Fountain Pens in Sydney, Australia

[iamchum]

even including shipping there is a discrepancy of probably about $10

[yamborghini]

Here's a tip if you want a safari or an al-star in australia. Go to ebay.co.uk instead of ebay.com.au. You can get them much cheaper. Safaris can be bought for around $14 and Al-stars around $19. (well that's what i got mine for. may be slightly more expensive now due to the gbp going up a bit relative to aud)

[J_MB]

I am in Newcastle, NSW and the only place you can buy a fountain pen is the Officeworks in Cardiff for a LAMY Safari at AU$49.95 or Parker Jotter at AU$29.95.

 

The Nextra Newsagency at Charlestown sells Parker IM AU$39.95 and Sheafers for AU$56.00, on specials apparently. No 'Mont Blanc' out this way my only option is to go online. :roflmho:

 

This is the fountain pens I have been investigating and the price list:-

AU$166 Diplomat Excellence A Black Gold Trim

AU$180 Parker 100

AU$225 Stipula Vedo

AU$260 Waterman Carene

AU$305 Pelikan Souveran M600

AU$340 Visconti Wall Street

AU$375 Bexley Americana Greenbrier

AU$410 Sailor Realo 1911

AU$535 Aurora 88 Gold Trims

AU$550 Nakaya Piccolo

 

For conversion 1 AUD = 1.0337 USD

Edited February 13, 2013 by J_MB

[RobW]

As an Australian, I will buy locally if I can get a reasonable deal. And I know that generally means paying more than I would if I bought from some overseas source or on the internet. Having said that, I'm not a chump, and I give a supplier/retailer/whatever one chance to give me a good deal. Australian dealers, in the main, are up to three times more expensive than those overseas.

 

I don't think Australia Post is a real problem. More often than not it is the outlet itself. Most of them are out to gouge us. US online stores are generally good, but most of them do not understand the postal system and, as a result, you can pay as much (or more) for the postage than the item itself.

 

In the UK, you generally pay more for items, but the postage to Australia is reasonable. Swings and roundabouts...

Edited February 13, 2013 by RobW

[stephanos]

This may not be the right place to post - zombie thread? But it's the only one I could find on Sydney.

 

I'm expecting to travel to Sydney later this month (from Europe). I'll be staying close to the harbour and should have some free time on a Sunday afternoon. I had hoped to be able to pop in to a B&M shop wihlst playing tourist, with a view to picking up something FP-related as a memento.

 

From the looks of the conversation here, I won't be able to find anything, and even if I do, it'll be horribly overpriced. In other words, I shouldn't waste my time even looking. Does that sound like a reasonable summary, or has something changed?

[Jamerelbe]

This may not be the right place to post - zombie thread? But it's the only one I could find on Sydney.

 

I'm expecting to travel to Sydney later this month (from Europe). I'll be staying close to the harbour and should have some free time on a Sunday afternoon. I had hoped to be able to pop in to a B&M shop wihlst playing tourist, with a view to picking up something FP-related as a memento.

 

From the looks of the conversation here, I won't be able to find anything, and even if I do, it'll be horribly overpriced. In other words, I shouldn't waste my time even looking. Does that sound like a reasonable summary, or has something changed?

 

If you're staying close to the harbour, there are two 'boutique' stores that belong to the same retail chain - the Pens de Luxe group have a store in the iconic Queen Victoria Building (near Town Hall station) - up on the top floor. Or there's a second store about a 10 minute walk from the Sydney Opera House. They are somewhat on the pricey side - not their fault, necessarily, for some reason the higher end brands (and/or their local distributors) seem to think Australians are fair game when it comes to overcharging. Bear in mind, too, the shipping costs from Europe or USA factor into the pricing - and everything you buy will have a 10% 'Goods and Services' tax added onto the price, courtesy of the Australian government. My advice would be to have a look at their website (http://www.pensdeluxe.net/) and decide for yourself whether they're worth a visit.

[MCWB]

From the looks of the conversation here, I won't be able to find anything, and even if I do, it'll be horribly overpriced. In other words, I shouldn't waste my time even looking. Does that sound like a reasonable summary, or has something changed?

 

Pretty accurate summary!

[stephanos]

Thank you for that, Jamerelbe and MCWB. Now that I have had a look at the website you (Jamerelbe) suggest, I certainly won't expect to buy anything.

