Jump to content

Sailor Increasing Prices Of Gold-Nibbed Pens

IlikeInksandIcannotlie

By IlikeInksandIcannotlie
in Market Watch

 Share

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 19
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • mke

    5

  • A Smug Dill

    3

  • sketchstack

    3

  • IlikeInksandIcannotlie

    2

Popular Days

Top Posters In This Topic

Popular Days

Posted Images

A Smug Dill Museum Piece

A Smug Dill

Posted
Posted

Thank you for sharing the information. I especially appreciate that you pointed us to the Sailor head office's announcement (in Japanese, which is no issue these days with all those free-to-use language translators), so that we know it isn't just the distributor in a particular regional market (e.g. the US) changing the pricing without it affecting the rest of the world. 👍

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
A Smug Dill Museum Piece

A Smug Dill

Posted
Posted

Here's the announcement in English, straight from the horse's mouth, but there is no link from it to the revised price list:

https://en.sailor.co.jp/news/【price-increase-notice】/

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
AlexLeGrande Rare

AlexLeGrande

Posted
Posted

I just ordered a 1911 Profit 14K medium nib before the prices all over the internet go wild.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Paul-in-SF Collectors Item

Paul-in-SF

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, MissCellany said:

Welp,glad I got my Realo when I did.

Me too. It's due to arrive on Friday (from Japan). 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sketchstack Extremely Rare

sketchstack

Posted
Posted

Google translate claims that part #11-3924 is a Realo and the current price is 38500¥. As of this writing that is ~$295US. So I'm assuming the price list is for Sailor's domestic market. 

 

Assuming that is all true, the new price will be ~$353US which is a 20% increase. 

 

Whereas part #10-9618 is (apparently) the standard Pro Gear KOP and it's going from 72,600¥ to 99,000¥. So that's a ~38% increase. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mke Antique

mke

Posted
Posted

The new owner is probably trying to make Sailor profitable. 

 

A black CC KoP is now in the same price level as the MB piston fillers 146 or even 149. 🤔

 

Let me guess, it is just the beginning of a price increase tsunami.

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Karmachanic Donor Pen

Karmachanic

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, mke said:

The new owner is probably trying to make Sailor profitable

 

Or reduce their market share.

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mke Antique

mke

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, Karmachanic said:

Or reduce their market share.

I think, Pilot and Platinum and ... will follow the lead - it will than be the same as before - on a higher level.

Perhaps they will sell less in general. Some people will also switch to used pens. But sellers of used pens will also increase their prices.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Karmachanic Donor Pen

Karmachanic

Posted
Posted

All prices are increasing exponentionally, as incomes remain the same.  What fun!

Add lightness and simplicate.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mke Antique

mke

Posted
Posted
10 hours ago, Karmachanic said:

All prices are increasing exponentionally, as incomes remain the same. 

 

The consumer price index of Japan shows that there is a price increase in the making but there was a big one in 2013-14 (don't remember what the reason was).

 

In Japan, incomes generally stay the same - no real increase in the base salary if you don't switch levels. Even there is a slight decline after turning 50 years old.

Turning 60, your salary typically drops to about 30% of before 60. Not like in Europe (US, I don't know) where you get salary increases regularly and where you have the same salary until your retirement.

The average levels of salary in Japan is only slightly increasing between 2011 and 2020. But, if companies earn less, they will cut the bonus part by some margin, so people will actually earn less. Expect this for the next few years.

 

 

 

consumerpriceindexjapan.png

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sketchstack Extremely Rare

sketchstack

Posted
Posted

The Tokyo Inklings podcast hosts theorized that Sailor is trying hard to become profitable. And like everything from food to fuel, the cost of materials has gone up as well. 

 

One theory by the podcast hosts is that perhaps they will (or are) going stronger in the "lower end" market. More steel nib pens etc. If their high-end become even more prohibitive then they can offer less expensive, if less luxurious, to keep people buying the Sailor brand. 

 

I believe they had actually scrutinized the company financial report to make these guesses, so they might be on to something. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Topcat666 Dipped Only

Topcat666

Posted
Posted

I keep meaning to try a Sailor steel nib pen as I must be one of the few people underwhealmed by the Naginata Togi when I revisited it last year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
A Smug Dill Museum Piece

A Smug Dill

Posted
Posted
35 minutes ago, sketchstack said:

More steel nib pens etc. If their high-end become even more prohibitive then they can offer less expensive, if less luxurious, to keep people buying the Sailor brand. 

