New Website: Ink By The Ml

[Davros]

Ink by the Ml offers 5 ml samples of fountain pen inks to people in the US. The goal is to offer ink at a reasonable enough price that everyone can try stuff they're curious about, or get smaller amounts instead of a full bottle.

I've been doing this through the Classifieds since January, but I migrated to an actual website (now with pictures! and a shopping cart! and easy-to-understand pricing!). I still offer sliding scale prices and monthly giveaways.

I've got some great boutique inks that are getting buzz but aren't readily available in sample form in the US, including L'artisan Pastellier and KWZI, as well as some popular brands like Diamine and Sailor.

I'm also planning on doing some reviews of the less known inks, so if there's one you're really curious about, drop me a line (either through my contact form or PM) and I'll add it to the queue.

[jordanjay29]

Fascinating! I like this idea.

[BobR]

Looks very well done, good luck with your venture.

[delano]

Nice website. Very easy to navigate. I wish you well,

[gylyf]

This looks great. Just placed an order!

[bardharlock]

May I say I really admire the spirit of your website, ethos presented in your flexible pricing, and the ideas presented in the giveaways section. Bravo! I wish you all the best in this endeavor, and shall be placing an order sooner rather than later.

[nibbling]

Very cool. I think I'll be utilizing your services!

[Rita_K]

to Davros for providing us with the opportunity to try some of these

wonderful inks at a very reasonable cost. I've already ordered twice and

Dav's communication and service is top notch.

 

Thanks for doing this Dav. Wishing you all the best.

[Davros]

Aww, thanks, you all.

[shock_milan]

I've used this before, and I will definitely order another one soon.

The owner packs each vial very, very, very neatly that it's almost impossible to leak. Very caring.

 

Out of curiosity, why only 5ml? (That's usually more than I need. But that's just my opinion )

[jordanjay29]

I've used this before, and I will definitely order another one soon.

The owner packs each vial very, very, very neatly that it's almost impossible to leak. Very caring.

 

Out of curiosity, why only 5ml? (That's usually more than I need. But that's just my opinion )

 

I imagine he's using the 6mL vials? You wouldn't want to overfill and suffer expansion/leakage from varying temperatures/elevation, not to mention spills from attempts to fill by inserting the pen nib/section.

[bardharlock]

 

I imagine he's using the 6mL vials? You wouldn't want to overfill and suffer expansion/leakage from varying temperatures/elevation, not to mention spills from attempts to fill by inserting the pen nib/section.

Could be that. It could also be that most inks are sold in volumes easily divisible by units of five.

[jordanjay29]

Could be that. It could also be that most inks are sold in volumes easily divisible by units of five.

I don't see why those have to be mutually exlusive reasons.

[bardharlock]

I don't see why those have to be mutually exlusive reasons.

I don't think they are! That's why I included the "also", rather than the "or it could be."

[StrawberryJam]

I've used this before, and I will definitely order another one soon.

The owner packs each vial very, very, very neatly that it's almost impossible to leak. Very caring.

 

Out of curiosity, why only 5ml? (That's usually more than I need. But that's just my opinion )

 

You can order in more than 5ml samples, just gotta email Dav. I get 10ml samples, which come shipped in 30ml transport vials, to satisfy my "try it a few times and move onto something new" mindset.

[shock_milan]

Oh, what I meant was less than 5ml. I don't need more ink with same price as other retailers, but I want the same amount of ink with cheaper price than the others.

 

Btw, last time I placed my order, he used 5ml vial which seems identical to the Goulet Pen's one.

 

 

Considering the time & effort he puts into this, it's kind of pitiless to order very tiny amount of ink. (like 2ml each, although that's what I want)

But I still love this idea.

[inkstainedruth]

Just found this thread. And he's got KWZI inks! But, natch -- Grey Plum is sold out; that figures....

 

I like the idea of the slightly larger amounts. Sometimes, particularly with a pen with a large nib, 2 ml isn't enough to really try a sample in more than one pen. Thanks for doing this.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Davros]

I've used this before, and I will definitely order another one soon.

The owner packs each vial very, very, very neatly that it's almost impossible to leak. Very caring.

 

Out of curiosity, why only 5ml? (That's usually more than I need. But that's just my opinion )

Pretty much everyone who ordered from me pre-website wanted 5 or 10 ml, so I figured that was handy for most. Also my pipette is 5 ml.

 

The other big reason is inventory. My current site will calculate stock, but there's no way to pull two different amounts from the same stock. I couldn't say "this bottle has 50 units, and this option is 5 units and this unit is 2." I would have to keep manual records, which is what I did before - but it's extremely time consuming on my end and has lag time where some people are going to order inks that are out of stock. I considered setting aside a certain amount of 2 ml vials per bottle, but . . . It just seemed needlessly complicated.

 

A significant amount of the cost of each vial is the vial itself (label, bagging, Parafilm to tighten the seal), so you usually wouldn't save much. I figured that for most people, if the price was too high, they could do a discount. The really expensive inks would benefit most from a 2 ml option, and I haven't come up with a good solution. I think it's a limitation of my model.

 

The other factor is that with each dip into a bottle with a pipette, there's a little loss - some fluid gets stuck in the tip. I have a rule that nothing goes into bottles except clean tips, so that extra ink is a loss. This amount is about the same for any size of aliquot. If I know a bottle holds 10 dips, I can calculate loss much more accurately than if the bottle might have 25 dips. Thus, overall prices are lower and I am not caught short on a bottle because it had lots of 2 ml samples. (You may have gathered, but my margins are kind of tight.)

 

Some people split samples with friends or gift the extra - if you can afford it, that's a nice way to go.

 

Just found this thread. And he's got KWZI inks! But, natch -- Grey Plum is sold out; that figures....

 

I like the idea of the slightly larger amounts. Sometimes, particularly with a pen with a large nib, 2 ml isn't enough to really try a sample in more than one pen. Thanks for doing this.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

Ruth, I am putting together an order for more Grey Plum. May be a couple months, but it isn't gone forever.

[avlisyar]

When I saw the thread, I went directly to the web site

to see what was available. I placed a order and I am

finally getting to try some of the KWZI Inks. This is a

great idea and my thanks to DAVROS for making this

all possible.

[StrawberryJam]

Oh, what I meant was less than 5ml. I don't need more ink with same price as other retailers, but I want the same amount of ink with cheaper price than the others.

 

Btw, last time I placed my order, he used 5ml vial which seems identical to the Goulet Pen's one.

 

 

Considering the time & effort he puts into this, it's kind of pitiless to order very tiny amount of ink. (like 2ml each, although that's what I want)

But I still love this idea.

 

In addition to what Dav has posted, I recall that on the old Google Doc form, there was a statement about how the purpose of the website wasn't to try to displace those retailers that already offered 2ml sample, but to offer a way to get something more than 2ml if that is what you were looking for, and so, if you were looking for a 2ml sample of an ink, you should go the "traditional" route. Although some of the major retailers don't stock some of the inks (like the KWZI line), I do understand the sentiment to patron the other retailers (who are in the business of this, rather than as a hobby/side thing) first where possible.