 

I see that Pens de Luxe stocks quite a decent range, at least. I was initially tempted by some ink brands that I can usually only buy online, in particular some Noodler's inks that I can't get in Europe; though I notice that the advertised size is 50ml, rather than the 3Oz (88ml) bottles I'm used to.

But the prices! [Insert expletive here.] They charge AU$35 for Mont Blanc ink! That's Eur.23.95 at today's rates. I could feed myself for a week on that if I were careful. And you say there's an extra 10% to pay on top! For comparison, I paid Eur.13 for a bottle of this ink at a B&M specialist shop in Germany a few days ago.

 

If all prices in Sydney are that comparatively high, I guess I'll be living off my hotel breakfast.

 

(But I'll visit the shop anyway, if only to look around. I'd not only be looking to buy a memento. One of the things I really like to do when I go to a new country is to visit a supermarket - gives me an insight into the local culture, and I guess it's a bit similar in more specialised fashion with B&M pen shops.)

[thesunshine]

Prices are high here but on the flip side the staff at the QVB store are quite knowledgeable and happy to chat. I always buy my inks from them to support my local B&M store.

[Bananabender]

''And you say there's an extra 10% to pay on top! For comparison, I paid Eur.13 for a bottle of this ink at a B&M specialist shop in Germany a few days ago.''

Not quite, on an international scale our tax on goods is pretty low. The advertised price for any products in Aust. are inclusive of the 10% goods and services tax if it attracts the tax.

This is partly because there is no tax on a lot of products such as fresh foodstuffs and it would be confusing if the consumer had to decide if a tax was applicable when deciding to purchase. Mark ups on imported goods esp.are pretty high though to cover high wages ,rents etc. Thats why tipping is not as big a thing in Aust.for example the person serving you a coffee on a weekend is getting time and a half to double time and on a public holiday triple time at a base of around $15 + per hour

Edited June 7, 2014 by Bananabender

[stephanos]

Thank you for all your comments and advice. I have now returned from Sydney. I did visit that pen shop in the QVB (lovely building, BTW, great city also). That is a fabulous shop. Yes, it's expensive, but I've never seen such a range. And the staff, as you say, are both knowledgeable and garrulous. I ended up buying two bottles of Noodler's ink that I have not seen in Europe.

 

For anyone visiting Sydney, I would make two FP-related suggestions, based on my very limited experience as a visitor.

 

First, visit Pen Ultimate, on the top floor of the Queen Vicctoria Building. It is a lovely shop, with a great variety and friendly staff who know their onions. See other posts in this thread.

 

Second, visit the weekend street market in The Rocks area, near Circular Quay. It's well worth a visit in its own right, but the FP angle is that one of the stall-holders makes and sells pens. There was a small number of fountain pens on display, and plenty of ballpoints, when I was there last Sunday. He also had one beautiful oversized pen on display (black, with opals - if you like Pelikan's raden models, you might like it). Prices seem quite reasonable, by Australian standards, and I ended up buying a pen. Note that his prices at the market are slightly lower than those advertised on the website.

Edited June 26, 2014 by stephanos

[stephanos]

Update for the sake of completeness.

I mentioned in my update that I had bought a pen: I have posted a review, here.

[foreignexport]

Never bought a single pen or ink in Australia- prices are way too high

 

Online from UK, Japan or america saves you a lot of money

 

Of course you can't touch and feel the item

 

Take an example lamy safari in Australia is $50 au , buy from UK and of course no VAT is applied and you pay 11 pounds or $21 au dollars and add postage of $19au and your a winner

 

Of course this postage cost would stay the same even if you bought 5 or 6 pens as I do

[tamiya]

Take an example lamy safari in Australia is $50 au , buy from UK and of course no VAT is applied and you pay 11 pounds or $21 au dollars and add postage of $19au and your a winner

or, y'know, wait for sales...

[Dsquall]

Going to resurrect this thread a bit but I buy mine from george street dymocks (sydney) with coupons I get from my visa/amex cards (makes it seem as though I'm not really spending money).

