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Hello! My name is Michael Benham and recent member to FPN. Since high school, through college and all these years past, I’ve always liked and carried nice pencils and pens. Now almost exclusively I prefer to carry and have fountain pens. In these latter few years, I’ve ramped up my collection of pens, mostly mid to low-end caliber pens, my most expensive being a Cross Century II gun metal/gold. In this time I came across a couple handmade pens on Etsy that I liked because of the nice wood and acrylic barrels. I then discovered that these were kit pens, Vertex pen kits from Penn State to be exact. I thought, because of my creative juices associated with being a graphic designer/photographer who is the son of an engineer, that I could make my own pens. To be quite honest, I didn’t, and still don’t, have the finances to commit to buying my own lathe, and even more so, don’t have the time and patience to commit to turning my own barrels and caps for these kits. I was not deterred though, and thought that there’s got to be some ready-made or easily customized materials out there that I could fashion my own pen barrels for these kits. So I bought a few of the kits that required only a barrel (Vertex, Presimo, and Raw) and went down to the local Ace hardware store and basically walked around looking for anything that I thought would work and look cool as a pen. I’ve now broaden my search to Amazon and various tubes, pipes, straws, etc. I believe I now have around 30+ unique pens made and have managed to even expand into pens that need cap material. Although, I’m not entirely sold on them yet. So basically, in a quite long-winded way, my post is in search of feedback of whether these pens would be of interest to buyers, general consumer to even fountain pen connoisseurs? If so, what would a fair price would possibly be? And furthermore, any advice, experience into how best to sell and get these out to potential consumers? Bearing in mind that this is completely something that would be on the side, and not a main source of income, on top of being a new father to twins! Thank you in advance for any help, thoughts, you may offer. Peace, Michael - Minneapolis, MN

Hi ... I am looking for reliable Indian websites that are selling FPs and Inks internationally ....I tried penhouse.in to buy inks but unfortunately they declined my visa card as it was international and not an Indian visa card although I used an Indian shipping address ... I hope to get some good thoughts from you Mustafa

Hi, there. I am a member of a team of re-sellers who sells various items through our eBay page. I was given the task of listing and researching 7 higher-end fountain pens that came through our office this week. Over the 3 days that I spent working on the listings, I found this forum to be very helpful many times. I've always been very into stationary, and I had no idea such a huge community of fountain pen lovers existed! It's so cool! And I definitely plan to buy one for myself someday. Anyways, I just wanted to say that I appreciated how helpful all of you were. I would like to show you all the pens that I posted for auction recently. Is there an acceptable place to do that? Brands include Pelikan, Parker, Montblanc, and a couple others. Thanks again!

I have decided to sell a bunch of cheap pens I own as a lot, but since this is the first time I sell pens, I would like some advice on the best way to do it. 1) My first question is about where I should sell them. They are almost all cheap chinese and indian pens. I was thinking about selling them as a lot on ebay. What do you guys think? There is a total of 18 pens. 2) My second question is how to price them. Like I said they are all cheap - I didn't pay more than $10 for any of them, although some seem to have gone up in price since then (new). All of them are used, but none of them are severely worn, which leads me to think there wouldn't be that much of a difference in price. What I did to have an idea of how to charge for each one was to compare the price I paid, the current price of a new one and list as asking price the average between both values. The problem with this approach is that it summed up to $147.00, which seems like an awful lot for a bunch of cheap pens. Any ideas on how I could price them more adequately? Here's a link with a spreadsheet where I included all of them, in case you have any suggestions: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iePsfdk9Kdlc_D7cLbbZJ3cE1xF8yRtQeb5UVlfZExQ/edit?usp=sharing

