What Happened To Bottled Sailor Ink?

[katerchen]

This is odd. Sailor ink all but disappeared from US retailers. JetPens doesn't even list them anymore, neither does Goulet. Anderson at least lists them but the few I checked were all out of stock with no ETA.

 

Amazon has a few bottles left from third parties, but that's about it. They are also a lot more expensive than what I paid a couple of years ago (at which time there was no issue finding them).

 

Anyone happen to have insight on this?

 

-k

 

EDIT: Same with eBay. There are maybe three Japanese sellers selling Sailor inks and that's about it.

Edited January 3, 2019 by katerchen

[sirgilbert357]

My bad, I cleaned everyone out...my wife told me it was silly to spend my entire Christmas bonus on Sailor inks, but....

 

J/K!!

 

That is a bit odd, and a little concerning if things don't turn around soon. But I doubt this is permanent. If it were, surely someone in the know would have seen it coming and there would have been threads about it. Maybe Sailor is just having supply chain issues for the moment...

[empliau]

Try nibs dot com, they seem to have lots. IIRC Goulet hasn't had Sailor since 2013. And I tried three inks at Anderson (Yama-dori, Epinard, and Nioi-sumire) and got "add to bag" for all three. Can you be more specific about what you're looking for? Sailor makes a heewacking lot of inks.

Edited January 3, 2019 by empliau

[A Smug Dill]

They are also a lot more expensive than what I paid a couple of years ago (at which time there was no issue finding them).

 

Anyone happen to have insight on this?

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/341166-sailor-inks/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/329664-sailor-shikiori-ink-line/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/332222-new-sailor-bottles/

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/315847-yama-dori-sailor-jentle-ink/page-2?do=findComment&comment=4130647

 

EDIT: Same with eBay. There are maybe three Japanese sellers selling Sailor inks and that's about it.

Try Rakuten Global Market.

[Honeybadgers]

Sailor has made a concerted effort to pull out of almost every US vendor they can. They're making their bottles smaller and vastly jacking up the prices.

 

I just want a 350mL bottle of souten, Tokiwa-matsu, and yama-dori like the pilot blue black comes in. Sell me that for $40 and I'd be a happy camper.

 

I'm getting kind of sick of sailor. Yes, the quality is there, but they are really just being weird. They sell products and are just making customers jump through hoops. Maybe it has a lot to do with them wanting to focus on the home market, but with the relatively recent explosion in popularity of fountain pens, America is a huge market that would be silly to not expand into. Pilot just pulled an almost inexplicably consumer-friendly move by dropping the price of iroshizuku (which was already considered a relatively good value for premium ink in a premium bottle) by thirty freaking percent while keeping their almost universally loved bottle.

 

Maybe I'll be singing their praises again when my 1911 maroon realo arrives, but I'm not thrilled with their ink situation.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[A Smug Dill]

I just want a 350mL bottle of souten, Tokiwa-matsu, and yama-dori like the pilot blue black comes in. Sell me that for $40 and I'd be a happy camper.

Was that ever on offer, either as a retail package or in terms of (per millilitre) unit price?

[Steveg58]

The Sailor Shikiori and Ink Studio lines seem to be readily available in Australia. But they are all the new 20ml bottles at AU$26 or thereabouts. Given the AU exchange rate has just dropped again you might get a reasonable price.

[Honeybadgers]

Was that ever on offer, either as a retail package or in terms of (per millilitre) unit price?

 

I'm talking about pilot ink, which is sold in black, blue-black, and red (I don't think blue was on offer) in 350mL bottles for about $20 USD. Standard pilot colors, not iroshizuku.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Ink-350ml-INK350BB-japan-import/dp/B001P35A74/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1546493197&sr=8-1&keywords=pilot+350+ml+ink

 

If you haven't tried the BB, I highly recommend it. it shades, it sheens, it's quite water resistant, and it's well behaved.

 

the 350mL bottle is obviously useless for filling from, but I just use a spare lamy T50 bottle.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Honeybadgers

[A Smug Dill]

I'm talking about pilot ink,

And I was asking whether what would make you 'a happy camper' was ever on commercial offer in the market. You were quite specific about the brand and colour of inks, within the scope of your statement, as well as the bottle capacity and item/unit price.

 

Of course, I'd be a happy camper if someone offered me unencumbered title to a house (or even just an apartment) with clear view of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House for $400, but alas that was never going to happen and has never happened before.

[Honeybadgers]

Sorry, I thought my statement was a little confusingly laid out and was in need of clarification.

 

You would obviously know more than I do about whether or not Sailor ever offered a large bottle of their jentle line, so why even ask me? I'm almost certain they never did. I only barely tolerated their old 50mL bottles at $14-18.

[Driften]

Pen Chalet has 24 out of 25 colors of Sailor Jentle bottled ink (50ml) in stock. Priced from $11-22 depending on color. The only one they are out of is Grenade.

