad since the middleman is pocketing the difference!

[tinkerteacher]

Don't forget that the USD-YEN rate is also very good right now.

 

Pelikan Japan's MSRP's are usually much better than other markets (even Germany's sometimes), because of all the competion that Pelikan faces in the Japanese market. The current exchange rates sweeten that even more.

Edited April 12, 2015 by tinkerteacher

[hombreverde]

http://shop.j-subculture.com/items/detail/C38521ED3CC3F65

 

M1000 for $434ish.

[inkstainedruth]

Okay, so the U.S importer/distributor's cost of stocking the pens decreases and this decrease is not in-part passed on to the retail vendor. Now, how much better can a U.S. based Pelikan buyer do by purchasing directly from an overseas vendor? And, shouldn't the prospect of this shift in consumer buying cause U.S. vendors to demand that the importer/distributor lower prices?

Well, I just got an M200 in the really nice looking Café Crème. I got it from Rolf Thiel at Missing Pens through his Ebay store. Prices were about about $40-45 below than anything I saw stateside, although I did have to pay shipping. Oddly though, the prices were slightly better for his listings that were not in USD -- I saved myself another four or five bucks for the pen, and another couple of bucks for shipping charges by doing a BiN for the listing priced in GBP (Paypal didn't blink an eye at that).

As for the questions someone asked about Customs and duty charges -- I didn't seem to have any. And of course I didn't have to pay VAT. Pen was shipped in a couple of days after the Paypal transaction went through, and I got a tracking number right away (which was initially for Deutsche Post, but the # still worked for USPS). The ETA was between the 8th (i.e., middle of last week) and the 24th, and it arrived on Saturday. Unfortunately I was out of town -- haven't even had a chance to open the package yesterday ; fortunately, the weather was good all weekend, because our cat sitter didn't bring in the mail. And the package was safely in the mailbox (other of course than the top not being closed because of the other mail).

The one bit of complication/anxiety for me was on this side of the pond. It sat in ICS in New York for several days (I had set up notifications on the tracking). And when I Googled the ICS facility for info I found some webforum in which someone described ICS as "the black hole of Calcutta" . Then, on Friday morning, after it got into the USPS system proper, the package decided to take the, um, scenic route to Pittsburgh -- via Nashua, NH! It made to the local(ish) post office on Saturday morning, and was out for delivery before 9 AM EDT. But then the tracking website said "No further information" and I didn't know if that meant if it got delivered, or if they'd left a "must sign" card, or what.... Especially after the little incident with a 51 Vac delivery a couple of months ago -- after having been at Ernesto Soler's for restoration -- where the email notification said "Delivered" but the pen was of course not anywhere near my mailbox, front porch or driveway. Spent a good chunk of the day on the phone going "WHERE IS MY PEN? And how high up the food chain do I have to go? And do I have to contact a postal INSPECTOR?" on that one; and when someone I talked to said I could pick up up directly at the place that does the actual local sort for delivery -- which is NOT my "local" post office, BTW -- and I drove out to figure out where it was (the name/location does not match its actual address, and is in a different neighborhood entirely) the sign on the gate said (effectively) "No trespassing"....

But the pen (hopefully) has arrived safe and sound, and I will do the grand unveiling when I get some sort of camera working -- which sadly, might be the one on the iPhone.... And other than the transit glitches (which were, as I said before, were all in the US) -- and my future pen shopping budget (admittedly limited at the moment because of income taxes and the upcoming roof repairs -- I would definitely consider ordering from Rolf again, and would not hesitate to recommend him to others.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Matlock]

Well, I just got an M200 in the really nice looking Café Crème. I got it from Rolf Thiel at Missing Pens through his Ebay store. I would definitely consider ordering from Rolf again, and would not hesitate to recommend him to others.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

I would second that. (sadly I do have to pay VAT)

[Recoil Rob]

I looked into purchasing from Japan but I was about to order a Pelikan M1000 from Penroom on Rakuten but, after quoting me a price, I found they added an 8% "international correspondence fee", essentially an handling fee, that negated any savings. Beware the hidden fee.

http://shop.j-subculture.com/items/detail/C38521ED3CC3F65

 

M1000 for $434ish.

[hombreverde]

I looked into purchasing from Japan but I was about to order a Pelikan M1000 from Penroom on Rakuten but, after quoting me a price, I found they added an 8% "international correspondence fee", essentially an handling fee, that negated any savings. Beware the hidden fee.

 

Thanks for the info! I have not ordered anything from Japan yet. Tempted to buy a Pelikan M600 though.

[migla9]

I purchased a Pilot Celemo from Bunkidou on Rakuten about six weeks ago, There were no extra charges; just the 1200 JPY (about $10) EMS shipping charge for a package up to 300g. It got to Chicago in about 5 days. That includes 1.5 days in US Customs and a slight delay for Bunkidou to get a CON-20 converter which was out of stock (they wrote to warn me).

[MarkTrain]

Has there been a downward adjustment of Pelikan prices resulting from the changed exchange-rate of the U.S.D.dollar vs. Euro?

Definitely, the opposite. Noticed yesterday that the Pelikan-USA prices for spare nibs have risen ~30%.

[migla9]

Definitely, the opposite. Noticed yesterday that the Pelikan-USA prices for spare nibs have risen ~30%.

 

Yes, I've noticed that. If you search on ebay for "pelikan m200 feder", there are some reasonable prices from some German dealers, including martiniauctions.