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I received my Kaigelu 316 from Hong Kong earlier this week (seller: hq.market, AKA You Gain More!) It's a reasonably faithful knock-off of the Duofold, visually at least. A handsome pen (mine is the white with black veining), it's improperly balanced toward the back end, but not a deal-breaker. I inked it up with Diamine Sapphire and it wrote beautifully. I decided to take my lovely new counterfeit to work with me, and on my way out the door, clipped it to my pock... UH-OH. With this gentle action, the clip, retainer ring and cap came off the pen. No biggie, I'll just screw the top back on, right? I've read here many times that Chinese pens have issues with quality control, so I just assumed someone didn't tighten it down properly. Nope. The threads refuse to catch, even when tested without the clip or retainer ring in place. It's defective. eBay has a process whereby you can resolve an issue like this one. Communicating with the seller (hq.market, AKA You Gain More!) that the pen is defective has resulted in the kind of runaround those who hide behind a language difference love to employ. "The pen is not smashed" they replied after receiving a photo of the loose clip assembly. (The only way I could think of to photograph threads that don't engage; see below) Of course, each message exchange with seller hq.market, AKA You Gain More must go through a 24 hour cycle, presumably because of the time difference. I've heard that other Chinese sellers are really good at reimbursing or replacing; that has not been my experience with seller hq.market, AKA You Gain More! (Maybe they're referring to my blood pressure reading?) Caveat emptor. James

Hi guys, I just got my first TWSBI yesterday, a classic mini with a 1.5 mm stub nib. Inked it up with Shaeffer Skrip blue black. After writing a few pages with it with no issues, I notice the ink color lightening in saturation. This goes on until I force a bit of ink to the feed. The pen lays down a dark line again, but after a few pages, lays down a diluted looking ink color line! Frustrating, indeed. Add to that the occasional skipping I get, but as of now, I'm even willing to attribute that to the fact that I'm still getting used to the stub nib (my first). I've read many good reviews about this pen, so I'm still hopeful. I would appreciate to hear your input on what I can do to improve its performance. Can it still be improved? Has anyone ever experienced getting a brand new, but defective TWSBI pen? Thanks in advance!