Parker - Made In China, Taboo Subject?

[ildbig]

A lot of people don't mind Chinese Parkers. But for those who do, there is a neat solution: Buy Bexley pens! Or Edison Pen Co. pens.

[Batman]

I have read FPN numerous times but usually do not reply, so I'm not sure if this is where I reply to the writer above or not. I 100%, totally agree with this Parker user. They picked up from Janesville, WI and took 200/500 jobs out of that town and outsourced their Parker brand pens and they undoubedly do not want to advertise this fact! Sheaffer and Cross did the same thing. None of them put the country of orgin on their pens anymore.

 

Little of that statement is true. The Parker Jotter, Vector, Sonnet, Premier and Duofold all have a country of origin on the pens. Granted, that is because all of those pens are made in France which has some cache with the consumer versus China.

 

Parker did not start manufacturing in China until 2008. Currently only the IM, Urban, Jotter Premium and Vector Premium are made in China. All other models including ink cartridges and bottles are made in France.

 

The Janesville factory hasn't made any pens since 1999 and those jobs were outsourced to England, not China, at Parker's Newhaven factory.

 

I don't know about the Chinese made pens but Parker still makes their own pens at the Waterman Factory in Nantes, France. I own Chinese, American, French, Canadian and British made Parkers and quality standards are good across the board.

 

Parker doesn't put country of origin on the Chinese made pens but they do on the package because it is required by US law. The cardboard insert in the plastic blister package will say Made in China.

 

Thank you Florida Blue for the info, I find it odd how the Jotter and Vector Premium are made in China whereas the regular jotters are made in France.

[Mike 59]

On the back of the blister card packaging we see in UK now, (Gold and black printed card versions), there is a service centre address, maybe Europe only, can't be sure, of "Saint Herblain, France". There is no indication of where the pen is made though, on the card, maybe so the packaging can be used across more models?

The most recent SS Jotter ballpen I bought was made in France (stamped on pen with code IIIQ.)

In our shops lately, there are the engraved versions of Urban FP and IM FP, with the "Trip of a lifetime" offer,

but the price has gone up to £31.99, as opposed to under £20 for the 'plain' versions.

[inkstainedruth]

Hmm. I just got a Parker Urban Kit and there was a notation on the packaging saying something like "assembled in Mexico" (sorry, I didn't save the box).

Does this mean the pen was made in Mexico, or that it was made in China and the pen, ink, etc., just packaged in Mexico?

(I didn't realized that Parker had moved out of the US until a friend of mine who knows a lot more about FPs than me told me that, basically, *no* pens are made in the US anymore). I had to go to other sites (including this one) to get *any* information (other than registering for the extended warranty) because the Parker website was so annoying to navigate (has anyone else had this problem, btw, or is this just a function of having an older OS and browser?) Even the very nice website that was specifically for Parker afficionatos, run by Tony Fischier, didn't say anything about them not being made in the US... :hmm1:

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

I have read FPN numerous times but usually do not reply, so I'm not sure if this is where I reply to the writer above or not. I 100%, totally agree with this Parker user. They picked up from Janesville, WI and took 200/500 jobs out of that town and outsourced their Parker brand pens and they undoubedly do not want to advertise this fact! Sheaffer and Cross did the same thing. None of them put the country of orgin on their pens anymore.

 

Little of that statement is true. The Parker Jotter, Vector, Sonnet, Premier and Duofold all have a country of origin on the pens. Granted, that is because all of those pens are made in France which has some cache with the consumer versus China.

 

Parker did not start manufacturing in China until 2008. Currently only the IM, Urban, Jotter Premium and Vector Premium are made in China. All other models including ink cartridges and bottles are made in France.

 

The Janesville factory hasn't made any pens since 1999 and those jobs were outsourced to England, not China, at Parker's Newhaven factory.

 

I don't know about the Chinese made pens but Parker still makes their own pens at the Waterman Factory in Nantes, France. I own Chinese, American, French, Canadian and British made Parkers and quality standards are good across the board.

 

Parker doesn't put country of origin on the Chinese made pens but they do on the package because it is required by US law. The cardboard insert in the plastic blister package will say Made in China.

[Florida Blue]

Hmm. I just got a Parker Urban Kit and there was a notation on the packaging saying something like "assembled in Mexico" (sorry, I didn't save the box).

Does this mean the pen was made in Mexico, or that it was made in China and the pen, ink, etc., just packaged in Mexico?

(I didn't realized that Parker had moved out of the US until a friend of mine who knows a lot more about FPs than me told me that, basically, *no* pens are made in the US anymore). I had to go to other sites (including this one) to get *any* information (other than registering for the extended warranty) because the Parker website was so annoying to navigate (has anyone else had this problem, btw, or is this just a function of having an older OS and browser?) Even the very nice website that was specifically for Parker afficionatos, run by Tony Fischier, didn't say anything about them not being made in the US... :hmm1:

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

 

Yes, Parker pens are no longer made in the USA. However, there are still some great companies making in the USA including Bexley, Edison and Gatecity (which are made for Richard Binder by Bexley). Noodler's and Private Reserve bottled inks are made in the USA as well.

 

To be honest, I've never heard of Parker making any pens in Mexico. This made be a new development. The Urban has never been made in the USA though only in China from what I previously was aware of. "Assembled" to me sounds like it was made in Mexico.

