What's Your Favorite Online Fountain Pen Supplies Retailer?

[ENewton]

For pens, Peyton Street Pens, because Teri Morris is so communicative and trustworthy, and because Nivardo Sanchez does such a good job both with restoration and with nib grinds (and has such a sweet personality besides).

 

For inks, Vanness Pen Shop, because they have a large selection of Kobe inks, as well as other inks I might want.

 

 

 

 

[ParramattaPaul]

Goulet, Cult Pens, and Fahrney's for name brand pens. Goodwriters and Writetime for Vintage pens, Diamine and UK Pen Blanks (Mabie Todd 'Blackbird' inks) for inks. Worcester Pen Co. for quality handcrafted (very nice) pens.

[A Smug Dill]

Disclaimer: Keep in mind that I'm approaching this as an 'agnostic' consumer and online shopper, who gets the vast majority of his orders filled through offshore suppliers who then ship the goods internationally to Australia — not quite a Third World country, although it is, as former Prime Minister Paul Keating allegedly remarked, "the arse end of the world". Giving my custom to, and spending my money with, retailers in a particular country is of absolutely no concern, and considered neither advantageous nor undesirable in itself; I do not favour buying from Australian or Chinese vendors, let alone businesses operating out of the UK or the US, by default.

My favourite suppliers, in relation to the hobby:

Where I'll always look by default, when the urge to spend money and buy something strikes:	Cult Pens (UK) La Couronne du Comte (Netherlands) Amazon (Australia / US / UK) Note: as the sold-and-shipped-by merchant, and not simply as a marketplace operator for third-party sellers
Where I'll look occasionally, and from whom I'm confident I'll get competent service and reliable delivery	EndlessPens (US) Fontoplumo (Netherlands) PenGallery (Malaysia)
Retailers to whom I'd be happy to give my repeat custom, but from whom I haven't seen any superb offers through most of the past year	Milligram (Australia) Pensachi (Japan) Pen Chalet (US)

Edited October 4, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[shostakovich]

I do use Cult Pens in the UK but I also use and like The Writing Desk, as a phone call to them often gives me some useful info. Both give excellent service.

[sandy101]

The Writing Desk - because they test the nibs, before they send you an expensive pen.

 

Also Cult pens - who have a wide range of inks and paper.

[vondauster]

Anderson Pens - Brian and Lisa are really nice people to deal with. Goulet, Farney’s, Peyton, and others for harder to find items.

 

Will

[Marcwithac]

Fountain Pen Hospital in New York has a great selection, vintage as well as new pens, specials and discounts, and great service. Although it's actually a B&M store, I have often ordered from their website.

[maclink]

Goulet Pens when I was in the West Indies. Now that I'm in the UK, my default is CultPens but I have also purchased from Anderson Pens, The Writing Desk and Iguana Sell. I use Amazon only for inks and occasionally for pens.

[A Smug Dill]

Now that @maclink mentioned it, Iguana Sell (Spain) was very good both in terms of customer service and discounted pricing when I purchased pens from it (more than once), actually; but I can't imagine buying inks, converters, journals or other supplies from its range and at its prices. I haven't seen any attractive enough offers on pens from it since January, though; moreover, now that it has raised the free international shipping threshold to A$1,000 — a 'magic number' that can cause confusion with regard to taxes and duties payable at the border, in spite of Iguana Sell supposedly selling at GST-inclusive prices and will deal with the issue — it makes me so wary of the potential trouble that I just don't bother looking at its web site any more.

[MadAsAHatter]

Disclaimer that I am in no way affiliated with anyone. My lists are in no particular order. I buy from whoever has what I want/need in stock or if they're running a special or I have a coupon.