 

Sailor's steel-nibbed pen models that alluded to some level of quality, e.g. the Procolor line (by any other name) that is deemed good enough to bear the 1911 imprint/branding on the nib, were not cheap in the better part of the last decade anyway. For ¥5000+tax, you could get a ‘regular’ Procolor 500 (that isn't a limited, special, or exclusive ‘collaboration’ edition) with a steel nib, or a Platinum Vicoh PTL-5000A with a 14K gold nib, circa 2018–2019. Sailor Young Profit models weren't cheap, either.

 

While the ‘basic’ Profit Jr (and the more expensive Lecoule, which use the same type of nibs) is not a bad product or poor writing instrument by any means, there is a large difference in nib quality between them and the Procolor line. Whereas Platinum reserved the humblest nibs for the Preppy and Plaisir (and now Prefounte, too); the nibs on the ¥3000 Balance line are much better (even if I don't appreciate them very much personally). Pilot uses the same high-quality steel nibs in models ranging from the Kaküno to the Prera; the rather expensive steel-nibbed Custom NS is a recent thing.

I endeavour to be frank and truthful in what I write, show or otherwise present, when I relate my first-hand experiences that are not independently verifiable; and link to third-party content where I can, when I make a claim or refute a statement of fact in a thread. If there is something you can verify for yourself, I entreat you to do so, and judge for yourself what is right, correct, and valid. I may be wrong, and my position or say-so is no more authoritative and carries no more weight than anyone else's here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mke Antique

mke

Posted
Posted

 

> Tokyo Inklings podcast hosts theorized that Sailor is trying hard to become profitable

Wow, a surprising insight. 😉

 

> perhaps they will (or are) going stronger in the "lower end" market.

Not, "lower end" market - just market. And I mean Japanese market. Working in a 300 people research institute, I saw a Sailor Promenade, a Sailor 1911S, an MB146 and a Pelikan 400. The rest of the people is writing with ballpens and pencils. This is where Pilot rules. Perhaps Sailor wants to attack this market. It would fit the image that I have of Plus (the new owner).

 

If only very few people write with Preppys why would they buy steel-nibbed Sailors?

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
sketchstack Extremely Rare

sketchstack

Posted
Posted
13 hours ago, mke said:

If only very few people write with Preppys why would they buy steel-nibbed Sailors?

 

Only very few people write with the Preppy? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites
mke Antique

mke

Posted
Posted
19 minutes ago, sketchstack said:

Only very few people write with the Preppy? 

I have never seen a Preppy in the wild in Japan or in normal stationary shops. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing

  • Most Contributions

    1. amberleadavis
      amberleadavis
      43844
    2. PAKMAN
      PAKMAN
      33559
    3. Ghost Plane
      Ghost Plane
      28220
    4. inkstainedruth
      inkstainedruth
      26743
    5. jar
      jar
      26101

  • Upcoming Events

  • Blog Comments

    • Shanghai Knife Dude
      Links to web pages or articles about Chinese typesetting, signwriting, etc.

      By Shanghai Knife Dude · Posted

      I have the Sailor Naginata and some fancy blade nibs coming after 2022 by a number of new workshop from China.  With all my respect, IMHO, they are all (bleep) in doing chinese characters.  Go use a bush, or at least a bush pen. 
    • A Smug Dill
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By A Smug Dill · Posted

      It is the reason why I'm so keen on the idea of a personal library — of pens, nibs, inks, paper products, etc. — and spent so much money, as well as time and effort, to “build” it for myself (because I can't simply remember everything, especially as I'm getting older fast) and my wife, so that we can “know”; and, instead of just disposing of what displeased us, or even just not good enough to be “given the time of day” against competition from >500 other pens and >500 other inks for our at
    • adamselene
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By adamselene · Posted

      Agreed.  And I think it’s good to be aware of this early on and think about at the point of buying rather than rationalizing a purchase..
    • A Smug Dill
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By A Smug Dill · Posted

      Alas, one cannot know “good” without some idea of “bad” against which to contrast; and, as one of my former bosses (back when I was in my twenties) used to say, “on the scale of good to bad…”, it's a spectrum, not a dichotomy. Whereas subjectively acceptable (or tolerable) and unacceptable may well be a dichotomy to someone, and finding whether the threshold or cusp between them lies takes experiencing many degrees of less-than-ideal, especially if the decision is somehow influenced by factors o
    • adamselene
      Skeleton of a primer for a budding hobbyist

      By adamselene · Posted

      I got my first real fountain pen on my 60th birthday and many hundreds of pens later I’ve often thought of what I should’ve known in the beginning. I have many pens, the majority of which have some objectionable feature. If they are too delicate, or can’t be posted, or they are too precious to face losing , still they are users, but only in very limited environments..  I have a big disliking for pens that have the cap jump into the air and fly off. I object to Pens that dry out, or leave blobs o

  • Chatbox

    You don't have permission to chat.
    Load More

  • Files






×
×
  • Create New...