Have any of you bought from the eBay seller prahableu? I am looking into buying a pen from him, and I was wondering about his service and reliability. The seller outletline has the same pen at a potentially cheaper price. I have bought from outletline before and had a good experience, but I know he can sometimes be risky. Should I buy more expensive with less risk from prahableu or cheaper with more risk from outletline? The pen is a limited edition Visconti (not disclosing for fear of other bidders), and prahableu is showing the the number while outletline hides the number (probably to guarantee a good price). Thanks for any help in this matter, and I apologize for the potentially unorganized thread.

-Cody

More than I care to admit to -- they specialize in discontinued Viscontis.

Yes, I bought a Paragon Blue Royale from him, with no problems whatsoever. I was a bit irked by his explicit statement that he would leave feedback only after I had, but that makes him like just about every other eBay seller these days.
Regards,
David

I've bought a pen from him. Service and communication are both excellent. He did wait until my Paypal payment cleared before shipping the item, so I had to wait a bit, but for me that's not a real problem--sellers can take steps to reduce risk, too!

Though, if you mean "showing the number" as in the [number of the pen]/[total number produced], the number on the picture shown by prahableu is not necessarily the number you'll get. I got a Visconti LE from him, and the number on the pictures was 954, but the number I actually got was 934. I don't mind, but you might want to know.

So is he more reliable enough to go for the extra cost, or should I just get it cheaper from outletline?

So is he more reliable enough to go for the extra cost, or should I just get it cheaper from outletline?

(sorry double-clicked)

Definitely a very reliable seller, but since I don't know what the extra cost is (or how reliable outletline is), it is up to you whether or not it's worth the extra cost.

It would be a couple of hundred dollars, I think. I am not sure what outletline's reserve is, so the pens could be the same price.

-Cody

If, as you've indicated, you've had good experience with outletline before, a couple hundred dollars is more than the avoidance of *potential* risk is worth, IMHO. If the risk with outletline is about items being misrepresented and he has a reasonable return policy, then I'd say make the bid. If your bid doesn't meet reserve, go with prahaBLEU.

The problem is that some of outletline's auctions never come to fruition because of the high reserves he has on many of his pens. If you really like this pen and are willing to spare the extra money, than I'd say go for it, but only you can really answer that for yourself. Is outletline also offering this pen as a "Buy It Now or Best Offer"? That might give you some idea as to what price he's expecting, and where a potential auction might end up...

David

He is actually offering two of the same pens, and both are auctions.

They aren't always that different in price. Outletline has fairly high reserves but sometimes they are lower or higher, which is weird.

For example, I went through a bunch of auctions, found the ones for a particular pen, and then bid $10 over the highest of them, but the auction ended with reserve not met!

Since I wasn't interested in playing reindeer games, I have never gotten that pen, though I have bought others from him.

I've bought a lot from both. Outletline banned me after I reluctantly turned him in to eBay after a full month with no item AND no communication. Pity as I'd bought a bunch from him, but had to send back for requested nibs, etc. Was minor and I could live with it up until he didn't ship the item, had my money and didn't communicate.

Scott Lee at Prahableu has given good service and good communication. I buy regularly when his prices are competitive and am currently awaiting yet another, you guessed it, Visconti from him. He swapped a defective Visconti ink well for another no problem back in January. I didn't mind being out the postage so long as I got a working one, which I had by return shipment.

IF you can get the pen from Outletline, he has had incredibly low prices on some Viscontis in the past. My Metropolis came from him as well as about 5 of my other high end pens. Just be aware he occasionally retreats into curmudeon mode and I felt compelled to preserve my Paypal rights on eBay. I'll miss getting the occasional high end pen, but I will NOT miss the headaches of will he, won't he.

Scott's prices will be higher at times, but you'll get the pen no hassles and, if there's a problem, he's a reputable vendor and DOES answer his e-mails.