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Anyone In The U.s. Buy From Asa Pens?


LamyOne

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Hello Everyone,

 

I recently purchased two ASA Athlete ebonite ED's from Mr. S. at ASA pens. I am having them re-fitted with Bock (Conklin) nibs and am having them pre-tested as well. He told me it would take around 4-5 days to process the order with my requests; that is fine.

 

However, I've never purchased anything from India before - is there anyone here who puchased pens from ASA Pens that can tell me typically how long the order will take to get to the U.S. and will it have to go through customs here? (I know everything from overseas has to go through U.S. Customs; however, I know they are "more diligent" with items coming in from other countries as opposed to others).

 

I can't wait to get these pens and try them out - I'm just wondering how long I'll have to wait. :D

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

Edited by LamyOne

- He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me; and I in him. (JN 6:57)

- "A woman clothed in the sun," (REV 12.1); The Sun Danced at Fatima, Portugal; October 13, 1917.

- Thank you Blessed Mother and St. Jude for Graces and Blessings obtained from Our Lord.

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Hello GAtkins,

 

OK, great. Thanks for the info. :D

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

- He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me; and I in him. (JN 6:57)

- "A woman clothed in the sun," (REV 12.1); The Sun Danced at Fatima, Portugal; October 13, 1917.

- Thank you Blessed Mother and St. Jude for Graces and Blessings obtained from Our Lord.

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I am not in the US, but I have ordered from Asapens many times. I am in Curaçao, in the Caribbean, so not so far from (part of) the US. It usually takes about three weeks to ship to here, too, sometimes more. You should have a tracking number from them, and a website to check where the package is. If you're worried, you can ask Asapens for the relevant information.

I do not know how it works with customs in the US; here, if a package is sent without an accessible invoice, you have to go to customs to have it released; but if there's an invoice on the outside of the package, as it usually is with Asapens, then if the amount is under the minimum for import duties, it is delivered to my mailbox by the postman (yes they all seem to be men), and if I do have to pay import duties I get a notification and pick it up at the post office.

HTH!

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

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Three weeks should be about right. I've had several very happy transactions with ASA Pens. One of their good characteristics is that they are happy to respond to questions and to discuss things with their US customers, in my experience. So if you get nervous about your pens in transit, you can ask them.

ron

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I also received pen about 3 weeks after placing order. Only one transaction so far, but I plan to purchase more once he gets it in stock.

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

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Roughly three weeks for me too. There was a customs label from ASA Pens on the outside along with a declared value (my purchase price) and the total number of pens inside. The package had not had an easy trip, appeared to have been opened at least once but ASA had wrapped each pen so well that none were damaged. I've seen prettier packing, never more thorough. I've also never had it take more time to unpack anything, a fair trade off for me.

 

Paul

"Nothing is impossible, even the word says 'I'm Possible!'" Audrey Hepburn

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Hello MHGuda,

 

Thanks for your input; customs is the part I fear most. :unsure:

 

 

Hello Ron,

 

That is a comfort, if I start getting yancy, I can always ask Mr. S. where the package is. :)

 

 

Hello DonWinn,

 

Well, it looks like 3 is the magic number for packages from India. :D Thanks for your input.

 

 

Hello Paul,

 

Thanks for chiming in - hopefully the folks at customs will not try to inspect the pens themselves, but if they do, I hope they pick an agent who knows that some pens come with threaded caps. :D As I said to MHGuda, getting the pens through the "Checkpoint Charlie's," is the aspect of the trip that concerns me the most.

 

 

Best regards to all, God bless,

 

Chris

 

PS: If I can still find this thread when the pens arrive in three weeks or so; I'll let everyone know how it went. :)

Edited by LamyOne

- He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me; and I in him. (JN 6:57)

- "A woman clothed in the sun," (REV 12.1); The Sun Danced at Fatima, Portugal; October 13, 1917.

- Thank you Blessed Mother and St. Jude for Graces and Blessings obtained from Our Lord.

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I recently brought a GAMA Kuyil. Mr. Subramaniam kindly fitted a B Conklin nib for me. The whole process till arrival was less then 10 days. However, extra 4 days was stuck in the US post office.

 

Excellent service and Mr. Subramaniam, who answers all the queries. The nib initially does not fit well, so he took back to the factory and did some work. It was also tested before shipping. It is ultra smooth (no flex). I thought it was a standard number 6 Broad nib, but the wetness and broadness is on par with some of my Sheaffers.

 

An excellent experience.

 

Hopefully will buy again soon. :D

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I recently brought a GAMA Kuyil. Mr. Subramaniam kindly fitted a B Conklin nib for me. The whole process till arrival was less then 10 days. However, extra 4 days was stuck in the US post office.

 

Excellent service and Mr. Subramaniam, who answers all the queries. The nib initially does not fit well, so he took back to the factory and did some work. It was also tested before shipping. It is ultra smooth (no flex). I thought it was a standard number 6 Broad nib, but the wetness and broadness is on par with some of my Sheaffers.

 

An excellent experience.

 

Hopefully will buy again soon. :D

 

Hello Benpiggy,

 

That sounds great to me. In fact, I e-mailed him yesterday morning, (to add a third pen :D), and they were already in the post. :)

 

Yes, I went with a Bock (Conklin) Broad and a Medium; the pens are a light brown ripple and a green ripple ASA Athlete. I'm glad to hear your pens are wet writers - I hope mine are too, that is the way I like 'em. :)

 

Best regards,

 

Chris

Edited by LamyOne

- He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me; and I in him. (JN 6:57)

- "A woman clothed in the sun," (REV 12.1); The Sun Danced at Fatima, Portugal; October 13, 1917.

