Should I Get This Great Deal From Endless Pens?

[AMlines]

Why would the manufacturers care, especially if and where they're not American brands or enterprises?

 

As for why distributors price imports in such a manner, perhaps they're properly informed by historical and/or apparent local demand. You yourself have expressed a preference as a consumer and prospective purchaser to buy "locally", even after becoming aware that there are cheaper alternatives buy ordering from a retailer elsewhere. If the intangible property of being supplied by a business in the US is considered a value-add by you (and other consumers who feel the same way), for what are otherwise identical products that can be ordered directly from overseas supply channels in today's global market, the rational thing for businesses in the US to do is to capitalise on their "unique" position (i.e. being seen as "local", in contrast to authorised dealers elsewhere) and charge a premium for satisfying that additional criterion.

 

If you think, say, a 20% premium in buying from local businesses is acceptable to you, but a 50% premium isn't, then — again, rationally — the thing to do is to make it clear, to yourself and to the market, that you're prepared to forgo your preference, and order from overseas in the first instance. The more your compatriots do that, the lesser demand for local supply become, and US businesses will have to respond by dropping their prices (or dropping out of the market altogether). The path to a new compromise is necessitated when you aren't getting what you want and they aren't getting what they want; if one side is already getting what they want, then there is no impetus for change.

 

Well put! I may have contributed to this by ordering recently from nichepens

[dapprman]

Just remember your purchases from the UK are cheaper than for us as you're bypassing any taxation. In the UK and Europe we would have to pay VAT, in the USA you pay sales tax. Difference is in the UK and Europe people from outside can claim the tax back/get it removed from the purchase price. Not so with goods from the USA to outside.

[LyaT]

Congrats on your first M205! Niche pens is a great vendor. Their nib grinding service is good too, if you want to venture into that path.

 

I found endless pens prices too low to be true. Most of the pelikan special editions are under pre-order, even though they are all already released versions. I can understand a pre order for a yet to be released pen, but not the other way. The only explanation is, they take your money, and spend up to 120 days to source a pen at the lowest price possible. If they can source a good one, all happy; if they can only find a defect or used pen that looks like new, they will still ship it to you. Most people do not return bought online for the hassle, if the product is somewhat useable. In the worst case, they return your money, but in 120 days they could already make profits from investing your pre-paid cash.

 

Glad you did not fall for it!

[AMlines]

Congrats on your first M205! Niche pens is a great vendor. Their nib grinding service is good too, if you want to venture into that path.

 

I found endless pens prices too low to be true. Most of the pelikan special editions are under pre-order, even though they are all already released versions. I can understand a pre order for a yet to be released pen, but not the other way. The only explanation is, they take your money, and spend up to 120 days to source a pen at the lowest price possible. If they can source a good one, all happy; if they can only find a defect or used pen that looks like new, they will still ship it to you. Most people do not return bought online for the hassle, if the product is somewhat useable. In the worst case, they return your money, but in 120 days they could already make profits from investing your pre-paid cash.

 

Glad you did not fall for it!

 

You're right! This may well be their business model or modus-operandi, depending on how one looks at it ;p)

[Bibliophage]

That's not actually a cheat, or anything new.

 

Most of the 'late night TV ads' worked on that principle.

 

4-6 weeks for delivery, 29.95 plus S&H. If not completely satisfied, call for a full refund (less S&H).

 

The process is this.

 

1) They come up with prototype, or with agreement with a manufacturer.

2) 2 weeks of sales on TV, gathering orders, and money.

3) Based on orders, purchase 105% of necessary items (in case of replacements), paid for with order money.

4) 2-3 weeks for the manufactured goods (such as the Greatest Hits of the 1980's cassette tapes) to be produced, shipped, and received.

5) Ship goods to end consumer.

 

The S&H is enough to cover shipping _and the manufacturing cost of the goods in question_.

 

If the consumer requests a refund, their refund (collected by credit card), is returned in _another_ four to eight weeks, and by _check_. Even if they have to refund every single one of the sold items, they'll still make a small profit off of the "Handling" part of 'shipping and handling', plus some collected interest over a quarter.

 

It goes back much much further than that as well. 'Kickstarter' and 'indiegogo' are modern equivalents. Get the money together to order the product, then order the product and ship. I'm sure it's been that way for as long as mass production has existed, if not further back than that. Heck, Sears would do that. They'd get orders for 900 shotguns from their catalog (in 1902), and then order them from Belgian gun manufacturers, with the name Sears & Roebuck printed on them. Then they'd ship to the purchaser. (I found this out from researching an old side by side dual hammer shotgun)

[shinewu]

My experience is not so great with them. Their policy does not protect you in case your pen is marked "delivered" by USPS, but you did not receive it (say theft). And they don't insure the package for their customers for <=$100, so if it is theft, you can't file a claim against USPS even. I went through all these and lost my hard earned $100 on a transaction with them.

