Martemodena

[kroywen1982]

Has anyone had prior transaction the above captioned dealer? Please kindly let me know. Thank you.

[Chrissy]

There have been other threads about this seller. Watch out for the shipping price, especially on multiple items.

[Ted F]

I bought a Federico from him last summer. The price was $55.90 for the pen and $12.90 for shipping. It's a good full sized pen by Delta and a numbered edition. One major difference on his pens is the cap band. It's not sterling silver as on the full Deltas. The nib is stainless steel and it's a very nice writing pen. Well worth the price.

 

[kroywen1982]

There have been other threads about this seller. Watch out for the shipping price, especially on multiple items.

 

Thank you for your reply, I won a somewhat low winning bid of a Parker fountain pen on eBay. I paid them in full right away. They told me I got to wait 10 business day before they can ship out the pen. Then I asked them when the it's 15 days later after the bidding, they replied it's going to be mailed out within 3 days. On the 17 day, they singlehandly cancelled the transaction, and told me to acknowledge the cancellation before they will refund me. I told them they shouldn't do that. Then, they to threaten me on email and on my Facebook, etc.

 

I had enough of this, I acknowledged the cancellation of the transanction. But they still put a hold on the refund payment. It has been hell dealing with them. It's horrible.

[888007888]

I've purchased from them many times on both their eBay site via auction and buy it now, as well as directly form their website. No issues. Always arrived on time. There was only one time DHL sent me an additional bill for import fees of some sort. Sorry to read about your experience.

[Barkingpig]

I have also purchased a couple of pens from them, one from their Ebay Site & one from their Web Site & no problems with either order; a Delta & most recently a Visconti, both were as they should be.

[FriendAmos]

I bought a Federico from him last summer. The price was $55.90 for the pen and $12.90 for shipping. It's a good full sized pen by Delta and a numbered edition. One major difference on his pens is the cap band. It's not sterling silver as on the full Deltas. The nib is stainless steel and it's a very nice writing pen. Well worth the price.

 

Delta.Federico.jpg

 

That looks like plenty of good pen for $55.90.

Edited June 26, 2017 by FriendAmos

[FriendAmos]

I have had several dealings with them, and all were "good" except one. But even the nominally bad one was quickly made good: they sent a pen with an M nib instead of the B that I had ordered; I complained; they arranged for DHL to pick up the M nib and then sent me a B, all at their expense. I was pleased with the "resolution".

 

I'll gladly buy from them at any time. In fact I am right now bidding on some of their wares on ebay.

[Ted F]

 

That looks like plenty of good pen for $55.90.

 

It's a very good pen and I can't believe the price I paid for what I got. The only real difference between the Federico and a standard Delta is the trim. This was an eBay purchase but a "Buy It Now" price not a bid.

[Erik Dalton]

I can confirm that my experiences with them are similar to most others. They are usually very efficient with quick shipping.

My only beef with them is that I got charged with custom and brokers fees by DHL on all pens I've bought from them. For that reason I've stayed away after the third time.

[FriendAmos]

I can confirm that my experiences with them are similar to most others. They are usually very efficient with quick shipping.

My only beef with them is that I got charged with custom and brokers fees by DHL on all pens I've bought from them. For that reason I've stayed away after the third time.

 

They have no say on the customs fees. Brokerage fees could certainly be avoided if they used regular postal service, but that is still DHL's stuff.

[jkingrph]

Also consider that when DHL sends you a bill for customs they add a "processing" fee for their service, May be $15 for a relatively low customs fee, Really bad. I would pay the customs and ignore their fee, as you did not contract for it or previously agree to it.

[Lam1]

Thank you for your reply, I won a somewhat low winning bid of a Parker fountain pen on eBay. I paid them in full right away. They told me I got to wait 10 business day before they can ship out the pen. Then I asked them when the it's 15 days later after the bidding, they replied it's going to be mailed out within 3 days. On the 17 day, they singlehandly cancelled the transaction, and told me to acknowledge the cancellation before they will refund me. I told them they shouldn't do that. Then, they to threaten me on email and on my Facebook, etc.

I had enough of this, I acknowledged the cancellation of the transanction. But they still put a hold on the refund payment. It has been hell dealing with them. It's horrible.

That is horrible. I'm really sorry that you have experienced this.

 

About 2 years ago, I bought 3 pens from them without any incident (aside from the usual DHL stuff).

However, at that time they had a consistent shipping policy (same for all pens) and it was not outrageous as it is for some pens now. As soon as they started charging $15 to ship one pen and in another auction, at the same time, shipping was $60 or so, I decided to walk away from them. That kind of policy/behavior doesn't sit well with me. There are simply too many good sellers and good deals online to risk.

