I have purchased 3 PFM Pens on E-bay and the prices were 147, 193 and 302 dollars and the pens look like pens that a collector is trying to unload so that they can raise dollars for some good pens to add to their collection. The Black PFM IV had a big dent on the top of the cap, small dings on the gold plate at the plunger end, does not draw up ink, little iridium left on the nib. The Green PFM III that I bought was very scratched up with deep scratches everywhere otherwise very nice. The Burgundy PFM IV was the best E-Bay purchase and it had one significant scratch on the barrel and a small ding at the end of the cap. These pens were used by men and handled with little care - so perhaps more could not be expected - but spending 2 to 3 hundred dollars on E-Bay for one may not be such a good idea. The ones I bought at Antique Stores and Flea Markets could be examined before purchase and were much better buys in my opinion - not easy to find but better buys.
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smilie

Did you buy them from purely pen merchants with hundreds of positive feedbacks, or were these from various sellers that didn't exclusively deal in pens? I find that there are a few "professional" pen merchants that have good quality merchandise and stand behind their repairs. Otherwise, you are taking a risk buying a pen on ebay. However, I do that often with certain pens such as the aerometric Parker "51" where the odds of getting a bad one are low because they were so well made.

Ron

That's one of the problems when buy on e-bay. You can not examine the pens and have to rely on a description that may not be accurate. Have you considered purchasing from reputable online vendors, the Green Board or going to a pen show?

When I was buying Sheaffer snorkels from ebay for resotration, I got to learn the "common" hidden problems with the pens, and would specifically send a msg asking if these features were present. If metal caps, I always asked if there were dings. If plastic, I would ask if there were cracks in teh plastic under the clip. Direct questions like this strengthen your position if there is a problem, and frankly what I found was that the honest, but ignorant sellers would overdescribe the problems.

Not a perfect solution, but helps. Also, you have to get a feel for what the "typical unreported" problems are which means I had to have a few bad experiences.

Caveat emptor, and good luck...

I believe the best of the PFM s the Burgundy PFM !V was from non-pen dealer and the two other PFM s were from pen dealer s because they almost exclusively sell pens on e-bay. Therefore if the PFM is from an e-bayer who does not primarily deal in pens the chances of getting a decent PFM may be a better than if the seller is also a collector and dealer. Has any one purchased a decent PFM on E-Bay?

Out of curiosity, did you try to complain to the seller?
Have you left negative feedback?

I never leave negative feedback on E-Bay -that will get you immediate retaliation. I did not complain - because I love to work on these old pens and have pretty well cured the Sheaffer III of the scratches - fortunately they were not too deep. If I could get the inner cap removed from the PFM 1V I believe I could use a wood dowel to reshape the top of the Cap so that it was flat. Replacing seals and sacs is not a fun thing but also not a major problem. My only reason to post on this subject was not to complain about past purchases but to warn others what they were getting into by paying several hundred dollars for these old PFM s on e-bay. Making sure the seller will take them back if not as described might be a good idea. I would only buy one again on E-Bay if it was described as Mint -Never Used - and a full refund if not as described was offered. Even if the seller would not honor his word - E-Bay would get your money back for you as long as you registered a complaint within 45 days of purchase.

Who is John Gault - is he a character in Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. I am sure if he was alive in 1959 he would have gone for a Sheaffer PFM fountain pen - lhe may even have improved on it unfortunately he would have withheld any improvements from the masses. I also believe he would have endorsed WA Sheaffer's idea that it was worth the extra money to get quality products. Unfortunately I do believe he was an aetheist and had perhaps unrelated had little concern for his fellow man - but nobody is perfect even the fictional Mr. Gault.

Don’t ask important questions, because they don’t have answers.’

On ebay there are honest sellers and there are bad sellers (and all the intermediate ones).

There are 4 important aspects for a successful transaction.
1) Ask questions if description is incomplete,
2) Understand the risk if the seller is not knowleable,
3) Try to resolve problems with a seller
4) Leave honest and proper feedback.

I can understand that someone may not want to loose time when a $20-30 dollars item is bad but if you pay $300 for a PFM it better be properly described and properly conditionned. If such a high value item comes with undescribed damage, you must try to resolve things with the seller. If there is no resolution, one should leave negative feedback. It makes absolutely no sense neither to try to resolve the issue nor to leave negative feedback. But maybe I am strange

I noticed some ebay listings for PFM's that looked a little risky to me. The seller had zero feedback and was in the Far East. Not that there is automatically anything wrong with a seller who has zero feedback, because everybody has to start someplace. However it is best to build a solid, positive reputation on ebay by buying and selling a few things to let the ebay group know that you are reputable, if not reliable.

I do not understand why one would show up on ebay offering relatively high-dollar collectibles as their first effort. I personally would not bid on such an auction because it is too risky. Especially when there is the Miami Pen and Watch Show coming up in July, where you could easily buy a PFM from a collector and you could see what you are getting.

I would buy a PFM from somebody who posts here (if I wanted one). I already bought a Sheaffer snorkel from one of the members and it was exactly as described. I also sold a Montblanc and as far as I know that transaction went well.