 

So if you want, please consider getting a signature service. Or use a payment method that protects you all the way like PayPal or American Express.

[A Smug Dill]

My experience is not so great with them. Their policy does not protect you in case your pen is marked "delivered" by USPS, but you did not receive it (say theft). And they don't insure the package for their customers for <=$100, so if it is theft, you can't file a claim against USPS even. I went through all these and lost my hard earned $100 on a transaction with them.

 

Sorry to hear that. I don't know whether they actually insure packages with goods of total value even to the tune of US$500. Recently, they sent me a package of US$250+ by USPS First-Class International Parcel Service — and somehow Australia Post marked it as "delivered" (and notified USPS to that effect, in a business-to-business manner by electronic data interchange in the background), even though the item wasn't actually physically scanned, and the "delivered" event (which was "inferred" and not physical) is nowhere near the actual location of the delivery address. Luckily, after I raised a complaint with Australia Post, the package was "delivered" to a post office ready for collection last weekend.

[inkstainedruth]

That's not actually a cheat, or anything new.

 

Most of the 'late night TV ads' worked on that principle.

 

4-6 weeks for delivery, 29.95 plus S&H. If not completely satisfied, call for a full refund (less S&H).

 

The process is this.

 

1) They come up with prototype, or with agreement with a manufacturer.

2) 2 weeks of sales on TV, gathering orders, and money.

3) Based on orders, purchase 105% of necessary items (in case of replacements), paid for with order money.

4) 2-3 weeks for the manufactured goods (such as the Greatest Hits of the 1980's cassette tapes) to be produced, shipped, and received.

5) Ship goods to end consumer.

Hmmm. That sounds suspciously like a certain bad 3rd party seller I dealt with in a purchase of a CD from Amazon.... I had already started to suspect that the excessively long ship time, coupled with the "Oh, DHL doesn't provide tracking information" claims (which sounded pretty bogus to me, even *before* the CD arrived -- via USPS, BTW, *not* by DHL -- with the mail delivered after being stopped over the Thanksgiving holiday) were because the seller didn't have it in stock at ALL (and had ordered it from the -- slightly cheaper -- seller in Europe that I had bypassed on the grounds of "Well, it can't take that long to ship, the seller is in the same state as me..."). Only to find out that not only it took LONGER, but the seller's location was an HOUR away from my house. I could have *driven* there and back -- had I but known.... Except that I suspect that they pulled the same stunt -- accept payment and THEN try to source the CD.

Well, with any luck my review will steer potential other customers FAR away from that 3rd party seller (sorry now that I didn't check the comments on their FB wall *before* ordering -- apparently I was lucky I got the CD at ALL -- let alone be offered a partial refund in return for a better review; somehow, though, I don't think that 3rd party seller is likely to appreciate my "amended" review... ).

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Honeybadgers]

 

Sorry to hear that. I don't know whether they actually insure packages with goods of total value even to the tune of US$500. Recently, they sent me a package of US$250+ by USPS First-Class International Parcel Service — and somehow Australia Post marked it as "delivered" (and notified USPS to that effect, in a business-to-business manner by electronic data interchange in the background), even though the item wasn't actually physically scanned, and the "delivered" event (which was "inferred" and not physical) is nowhere near the actual location of the delivery address. Luckily, after I raised a complaint with Australia Post, the package was "delivered" to a post office ready for collection last weekend.

 

I had a similar issue with UPS here trying to return my justus 95 from pilot.

 

UPS said "Delivered" but it was in fact sent to a store 30 minutes from my house, and not the one two minutes away that the note from the driver said it was.

Told me they'd ship it to the nearby store the next day. Didn't happen.

 

Told them to just reattempt delivery since they now said they couldn't ship it to another store (god knows why) wait four days, nothing, goes from "will reattempt to delivery" to just sitting back at the store.

 

Multiple calls and complaints later, they said "sorry, our system literally won't let us send it to another store. And we won't redeliver it. You can come pick it up tomorrow or it'll get shipped back to the sender"

 

I was pretty damn furious.

[inkstainedruth]

 

I had a similar issue with UPS here trying to return my justus 95 from pilot.

 

UPS said "Delivered" but it was in fact sent to a store 30 minutes from my house, and not the one two minutes away that the note from the driver said it was.

Told me they'd ship it to the nearby store the next day. Didn't happen.

 

Told them to just reattempt delivery since they now said they couldn't ship it to another store (god knows why) wait four days, nothing, goes from "will reattempt to delivery" to just sitting back at the store.

 

Multiple calls and complaints later, they said "sorry, our system literally won't let us send it to another store. And we won't redeliver it. You can come pick it up tomorrow or it'll get shipped back to the sender"

 

I was pretty damn furious.