- Thank you Blessed Mother and St. Jude for Graces and Blessings obtained from Our Lord.

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I hope you will like the pens.

 

I think I will be getting a RAJA with B nib next.

 

I have been writing the Kuyil for the entire week, and so far, no leaking :)

 

Very happy with the purchase.

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I recently brought a GAMA Kuyil. Mr. Subramaniam kindly fitted a B Conklin nib for me. The whole process till arrival was less then 10 days. However, extra 4 days was stuck in the US post office.

 

Excellent service and Mr. Subramaniam, who answers all the queries. The nib initially does not fit well, so he took back to the factory and did some work. It was also tested before shipping. It is ultra smooth (no flex). I thought it was a standard number 6 Broad nib, but the wetness and broadness is on par with some of my Sheaffers.

 

An excellent experience.

 

Hopefully will buy again soon. :D

 

 

I have at times found that (as discussed in FPN previously) pens would reach UK faster than they reach my place in India ! It takes around 10 days for the pens to reach me from day of dispatch !

I put my savings to test

Lamy & Pilot FPs the Best

No more I even think of the rest

(Preference Fine and Extra Fine Nibs)

Pen is meant for writing - not for looking :-)

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Anyone In The U.s. Buy From Asa Pens?

Yes..many times..and will do so in the near future....

Incidentally..I live on the east coast..NYCity and North Shore..Gold Coast..

and usually receive in 11 to 13 days..outstanding! Order with confidence

and often. {happy smiley face time} Take care.

Fred

It's a beautiful morning ~ Felix Cavaliere

enjoyin' some lardo& crostini....................
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  • 2 months later...

I have my first order from them on its way as we speak. It's been two weeks so far, so I'll let everyone know what my experiences were when it arrives (hopefully sometime next week).

As of right now, I've come to the conclusion that, at least for my package, the tracking is somewhat nonfunctional. It hasn't showed a status update since the 7th, so it's either stuck in the Chennai airport or the tracking stopped working. Not a big deal, as long as it gets here (Midwest USA) safe and sound :)

 

Edited for grammar.

Edited by thatotherguy1

Here to help when I know, learn when I don't, and pass on the information to anyone I can :)

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Some post offices have people who've never heard of Curaçao and tell people trying to send me things there's no such place - or they decide we're a city in Spain or some such... several have had packaged returned, after traveling to Canada, or other totally out-of-the-way places... Those from Asapens have usually reached me in the average travel time of about three weeks, somewhat longer when it's a very busy time, like a world or Indian holiday... One irritating fact is that my packages tend to always go to Amsterdam first - on the other side of a big ocean! but this is not the privilege of mail from India, and it's even crazier when someone in Miami wants to send me something and that goes to Amsterdam first, too... crossing the Atlantic ocean twice!

a fountain pen is physics in action... Proud member of the SuperPinks

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I'm in the EU and have bought from ASApens three times. As has been said, they pack well and the packs are pretty hard to open. As the packages are labelled on the customs declaration (value quoted in Rupees), they have passed under the Customs/VAT radar all three times. The transit time from India to my doorstep has been less than two weeks, but would of course have been longer if it had been halted in customs.

 

I'm fascinated with these hand made Indian pens. They are a little crude compared to say a Pelikan, but unilke many Chinese pens - which work but look cheap - the Indian ebonite pens has their own rugged and unpretentious identity and charm. Simple as they are, it's easy for the owner to tweak nib and feed. Having tried both pens with JoWo screw in feed units and with the stock Indian pressure fit nib/feeds, I tend to prefer the Indian nib/feed units. They have a more generous flow and they work very well with the sticky iron-gall inks (Diamine RI, ESRRI), which have a hard time flowing reliably through a JoWo nib unit. OTOH, if you want to use say De Atramentis inks, which flow so wet, you'll likely get blurping with the Indian nib/feed combos.

Edited by Oldane
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I've only dealt with ASA Pens once to purchase a Gama Supreme. I don't remember how long it took the pen to reach New Jersey, but I want to say it was less than the three weeks several folks have mentioned. It certainly wasn't long enough to raise any concern on my part considering where the pen was coming from.

Happiness is an Indian ED!
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I'm from Michigan and I received my ASA Athlete within two weeks. I have a few pens coming from them on the way and I assume it would take the same amount of time. Their packaging is top notch so nothing to worry about there.

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I got my order today. Total time from order to receipt was two days short of the seemingly normal three weeks. The pen was packaged superbly, wrapped in several layers of bubble wrap, then put in a velvet Gama pouch, then wrapped in more bubble wrap with a little baggy containing a spare IPG nib and an eyedropper (just the dropper, not another pen :P ), then the whole shebang was wrapped in a paper shipping envelope, which in turn was placed into a Tyvek envelope. I've read a comment on their site that said that the packing reminded the person of ordering $1000 glassware, and I have to agree. For a fairly inexpensive pen, I'm stunned with how well it was packed.

So no worries on ordering from ASA :)

No affiliation at all. Just a happy customer.

Here to help when I know, learn when I don't, and pass on the information to anyone I can :)

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