More bad news for PFM buyers on E-Bay - A significant number of the pens being sold as PFM pens appear to be Imperial s not PFM s - No snorkels in sight on these so called PFM s. Another significant number - especially PFM V s seem to be in Thailand- being sold by sellers with none to little track record. Unless it says Mint and is in the Box or is from someone known well to the buyer - PFM s on e-bay seems a very risky way to go - but certainly a good way to get into a dispute and/or throw some money away.
On the other hand Legacy's on E-Bay are great - especially when purchased from an authorized dealer. Sheaffer will correct any problems since they are a current pen and sold by a licensed dealer. I like PFM s but only a Pen show -where you can see what you are buying -appears to be the best place to obtain a decent PFM. If anyone knows something different please let us know.
Maybe this needs another thread on the Parker forum but more than half the Sonnets on e-bay appear to me to be clones. However, I have had excellent results obtaining Parker Premier's on Ebay.

Hi, with regards to the far east seller of many PFM's on ebay be warned - I and approx 40 others were ripped off by an individual from Thailand - he had about 3 different ebay accounts running and has an unbelievable selection of PFM's, the same individual from thailand is still on ebay under about 4 different accounts and runs a cycle of trading for a while then ripping off as much $ as possible under one account until it gets closed then he simply uses the other accounts and opens up more accounts.
He still uses the same page format - still does not use paypal and uses the same photos, pictures of PFM's with pencils and imperials of the same colour and another of his photo styling is the photo the PFM disassembled.
He owes me a green PFM V for $300 and took others for multiple $1000's.

----BE WARNED---- I no longer purchase from any Thai dealers

Despite my reporting and complaints to ebay the dishonest individual is still ripping people off and the account he ripped me and many other off with and 4000 feed back!!

I've had two very good experiences buying PFMs through e-bay. . .and I have some general rules that I've tried to live by:

Rule Number 1: I've never bid on pens from sellers that are overseas, no matter how enticing the item might be.

Rule Number 2: I always ask questions of the seller. If the seller doesn't answer to my satisfaction, I don't place my bid.

Rule Number 3: I always try to check out what the seller has sold in the past, and what buyers have said about past transactions. It's helped me know when to bid with confidence, and, while I admit I may be just lucky, I haven't been disappointed yet with my purchases.

I've done okay so far with these three things in mind. I'm the (too) proud owner of a few PFMs that are in beautiful condition. I've also come to an understanding that it's okay to let a pen "slip through my fingers" once in a while. More often than not, another one will appear somewhere down the road. Happy hunting!

Basically ebay is not set up to do very much to halt this kind of fraud. The more work you do before bidding on something the better you will be. Sometimes a picture does not convey the actual condition of the item. If the description is flowery sometimes you want to believe the description over what the snapshots show. It does not always happen. If the description is factual and not puffing and fluff, and the snapshots are good, the feedback comments from other sales have comments such as "better than described" you know you can bid with confidence.

I believe Richard Binder has a PFM or two for sale on his site. For the money these auctions are going for, it makes so much more sense to buy from one of the known vendors.

Bob Speerbrecher, known as "speerbob", is a legitimate dealer in Thailand.

Cheers,

Jim Mamoulides
www.PenHero.com

I'll second Jim's comment about Bob Speerbrecher. I've now purchased twenty pens from speerbob over the last three years. There have been only two minor problems, one pen had a leaky section and one had a leaky converter. In both instances Bob sent replacements very promptly, no questions asked. He is a pleasure to deal with.

The best thing you can do it check the seller's feedback, especially the new 90 detailed feedback now offered by eBay. Check and see that the seller has sold a number of pens recently and that the buyers have been pleased with them. The best sellers will have some comments like, "better than I expected" etc. That's who you want to purchase from. I've purchased 90 percent of my pens on eBay and you just get a feel for the good sellers or at least the good auctions.

PeteWK

There's no denying that it can be tough to purchase quality pens on ebay period! Pfm's are no exception, especially with some of those from the far east, and pens that can be damaged from here in North America. Your best bet is to purchase pens from Ebayers that has a money back policy and who restores their own pens with many happy positive feedbacks. I know personally that I have sold a few unrestored PFM's in the past and I think they have gone for much less then I expected, with many worried bidders wondering why I might sell an unrestored pen, what might be wrong with it? (the problem being my restoration skills are next to none and I am just starting to do some work myself).
If you are looking to buy quality PFM pens look up Martin Ferguson, I can't remember if he has a website but his specialty is Snorkel pens, and I have had a few good dealings with him in the past!

Pearce.

Ebay can be just grand, but also poses some real risks.

Something to be said for buying pens with return option from folks who sell here and/or have vintage pen websites. Not that i'm biased... heavens no!


david

My only PFM, a Burgundy V, came from the Bay. I got a great price and a great pen.

However, your mileage may vary.

My only PFM came from a dealer at the Portland Pen Show last year. I don't hesitate to buy C/C fillers or inexpensive Snorkels or Touchdowns on eBay (After having checked out the seller's reputation thoroughly!) but anything expensive and likely to need restoration I want to see before I buy. Better yet, it should already be restored. And, I should know how to contact the seller later if there is a problem. I really like to buy from the reputable dealers that I chat with on FPN, Pentrace and the Zoss list. There are a bunch of them that are great!