Jet Pens Free Shipping Ends

[mge01park]

Understandable perhaps and I respect it. In these times I cant pay $8.75 minimum shipping for each purchase. This epidemic will probably also prove that we need less to get by with. The costs havent gone up at USPS from what I know.

[Newton Pens]

When I buy supplies (pen blanks for example) I wait until I need enough to justify shipping. Then when it's broken down it's only 50 cents per item or so, so it doesn't feel like a big deal. If items are more expensive then it's even easier to justify. But then I look at it like this - Could I drive a pen to somebody for less than $12 insured shipped? No? Then $12 is a bargain. Could I take a pen to Singapore for less than $15 1st class? Or less than $40 priority? Of course not. That's a bargain. Even driving to Little Rock (an hour from me) means 2 hours on the road, and whatever time I'm there, usually ends up being half a day or so, and it's still cheaper to just mail it. When you don't have the option of buying something locally, that $8-12 or whatever shipping starts looking pretty good.

[mge01park]

Well said and quite realistic. It's what we get used to. Those are great examples and certainly consideration of the owners. The items I need were just over $25. They're not unique, I'll see if I can find it free with a small add-on or at least First Class shipping. I don't really look to accumulate because then they wind up being out of stock.

Edited April 5, 2020 by mgepark

[empliau]

They haven't updated their website yet. It still says free shipping over $25, but if you have a shopping cart (I put $60 in my cart for an experiment) it offers you a choice of shipping charges. Glad I ordered from them about two weeks ago.

[mge01park]

Interesting the Jet pens site I was on earlier today had no reference of any free shipping. I found the items I wanted at Fahrney's with free shipping over $50.

[markh]

Too bad. That was one of the inducements for my buying from them. While they have a number of interesting Japanese stationery items, they also more and more carry the same things other stores carry. In general they don't have any particular price advantage.

Other stores (out of state) don't charge local sales tax. So now Jetpens is at a disadvantage for many purchases.

 

They get to decide what to charge, I get to decide where to spend my money.

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[Lloyd]

I'm assuming that this is only temporary (due to Covid-19).

[BDarchitect]

We all realize, I hope, that shipping isn’t free for the retailer; they have just accepted narrower margins on their sales by absorbing that cost if you buy more than a certain dollar amount. As sales volume has likely dropped with a contracting economy, their total revenue would be dropping as well, making that tighter margin harder to justify and still keep employees, and the business, going. I would rather pay shipping and have them stay in business, frankly. Despite our universally skewed perspectives, fountain pens are nowhere near an essential service or purchase priority in a recession.

[Martolod]

I'm surprised it took this long actually, being based in San Jose. They have probably been working with a skeleton staff for a couple of weeks! Good on them for hanging in there so long, but nobody should really be surprised or mad about this if you're following the news.

[ridiculopathy]

From the explanation on their website (https://www.jetpens.com/articles/COVID-19), seems like it's temporary. They also have a cute COVID-19 precaution guide!

[markh]

Makes sense.

 

If you have ever ordered form them, the invoice included with your shipment always has a cute comic on it.

 

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[SashK]

Makes sense.

 

If you have ever ordered form them, the invoice included with your shipment always has a cute comic on it.

 

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I always read the short comic.

[Bibliophage]

I generally don't complain about shipping charges unless it's something that I _know_ they're shipping for $1 or less, and they whack me with a $9 fee. I do realize there are other costs, but one cheap pen works fine in an envelope with a piece of cardboard. If the "promotional" companies can bulk send ball points out, it's not THAT expensive to ship the pen itself.

[Misfit]

It was only temporary, but it’s now free shipping at $35.

[Honeybadgers]

Understandable perhaps and I respect it. In these times I cant pay $8.75 minimum shipping for each purchase. This epidemic will probably also prove that we need less to get by with. The costs havent gone up at USPS from what I know.

 

Most fountain pen retailers have a standard shipping cost of $8.75 because that's what 99% of their products require as a minimum size. Most use a UPS flat rate, which even with a stamps.com account, are like $5. Yes, there's a bit of a markup, but that flat rate ships anywhere in the world, covers unforseen costs or delays, etc. And many companies offer free shipping at $50-100

 

I usually charge about $0.50-$1.00 more than what I expect shipping to be just in case it comes out to more than that.

 

That said, I hate jetpens and their abysmal customer service with a burning passion, so anything that loses them business is fine by me.

[markh]

That said, I hate jetpens and their abysmal customer service with a burning passion, so anything that loses them business is fine by me.

 

I guess everyone's experience can be different. I've bought from them many times, and always had fast service and no problems.

 

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[Honeybadgers]

 

I guess everyone's experience can be different. I've bought from them many times, and always had fast service and no problems.

 

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Just hope you never have a problem. Their shipping was fine, but my complaint is based on them behaving in a petty, childish, and inappropriate manner when I had a problem with a nib.

[A Smug Dill]

Most fountain pen retailers have a standard shipping cost of $8.75 because that's what 99% of their products require as a minimum size. Most use a UPS flat rate, which even with a stamps.com account, are like $5. Yes, there's a bit of a markup, but that flat rate ships anywhere in the world, covers unforseen costs or delays, etc. And many companies offer free shipping at $50-100

 

I haven't seen any US specialist fountain pen and/or ink retailers offer a flat rate of under US$10 shipping anywhere in the world -- including, of special interest to me of course, Australia -- either before COVID-19 or since; nor have I seen any offer free shipping (to Australia) for orders of US$100. Nibs.com's free shipping threshold is US$550, EndlessPens's now US$500 (up from US$250 last year), and Nibsmith, Pen Chalet, Pen Boutique, JetPens and (the now defunct) Nemosine don't offer a free shipping threshold. The only one you could claim offers free shipping anywhere in the world for relatively low-value orders is Fountain Pen Revolution, but its product range is, let's just say, very limited and not very international until recently (with some Diamine, Herbin and Organic Studio inks now).

 

So, Cult Pens in the UK, La Couronne du Comte and Fontoplumo in the Netherlands, PenGallery in Malaysia, and Amazon US (and now also Amazon UK, as of last week) as a seller by way of Amazon Australia gets most of my spend, because US retailers' shipping charges and policies are simply not competitive, and rarely offer much that is "special" or exclusive to make the value proposition compelling. (I count Dan Smith's nib work, where included in his pricing of some of the pen models he sells, as one of those value-adds that go a fair way to sweeten the overall deal.)

 

The only sellers (that I know of) who ship bottled ink at reasonable charges, from a single bottle and up, are Fountainfeder.eu (but which unreasonably charges German VAT/MwSt for direct exports) in Germany, (the now defunct) Bureau Direct in the UK, and Printus aka 'Bits and Bobs' on (the now defunct) Rakuten Global Market in Japan.