[Honeybadgers]

Which US based online vendors other than chalet sell sailor ink?

[Driften]

Which US based online vendors other than chalet sell sailor ink?

 

Vaness1938 but it seems like right now they only have the cheeper bottles and are out of the full line. Anderson Pens seems to have a good set of Sailor Inks right now and seem to be in stock as well.

 

Any reason to not like Pen Chalet? I have bought there often and they ship fast from Arizona to Seattle. It's easy to always find a 10% off coupon code. For example: GOURMETPENS

[Honeybadgers]

Oh I was just curious. Chalet is fine.

[katerchen]

Try nibs dot com, they seem to have lots. IIRC Goulet hasn't had Sailor since 2013. And I tried three inks at Anderson (Yama-dori, Epinard, and Nioi-sumire) and got "add to bag" for all three. Can you be more specific about what you're looking for? Sailor makes a heewacking lot of inks.

 

I have a strong preference to blacks and blue blacks, so these were the ones I looked at:

 

https://andersonpens.com/sailor-jentle-blue-black-ink-50ml-bottle/

https://andersonpens.com/sailor-kiwa-guro-pigmented-nano-black-ink-50ml-bottle/

https://andersonpens.com/sailor-sei-boku-pigmented-nano-blue-black-ink-50ml-bottle/

https://andersonpens.com/sailor-souboku-pigmented-nano-blue-black-ink-50ml-bottle/

 

they all come up as "notify me".

 

I wonder if their current stock is leftovers and when they are gone, they are gone.

 

-k

[A Smug Dill]

I wonder if their current stock is leftovers and when they are gone, they are gone.

 

 

Those colours are still all being manufactured and packaged for retail in 50ml bottles by Sailor.

 

http://www.sailor.co.jp/lineup/fountainpen-others

 

However, the 'Jentle' name has been discontinued for marketing purposes, as well as the 'Nano' (for pigment inks).

[Honeybadgers]

Do you know if Grenade is still being made? I recall hearing something on youtube about it being replaced by oku-yama (the two are nearly identical)

[A Smug Dill]

I'm afraid Sailor Jentle Grenade ink was truly discontinued even before I ever heard of Jentle inks. There have been some reviews to state (or allude) that Okuyama is just about identical – by chromatographical analysis or whatever – but I've never seen Grenade offered for retail sales (including on eBay) in all of 2018.

[bass1193]

I'm so glad I got a backup stock of a couple bottles of Jentle Yama-dori! I got into Sailor because it was cheaper than anything but Diamine, and delightfully Japanese to boot. Now Yama-dori in the new line is double the price, but I have a lifetime supply. Haha suckers! Interestingly, after sampling the two new bottles, none of them are the same. All great but different. Maybe Nathan doesn't deserve all the hate he gets. I, for one, find batch inconsistency charming and understandable. Especially when it's a small operation vs. a gigantic one.

[Bo Bo Olson]

MB's basic shoe bottle inks just hit too dammed expensive at E19***.....for us in Germany Japanese inks is E22, so still to expensive for me. (Before Amazon got into the ink business a couple years ago, Japanese ink was E70.)

 

At only $10-12 a bottle.....no wonder Japanese ink is so popular in the States.

 

I can remember reading here, how very expensive the old C'DA inks were....then when they discontinued them, I got them 'cheap' at @ E8 (the normal European price....no where near too dammed expensive).....should have gotten all instead of just 6....but after a bit, it becomes money.

 

Inks are more to much more expensive in various portions of the world. Pelikan makes it's normal inks that are priced to Indian subcontinent prices there.............lots cheaper than in Germany.

 

I can believe Sailor going to less ink, or charging the other arm....seems to be the trend.

The new C'dA inks came out in the shock range of at or close to E30, Graf FC followed...knowing it was possible , and MB seems to have thought their inks too common....(Even the 'normal limited inks are now out of my range.....and some idiots....not many I hope bought the 'antique' style E60 MB LE.....and there were if I remember a couple of them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

 

As of yet Pelikan Edelstein inks are still E16....."Cheap" suddenly. Not that the price has dropped out side in comparison.

 

***MB shoe bottle inks....a decade ago E12 (Then rather expensive to one only use to 4001 and Lamy turquoise E3.50 prices), then for quite a while E13....skipped up to E15 'just recently' in time for the new....Lavender Purple......and now suddenly jumped to E19........

 

R&K Verdura for @ E8.50 is as good as MB Irish Green...........in my test of green-greenish inks, I had R&K a nose in front. (Someone else had Irish a nose in front.....but at E19 vs E 8.50.....there is no longer a close race.

 

There is some Polish ink that is well liked now....got to check the price....but MB, Japanese is too expensive.....someone said Noodlers can be had in Europe for @ E10-19 up to E44. Most of the prices seemed in the E 18 range. Again an expensive ink.

Don't even get the beautiful bottle of Edelstein. For that sort of money.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Bo Bo Olson