Australia!

[Dengero]

Hi everyone! I've been lurking around here mostly for reviews.

 

As a beginner, I want to get the platinum preppy 0.5mm (medium). But I couldn't find it anywhere T_T

 

There's only the Pilot Varsity in Australia, and I can only find 0.3mm (fine) on ebay for the Preppy! I was wondering if I should just settle for the 0.3 or the varsity o.0

 

I tried Jetpens, but they'll charge me $4 for the pen but $12.5 for the shipping =/ haha

 

Thanks so much guys!

[MaikeruS]

Yeah, I know how you feel. There's a real lack of pen supply here. The best I can find for that kind of thing is from the Goulets' and I believe shipping comes to about $8 for just the pen, off the top of my head. Shipping doesn't really go up for more and more pens, rather more for ink, so just buy a bunch and worry about your credit card bill later

 

EDIT: Oh and welcome to the FPN

Edited May 24, 2012 by MaikeruS

[Gojira]

I won't say that there's a real lack of fountain pens in Oz but rather, a lack of reasonably-priced pens. I wandered into Taft's on Collins St in Melbourne sometime last year and was floored by the inflated prices. Their price for a Lamy 2000 is close to triple that of online and some B&M retailers in Malaysia and that inludes shipping costs!

 

You might want to try your luck at a Kinokuniya...I believe there's one in Sydney?

[Nonsensical]

To be honest, I own some 0.3mm Platinum Preppies, as well as a few Pilot Vpens/Varsities. I'm not sure if the 0.5mm ones would be much smoother, but the 0.3mm ones were so scratchy right out of the box, that I threw them in a corner and forgot about them until recently. I smoothed the nib on one of them lately, and filled it with some very lubricating ink. Now, it's useable at the very least. Still not great, and I would take a Hero 616 fountain pen over it ANY day.

 

The Varsity, on the other hand, has a nice smooth nib. Wider, too, which is not what I prefer, though. That's the only reason I prefer the Preppy over it. I bought a few to give away, and my friends seem to really enjoy using them, so I would go with the Varsity all the way. They're refillable too, and I would worry less about leakages/cracking with the Varsity.

 

Preppy = Eyedropper conversion = Easy to do, but prone to leaking, etc.

Varsity = Harder to refill, once refilled more reliable.

[Dengero]

ohhh I actually found this https://www.mymaido.com/ site, which offers reasonable shipping, so $10.40 for 2 pens @ 0.5

 

Anyone used this site? Reckon I should buy it?

[hark40]

Australian pen prices (and ink) are ridiculous. No idea why, but they just are..... It is often cheaper to buy from overseas and even with the postage, it works out cheaper. Lamy 2000 is one example, Studio is another and more recently the Scala.

 

Another suggestion is to look at UK pen retailers. I have found that postage from the UK is generally cheaper than from the US and packages only take a week to get here. (Having said that, I have placed an order with Goulets today so I will see how that goes. Noodlers mmmmmmmm.......)

 

A couple of UK places to look are that I have bought from are:

• The Writing Desk although they tend not to have the cheaper (disposable) pens. However, packages are well wrapped and they test all pens prior to shipping. They are also active here on FPN, so thats a plus.
  
• Bureau Direct reasonable range, but no Pilot .
  
• Cult Pens which do have the Preppy and the Varsity (known as the Vpen) listed, but looks like a standard £10 postage charge for overseas orders.
  

 

On an item of that low value, the postage will always be a killer relatively speaking. MaikeruS is right here, just buy some more pens on the same order and average out the postage over more items!!!

[effrafax]

AFAIK, fountain pens attract luxury tax when imported into Australia for retail, hence the ludicrously high prices.

 

In this instance, the Internet and Ebay are definitely your friends.

[hark40]

AFAIK, fountain pens attract luxury tax when imported into Australia for retail, hence the ludicrously high prices.

 

Wasn't the luxury tax abolished as part of the implementation of GST? (Yes, I know cars have it, but thats a tariff type thing).

