I have noticed that the Optima cap band on the Aurora and Swisher sites has a new design. I have attached a couple of images showing the differences. Is this a relatively new redesign?

It seems like most vendors are nowadays selling the Optima Auroloides in the $450-500 range It seems like just a couple of years ago that it was going for around $330-360 ,and I even had a price in the $270 from my favorite vendor.

I sort of like the new cap band.

I agree that Aurora prices are through the roof. I can barely believe it myself. I have several Optimas, all of them older models. I did not pay $500 even for my LE's. I am ever so grateful for the Optimas I have. But if I add any more to my collection they will almost certainly have to be used.

I have the older black/chrome Optima, I like the design, not that there is anything wrong with the new...steep price but probably worth it, they are damn fine pens after all...

That's almost entirely the difference in the Dollar vs. Euro between then and now.

360 / 1.25 * 1.48
=> 426.24

The 2008 Italian price is 425 Euro, that's approx 630 Dollars...

German retail price is 405 Euros :-)


I've only seen the new cap band on pictures; judging from those I like the old one better!


Cheers

Michael

But using the higher end of the old price range, you are not even getting close to the lower end of the price range now.

Based on your exchange rate changes, places that used to sell it for $337 should be selling for about $400 now, but they are selling closer to $470. Joonpens was selling it for around $360, I think, and again, with your numbers, the new price should be around $426, but it is $500.

Then there is the fact that the exchange rate change applies only to the wholesale price retailers pay. I assume their markup is at least in the $150-$200 range. Once you subtract that from the retail price, the exchange rate change doesn't even come close to explaining the price hike.

I can't believe that I could have bought one at the LA show three years ago for $250

In 2007 or 2008 list?

It's not only the abysmal exchange rate. It's also the escalating price of gold. Add to those two primary factors the additional factor--which is not shared by all retailers--of building in a margin to absorb the reorder costs if those costs are anticipated to continue rising, as they are, and the result is exactly the price hike we're seeing. It might also be that Aurora wants to fly at a higher altitude, of course, but the point is that there is plenty of upward pressure on the prices even without that.
Retail markups are almost never a dollar amount. They are a percentage of cost. In a perfect world the markups might be a constant number of dollars, but in our world they're a constant percentage of an increasing dollar amount. It seems likely that American retailers will be making more profit per European pen, but they might not be making more profit overall, since there would be buyers who would have been willing to drop $400 on a pen that they're not willing to drop $600 on.

I like the old cap band a lot better and the new one looks to me like the result of a lawsuit or some silly copyright infringement. I've had countless people ask me about Hermes, or some other fashion brands when they looked at my Optima with the larger greek key (mind you Omas USED to have more or less the same).

Aurora looks like it's pricing itself out of the market. There's so much one can ask for a light plasticky (read: acrylic) pen w/o a snowflake on the top. Omas celluloids used to have a very different feel in the hand. The Optimas will soon reach MB LE territory if they go on! I've heard that Aurora has responded to decrease in sales by laying out some employees in 2006 and increasing its prices (and profit margins) on the same pens. I've heard they employ less than 80, from someone in a pen store in Bologna in 2006. I was pleasantly surprised when they came out with the Nobile last year, altough the price kind of betrayed their strategy.

I just hope Aurora will survive the price increases... and come out with more exceptional pens like the Nobile.


PS There are two auraloide Optimas selling for 220-225 on the Pentrace green board.

My blue Aurora Optima has the "newer" cap band (seen in the picture of the green pen) but I bought it used for half of its normal retail price. As much as I like the Aurora, I would not have bought it new or paid full price for it. I can't bring myself to break that $250+ price barrier yet.

Susanna,
don't cry. The Italian IVA is 20%, the german "only" 19%.
It's the 2007 pricelist. In 2006 it was only 385 EUR. That's a reason to cry !
Regards
Dirk