 

By no means "cheap" but off the top of my head some of the prices are:

 

m800, m805: 670

visconti opera club: 750

pilot VP: 200ish

falcon: 200ish

justus: 400 I think

823 was available too but no one knew the price (they didn't even know what model it was).

omas pens starting at around 700

 

A lot cheaper than the QVB store and the staff are much friendlier (but perhaps not as knowledgeable, depends which staff member serves you), they won't let you ink up the more expensive pens but will let you try them. As an aside: I was off for a week after a week of night shifts, went in under-dressed on a weekday to pen-ultimate (the QVB store) the clerk decided to ignore me for about 20 minutes while having a chat with another customer stating specifically "don't worry he can wait". After finally getting served and withstanding constant looks of derision and an obvious attitude (probably didn't think I could afford the pens I wanted to try out or something else judgmental) he went and decided to serve another customer mid-conversation with me, left me with a horrible impression of the entire establishment.

[dcwaites]

Going to resurrect this thread a bit but I buy mine from george street dymocks (sydney) with coupons I get from my visa/amex cards (makes it seem as though I'm not really spending money).

 

By no means "cheap" but off the top of my head some of the prices are:

 

m800, m805: 670

visconti opera club: 750

pilot VP: 200ish

falcon: 200ish

justus: 400 I think

823 was available too but no one knew the price (they didn't even know what model it was).

omas pens starting at around 700

 

A lot cheaper than the QVB store and the staff are much friendlier (but perhaps not as knowledgeable, depends which staff member serves you), they won't let you ink up the more expensive pens but will let you try them. As an aside: I was off for a week after a week of night shifts, went in under-dressed on a weekday to pen-ultimate (the QVB store) the clerk decided to ignore me for about 20 minutes while having a chat with another customer stating specifically "don't worry he can wait". After finally getting served and withstanding constant looks of derision and an obvious attitude (probably didn't think I could afford the pens I wanted to try out or something else judgmental) he went and decided to serve another customer mid-conversation with me, left me with a horrible impression of the entire establishment.

 

I agree with your comments on the QVB Pen Ultimate. I bought a bottle of ink that was faulty, and took it back. They wouldn't refund me because I had opened it and therefore they couldn't sell to another customer - A faulty bottle of ink (full of crud).

More recently they advertised some ink online at $17, so I went in to get a bottle. I was told that the over-the-counter price was $25, and the reason was that they were able to charge the online customers $15 for shipping.

Somebody really needs to apply the volume of law dealing with Consumer Law to these people, in a vigorous and animated fashion.

 

In the meantime, here's the good news. Go to the Peters Of Kensington website and look up their pens and inks.

I was recently able to get a Parker Urban Fountain Pen for $20, and a bottle (50 ml) of Pelikan Edelstein Sapphire for $17.

BTW, if you don't see exactly what you want, contact them. They have more on the shelves and warehouse than is on the website.

 

And, I would like to add Dymocks on George St to the good list. Just spent some time in there today, prices reasonable, not spectacular either way, but not too bad, wide range of pens, wide range of inks, including lots of D'Atramentis, and lots, and lots of notebooks to complement what is at Kinokuniya.

Edited December 15, 2015 by dcwaites

[Dsquall]

 

I agree with your comments on the QVB Pen Ultimate. I bought a bottle of ink that was faulty, and took it back. They wouldn't refund me because I had opened it and therefore they couldn't sell to another customer - A faulty bottle of ink (full of crud).

More recently they advertised some ink online at $17, so I went in to get a bottle. I was told that the over-the-counter price was $25, and the reason was that they were able to charge the online customers $15 for shipping.

Somebody really needs to apply the volume of law dealing with Consumer Law to these people, in a vigorous and animated fashion.

 

In the meantime, here's the good news. Go to the Peters Of Kensington website and look up their pens and inks.

I was recently able to get a Parker Urban Fountain Pen for $20, and a bottle (50 ml) of Pelikan Edelstein Sapphire for $17.

BTW, if you don't see exactly what you want, contact them. They have more on the shelves and warehouse than is on the website.

 

And, I would like to add Dymocks on George St to the good list. Just spent some time in there today, prices reasonable, not spectacular either way, but not too bad, wide range of pens, wide range of inks, including lots of D'Atramentis, and lots, and lots of notebooks to complement what is at Kinokuniya.

 

Thanks! I just went to Peters of Kensington store in Alexandria today and my goodness... I don't think I should be allowed in their with my wallet if a sale ever happens, I'd probably end up bankrupt. That said, I believe they're having a sale on the 11th of January! I will probably take a morning off to go to that and empty out my bank account.