a very strange Ebay pen seller who is basically giving thousands of dollors away

[TomFPN]

The Ebay seller gully95 is very strange. In the past several days, the seller sold lots of mixed 10 pens at very low prices, even at 1/10 of the true values. I think the seller is going to sell more lots of pens like this. Basically, it is like giving money away. I just do not understand it. What do you think about such a strange thing?   

[Uncial]

I don't see anything especially amazing in his listings at the moment. Most of his fountain pen listings seem to be a little higher than retail.

[TomFPN]

Check his sold items. Those mixed lot of 10 pens. You will be shocked for the low prices. 

[I-am-not-really-here]

I see sold lots of very dirty pens with only a vague description of actual condition, "various degrees of use and wear."  Each of those pens need some level of restoration, a good flush if lucky, various amounts of rebuild if not.  

 

 

[TomFPN]

The prices of his single pens are reasonable. Not low at all. But those mixed lots of 10 pens are really low priced. 

[TomFPN]

Actually, the conditions of those used pens look quite good to me. For those prices, I am willing to buy as many pens as possible. As I have said, it is just like the seller was giving hundreds and thousands dollars away for each lot he sold.

[TomFPN]

For example, the following lot of pens was only for $149. In fact, just the white Pelikan pen is worth much more than $149. And I think the real value of this lot perhaps exceeds at least $1000.

[Paul-in-SF]

14 minutes ago, TomFPN said:

Check his sold items. Those mixed lot of 10 pens. You will be shocked for the low prices. 

Sorry for my ignorance, but how does one check sold items? I have long wondered this...

[terim]

10 minutes ago, Paul-in-SF said:

Sorry for my ignorance, but how does one check sold items? I have long wondered this...

Log in and search, then click the COMPLETED ITEMS link in the left column.

[Paul-in-SF]

Thanks.

 

Now I can see what the OP means. I looked at a sold lot at random, and it had two Pelikans in it, which weren't even mentioned in the description, and the lot went for under $75, a Buy It Now price. 

 

His profile says he is a consignment seller. I wonder if somehow that has something to do with it. Although really I can't see how. 

[TomFPN]

The seller seems knowing the values of those new pens. However, for the used high quality pens, the seller was basically giving them away. It is really hard to understand. Could it be a scam? Or perhaps the seller was just selling the pens to himself? That is the only reasonable explanation I can think of.    

[I-am-not-really-here]

24 minutes ago, terim said:

Log in and search, then click the COMPLETED ITEMS link in the left column.

SOLD ITEMS is clearer.  Completed Items includes lots that were listed but went Unsold.

[Uncial]

I see a well used Pelikan with lots of staining. Look closer. There's a crack in the nib shoulder. Look closely at the cap and you'll see multiple cracks running right up the cap. That wouldn't be a bargain at any price. These are only the issues we can see. He knows the value of what he is selling and would appear to have working pens in decent condition at just above retail value. He's not giving away a penny here.

[inkstainedruth]

It could be a case of the seller getting pens extremely cheaply -- or even free -- from estate sales or estate sales companies who don't know much (if anything) about pens.  After all -- I paid two bucks for a Forest Green Parker 51 Aerometric at an estate sale a couple of years ago.  And I was given some Waterman lever filler in an antiques shop just last summer, which had a broken off lever.  I guess the guy at the counter figured that "nobody" would buy a "broken" pen.  

There was a joke in my local pen club a couple of years ago -- on the way to a meeting I stuck my head in a local thrift shop that specializes in arts and crafts supplies, and paid a dollar for a Cross Verve (apparently they weren't on the market very long, so are highly "collectible" if you believe the crazy prices I've seen for them on the Bay of Evil.  Somebody at the meeting joked that I could sell it for $2 and make a profit....

I don't tend to look at pen lots but many times they are geared towards repair people -- buy them super cheap, get them fixed and working, and then make a tidy amount reselling them.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[TomFPN]

I could not see the crack in the nib shoulder of the white Pelikan pen. But I think even if there are all kinds of cracks for all the pens, the nibs of the pens alone perhaps would be worth at least $500. It still seems strange to me.

[Uncial]

Well the rest of that lot are cheap Chinese pens, a couple of Jinhao's and two Laban's all of which have steel nibs which doesn't add up to ten dollars let alone five hundred.

[TomFPN]

Is this a cheap pen? It is in the lot. I don't think "the rest of that lot are cheap Chinese pens" at all. I just think you don't recognize pens very well.  Sorry to say that.

[Uncial]

Like I said earlier, the seller knows very well the value of his pens. A Delta and a (wreck of a ) Pelikan in a lot with other cheapies is a way of offloading junked and busted pens. There might be bits to salvage in there but I wouldnt count on it. But, you know, have at it; roll the dice and see what you get.

[TomFPN]

Actually, I did try to buy them. However, whenever I saw a lot of pens from the seller, it was already sold. I had no chance to buy it. That is, they were sold out immediately. That seems strange to me. 

[TomFPN]

I do not agree that the pens are "junked and busted pens" at all. Did you really take a look at the pens sold by the seller at very low prices? If you did take a look at the pens and still thought they were "junked and busted pens", I have to say you have very poor judgement about the conditions and values of pens.