I've decided to bite the bullet. I decided around lunch time today, posted a couple of classified's and already I'm getting jittery. I'm a natural hoarder, so holding on to something I don't use or don't use very much isn't something that bothers me normally. However, I have felt that owning too many fountain pens (please don't ask how many, it's a shameful number) is probably not a good thing. Someone planted the seed that it is possible to live with ten pens you really love. I still find this an utterly ridiculous notion, but did eventually concede that I could live with a few less. They asked me to think about what it was I really liked in a fountain pen and whittle it down that way. I put all such nonsense out of my mind. Then it came back; that niggling thought that I was holding on to something I wasn't adoring that someone else might own and adore. I began to put down on paper what I liked. So I came to the decision that I enjoy fines, extra fines and stub/italics the most. The next step was to go back through the records and look through the pens to see what I hadn't used since I bought them (that feels like a terrible admission) and what I hadn't used in the last year. So now I have me a list, and this evening I bit the bullet. Now this is all by way of intro really, because what really makes me jittery about this is that I keep reading people saying they regret selling such and such a pen. That is something I really hope to avoid doing. Maybe I'm just being too clingy on my pens, but I would appreciate some advice that might help me avoid that pit fall of selling something I later decide was a bad decision to sell.

I first came to this enabling site about a year or maybe two ago. At that point I had a fair collection of pens to keep me happy and gleefully posted my intro with the pens I currently had inked in rotation. It was lovely to see others with way more pens than me. I felt like my condition wasn't really that bad, but perhaps I was kidding myself. For some time I have had my eye on a fountain pen that I really like, but is just too darned expensive. For some time I have had the courage to admit to myself that I am a fountain penaholic and I have too many (about 90). I've been pondering for some time that perhaps I should really try to thin the herd, sell the ones I don't really use regularly and put the money towards the expensive pen I like. However, every time I sit down to look at my pens I think, 'No. I don't really want to part with that.' I'm starting to feel like one of those people you see on those hoarding shows on TV. I've managed to identify the fountain pens that are not even on the list of 'consider selling', but I'm still finding it hard. I know you're all a bunch of enablers and this possibly isn't the place to ask (and the prospect of me selling might be enabling you!) but I would like advice from those of you who have sold and what factored in on your decisions.

I hope it's okay to post this type of question. I have a 149 that I wish to sell in the Classifieds. But it isn't perfect, it has flow issues, had them from the start. (I bought it two years ago so it's a bit late to go back to the seller now.) The feed does not seem to keep up with the nib, and it varies between quite wet and somewhat dry, and occasionally even skips. I've tried the usual non-invasive remedies -- different inks, soaking, flushing with a bit of washing-up liquid in water, etc. At the end of the day the pen is just too big for me and I don't enjoy using it anyway, which is why I have not bothered to sort out its problems and I'm not really interested in trying to get it fixed for my own use. Other than the flow and a slightly stiff piston it seems fine. It has a broad stubbish nib. I think it is about 1990 in date. I have a 146 that writes beautifully and fits my hand, and that one is enough Montblanc for me. The problem is that I dont' have a good idea what a fair price would be. I know I'm not going to get my money back but I don't want to give it away for nothing. Of course I will describe it fully in the advert so anyone looking at it will know it needs some work. Bearing in mind that I am in the UK and would prefer to ship within the EU, can any of you kind people give me an opinion on what would be a fair price to ask? Edit: I am now concerned that my topic violates FPN rules since I have asked for opinions on value. I have requested that the topic be removed if this is the case, and I apologise for the blunder.

I recently came across a Tombow pen that I'm looking for more information on. It appears to be brand new in box, or if not new then very lightly used. After a few internet searches it looks like I may have the discontinued Zoom Mano model, but there is very little information on this doing simple google searches. I'm considering selling this pen but I'm unable to determine a proper value. Any information you can provide would be much appreciated. Thanks, Matt

Hey everyone, I'm brand new to this forum. I found you guys searching for information on Waterman pens. I found two Waterman pens while cleaning out an office in our basement. They are both in the original case and appear to be lightly used, if used at all. One came with a labeled box, so I know its a Le Man 100 Black Rollerball. , . The other pen was found in its blue case with no label so I'm not sure which model it is. , If anyone could help me identify the mystery pen it would be much appreciated. Also I'm probably looking to sell both of these pens, so if anyone could provide the approximate value of each that would also help greatly. I realize it's probably difficult to do so without seeing the pen in person, so best estimates will do nicely. Please see the pics attached and thanks for your help! -Matt