 

Was that a different location for the same chain, or a different company entirely? Because if the former, I'd be on the phone with their corporate headquarters in record time going "FIX THIS! NOW.... Or the NEXT phone call I make will be to the consumer affairs division of the Attorney-General in the state where you're incorporated! And the phone call after THAT will be to send a TV camera crew with a consumer reporter to your headquarters...."

A lot of times if I can't find an item in a local store, I will have the customer service department call around to find another location in the area that has the item in stock (generally there are enough different locations in the area for specific chains like Target that I don't mind driving around). I had trouble a number of years ago with K-Mart over trying to buy animated light-up reindeer to put in the yard at Christmastime (also known as "the insidious plot to undermine Western Civilization as we know it"). Close K-mart had one style but not both. Called the one in the next county and was told by the person on the phone that "Yes, we have both!" Went up there, couldn't find the one I wanted, and was subjected to the manager of the "seasonal/garden" department verbally b*tch-slapping an assistant manager about how "this poor customer came all the way up here from Allegheny County because some idiot on the phone told here we had this in stock!" (Honestly, it was a 20 minute drive to the Cranberry store from my house, but it was amusing nonetheless). Eventually someone I knew tipped me off that there was what I wanted in the Edgewood Towne Center location (which was a further drive than Cranberry from my house) and I rushed out to get it before it got sold. Then, after all that, the things were manufactured in China, and were poorly engineered, covered white paint was lead-based (so you had to IMMEDIATELY wash your hands after handling them), one of them didn't work very well as far as the movement went (one nodded its head and the other bobbed its head up and down -- or rather they were SUPPOSED to) and the other had a section on its butt that didn't light up at ALL. And after all that I think they got stolen out of the barn before the next Christmas....

Unfortunately, too many companies have decided to go the "Amazon business model" route -- they show things on their websites that are NOT available in stores, only by mail/internet order -- which means you can't LOOK at the thing to see if it will fit/work/be what you want (and if it's not, then you have to jump through hoops to return it). And I suspect that there will be a message left on my answering machine from Barnes & Noble's corporate office (since they didn't call back before we left town for Christmas going "blah blah blah" and they will get told "Well YOUR company just lost $142 worth of Christmas sales in favor of a local stationery store that had a nice variety of wall calendar IN STOCK so I shopped there instead; and also bought myself a new Unemployed Philosophers Guild "passport" notebook for *myself* besides. You lose...."

Unless of course it gets pushed off the caller ID by all the spam hangup calls spoofing Duquesne Light Company's phone number....

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

edited for typos

Edited December 25, 2019 by inkstainedruth

[bbs]

I recently bought two pens from them at really great prices and with no problems. UK buyers beware, though, you will get charged Customs fees. Still a good deal.

[bogiesan]

This is very black and white. Endless Pens is NOT recognized as an authorized retailer by Chartpak, nor are they listed on Pelikan's list of authorized dealers. They are, therefore, gray market.A direct quote from an exchange with Endless Pens during my issue with an M805 (which ended up needing to be replaced) bought from their eBay store "aver-comb":"I am not an authorized retailer I buy from authorized distributors in Europe that’s why I am able to keep our prices low. Pelikan has a worldwide warranty system and as you saw you had the guarantee in your gift box which clearly states it’s a world wide warranty. Chartpak is trying to protect its local market from grey market sellers which is fair enough. The way we counter this is by doing the warranty system ourselves and we have an understanding with our European dealers."

 

 

Oh. Thanks for posting that account of your intercourse. Still, I wouldn't have any problems buying from Endless Pens again. The two things they have going for them are good to excellent prices and they don't sell counterfeit pens, a situation that leads to all those weird "too good to be true" inquiries we see around here after someone pays $5 for $20 pen or $500 for a $2000 pen and is puzzled by the condition of the object they received.

 

The differences between my Endless Pens purchases and those of others who might be reading this thread may only be the amount of money involved and the elevation of the brand. I was willing to risk the Lamy purchases, not much cash involved. At a certain price/brand point, I would buy from a dealer I know and trust and one that supports the industry/community such as Goulet.

 

Fortunately for me, I have more pens than I can use, more pens than I need, more pens than I really want. I hit the various retailers, including EP. every now and then to see what people are buying and what the new colors are for Lamy products but I am able to NOT PUSH THE BUTTON.

[melissa59]

I wanted to pop in with my Endless Pens experience, just for the record.

 

Goulet did not carry either of the pens I was looking for so I did a Google search, hit the shopping button and Endless Pens was the cheapest that came up. I looked at the site and debated. Then I worried that it would be a scam site so I did a search on EndlessPens.com. I found that others on FPN had good experiences so I held my breath and ordered a Pelikan M405.

