Sheaffer Is Introducing A New Upscale Prelude - Prelude Signature Collection

[ThirdeYe]

Where are they made?

 

High prices.

I'm waiting for the reviews to know if the pens are made as fairly-priced writing instruments, or as marketing goods.

 

The current Preludes are made in China, so I'd assume these will be as well.

[JeanManuel]

Where are they made?

 

High prices.

I'm waiting for the reviews to know if the pens are made as fairly-priced writing instruments, or as marketing goods.

 

The current Preludes are made in China, so I'd assume these will be as well.

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

"Sheaffer made in China".. :hmm1: why would anybody want to manufacture or even less buy that. Sheaffer's an American brand. It belongs in America.

[kkshadow]

Where are they made?

 

High prices.

I'm waiting for the reviews to know if the pens are made as fairly-priced writing instruments, or as marketing goods.

 

The current Preludes are made in China, so I'd assume these will be as well.

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

"Sheaffer made in China".. :hmm1: why would anybody want to manufacture or even less buy that. Sheaffer's an American brand. It belongs in America.

 

Except they're owned by BIC which is a French brand.

[PenFan95]

Where are they made?

 

High prices.

I'm waiting for the reviews to know if the pens are made as fairly-priced writing instruments, or as marketing goods.

 

The current Preludes are made in China, so I'd assume these will be as well.

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

"Sheaffer made in China".. :hmm1: why would anybody want to manufacture or even less buy that. Sheaffer's an American brand. It belongs in America.

 

Except they're owned by BIC which is a French brand.

 

It's just like Lamborgini, which is an Italian brand, is owned by Volkswagen, a German company. That doesn't necessarily make the company lesser. Most American pen companies are under foreign control now, like Parker and Waterman (at least, they were the last time I checked).

[ThirdeYe]

Where are they made?

 

High prices.

I'm waiting for the reviews to know if the pens are made as fairly-priced writing instruments, or as marketing goods.

 

The current Preludes are made in China, so I'd assume these will be as well.

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

"Sheaffer made in China".. :hmm1: why would anybody want to manufacture or even less buy that. Sheaffer's an American brand. It belongs in America.

 

I can understand the concern. If it makes you feel any better, I have both a U.S. made and a China made Prelude and both are fantastic. I wouldn't have been able to tell them apart (quality wise) had the old one not been engraved with being made in the U.S.

[PenHero]

The pens will likely be made in China, where the other Preludes are made. We have not seen them yet, and may not until Q2.

[PenHero]

Didn't Sheaffer recently prohibit (authorized) dealers from discounting Sheaffer pens? If so they'll be selling at MSRP.

 

Guess what - we received an email from our distributor indicating that Sheaffer is mandating that dealers stop advertising discounts online for its products. We don't have any official rules or statements from either yet, but this sounds like the same rules Cross imposed on dealers a few years ago.

 

In the USA, manufacturers and distributors cannot mandate the selling price, but they can mandate the advertised price. So, to update the answer to this question, yes, this appears now to be true and we were notified late.

[PenFan95]

I just went to the official Sheaffer site. Did anyone else notice that they've uploaded info on the new Prelude Signature collection?

Edited February 12, 2012 by PenFan95

[raging.dragon]

Didn't Sheaffer recently prohibit (authorized) dealers from discounting Sheaffer pens? If so they'll be selling at MSRP.

 

Guess what - we received an email from our distributor indicating that Sheaffer is mandating that dealers stop advertising discounts online for its products. We don't have any official rules or statements from either yet, but this sounds like the same rules Cross imposed on dealers a few years ago.

 

In the USA, manufacturers and distributors cannot mandate the selling price, but they can mandate the advertised price. So, to update the answer to this question, yes, this appears now to be true and we were notified late.

 

For many fully automated web stores it probably isn't possible to have different advertised and selling prices - practically that can only be done when there is some human interaction between buyer and seller. So for some retailers a ban on advertising discounts would be equivalent to fixing the selling price at MSRP (due to the limits of the retailer's business processes and web store software). This is probably what led to the comments I saw earlier.

 

EDIT: I just saw your workaround for this ("Add the item to the Cart to see your final price!").

Edited February 12, 2012 by raging.dragon

[Batman]

Perhaps this helps brick and mortar stores too because frankly I rarely buy pens from an actual store because online prices can't be beat. I like the loophole Jim, you will be getting my business soon.

 

Brad

[PenHero]

I just went to the official Sheaffer site. Did anyone else notice that they've uploaded info on the new Prelude Signature collection?

 

I went there and did not see it. Where on the site did you see it posted?

[Ray-Vigo]

They're somewhat more attractive than the other recent offerings from BIC-Sheaffer. I think it's a step in the right direction in terms of how they look. That said, I don't really think of current Sheaffer as the same company as the old Ft. Madison Sheaffer. I view it as a name only at this point, and much apart from what Sheaffer used to be. I actually think it's more helpful to view them as two different entities that happen to share a common name.

[PenFan95]

I just went to the official Sheaffer site. Did anyone else notice that they've uploaded info on the new Prelude Signature collection?

 

I went there and did not see it. Where on the site did you see it posted?

 

http://www.sheaffer.com/writing/product_detail.php?ID=49

 

Here's the link.

