Fpn Pen: Status Update, May 21
Entry posted by Admin
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Dearest Members and Visitors of the Fountain Pen Nuthouse,
As mentioned in the previous news update, we still had a few snags to deal with. At the end of last week, we had had extensive contact with Stipula, and we knew the representatives, we are dealing with, would be traveling to the US on Friday, now more than a week ago, to attend an exhibition and to have meetings with their US representatives. Expected return date was Thursday, but it currently looks like that was Thursday after close of business in the US, as we haven't heard anything from Stipula since their departure, yet. We are therefore still waiting for new pricing considering our proposals, and the possibilities we agreed upon.
Let us first reiterate what those are.
First of all, the Passaportos. Both models will be produced, be it the Gold Coloured version only with stanless steel, gold coloured M nib. The Chrome version will be produced with a selection of F or M stainless steel nibs:
Next the Modello T. As the Gold Coloured version received too few votes, that version will not be produced. Furthermore, the variants with palladium section ends are less popular, so we are going for the models in palladium trim, and full azurite section. As both types of clip jewels are availabe, we all have a choice between either a Mother-Of Pearl clip jewel, or a blue stone. Gold nibs are not available as too few people indicated they would like one. However, that still means we can produce two of these beauties, and at no extra cost, both with titanium T-Flex nib:
The Etruria is a different story altogether. We do have enough votes for both an Azurite, and a Blue Celluloid production run. Furthermore, 14K rhodinated nibs, 18K duotone nibs, silver trim, and vermeil trim all appear to be "standard" stock items for Etrurias, which means we can mix and match to some degree. Unfortunately, that is not the case with piston filler vs c/c versions. As an enormous majority of people either want a piston filler, or do not mind either filling system, we have opted for the piston filler. All in all, this provides us with 6 (!) options, namely, the following in Azurite:
And the same variants in Blue Celluloid (acetate):
In short, plenty of choice, 2 material types, 3 rhodinated nib types, 7 duotone nib types, silver or vermeil trim, but at different price points.
To return to the snags, those have been mostly solved. As indicated, shipping to US, Canada and EU countries would be € 10, and we now have managed to realize a € 20 shipping fee to all other countries in the world, with in both cases no extra fees for combined shipping!
The VAT issues we discussed have also been solved completely. VAT will only be charged, as we have to do from a legal POV, on a EU country by country basis, but will not be included in an overall price, IOW, the non-EU prices will be tax-free (VAT-free)!
Stipula did ask us a last question with regard to the pen mix in the production runs, and this is likely causing the current delay, because by the time we could reply, they were well underway to the US.
In the mean time we did set up the FPN web store, which isn't visible yet 
. We are planning on giving the voters first dibs at ordering, for up to 10 days, after which we will open the store to everybody. The reason for this is that we do have only limited production runs, and as the voters in principle have committed themselves, they will therefore have the option to buy first.
So if you want to have first dibs too, make sure you vote before the polls close, with closure scheduled for very early on Tuesday, May 24!
As a reminder, here are the links to the votes:
Warm regards,
The FPN Admin Team
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