 

The pen was on sale for less than what some people are asking for their USED Pelikan M400 series pens.

 

Much to my surprise, it was delivered quickly. And it was BEAUTIFUL!

But it did not come in the Pelikan "coffin" box that others have shown in their Pelikan videos. It did come in a very nice Pelikan slide-out box. Not a big deal for me.

It came with a business card and a nice handwritten thank-you note. But it did NOT come with a receipt. I did find this a bit off-putting.

 

Would I order from EndlessPens again?
Sure. But only if 1) the pen was in stock and 2) if it was cheaper or not available from CultPens.

 

For now, CultPens across the pond will be my first stop. But I won't count out Endless Pens, especially when they have a sale. That's because I'm somewhat poor and downright cheap!

[hari317]

Did anyone buy the 99 usd Lamy 2k offered at sale late November? Can you tell me what type of packing and tags the pen came with? Thank you.

[A Smug Dill]

Did anyone buy the 99 usd Lamy 2k offered at sale late November? Can you tell me what type of packing and tags the pen came with? Thank you.

 

 

Lamy cardboard gift box E107. A slip of packing tissue between the grey box and the unbleached cardboard sleeve. No tags that I can recall.

[hari317]

 

 

Lamy cardboard gift box E107. A slip of packing tissue between the grey box and the unbleached cardboard sleeve. No tags that I can recall.

Thank you. Edited January 12, 2020 by hari317

[Donald2]

Thanks for the heads up on Endless Pens. I will definitely not buy from them. I don't like the grey market business practice and I don't like that they aren't authorized dealers.

[A Smug Dill]

Thanks for the heads up on Endless Pens. I will definitely not buy from them. I don't like the grey market business practice and I don't like that they aren't authorized dealers.

 

 

Each to their own.

 

I have bought from EndlessPens many times because of the favourable pricing on offer. In most instances of discretionary consumption, it absolutely does not matter to me as an Australian (or global online) consumer whether local official distributors and authorised dealers of particular brand miss out on my custom and spending, unless I have such doubts about a retailer or brand that, from a risk management perspective, I'm prepared to pay significant more in order to avail myself to the protections of the Australian Consumer Law.

 

Hell, I've ordered lots of Sailor, Platinum and Pilot pens and inks directly from Japanese sellers to enjoy lower prices and total cost of acquisition (even after shipping/re-shipping has been taken into account), so I'd be a hypocrite to decry the practice of trading in grey imports.

 

The higher-end products I have ordered from EndlessPens (Aurora Ottantotto, Lamy Imporium, etc.) all came in full retail packaging, including bottles of ink, notebooks and what-not that are included for special/limited editions. Lower-end fountain pens at the <US$150 end of the spectrum (e.g. standalone Pelikan M20x pens, steel-nibbed and gold-nibbed Lamy cp1 and Studio pens, etc.) came in generic packaging, although I'm confident you'd get the full package if you ordered, say, the Pelikan M205 Star Ruby limited edition gift set with a bottle of the Edelstein Ink of the Year included. Especially for the sub-$100 products that I buy for actual personal use (or at least to experiment with), and aren't worth my while trying to sell because of the hassle, PayPal fees and postage considerations, I'm happy to pay less upfront and forgo some theoretical resale value by not having the manufacturer's normal full packaging for the products.

[TrentinWA]

Thanks for the heads up on Endless Pens. I will definitely not buy from them. I don't like the grey market business practice and I don't like that they aren't authorized dealers.

 

I haven't bought from them, and in general buying from a grey market reseller is riskier than buying from an AD, but grey marketeers perform a really valuable service to the overall market that theoretically helps keep prices down by allowing dealers to take chances on inventory that might not sell and make back a little money on (hopefully non-defective) returns that they can't, for whatever reason, return to the manufacturer for refund or credit. As a consumer, as long as you're aware you're not buying from an AD and the dealer is aboveboard with their policies, it's a great way to save a few $$.

[DrDebG]

I have purchased from Endless Pens twice. The first purchase was for two bottles of ink at a very low price, but was a special order. Could I have bought the ink somewhere else? Yes and I would have paid twice as much. Was I willing to wait for the ink? Yes. I wasn't in a hurry and I understood it could be a long time. I ended up waiting for four months.

 

The second purchase was a pen in the $100 range. It was substantially discounted, but I knew what to expect. It arrived and it has written exceptionally well right from the box.

 

Will I buy from them in the future? Of course. But with the understanding of what I am buying and what I am not buying.

 

Truthfully, if I was going to purchase a Montblanc or Pelikan, I would purchase from not just an authorized dealer, but from a dealer who will inspect the pen before it leaves their shop and stand by their product. I have heard that Fritz Schimpf does exactly that, so they will likely be the dealer that I purchase my next Montblanc or Pelikan from.