What's Your Favorite Online Fountain Pen Supplies Retailer?

[mauckcg]

For more European centric purches, Fontoplumo. Just don't use BPost as shipping, i'm a month in waiting for an order at this piont. DHL is a week or less usually.

 

Domestic stuff, Anderson and Vanness usually unless PenChalet has an exclusive.

[Mysterious Mose]

ParramattaPaul: Would you please indicate how to access Writetime? Google search and eBay don't turn up anything. No address, phone number or URL.

 

Thanks.

[brokenclay]

Got to work on your Google-Fu: http://www.writetime.co.uk

Edited October 16, 2020 by brokenclay

[Mysterious Mose]

Got to work on your Google-Fu: http://www.writetime.co.uk

I don't want to be Google-Fu, but thanks anyway.

[ParramattaPaul]

ParramattaPaul: Would you please indicate how to access Writetime? Google search and eBay don't turn up anything. No address, phone number or URL.

 

Thanks.

My apologies. I should have included a link. http://www.writetime.co.uk

[brokenclay]

I don't want to be Google-Fu, but thanks anyway.

 

Do you mean you dont want to acquire Google-Fu?

 

google-fu

The ability to use Google with zen like prowess.

 

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=google-fu

[AmandaW]

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)

 

 

When your orders come from such suppliers via DHL are you hit with import duties/taxes? I have only ever selected postal shipping being afraid to have my package held for ransom by DHL. (La Couronne du Comte, for example, don't appear to offer postal shipping for anything larger than cartridges.)

 

[A Smug Dill]

When your orders come from such suppliers via DHL are you hit with import duties/taxes?

 

Not if the declared value of the package's contents is less than A$1000; and I never allow an individual retailer to ship more than that to me in a given week (and I don't place single orders of more than that in value).

 

(La Couronne du Comte, for example, don't appear to offer postal shipping for anything larger than cartridges.)

 

Yeah, it seems the delivery method selection on its new web shop platform has some teething problems.

[Aysedasi]

Yeah, it seems the delivery method selection on its new web shop platform has some teething problems.

 

If my experience is anything to go by, it's delivery generally they have problems with. I'd never go to them again.

[A Smug Dill]

If my experience is anything to go by, it's delivery generally they have problems with. I'd never go to them again.

 

A package containing four bottles of Sailor Manyo ink — that, on the day of ordering back in June, LCdC's product page clearly informed me that the colours are yet to be released and it would be a pre-order — along with a bottle of Herbin pen flush that was out of stock at the time will be arriving at my address by DHL today. Other items on the same order that were available at the time have already been received months ago.

 

OK, so LCdC wasn't ready to ship the inks in the "August/September" time-frame it stated for availability for the pre-ordered inks; and I could see that some other retailers in the Netherlands and the US appeared to have those inks in stock and ready to ship in that time-frame; but I knew full well LCdC has a track record of being laggardly when it comes to fulfilling pre-orders and failing to meet its originally stated time-frame by a month or so.

 

For the price I paid for the ink, and the mode of delivery used in spite of being free of charges to me, I'm still pretty happy about that, especially these days when something sent by USPS or Royal Mail could just go dark on the tracking radar for weeks on end, with nobody being particularly interested to look for it when I inquired. Had I ordered the same inks at a higher price for a US retailer that was able to ship the the products in September, I'd probably still be waiting for them to arrive anyway.

 

Amazon, irrespective of how some haters just want to pick a bone with it because it's huge in the US and globally but doesn't bend over to try pleasing certain small pockets of community sentiment about its place in modern society, is the only US retailer I wholeheartedly trust to ship things promptly in spite of 'free' delivery and take customer service seriously when orders are in transit but haven't arrived.

 

 

Edit: And here they are before lunch time, on the first business day of the week, gift-wrapped in LCdC's signature heavy/luxury green wrapping paper... which is often a hassle to remove because they do such a good job of wrapping everything so neatly and beautifully, even when I'm just buying stuff for my own use! I'd genuinely prefer them not to spend the time, effort and money to wrap such items, when it doesn't add to the value proposition to me, but oh well.

 

Edited October 19, 2020 by A Smug Dill

[jvr]

Goulet or Goldspot in the US.

 

Casa Della Stilografica abroad.

[Bookman]

Tie: Goulet Pens and Jet Pens

[sgphototn]

Each online seller has different characteristics. In the US, for my paper and inks I go with Vanness and Amazon. Overseas for pens it's Cult Pens. 

 

I have ordered previously from Goulet and Pen Chalet without problems, though Goulet has high shipping costs and less than speedy shipping.

 

Order from Vanness and it's often 2-3 days to my home.

 

 

[tde44x]

Not in any particular order:

• Goulet
• Endless Pens
• CultPens
• Fountain Pen Revolution

Have had great experiences with all of them.

[PAKMAN]

Vanness Pens

[MoriartyR]

My favourite online retailers are Fontoplumo, StiloeStile, and Sakura Pens. They all have accurate, real-time inventory so you know you will get what you order with no delays, and they have good selections with some less common items. I would add The Nibsmith as well for the range and great prices on Auroras as well as his free nib tuning.

 

I have used most of the other major European online retailers and have experienced mixed fortunes, from significant delays in obtaining what I ordered to sending wrong items and even one time a beautifully gift-wrapped Montblanc box with no pen inside. They always resolve the issues but it’s an unwanted hassle. I won’t name names because it isn’t in the positive spirit of this thread.

 

[TrentinWA]

I think I've ordered from a bunch of them, but my favorite might be Fontoplumo, just because their physical store is (was?) such an inviting place and Frank is accessible and friendly. 

[sansenri]

Casa della Stilografica in Firenze is my favourite for purchases of Italian pens, they usually have wide stock and are very competent and reliable.

Novelli in Rome is a reference, slightly more expensive though.

I have often bought from Corsani in Rome, too.

Buying in US is complex from here, but I did make some nice purchases from Vanness.

 

[Al-fresco]

Akkerman’s - because UK Customs just love opening neat little parcels from The Netherlands.

[merserene]

Cult Pens. And I'm in the US. Usually I accumulate enough items to place an order that qualifies for free shipping.

 

Domestic-wise, Goldspot is fast becoming a favorite. I purchased 3 out of my last 4 Pens from them.