[dweit]

Didn't Sheaffer recently prohibit (authorized) dealers from discounting Sheaffer pens? If so they'll be selling at MSRP.

 

In the USA, manufacturers and distributors cannot mandate the selling price, but they can mandate the advertised price. So, to update the answer to this question, yes, this appears now to be true and we were notified late.

 

Not to go too far off topic, but I don't think that is correct. I'm not a lawyer (but I am a retailer), and I'm pretty sure that in 2007 the Supreme Court

recognized in a ruling called "Leegin" that "minimum resale price maintenance (RPM) may have procompentitive benefits that must be weighed against any anticompetitve effects".

 

"Under Leegin, manufacturers may adopt minimum RPM agreements — and related minimum advertised price (MAP) agreements — with greater freedom and flexibility. By overruling the per se rule of Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons Co., the Court found that while these restraints may result in higher prices, they may nevertheless enhance demand and consumer welfare by enabling the provision of valuable services."

 

Anyone interested in reading more about it can find an article at this link:

Article about Supreme Court ruling on price restraints

[PenHero]

Didn't Sheaffer recently prohibit (authorized) dealers from discounting Sheaffer pens? If so they'll be selling at MSRP.

 

In the USA, manufacturers and distributors cannot mandate the selling price, but they can mandate the advertised price. So, to update the answer to this question, yes, this appears now to be true and we were notified late.

 

Not to go too far off topic, but I don't think that is correct. I'm not a lawyer (but I am a retailer), and I'm pretty sure that in 2007 the Supreme Court

recognized in a ruling called "Leegin" that "minimum resale price maintenance (RPM) may have procompentitive benefits that must be weighed against any anticompetitve effects".

 

"Under Leegin, manufacturers may adopt minimum RPM agreements — and related minimum advertised price (MAP) agreements — with greater freedom and flexibility. By overruling the per se rule of Dr. Miles Medical Co. v. John D. Park & Sons Co., the Court found that while these restraints may result in higher prices, they may nevertheless enhance demand and consumer welfare by enabling the provision of valuable services."

 

Anyone interested in reading more about it can find an article at this link:

Article about Supreme Court ruling on price restraints

 

This is probably true, so let me clarify. I do not believe that any manufacturer could compel that their products are sold only at the retail price. They may very well be able to forbid excessive discounting, for example, but I doubt they could prevent a retailer from giving a discount in any and every situation.

Edited February 13, 2012 by PenHero

[dweit]

Didn't Sheaffer recently prohibit (authorized) dealers from discounting Sheaffer pens? If so they'll be selling at MSRP.

 

In the USA, manufacturers and distributors cannot mandate the selling price, but they can mandate the advertised price. So, to update the answer to this question, yes, this appears now to be true and we were notified late.

 

Not to go too far off topic, but I don't think that is correct. I'm not a lawyer (but I am a retailer), and I'm pretty sure that in 2007 the Supreme Court

recognized in a ruling called "Leegin" that "minimum resale price maintenance (RPM) may have procompentitive benefits that must be weighed against any anticompetitve effects".

 

 

This is probably true, so let me clarify. I do not believe that any manufacturer could compel that their products are sold only at the retail price. They may very well be able to forbid excessive discounting, for example, but I doubt they could prevent a retailer from giving a discount in any and every situation.

 

 

Yes, I would agree with that. In my industry (outdoor specialty) I have seen some brands cut off dealers they felt where continually discounting their product. It's kind of a "see no evil hear no evil . . . " type situation though, for the most part.

[raging.dragon]

Didn't Sheaffer recently prohibit (authorized) dealers from discounting Sheaffer pens? If so they'll be selling at MSRP.

 

In the USA, manufacturers and distributors cannot mandate the selling price, but they can mandate the advertised price. So, to update the answer to this question, yes, this appears now to be true and we were notified late.

 

Not to go too far off topic, but I don't think that is correct. I'm not a lawyer (but I am a retailer), and I'm pretty sure that in 2007 the Supreme Court

recognized in a ruling called "Leegin" that "minimum resale price maintenance (RPM) may have procompentitive benefits that must be weighed against any anticompetitve effects".

 

 

This is probably true, so let me clarify. I do not believe that any manufacturer could compel that their products are sold only at the retail price. They may very well be able to forbid excessive discounting, for example, but I doubt they could prevent a retailer from giving a discount in any and every situation.

 

 

Yes, I would agree with that. In my industry (outdoor specialty) I have seen some brands cut off dealers they felt where continually discounting their product. It's kind of a "see no evil hear no evil . . . " type situation though, for the most part.

 

Then, at some point the dealers get fed up and stop carrying a brand, instead getting a nearly identical product directly from the factory in China with their own brand on the label. And the only people to be surprised by this will be the executives of the original brand.

[brownargus]

I have recently acquired the "Snakeskin" version of this pen with a fine nib. It is really a very good pen - it looks good, feels good, has a very smooth nib with a good ink flow (it has a smooth section without finger holding detents), is well balanced and feels good to hold despite being slightly overweight compared with similar sized pens. To be honest, I don't care where it's made if they can produce quality like this. It is on offer from Penbox (UK) with either fine or broad nib along with the gold plated version for £109. I think that this is a very good price for what is an excellent pen. I would certainly recommend it.

Edited March 30, 2019 by brownargus