Thinking of getting a Pilot VP net. I'm thinking about the normal VP, not Decimo or Fermo
Noticed that there are a few price range.
Generally those selling for $85 plus shipping are the metal alloy and not 18k nib right ?
What's the price range for the 18k nib VP (non LE) ?
How to differentiate such nibs from the 18k nibs ?
Just by the Colour ?

$110 from Richard Binder with 18k nib. (Not affiliated nor a customer (yet) but I do spend a lot of time on his website).

My understanding is that all current VP nibs are gold, just that some are rhodium plated. Certainly, the silver coloured nib in my orange LE is stamped 18K.

David

The price you pay and the nib you get are dependent on where you are in the world.

If you're on the US, ALL new VPs come with 18k gold nibs - the only exception to this are the LEs which are 18k Rh plated. In the past, VPs sold with 14k nibs but no more.

I don't think the alloy nib is sold anywhere but Japan. There the Rh trim flat colour pens come with alloy nibs, the carbonesque come with Rh plated gold nibs and the gold trim pens come with gold nibs.

In the UK, the Rh trim pens come with Rh trim nibs and the gold trim pens with gold nibs.

All Decimos and Fermos I have seen come with 18k Rh plated nibs.

From Ujuku website the $94 ones are labelled as metal alloy while the rest at $140 are 18k.

http://ujuku.ath.cx/ujuku-shop/kaimono/fou...ilot-taitol.htm

So does that mean that Pilot is more expensive in Japan as compared to the states ?

Yes, that is correct. I think that's one of the reasons VPs (called Pilot Capless in Japan) are not as popular in Japan as in the U.S.

That explains why for the 2007 Orange LE, 900 came to the US whereas only 300 were sold in Japan.

It's called capless in Japan, UK and rest of Asia.
And the price of Capless is more expensive than vanishing point.
Is it just a marketing ploy ?

I don't think it's just VP, but pens are more expensive in Japan in general.

Isn't it strange that a product is more expensive in its country of origin but cheaper as an export product ?

Well, the volume of sales outside Japan dwarfs domestic sales, so perhaps they try to make up for it somewhat. I have no clue what pen sales are like in Japan. Certainly there is a niche market of interest, as the average vintage pen prices on Yahoo Japan have risen quite a bit in recent years. And I think writing Kanji characters works best with fountain pens versus ballpoints/rollerballs, so you'd expect that per capita, more fountain pens would be sold in Japan. Alas, such data is still elusive...

It's not just Japanese pens that are more expensive in Japan but also pens from other countries. Most stores sells pens at MSRP, or maybe at slight discount. I think the only time it makes sense to buy pens from Japan is when the pen is not available overseas. If the VP you want is a color available in the U.S. it's probably cheaper to get it from the U.S., unless shipping to wherever you live is really high.

This may have something to do with the way contracts are negitiated and the size of the market.

Typically, contracts are negotiated in USD so as the dollar has weakened, the value of goods that you buy in the US is getting better and better. This is not sustainable but for the moment, prices in the US will go up unless the dollar strengthens. In mid 2007 JPY was about 123 per $. So a $85 VP would be JPY 10,455. In March this year the same VP would get JPY 8,415. If the US distributor bought 10,000 units at the 2007 price then Japan is happy and the distributor can supply the US market for a year or so with their stock. Once that stock runs dry and the US distributor wants to restock then they are probably going to have to pay more (and then increase the local price) unless they have a long term agreement with Japan which limits the amount that Japan can raise their prices (e.g. max of 10% per year).

The other thing is the size of the market. If Pilot can sell 3 times the VPs in the US than it can in Japan then it will be in their interests to keep the price attractive and sales high. Americans are very price sensitivite and a small increase in price may results in a large cut in consumption.

Now the european market has seen a strengthening in currency but not an equivalent drop in prices. I bet this is because retailers are just increasing their margins and not decreasing their prices. I have managed to get pens form the US at way below what the market is selling them for so I think retailers there are just profiteering since their stong currency is probably not sustainable into the future (would be worse for them if they dropped their prices and then increased them again later than keeping a consistent price).

Of course I may be completely wrong but this is my speculation...

You might be right...

Just remember, just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean they are not out to get you !

hk

At where I live (Singapore). the cheapest VP as shown on the local Pilot website is S$235, about $168.
More expensive than anywhere else.

Not quite. If you would take a look at the Pilot Homepage you'll see the MSRP for the different variations of the VP (and those prices do not include the sales tax). The VP would sell for around 18742 JPY (approx. 187 USD) after sales tax.