Iroshizuku Price Increase

[Sandy1]

For the last few (several??) days Taizo has been auctioning the Iroshi ink with what appears to be an inexpensive Japanese student pen, and, IMO, the prices on some bottles have bidded exceptionally high compared to the new Jetpens prices. As I recall, with the pen, one bottle sold for $61.00, plus $13.00 shipping to the USA. Quite a good deal for Taizo, it seems to me. :-) And, IMO, he is the best seller on ebay.

 

All the best,

T

 

Hi,

 

I was taken aback by the ink being auctioned. I'd built my collection of iro inks in part by reducing shipping cost - when I won an auction for a pen, I'd add some ink. But now, one would need to win both auctions (pen and ink) on the same day to have shipping combined.

So now, it's very iffy. I certainly am not criticising Taizo, if people want something, let them pay for it.

 

Bye,

S1

[Margana]

"Willing buyer, willing seller" prevails.

[scribbler77]

Isn't price fixing by the supplier illegal in the US? The supplier can control the advertised price by indirect methods, but not the actual price sold. That is why you will often see expensive pens listed at a list price with a note to "call for quotation."

 

Unless I am mistaken, Pilot cannot legally prohibit JetPens or anybody else in the United States from selling their ink at whatever price the retailer chooses so long as they do not advertise the lower price.

[Tumbleweedtoo]

Just noticed tonight that Taizo is offering more expensive pens at auction with his Iroshizuku ink. Might be interesting to watch how these auction sales go. My guess is that if Taizo is written to directly through ebay that he might sell his Iroshizuku ink directly as he does other inks, but when we think of the cost of shipping from Japan to the US, it appears so far that Jetpens with free shipping offers the best prices. FWIW.

 

All the best,

T

[bluemagister]

Isn't price fixing by the supplier illegal in the US? The supplier can control the advertised price by indirect methods, but not the actual price sold. That is why you will often see expensive pens listed at a list price with a note to "call for quotation."

 

Unless I am mistaken, Pilot cannot legally prohibit JetPens or anybody else in the United States from selling their ink at whatever price the retailer chooses so long as they do not advertise the lower price.

 

 

They cannot prohibit JetPens from selling it for $1. But they CAN stop selling it to JetPens to resell if JetPens doesn't do what they want. You'll see it all the time, even on Amazon.com, where a company demands a minimum sale price and if Amazon wants to sell it for less, you have to click the price and request the actual price.

[agchristie]

taizo usually always just added whatever you want to the auction won. i have actually also bought stuff from him completely outside of ebays auctions which was no problem at all so I think one should just email Taizo and ask if he will sell the Iroshizuku inks without going through ebay.

[tanalasta]

taizo usually always just added whatever you want to the auction won. i have actually also bought stuff from him completely outside of ebays auctions which was no problem at all so I think one should just email Taizo and ask if he will sell the Iroshizuku inks without going through ebay.

 

He does. I have two bottles of Iroshizuku Tsuki-Yo on their way to me.

 

I'm not sure about the eBay rules are about soliciting sales outside of eBay auctions via eBay itself but if you have Taizo's contact details then it's certainly possible. It's only worthwhile cost-wise if you order at least two bottles due to shipping costs.

[Sandy1]

For the last few (several??) days Taizo has been auctioning the Iroshi ink with what appears to be an inexpensive Japanese student pen, and, IMO, the prices on some bottles have bidded exceptionally high compared to the new Jetpens prices. As I recall, with the pen, one bottle sold for $61.00, plus $13.00 shipping to the USA. Quite a good deal for Taizo, it seems to me. :-) And, IMO, he is the best seller on ebay.

 

All the best,

T

 

Hi,

 

I was taken aback by the ink being auctioned. I'd built my collection of iro inks in part by reducing shipping cost - when I won an auction for a pen, I'd add some ink. But now, one would need to win both auctions (pen and ink) on the same day to have shipping combined.

So now, it's very iffy. I certainly am not criticising Taizo, if people want something, let them pay for it.

 

Bye,

S1

Hi,

 

I need to clarify what I wrote. It seems that Taizo is selling a 'package' which is produced by Pilot. That package includes a bottle of the iroshizuku ink and a pen of a colour which matches that ink. (When I was a tot, I gave away the CrackerJack, but kept the prize. Who wants the same pen in a wide array of colours?)

 

Anyway, if that's the way that Pilot is going to make more $, then the choice to participate remains voluntary, just less attractive to me.

 

Bye,

S1

[Silvermink]

I certainly wouldn't mind one of those Grance pens he was selling with the Iroshizuku - those are nice - but I don't want to buy a new pen every time I want a bottle of ink.

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Alternately, I was contemplating that when we travel to some other country, notably, Japan, China, Germany, and/or Italy, and then bring back a huge amount of native pens. In specific, whenever someone comes back from Japan, they would stuff their suitcases full of Iroshizuku and bring it back to share with us...

 

I won't comment on this.