[mikkolopez]

Don't know if Parkers now are made in China but of all the Parker's I have all are made in England, or France, or Australia or USA, the best of them as smooth writers has been the vintage ones, pre 1990 some as old as 1970s since they were my Dad's. The quality and materials used on the vintage seem to be better and more reliable and longer lasting than the modern ones.

 

My modern Sonnet and Vectors are still France or USA made and are top-notch in quality and are smooth writers still.

 

I have not checked out the Facet or any of the entry-level Parkers lately and would be interested to know if these were made in China. So far, my only China made pen is the Hero 330 and it is a smooth and wet writer albeit an F nib.

[Florida Blue]

I have not checked out the Facet or any of the entry-level Parkers lately and would be interested to know if these were made in China.

 

The Facet was made in China as well as the current IM and Urban pens. The standard Vector is made in France but the premium finish is made in China.

[NABodie]

All my Parkers are stamped "Made in USA", well except for a couple of Canadian Vacs.

[Gnome DePloom]

I was writing with a "Parker Pen" purchased from eBay just a few minutes ago.  I looked it up in my eBay history.

 

Here is the listing:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154855522961?var=454965079002

 

At $8.79 US, I don't know thaty I believe this to be a real Parker IM.

 

It is either a counterfeit, or it is black/grey market. ("It fell off of a truck.")

 

But it is of very nice quality.  It has Parker on the barrel, and Parker on the nib.

 

If it is a fake, it is a very nice one.

 

(I purchased another, a rollerball.  It is listed here:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165129330825

 

This one was easier to spot as a fake, as the rollerball cartridge, while labelled "Parker Made in UK," is *not* the same as the standard Perker rollerball cartridge.

 

I don't have that obne here at my office, so I am relying on memory.

 

IIRC, the cartridge in the pen would *not* fit in other Parker pens I have, but genuine Parker rollerball cartridges *would* fit in the fake pen.

 

Make of that what you will.)

[Mercian]

On 11/8/2023 at 6:59 PM, Gnome DePloom said:

I was writing with a "Parker Pen" purchased from eBay just a few minutes ago.  I looked it up in my eBay history.

 

Here is the listing:

 

https://www.ebay.com/itm/154855522961?var=454965079002

 

At $8.79 US, I don't know thaty I believe this to be a real Parker IM.

 

It is either a counterfeit, or it is black/grey market. ("It fell off of a truck.")

 

But it is of very nice quality.  It has Parker on the barrel, and Parker on the nib.

 

If it is a fake, it is a very nice one.

 

A warning for the benefit of anyone who is reading this thread in future

 

The pen on that listing is a fake; one that was made by criminal scumbags whose business model is defrauding people who think that they are ordering a genuine Parker pen into instead buying one of their cheaply-churned-out shonky knock-offs.

The photographs of the pen on the listing for the fake pen look nice, but that does NOT mean that a purchaser will even receive any kind of pen, let alone that anything they receive will be of even passable quality.
And it doesn’t mean that anything that you receive from these criminals won’t contain easily-absorbed toxins or carcinogens.
After all, manufacturing items to standards that protects consumers costs money, and these criminals are NOT a legitimate business; they are a parasitic gang of fraudsters who are attempting to maximise their profits by using criminal means.
Why would you think that they care that you are going to be breathing/swallowing e.g. arsenic or dioxins after buying one of their knock-offs?

 

The listing title is “Parker IM series”.

The inclusion of the word ‘series’ is the giveaway - it is from the criminals’ series of pens that are fakes of Parker IMs.

They also sell ‘Parker Sonnet series’  fake pens, Parker Urban series fake pens, and presumably other ‘Parker ‘x’ series’ fake pens.

 

DON’T GIVE THESE CRIMINALS YOUR MONEY!

There are plenty of genuine Parker pens available for less than full retail price on eBay (& other sites).

That criminal business is one of the banes of trying to buy pens on eBay.

WHENEVER one reports one of their many, many accounts for selling fake pens, a new account ‘miraculously’ appears, selling the same fakes under the same term.

And with lots of ‘positive feedback’, presumably from the criminals’ colleagues who boost it by posting fake ‘feedback’.

If anyone is EVER searching on eBay for a Parker pen, they need to make sure that the text that they enter in to the search box includes the term ‘-series’.

 

So, if you would like to buy a Sonnet, search for ‘Parker Sonnet -series’;

If you would like to buy an Urban, search for ‘Parker Urban -series’;

If you would like to buy an IM, search for ‘Parker IM -series’;

Etc.

Including ‘-series’ in your search term means that the algorithm DOESN’T show those criminals’ fake pens to you, and so improves the chances that you won’t get defrauded by them.

[inkstainedruth]

I looked up the listing (even though it's "no longer available") and saw that the seller did NOT have 100% positive feedback ratings.  That would have been my first red flag right there....  There are enough reputable sellers on eBay that I can generally avoid the bad actors.  

And having thousands of transactions under a seller's belt but NOT 100% positive feedback is an even bigger red flag, IME....  Unfortunately, I learned THAT the hard way....  The dispute I filed was adjudicated in my favor, but I was NOT allowed to provide feedback as a result.... 

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[mr T.]

On 11/8/2023 at 7:59 PM, Gnome DePloom said:

At $8.79 US, I don't know that I believe this to be a real Parker IM. It is either a counterfeit, or it is black/grey market. ("It fell off of a truck.")

These look like counterfeits. If a deal looks too good to be true, it probably is.

[thx1138]

With ebay sonnets you need to approach them from the belief they are fakes and you are looking for clues to prove or disprove that theory.