 

Regardless, as you say, eBay and the internet are your friends.

[aawhite]

I agree with all that the pen prices in Australia are too high compared to most places even within the region (Malaysia and Singapore). I cannot understand the great difference in prices. When the US and Australian dollars were in parity, an Australian online seller priced a Pelikan Souveran 1000 at around $600 more than a Malaysian based online seller. Who would buy from the Australian online seller with these price differences?

 

Even the vintage pen prices have gone up. Melbourne Vintage Pens prices have gone up. In some cases, more than double.

[effrafax]

AFAIK, fountain pens attract luxury tax when imported into Australia for retail, hence the ludicrously high prices.

 

Wasn't the luxury tax abolished as part of the implementation of GST? (Yes, I know cars have it, but thats a tariff type thing).

 

Regardless, as you say, eBay and the internet are your friends.

 

Not sure, as I wasn't living in Australia at that time. But I am fairly certain they get hit with some sort of levy on the way into the country.

 

There's little else to explain the 2 - 3 times price difference anyway.

[Dengero]

Other than corporate greed and lack of competition....><"

[JustinJ]

ohhh I actually found this https://www.mymaido.com/ site, which offers reasonable shipping, so $10.40 for 2 pens @ 0.5

 

Anyone used this site? Reckon I should buy it?

 

 

I have bought from them and been very happy with the service. You should buy a couple of Japanese notebooks from them. The Japanese notebooks are usually cheaper than the Clairefontaine and Rhodia. I also like the Japanese notebooks better for fountain pen writing. I use fine nibs and the Japanese notebooks seem much better suited for the finer nibs.

 

The Apica notebooks are excellent for the price. They are also much cheaper at Mymaido than other places.

 

Apica Notebooks

 

The campus notebooks are also very good.

 

Campus Notebooks

Edited May 25, 2012 by JustinJ

[MaikeruS]

A local B&M store has the Lamy 2000 for $330, whereas I could get it online for $120 from a Malaysian company. Go figure.

 

Don't even get me started on the complete lack of Japanese pens in Melbourne - unless I'm missing something, I can't find a Pilot/Sailor/Platinum dealer anywhere nearby.

[danahn17]

To be honest, I own some 0.3mm Platinum Preppies, as well as a few Pilot Vpens/Varsities. I'm not sure if the 0.5mm ones would be much smoother, but the 0.3mm ones were so scratchy right out of the box, that I threw them in a corner and forgot about them until recently. I smoothed the nib on one of them lately, and filled it with some very lubricating ink. Now, it's useable at the very least. Still not great, and I would take a Hero 616 fountain pen over it ANY day.

 

The Varsity, on the other hand, has a nice smooth nib. Wider, too, which is not what I prefer, though. That's the only reason I prefer the Preppy over it. I bought a few to give away, and my friends seem to really enjoy using them, so I would go with the Varsity all the way. They're refillable too, and I would worry less about leakages/cracking with the Varsity.

 

Preppy = Eyedropper conversion = Easy to do, but prone to leaking, etc.

Varsity = Harder to refill, once refilled more reliable.

Interesting, my 0.3mm Preppy was nice and smooth as was my 0.5mm one. Both were smoother than the Hero 616s I had. Maybe there's some variation in the QC of all three pens...

 

The Varsity though has a much smoother nib though.

[Chris Chalmers]

I think that Aussie pen and ink and stationery prices are still suffering from when the AU$ was about 2/3 of the USA$.........or less, and on top of that the lack of competition just made it so easy for Aussie sellers to pick a number, double it, take off a token amount and then say - "Take it or Leave it!!!" then along came the internet!

 

I shop internationally by choice, and remember that prices of things from UK will have 20% VAT deducted as a matter of course.........or at least they should! The postage is not expensive either, and pretty well reliable, although slower than it used to be - but that could be the wait at this end as Customs do their work with all incoming stuff.

 

USA prices are great............it really does depend on what you want - as for Preppies - I can't help.