 

Best of luck with this situation.

[aardvarkbark]

My experience is same as many others. I had purchased three Deltas from them over the course of a year. They seem to have had a preferred relationship with Delta and offered best pricing (even including shipping and DHL fees) on Dolce Vita with gold nib/trim and raised cap band, and a couple of 'Special Editions' that didn't seem to be offered anywhere else. I have seen some of their listings with the exorbitant shipping charges, but I only paid around $15 for the ones I bought. One does have to consider any carrier's Customs brokerage fees (other than USPS, who has never charged it) when ordering anything from a foreign seller. Apparently, Poste Italiane is unreliable, so MM insists on using DHL. My pens were shipped immediately and very well wrapped for protection in transit.

[Ian the Jock]

I've ordered 4 Deltas from Martemodena and never had an issue.

Their service was very quick and any queries that I had were promptly dealt with.

Like everything bought on ebay, the TOTAL price should be what's looked at.

If it's a good overall deal, even with seemingly high shipping, so what, a good deal's a good deal.

 

Ian

[FriendAmos]

I've ordered 4 Deltas from Martemodena and never had an issue.

Their service was very quick and any queries that I had were promptly dealt with.

Like everything bought on ebay, the TOTAL price should be what's looked at.

If it's a good overall deal, even with seemingly high shipping, so what, a good deal's a good deal.

 

Ian

 

Martemodena is a company that gives fountain-pen users the opportunity to get excellent pens in great deals. The questionable---and probably shameful---attempts by a few to malign the company are hard to understand. We can't always get great deals on *our* terms.

[jkingrph]

 

Martemodena is a company that gives fountain-pen users the opportunity to get excellent pens in great deals. The questionable---and probably shameful---attempts by a few to malign the company are hard to understand. We can't always get great deals on *our* terms.

 

I disagree. I do not think my comments are shameful. I rather think any company, not just Martemodena that posts prices that are probably too low to begin with, then suckers someone in with absurd shipping should be harshly condemmed.

 

I also severely question DHL policy of seemingly always saying customs is charged, and then charging a fee to collect that.

 

I realize that they are complying with ebay rules, and probably those should be changed. I feel shipping charged should be the actual cost incurred for the service. Price for the item itself should include packaging and any handling..

 

I think most of us at one time or another have been tired and not as observant as we should have been and a victim of those underhanded practices.

[FriendAmos]

I rather think any company, not just Martemodena that posts prices that are probably too low to begin with, then suckers someone in with absurd shipping should be harshly condemmed.

 

I also severely question DHL policy of seemingly always saying customs is charged, and then charging a fee to collect that.

 

Price for the item itself should include packaging and any handling.

 

I think most of us at one time or another have been tired and not as observant as we should have been and a victim of those underhanded practices.

 

The shipping prices are always displayed, so I don't know what you mean by people getting suckered. It certainly seems simple enough to look at prices, add the displayed shipping amount, compare totals, and then decide if one can afford what is on offer; the only "skill" required there is Grade-1 arithmetic, and it seems reasonable to assume that Ebay users have that. If anyone should be condemned, it is probably those who seem unable to do simple sums and then go off to malign a good seller.

 

On DHL: What they do or don't do has nothing to do with Martemodena. And there is no need to necessarily"question their policy", whether severely or even milldy, on Customs; one can simply check the official government rates and point out to DHL any discrepancy. Also, what they charge the recipient is not a fee to collect the Customs duty; it is brokerage fee for fast Customs clearance.

 

Finally, unless one knows how much Martemodena pays the people doing their packaging and handling, it is unreasonable to make assumptions on what is reasonable or not.

 

Lastly, looking at shipping prices is not something that requires people to be particularly wide-awake or especially observant. And to the extent that one doesn't care to look or is "tired and not as observant", it is hardly the seller's fault.

Edited July 12, 2017 by FriendAmos

[Ted F]

As I mentioned in post #3 I paid $55.90 and $12.90 for shipping on a Delta Federico. I didn't think that pricing was out of line. Over the years DHL has delivered to me many times and they have never charged me customs duty or any kind of fee.

[FriendAmos]

As I mentioned in post #3 I paid $55.90 and $12.90 for shipping on a Delta Federico. I didn't think that pricing was out of line. Over the years DHL has delivered to me many times and they have never charged me customs duty or any kind of fee.

 

DHL should not, and in my experience, does not charge for Customs if the value at the destination country doe not warrant Customs duty; DHL has no say in that. And, in my experience, if there is no Customs duty to be paid, they will not charge a brokerage fee for speedy clearance.