Price increase?

[mke]

nibs.com wrote in their last newsletter that Platinum will increase the prices on April 1st. Wouldn't wonder if Pilot and Sailor will follow.

[stan]

Is this the price of pens to nibs.com, to all sellers, or is the manufacturers suggested retail price being increased?

[jandrese]

Due to the price of gold Platinum announced a price increase, presumably for all retailers and for any pen with a gold nib.

[ridiculopathy]

Thanks for the info. Did they happen to say by how much? I planning to wait until the next holiday sale to get the Platinums on my Want List, buuuuut if it's a significant increase I guess I'll just have to get them sooner instead (lol).

[mke]

@ridiculopathy

Let me guess, they will not tell the public before April 1. I am certain the official sellers know.

[A Smug Dill]

41 minutes ago, ridiculopathy said:

Did they happen to say by how much?

 

Do ‘they’, or any brand's manufacturer or regional distributors for that matter, ever tell end-consumers that kind of information ahead of time? What would be in it for them to do so?

 

On 3/14/2021 at 2:16 AM, jandrese said:

Due to the price of gold Platinum announced a price increase,

 

Where did Platinum announce it? I can't see it in any of the following places:

• https://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/en/news/?lang=en&news_category=pressrelease
• https://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/news_category/pressrelease/
• https://www.platinum-pen.co.jp/news_category/newsinformation/
• http://platinumpenusa.com/whats-new/

 

[mke]

> Where did Platinum announce it?

Official sellers leaked it on Instagram and in their newsletters.

[A Smug Dill]

24 minutes ago, mke said:

Official sellers leaked it on Instagram and in their newsletters.

 

My point was, how was that Platinum's announcement, especially as far as consumers are concerned? The brand distributor giving retailers a heads-up, as a business courtesy so that they know what to expect when placing orders in April, does not amount to an announcement to either the industry or the consumer base.

[jandrese]

2 hours ago, ridiculopathy said:

Thanks for the info. Did they happen to say by how much? I planning to wait until the next holiday sale to get the Platinums on my Want List, buuuuut if it's a significant increase I guess I'll just have to get them sooner instead (lol).

I think it goes into effect later this month and maybe will be around $100. I don’t remember the specifics. Ask Michael at Dromgooles.

[Tinjapan]

I bought a pen at an event in a department store last summer or Fall.  Make is not important but I was told to expect higher prices due to the price of gold shooting up.  

 

But with Japan and the US printing money like there is no tomorrow to pay what little they are to those out of work, prices on everything will be going up.

[stan]

New pens are available at reduced prices through Rakuten and Yahoo Japan. You may need look or wait for your specific model and nib size.

[Paul-in-SF]

On 3/13/2021 at 7:16 AM, jandrese said:

Due to the price of gold Platinum announced a price increase, presumably for all retailers and for any pen with a gold nib.

Why now (one wonders)? Gold hit peak prices about 7 months ago, and has been noodling downwards ever since, a process that has accelerated in the past month. Looking at the graphs, it had been at the 1200-1400 range for quite a while, then started rising about 18 months ago and took almost a year to hit its (then) peak. 

 

And why that much? The amount of gold in a 14K #6 nib, if the nib weighs 0.5 grams, is less than 1% of a troy ounce. If the price of gold went up $500 per ounce (which it has in the past two years), that would require a price rise of $5 to offset it. 

 

In any case, and for myself only, I'm perfectly comfortable not buying any more Platinum gold-nib pens for a while. A long while, if their pricing becomes and stays out of line with the market. 

[ridiculopathy]

18 hours ago, mke said:

 

Let me guess, they will not tell the public before April 1. I am certain the official sellers know.

 

18 hours ago, A Smug Dill said:

Do ‘they’, or any brand's manufacturer or regional distributors for that matter, ever tell end-consumers that kind of information ahead of time? What would be in it for them to do so?

A couple years ago, online retailers like nibs.com and Goulet let customers know that Sailor was going to increase their prices by about 10-15%. But I agree it probably doesn't benefit the manufacturer much to reveal such details before an increase happens.