Can you find a stray Pelikan 75('Go') somewhere, they are great and piston fillers with wonderful nibs.

 

thanks, I needed to vent once more about Aussie pricing - if enough of us complained they would surely do something to get us back eventually. Don't go holding your breath though.

[Nonsensical]

To be honest, I own some 0.3mm Platinum Preppies, as well as a few Pilot Vpens/Varsities. I'm not sure if the 0.5mm ones would be much smoother, but the 0.3mm ones were so scratchy right out of the box, that I threw them in a corner and forgot about them until recently. I smoothed the nib on one of them lately, and filled it with some very lubricating ink. Now, it's useable at the very least. Still not great, and I would take a Hero 616 fountain pen over it ANY day.

 

The Varsity, on the other hand, has a nice smooth nib. Wider, too, which is not what I prefer, though. That's the only reason I prefer the Preppy over it. I bought a few to give away, and my friends seem to really enjoy using them, so I would go with the Varsity all the way. They're refillable too, and I would worry less about leakages/cracking with the Varsity.

 

Preppy = Eyedropper conversion = Easy to do, but prone to leaking, etc.

Varsity = Harder to refill, once refilled more reliable.

Interesting, my 0.3mm Preppy was nice and smooth as was my 0.5mm one. Both were smoother than the Hero 616s I had. Maybe there's some variation in the QC of all three pens...

 

The Varsity though has a much smoother nib though.

I guess I forgot to clarify- I've been spoilt when it comes to Hero 616s, since I have access to a stash of NOS ones...they're MUCH better than the new ones...

[byronss]

I get my pens from a few good overseas sellers on eBay, with reasonable shipping. I'm on the Gold Coast, Qld. Totally agree that prices for good notebooks, pens and inks are really high here and the variety of FPs is abysmal.

 

On another note, I recently purchased a Noodler's Ahab from the USA, one FP which is going to be the death of me. While I've been using FPs for a million years (seems like it), I don't tinker much with them other than to clean them. Anyone know a good nib/pen fixer in Australia? This one actually cuts the paper, refuses to keep putting ink on the page and generally doesn't behave. No idea what the problem is. I can't fix cars and I can't fix pens.

 

Sue

[stan]

Pen prices are impacted by duties on foreign products. Write your legislator.

 

Corporate greed? If they cannot sell pens, or any other product, they will lower prices to whatever the market dictates. No one wants product sitting on shelves. It may be there are enough buyers to warrant the high prices. If that is the situation, the price is good and they are making money. The only persons objecting are those aware that the same pens can be bought overseas and in a position to purchase them. Compare pens to anything else bought and sold. If you know you can get $5000 for your car that is worth $3000, what are you going to do?

 

My suggestion is to buy overseas or anywhere else you can get what you desire for what you consider a reasonable price. This is why I buy almost exclusively from Japan and avoid purchasing from eBay and pen shows. Still high by historic standards, pricing is much more realistic.

[troglokev]

Pen prices are impacted by duties on foreign products. Write your legislator.

Heh heh. Someone did.

 

Duties are largely non-existent. The problem in Australia is a thing called the "Exclusive Distribution Agreement", whereby a single company obtains exclusive rights to import, and thereby charge whatever they like. The polite term is "market segmentation". The less polite term is "monopolistic rent-seeking rip-off merchants".

 

In a fine example of self-inflicted damage, a group of these companies complained to the media that they were struggling for business because people were using the interwebz to buy their stuff overseas, and demanded that the government enforce GST of 10% on all overseas purchases. Of course, the media coverage was immense, and drew everyone's attention to the cheaper prices available overseas on just about everything. You can buy stuff in the States (sales tax and postage included) for half the Australian price on just about anything, so the GST makes bugger all difference.

 

I have no sympathy for the bastards.

[Newjelan]

On a positive note, Notemaker.com.au (no affiliation, just a customer) is selling Kaweco Ice Sport with the clip for $20 - cheapest I've seen anywhere in the world.