Buying Lamy Nibs In Australia

[thesunshine]

Where is a good place to buy spare Lamy nibs for Safaris? I'm located in Sydney, and postage for online stores in the US makes the price prohibitive (I might as well buy a new Safari!)

 

Does anyone know where I can buy nibs locally for a reasonable price or in a way that avoids expensive shipping costs?

[Jamerelbe]

The only place I know of is Larry Post (http://www.larrypost.com.au/) - AU$19.95 for a nib, plus $2.75 postage. Not sure that I'd call that a cheap price, though the exchange rate makes it a little more favourable right now...

[Ethereal Winter Wind]

I was just about to say ebay, because there used to be a lot of Malaysian sellers, but I've just tried that search and they've all seemed to disappeared.

[thesunshine]

Sigh, yes that's exactly my issue - I bought my Safaris over the past 5 years from the aforementioned Malaysian eBay sellers, for under

$30 each. I can't bring myself to pay over $20 just for a new nib. Particularly when you could buy one for $7 in the US!

[The Blue Knight]

I just had a look, thought you could just order one off amazon in Australia. Turns out you only have amazon book store not the amazon selling everything we do.

 

I thought it was difficult to get fountain pen supply's in the UK however it seems fountain pen supplies are abundant compared to Australia.

[Jamerelbe]

I thought it was difficult to get fountain pen supply's in the UK however it seems fountain pen supplies are abundant compared to Australia.

 

There are a few good online stores in Australia, that cater to fountain pen lovers - but in terms of pricing, they often can't compete. I've had email correspondence with a couple of them, and gotten the same story: they're charging the prices passed on to them by the distributors. And with a few exceptions the local distributors (thinking here of Lamy, and especially of Kaweco!) seem to think that their monopoly on incoming products entitles them to rob their customers blind!

 

I'd understand a moderate mark-up on these prices - allowing for exchange rates, shipping, government taxes and the like - but when the price of a German (not American) made pen, or nib, or whatever, is nearly double what you'd pay in the US (where you also have shipping costs etc), there's clearly something fishy going on!

 

I haven't dealt with LarryPOST before - but their prices seem reasonable (for Australia). Notemaker also stock Lamy nibs (stub sizes only), and their asking price is AU$29 (plus postage). The LarryPOST website indicates that $19 is a sale price.

 

Goulet Pens are currently asking US$10.50 per nib (plus $6.55 postage, just for the one item) - which on current exchange rates comes to about AU$21.50. Hmmm... That's still about $0.25 cheaper than buying local!

[The Blue Knight]

 

There are a few good online stores in Australia, that cater to fountain pen lovers - but in terms of pricing, they often can't compete. I've had email correspondence with a couple of them, and gotten the same story: they're charging the prices passed on to them by the distributors. And with a few exceptions the local distributors (thinking here of Lamy, and especially of Kaweco!) seem to think that their monopoly on incoming products entitles them to rob their customers blind!

 

I'd understand a moderate mark-up on these prices - allowing for exchange rates, shipping, government taxes and the like - but when the price of a German (not American) made pen, or nib, or whatever, is nearly double what you'd pay in the US (where you also have shipping costs etc), there's clearly something fishy going on!

 

I haven't dealt with LarryPOST before - but their prices seem reasonable (for Australia). Notemaker also stock Lamy nibs (stub sizes only), and their asking price is AU$29 (plus postage). The LarryPOST website indicates that $19 is a sale price.

 

Goulet Pens are currently asking US$10.50 per nib (plus $6.55 postage, just for the one item) - which on current exchange rates comes to about AU$21.50. Hmmm... That's still about $0.25 cheaper than buying local!

 

What sort of vintage pens do you find in Australia as I've never heard of any Australian brands before. It's seems strange that Australia's fountain pen market is smaller then that of the UK or similar western countries.

[pen2paper]

Not sure about conversion to AUD, but you might review nib and shipping costs at The Writing Desk, UK.

TWD prices are generally competitive, and their website does indicate overseas shipping, aside from UK, EU, US.

Perhaps Lamy nibs only may qualify for their small package designation?

TWD webpage doesn't indicate overseas restrictions set by Lamy, so it might be worth an inquiry.

[Jamerelbe]

 

What sort of vintage pens do you find in Australia as I've never heard of any Australian brands before. It's seems strange that Australia's fountain pen market is smaller then that of the UK or similar western countries.

 

I'm not aware of any vintage Australian brands - though I'm not much of a vintage pen collector, so that may just be me! Parker, Sheaffer, Waterman would probably be the main brands you'd find in an antique store. There are a couple of boutique fountain pen manufacturing companies producing contemporary products, but as far as I know they're not available in local stores.

 

The Australian market suffers from the fact that we're geographically isolated (an island nation) - and despite the large size of our continent, the population sits aorund 21 million. In terms of economies of scale, that does make it challenging! [Though it still doesn't justify a 50% mark-up on imported fountain pen products!!]

[dave911]

I bought one of these from Germany through eBay about 2 months ago - took a while arrive though. But service was great. $10 US plus $3 US postage.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lamy-Safari-spare-single-nibs-in-different-sizes-in-Black-or-Silver-/151076080386

I got a black fine one for my black safari - now totally black.

[Newjelan]

I can recommend Larrypost.com.au (no affiliation) - I've bought Lamy nibs and also a Lamy 2000 from them as well as Leuchturn notebooks and their service is excellent.

[setriode]

I bought one of these from Germany through eBay about 2 months ago - took a while arrive though. But service was great. $10 US plus $3 US postage.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lamy-Safari-spare-single-nibs-in-different-sizes-in-Black-or-Silver-/151076080386

I got a black fine one for my black safari - now totally black.

This is my source too. It helps if you buy more than one.

[johnmc2]

I don't think anyone's mentioned Bureau Direct in UK, they sell Safari nibs for £3.75 plus £2.08 shipping to NZ I assume Australia might be similar or even cheaper.

[Adrianchalice]

I bought one of these from Germany through eBay about 2 months ago - took a while arrive though. But service was great. $10 US plus $3 US postage.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Lamy-Safari-spare-single-nibs-in-different-sizes-in-Black-or-Silver-/151076080386

I got a black fine one for my black safari - now totally black.

+3 for missing pen.de, have ordered from them a few times, takes a while (Germany is probably about as far away from WA as possible without leaving the planet) but always got it, taped onto one of their business cards.

Edited January 2, 2015 by Adrianchalice