 

 

16 hours ago, jandrese said:

I think it goes into effect later this month and maybe will be around $100. I don’t remember the specifics. Ask Michael at Dromgooles.

Thanks! I should ask the nibs.com team if Nakaya will be raising their prices too since they use the same nibs. 

 

12 hours ago, stan said:

New pens are available at reduced prices through Rakuten and Yahoo Japan. You may need look or wait for your specific model and nib size.

Wow, I had no idea Yahoo Japan had made it so much easier for US customers to use proxy services! I last looked at those sites years ago when they only offered suggestions, and you had to arrange those services yourself. 

[Tinjapan]

15 hours ago, stan said:

New pens are available at reduced prices through Rakuten and Yahoo Japan. You may need look or wait for your specific model and nib size.

The pen I got was a one of a kind hand crafted pen.   While he packaging it for me he told me that gold had gone way up and made it hard to turn a profit on his pens.

[Tinjapan]

13 hours ago, Paul-in-SF said:

Why now (one wonders)? Gold hit peak prices about 7 months ago, and has been noodling downwards ever since, a process that has accelerated in the past month. Looking at the graphs, it had been at the 1200-1400 range for quite a while, then started rising about 18 months ago and took almost a year to hit its (then) peak. 

 

And why that much? The amount of gold in a 14K #6 nib, if the nib weighs 0.5 grams, is less than 1% of a troy ounce. If the price of gold went up $500 per ounce (which it has in the past two years), that would require a price rise of $5 to offset it. 

 

In any case, and for myself only, I'm perfectly comfortable not buying any more Platinum gold-nib pens for a while. A long while, if their pricing becomes and stays out of line with the market. 

It may be that they had a supply of nibs or gold for nibs on hand and hope prices would return to nearer what ever they last paid for gold, whenever that was.  Now they need more and the current price is much higher than it was when they last bought gold.  One possible reason for why now.  

 

[samasry]

9 minutes ago, Tinjapan said:

It may be that they had a supply of nibs or gold for nibs on hand and hope prices would return to nearer what ever they last paid for gold, whenever that was.  Now they need more and the current price is much higher than it was when they last bought gold.  One possible reason for why now.  

 

I saw the number $100 mentioned. 

Does that apply to all pens across the board?  

For example   the 3776  was selling for  $150 (street price), is it going to be $250?  in couple of weeks?

[Tinjapan]

Sorry, I don’t know.  My post was answering a question on why prices would go up now.  

 

Prices have been going up for a while, at least here in Japan.  When I first say Nakayas, the ones I was interested in for 50,000 yen.  2 years ago I was finally ready to get one and shocked to see the same models going for 70,000 yen!  With all the madness going on right now, I am not surprised prices are going up further.  But I have no idea how much.

[samasry]

 

2 minutes ago, Tinjapan said:

Sorry, I don’t know.  My post was answering a question on why prices would go up now.  

 

Prices have been going up for a while, at least here in Japan.  When I first say Nakayas, the ones I was interested in for 50,000 yen.  2 years ago I was finally ready to get one and shocked to see the same models going for 70,000 yen!  With all the madness going on right now, I am not surprised prices are going up further.  But I have no idea how much.

 

I am sorry, I thought that the $100 is something already known.  I realize it was not you who mentioned this number.

 

I understand  your feeling about the price increase.   I had the same story with the Sailor KOP Ebonite, where I managed to snag one in mid 2019, and ever since it has  increased by  60%-80%  in price if you can even find it.  I have been unable to get one for the past year without  paying about double what I paid for my first one.

[Paul-in-SF]

15 hours ago, salmasry said:

I saw the number $100 mentioned. 

Does that apply to all pens across the board?  

For example   the 3776  was selling for  $150 (street price), is it going to be $250?  in couple of weeks?

It is not clear that the information that was apparently supplied to dealers and then leaked on Instagram or elsewhere included anything about amounts of increase. So far, at least, such details seem to be based on speculation. 

[samasry]

7 minutes ago, Paul-in-SF said:

It is not clear that the information that was apparently supplied to dealers and then leaked on Instagram or elsewhere included anything about amounts of increase. So far, at least, such details seem to be based on speculation. 

 

Great, thank you for the  informative update.