Uk Twsbi Buyers

[HelzBelz]

I got mine from Taiwan, too, and was fortunate enough to avoid charges on it. I also, however, nearly avoided getting the pen at all, as rather than post it through my letter box, or leave a note, the postman put it in the bushes next to my house.

[epo]

Yes, epo - east seems better than west. I don't have any problem with the duty, it's the handling charge which I object to. And the charge for handling the handling charge.

Absolutely, trouble is the duty gives them the excuse to charge handling, hell for £8 I'd want mine handled by Keira Knightly not some scruffy, surly ned down at the sorting office.

[EdwardMarlowe]

Now Epo mentions it, I have never been stung for duty (and the infamous Royal Mail 'handling fee') on parcels coming from anywhere other than the US - and not every time from there, but more often recently. Maybe they're having a crackdown on stuff coming in from the US specifically? Of course, the easy answer would be for the UK to stop being Rip Off Britain. I'd happily buy closer to home if they didn't jack up the price so much so often. Being charged duty really smarts, though, when (as is often the case for me) you're only buying from abroad because the item simply is not available in the UK to begin with.... Oh well.

 

I rather like the look of the TWSBI pens, though I'd prefer to wait for solid colours. The duty threat is likely to be the dealbreaker though; at £30 they look like great value, but at £45ish, not so much. :hmm1: Here's hoping a UK source will take them up...

[carlc]

Carl, I buy so many Pelikans that the prospect of getting a Twsbi was as much to do with giving the guys in Hanover a rest as much as anything else! I wondered if they were in the same area, or if the Twsbi was essentially just a budget pen...

 

Actually, I want a Twsbi because I thoroughly approve of the co-operative nature of the project.

 

 

John

 

John - personally I'd say go for it - but you may want to wait for the coloured pens (if demonstrators don't appeal).

 

I don't think you'll be disappointed.

 

Carl

[cubic archon]

You can add me to the "wasn't charged duty" list - mine just arrived this morning.

 

I have a feeling they may be more likely to look at parcels which obviously have corporate labels on them, rather than an address, no company name and a customs declaration filled out in ballpoint.

[sirksael]

I'm not from the UK myself -sincerest apologies-, but we on the continent also have postal services politely requesting 10 EUR (8.89 GBP) for tea and scones "handling" in addition to VAT and import duty. Whereas I do not mind paying VAT and duty, I do have a bit of a problem with the "handling" part, especially after I received the familiar 10 EUR ransom note for a pen that was sent to me as a gift from Australia.

 

I ordered my TWSBI at www.taiwanlovesyou.com and fully expected having to fork over about 50% of the price of the pen in charges. To my surprise I had to pay.... absolutely nothing. This may have been because of the declared value of the pen (carefully crafted to remain below the postal radar), dumb luck or a form of heavenly justice to compensate for the Oz pen.

 

Like 51ISH, I have the medium nib and also find it to be rather fine. I would say it's a reasonable match for a Pelikan F.

 

Well, The Belgiam customs seem to prefer everything that comes from the USA. Whatever I buy there gets charged about 50% of the time, whereas other countries are more like 1 out of every 10.

The worst of it all is, sometimes the post charges you the 10 EUR for something the customs decide not to tax!

[Opel]

Well I thought I’d use my first post here to announce that I received my TWSBI today from the US, without the inconvenience of paying customs and the handling charge.

 

It was for me at least a gamble that has paid off… On saying that however, a piston filler demo pen for £25 plus P+P and possibly duty… a bargain which ever way you look at it.

Edited October 26, 2010 by Opel

[Loddonite]

I bought one 4 weeks ago.

I chose regular mail.

I got a card through the door on Tuesday from Royal Mail telling me I had £13 to pay in customs charges.

 

I have paid and am waiting delivery.

 

Update...it arrived today.

 

VAT was £5.39 (accurate, using current $/£), Royal Mail's handling charge was £8 - a bit of a bargain compared to the £13+ charged by Parcelfarce and the like.

 

I have not yet inked the pen but I am very impressed with the simplicity and plain good engineering of the packaging. It was almost a shame to break into it to remove the pen. I'm going to try a new ink with this one at the weekend.

 

I must go and leave the feedback on eBay...

[drfunkee]

I also received my medium nib TWSBI today (no customs malarky), very impressed with the quality of the pen and overall package, inked with Pelikan blue for the present. A little dry for the first few lines of writing but has settled down to produce a very nice slightly finer than my Pelikan M200 medium line. BTW this is my first post on the forum so hello all.

[Aysedasi]

I'll definitely get another one - not fussed whether it's piston or vac - but not until I can get an italic nib. The medium I have writes very nicely, I'm just addicted to stubs and italics!

[cubic archon]

The M that I have now, I would term a mild stub.

[soapytwist]

I'm not from the UK myself -sincerest apologies-, but we on the continent also have postal services politely requesting 10 EUR (8.89 GBP) for tea and scones "handling" in addition to VAT and import duty. Whereas I do not mind paying VAT and duty, I do have a bit of a problem with the "handling" part, especially after I received the familiar 10 EUR ransom note for a pen that was sent to me as a gift from Australia.

 

I ordered my TWSBI at www.taiwanlovesyou.com and fully expected having to fork over about 50% of the price of the pen in charges. To my surprise I had to pay.... absolutely nothing. This may have been because of the declared value of the pen (carefully crafted to remain below the postal radar), dumb luck or a form of heavenly justice to compensate for the Oz pen.

 

Like 51ISH, I have the medium nib and also find it to be rather fine. I would say it's a reasonable match for a Pelikan F.

 

Just to update, I also bought a pen from this website that arrived yesterday with no charges to pay. A couple of observations:

 

1. The person at the other end (Mark Perdomo) shot me emails to say thanks for the purchase and that it had been despatched

2. The pen was shipped in a plain padded envelope, with the sender's name and residential-looking address written on the package.

3. Customs value was stated as US$15.

4. The pen has the 1.5 piston installed.

5. The package arrived within a week of purchase.

6. Wow - tremendously impressed with the pen and its packaging. My only negative comment would be that the cap doesn't look good posted.

 

I can't guarantee that purchasing via this route won't attract customs charges, it seems to be the way that gives you the best chance of avoiding them.

[Stylis10]

Im not sure how long it is before you get the pen, but The Writing Desk now has a pre-order on the TWSBI meaning you can now buy in the UK not sure how long wait is though!

 

TWSBI The Writing Desk

[wtlh]

Im not sure how long it is before you get the pen, but The Writing Desk now has a pre-order on the TWSBI meaning you can now buy in the UK not sure how long wait is though!

 

TWSBI The Writing Desk

 

 

This is a truly excellent news!