Visit To Shanghai

[WontonST]

Hello fellow FPNers, I just got back from a vacation in Shanghai, and I thought I would share my experience.

 

Of course, this is FPN after all, so I'll be talking about the pen market there. There's a road called "Fu Zhou" road which is street lined with stationery and book sellers on both sides. Almost all of them have Chinese calligraphy supplies, paper/notebooks, and fountain pens. Unfortunately, the fountain pens there are grossly overpriced (there were some Duke pens for 8000 RMB which is about $1250; I'd rather get a Mont Blanc). On some of the upstairs stores, they sell Parker 45s for 320 RMB ($50). So in conclusion for small vendors: they will always rip you off.

 

I did, however, manage to find a nice notebook. Each page is actually three pages; two sides for writing and one in the middle to serve as a barrier against bleeding. I still haven't tested it to check for feathering though. There's another notebook which has zero bleeding even with large blobs of dip pen ink. I contacted a relative before leaving Shanghai about shipping me some of these awesome notebooks. If anyone's interested, I suppose I could ship a few extras to sell.

 

Of course, my search for Chinese pens didn't end there. I took a trip to the Hero Pen factory (quite far from the center of Shanghai, it took about an hour via metro). They have a nice display room there to showcase (and sell) all of their pens. I expected a massive display room showcase all the different models, but was met with a one room show room with about 6 display cases. Apparently, the Hero pen factory actually doesn't make all the models you see on eBay at their own factory (maybe that's why some pen models are good while others simply refuse to work).

 

Also, I think I finally found the reason to why a model as old and refined as the Hero 616 could have so many duds. I purchase 20 standard large 616s and 10 large gold-colored ones. When I was haggling the price, I told them that I should get a discount because out of every 10 pens, at least 4 are defective. The rep there proceeded to explain to me that their pens are almost never defective, and that defective pens can come in for a full refund. She said that the pens I purchased are probably fakes. So it seems that there are many Hero 616 fakes out there that look identical on the outside. Anyway, below is a picture of a case of 10 616s. Note how the background says Hero as opposed to the orange design so common on eBay. Of course, I can't use 30 616s, so if anyone's interested, I'll sell them shipped CONUS only for $6 each, $10 for gold-capped ones.

 

Finally, after checking the prices of the pens on display in the Hero factory with the price on eBay, I found a pretty obvious difference in price, with the pens on eBay being significantly cheaper. Now, I'm not comparing the individual pen price with the eBay price, I'm comparing the price I got when I said "What's the unit price on this pen if I purchased 100 of them?" (there's a binder that shows all the unit prices for large orders which the reps consult). So I suppose that the only conclusion I can draw from this is that a large portion of Hero pens on eBay are fake. Also, the reason I said "reps" instead of "salespeople" is because the Hero pen factory (to my surprise) is actually government owned, and not a private company that gives out commission for salespeople. I'm sure there's an executive who gets a bonus for higher sales, but the reps are salary-earners, so they should theoretically be more inclined to give me a good deal.

 

I was thinking of getting a relative in China to ship pens directly from the factory to me to sell in the states, to help with student loans. Does anyone else think this is a good idea?

 

[Gobblecup]

Wonton,

 

I enjoyed reading this, I found it interesting to read that many Hero 616's on the web can be 'fake'. But it doesn't surprise me, they may not be luxury items, but they seem to sell well, and they are no doubt cheap to produce, so I am sure there are a few buggers out there who see a pretty penny to be made. After reading this post, I looked at a few old discussions, many turning up similar assumptions that not all Hero's are made alike and by the same creator.

 

I would love to take a trip to China myself, and not just for the pens... I am also quite the tea addict!

[Nonsensical]

Oops ...wrong...thread...

Edited July 7, 2011 by Nonsensical

[Blix]

The ten-pack I bough looks exactly like the one you have pictured, hopefully I got real ones then.

[ExcaliburZ]

 

I was thinking of getting a relative in China to ship pens directly from the factory to me to sell in the states, to help with student loans. Does anyone else think this is a good idea?

 

 

Only selling Hero pens, you would have to sell so many pens to make real money that the effort wouldn't be worth the time and energy.

[Mr.Wote]

I just got one in the mail today, after messaging Wonton on Sunday. Nice turn around time there, I wasn't expecting it until next week.

 

I'm really impressed with this pen, thanks for grabbing a bunch!