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Greetings! I wanted to share my experience shopping on pensinasia.com with you. Almost two years ago, I won the auction for a Caran D'Ache Varius China Blue ballpoint on eBay. Since then, I have been looking for the matching pencil. Unfortunately, I had not found one in any area pen stores and the two frequently listed on eBay have been overpriced. So, of course, time has passed and, now, the China Blue Varius has been discontinued (no longer listed on the Caran D'Ache site). Disappointed by this as I still wanted to purchase the matching pencil for my lovely ballpoint pen, I renewed my efforts to find someone from whom to purchase the pencil. I contacted several brick and mortar (B & M) stores in the United States as well as online retailers to inquire about purchasing the pencil. Folks at all the B & M stores informed me that the China Blue Varius had been discontinued, adding that I would be lucky to find a pencil as folks do not usually purchase high-end pencils these days. Several online retailers that I contacted told me the same thing, and other online retailers include statements such as "This is a special order item and may take up to 2 - 3 weeks for shipping." As I continued to look for the pencil, I found the pencil listed on redfingerprint.com. Although a bit wary, I decided to buy the pencil since it was listed as being in-stock and the price was reasonable. So, I made my purchase, selected PayPal as my method of payment, and replied to the order confirmation email, requesting a PayPal invoice so that I could pay. After that, since I did not receive any communication from redfingerprint.com, I sent another reply to the order confirmation email, requesting a PayPal invoice again. Since I still did not receive a reply, I decided to cancel the order a day later as I had tried to communicate by email and via the site without receiving a reply. I did not receive a reply to this second email until three days later, and I was informed that the pencil was not in stock and could not be ordered from redfingerprint.com's various suppliers. From there, I moved to pengallery.com as the pencil was listed as being in stock and folks on FPN had mentioned pengallery.com as a good online pen store. This time, I placed my order and paid immediately via PayPal as this was an option. I immediately received a confirmation for my order and a receipt for my purchase. Unfortunately, two days later, I received an email informing me that the pencil was no longer in stock and that it would take about a month for the pencil to be order and shipped from Switzerland. Since the pencil is no longer listed on the Caran D'Ache site, I did not believe that it would be possible to order the pencil from Caran D'Ache and I canceled my order. Lai at pengallery.com treated me well and processed a full refund rapidly. So, still without the lovely Caran D'Ache China Blue pencil, I continued my search. Since I did not want to send inquiries to retailers who had already informed me that they did not have or could not order the pencil, I checked my lists, surprised to find that I had not inquired at pensinasia.com. Since I had read many positive (glowing, actually) reviews of purchases from Tay at pensinasia.com, I emailed Tay to inquire about the possibility of purchasing the pencil and, since it never hurts to ask, I inquired if he might be willing to match the redfingerprint.com price for the pencil (sending the hyperlink to the listing of the pencil on the redfingerprint.com site with my inquiry). Tay was great: not only was the pencil in stock but also Tay was willing to match the price! Even better, Tay processed my order that very day and sent me a PayPal invoice so that I could pay immediately -- I liked that a lot since I prefer to pay immediately. : ) So, my order was processed, I paid for the pencil, and I received confirmation of both my order and my payment IMMEDIATELY. Although Tay said that he would ship on Friday (I placed the order on Wednesday), Tay shipped on Thursday! So, not only is Tay SUPER organized but also Tay ships FAST!!!! You might wonder if it is possible to top this -- the answer is yes, it is possible as Tay used Priority EMS shipping, sent me a hyperlink to the speedpost.com.sg tracking site and the tracking number for the pencil, and Tay sent me a picture of my dream pencil with a hyperlink to a page on pensinasia.com that has additional pictures of the pencil!!! Better than all this is Tay's great communication -- friendly, efficient, and always timely and greatly appreciated!!!!!!!! : ) So, I "watched" online as my new pencil traveled from Singapore to the United States in five days -- only three business days as this included a weekend. Upon receiving the package on Tuesday, I was pleased to see that it was well wrapped and the Caran D'Ache box was inside another box for protection. With anticipation and delight, I carefully opened the outer package and then the outer box to access the Caran D'Ache box within. Then, I opened the Caran D'Ache box to reveal my new, gorgeous Caran D'Ache China Blue Varius pencil within -- breathtaking and a perfect companion for my ballpoint, forming a gorgeous pen and pencil set! Tay is MAGNIFICENT -- kind and helpful -- providing GREAT service and a PERFECT purchase! I am grateful to all of you who have shared your pensinasia.com purchase experiences on FPN as you let me know that pensinasia.com is a reputable site with a caring seller -- Tay. I am DELIGHTED with pensinasia.com and APPLAUD Tay as a FANTASTIC seller -- THANK YOU, Tay!!!!!! Below is my lovely Caran D'Ache China Blue Varius pen and pencil set. How LOVELY!! Enjoy!