 

For general pen and ink needs:

-Goulet

-PenChalet

-PenBoutique

-ipenstore

-Amazon Prime

 

Vintage pens:

-Peyton Street Pens (Teri Morris)

-Main Street Pens (Ron Zorn)

-Speerbob's eBay store

-tbickiii's eBay auctions (for me it's a local eBay vendor)

 

Specific Needs:

-the.pen.outpost eBay store for Noodler's inks (This is a local eBay vender for me also)

 

Chinese pens (these are eBay vendors):

-esybuy

-office-products (I think there is an amazon store also)

-chancewang

-penbbs (official eBay or etsy store)

[greencobra]

how sad that the online retailers i use to use are gone now. but my favorites were oscar braun pens. pam braun was just a sweetheart, very pleasant to talk to. and swisher pens. chuck and his daughter (forget her name) were also great to buy from.

[Bo Bo Olson]

Mostly I use my B&M, it's only for minor brands or foreign inks that I go online.

[WarrenB]

Cult Pens for sheer inventory; Pure Pens for odd brands like Noodlers, Jinhao and their own ink; and more dip-pen oriented: Blots Pens for ink drawing supplies.

 

No affiliations except geography.

[shostakovich]

Cult Pens for sheer inventory; Pure Pens for odd brands like Noodlers, Jinhao and their own ink; and more dip-pen oriented: Blots Pens for ink drawing supplies.

 

No affiliations except geography.

 

I thought Cult Pens and Pure pens are one and the same?

[A Smug Dill]

I thought Cult Pens and Pure pens are one and the same?

 

 

No; otherwise Cult Pens would not have seen a quid of my money, let alone >£800 this year to date.

 

Pure Pens and Niche Pens are one and the same.

[RJS]

When I've been in the UK I've happily shopped with Cult Pens. I've never bought any of my pricier pens with them, but their stock and service are fantastic. My first review on Trustpilot was a positive one for them.

 

I do a lot of shopping with Amazon in the UK too, be it their UK or US website. Slightly off topic, but I must say their packaging of books is atrocious these days, though, (and seemingly their handling) compared to a few years ago when it was excellent. Some of the books I have bought have been hardbacks battered in such a way that it would be hard to replicate the damage without serious effort, simply dropping a book from 6 foot onto concrete wouldn't be nearly sufficient.

[fphilipp]

In the EU: customer service has been excellent from penworld.eu, appelboompennen.nl, thewritingdesk.co.uk, andys-pens.co.uk. For the first two, you will find 10% off codes pretty easily on the web. Andy will go the extra mile for you.

 

[A Smug Dill]

I do a lot of shopping with Amazon in the UK too, be it their UK or US website. Slightly off topic, but I must say their packaging of books is atrocious these days, though,

 

 

You'd be flabbergasted by how Amazon UK packages bottled ink for shipping (internationally, no less). I was. It was a miracle there was neither breakage nor leakage, considering there was essentially no void fill — other than a single, thin, toilet-paper-square sized bubble wrap around each flimsy box inside the shipping cardboard wrap typically used for books (and it wasn't even properly sealed on both ends!) — and the retail packaging looked like Dorian Grey's portrait when the items arrived.

[maclink]

Cult Pens for sheer inventory; Pure Pens for odd brands like Noodlers, Jinhao and their own ink; and more dip-pen oriented: Blots Pens for ink drawing supplies.

 

No affiliations except geography.

Four years back when I first started purchasing from them, they certainly led in the Inventory, but they seem to be slipping now to other UK retailers. Although they carry pens for a lot of brands, their stock on some of the brands can be limited. Anderson pens has great inventory as well and Writehere is improving in that whichever brand they stock, they stock well.

[TitoThePencilPimp]

My favorite is Cult Pens. Offers really good deals on my favorite pen company (Pelikan). Penchalet is a close second, for Sailor Ink (my main ink), since it is reasonably priced there ($12). Appleboom and Akkerman are also great, sometimes I find stuff cheaper here, then anymore else. I tend to stay away from Goulet, due to the markup on some of their items. Maybe they are a small company that cannot offer items at a lower price, without cutting into their profit margins.