"italianpens" On Ebay - What's Your Experience?

[Ghost Plane]

Can't answer for lunawing, but back when he was selling under "Outletline" it took filing a Paypal dispute with eBay to get a refund for a Visconti inkwell I won and never received. I'd been a regular buyer up until then and had managed to get an incorrect nib size swapped out OK, if with minimal gruff response, but the inkwell never arrived. I promptly communicated, never got a response to that or my subsequent PMs thru eBay and finally had to file to preserve my rights. Got my refund thanks to Paypal.

 

After that, I was banned by him and haven't purchased since under any of his name changes and found other dealers who're much more communicative. Hoping the business practices have changed as he's got access to some interesting pens.

[Yuki Onitsura]

Haven't had any experiences with italianpens because, as others have mentioned, his reserve prices are always a bit on the high side. Especially when you consider the bargains that pop up all the time on the fpn marketplace.

[Pippin60]

Bryant is Pentime.net and one of the nicest pen pushers, along with Ryan at Pear Tree Pens, J.M. Lewertowski at Pen Seller From France, Pam Braun at Oscar Braun pens, Chuck Swisher of Swisher's, etc.

 

We have a tendency to talk of them by first name on the board since they've grown to be our friends over the years. :embarrassed_smile:

 

+1 for the above.

 

Also a year or so ago, and before I found Pentime, I purchased a Visconti Opera from him, the experience was uneventful. Maybe I was lucky, perhaps they've changed.

Edited June 17, 2010 by Pippin60

[lunawing]

Several years ago, I bought a (as Ben called it) "American made Visconti" from him. It took me a lot of time to get my money back. A very unpleasant experience for me.

 

C-H

 

Can you elaborate on why you needed your money back in the first place? Was the pen never delivered? Was it delivered broken? Was it described inaccurately? Was it simply not to your liking?

 

It was a fake Visconti Erotica Casanova FP. I knew it is fake because the figure on this pen should be etched on single piece of metal. I happen to have one RB purchased from Bexlevy. That's why I was able to tell the difference. However, the figure on the pen I received is sanded and welded.

 

C-H

Edited June 19, 2010 by lunawing

[opus7600]

It was a fake Visconti Erotica Casanova FP. I knew it is fake because the figure on this pen should be etched on single piece of metal. I happen to have one RB purchased from Bexlevy. That's why I was able to tell the difference. However, the figure on the pen I received is sanded and welded.

 

C-H

 

That's insane! IANAL, but it seems to me that crosses the line between "bad ebay experience" and "crime".

[eric47]

Visconti cleared inventory in the last year, to the delight of many of us, so they could bring out new lines.

 

Actually, I think that was the ex-US distributor clearing inventory because the worldwide prices (with the exception of the US (and maybe wherever else the ex-distributor had as its territory) held firm. Changes in local distributors typically are followed by discounting and cleaning of inventory. I remember when this happened with Pelikan in the early- mid-90s.

 

That's different from the ownership change at Montegrappa where the worldwide pricelist as set by Montegrappa itself was revised downward, with exception of the Extra.

[magestic2112]

I bought 3 Omas and 1 Visconti and was super deal and super fast delivery.

[magestic2112]

What surprises me is that he has a few old Montegrappa LEs on offer. Where would he get those from? Directly from Montegrappa themselves? I have no experience whatsoever with the pen retail market (or any other retail market for that matter), but these pens are supposed to be sold out. Did someone just discover a few old boxes in a warehouse in Bassano, go "Look what I've just found!" and then shift them on to some ebay outlet in the States? Surely, they would rather pass them on to some bona fide pen shop. :hmm1:

 

They are buying direct from Montegrappa in USA.

[magestic2112]

I was wondering whether anybody here has got any experience with this seller. I remember we had a thread about this quite some time ago when this seller set up shop, and at the time the consensus seemed to be that he was identical to another seller who had folded and who was well known to a lot of our members, because he had banned many of them from his auctions and was generally rude and unhelpful.

However, I noticed that he has an increasing amount of rare LE Montegrappas for sale, which is very tempting. Oddly, though, an auction that had about four days left and that I was determined to bid in was all of a sudden ended and all the bids were gone. What's going on?

 

They are buying Montegrappa's from the Distributor in USA Kenro Industries, almost they are buying all Ltd Ed with Warranty here in USA.

[dnb]

Seems like working with him might very well be a cwapshoot! Thanks for the insights.

[Strang]

I made one purchase from him, nothing warm and fuzzy about it, but I got a nice pen and, luckily, got it cheap.

[wspohn]

This seller doesn't seem to suffer fools gladly and he is too quick to pigeonhole people as fools just beacuse they ask questions that might be construed as critical.

 

Having said that, he seems to be businesslike and as long as you don't ask questions, or be extremely politic if you do, you should have no problems with him.

 

I've bought two pens from him more cheaply than I could find them anywhere else - a Visconti Divine Proportion and an Aurora 80th anniversary. I bought them for $880 and $1200 off original list prices.

[asiow]

Just received two nice pens from him at great prices

They came with box and papers nicely wrapped.

 

 

Must admit I was a bit jittery about whether the pens will arrive or not after reading this post

 

If what was said about him was true, it reminds me of the Soup Nazi of Seinfield - great product with unique selling method

 

[raulfragoso]

http://domn.sopca.com/files/No_Soup_For_You.png

 

"No soup for you ! For one year !" :roflmho:

 

Seriously now, I bought a Visconti Homo Sapiens from him about 5 months ago, all was fine.

Edited November 4, 2010 by raulfragoso

[asiow]

arrgghh... the homo sapien

 

the one he has is still outta my reach

It's one of the FP I dream of having

[Nubbin]

I won a Delta Dolce Vita Medium on one of italianpens's auctions recently. Was shipped same day, and exactly as described. There wasn't any communication, but none was necessary. I was able to win the auction at a bid far below what I had expected. Overall, a low impact experience and nice value.

[asiow]

Have bought 4 pens from italianpens so far

All as advertised, in mint/new/shrink wrapped condition, with papers and box

shipped fast and with priority

the prices are really very good, though some have moved up already

as more people now know of his collection

[Violet]

Just won a hard to find Visconti from him. eBay had duplicated my bid, but he got it straightened out very quickly. He shipped the pen quickly, no drama. I'll be looking at his future auctions.

[ianyer]

I was unaware of this thread when I bid on a Viscounti Wall Street from italianpens. I've watched his auctions and I never bid on any that have a reserve. It seems that more and more of his auctions do not have a reserve. Anyway, I put in a snipe at what I believe was a very good price and won the auction. The pen arrived very quickly however the pen I received was different than the one picutured in the auction as it had a smaller box and did not have a bottle of ink. In addtion the trim on the pen was tarnished. I sent an e mail and he responded right away. He offered to exchange it without question. I sent the pen back and he responded that he needed to order another one as he did not have the color I wanted. I got a shipping confirmation the next week (as promised) and the package arrived in a few days.

 

I'm not sure why my experience is differnt but I received good communication and good customer service. Might be a fluke but I got a very nice Visconti at a great price.

[xuan87]

hmm thinking of bidding on one of his visconti HS fountain pen. sent him an email which he replied promptly and quite politely. if i do bid and win, i'll let everyone know what happens.