Buying Fountain Pens Online From International Retailers

[lazzycoderr]

I am from Bangalore and am a FP enthusiast and have managed to put up a tiny collection of FPs. I am interested in beefing up my collection little by little with some Pilots, Sailor, Platinum, Pelikan, Visconti, Omas, Edison etc.

 

I have bought most of my collection during my travel abroad from ebay, gouletpens, iguana_sell etc. Wanted to know the experiences of other's who have tried shipping their products to India from online retailers especially with respect to the "Customs Duty" they have had to pay for the fountain pen.

 

Is there an extra duty for pens with gold/palladium nibs etc?

 

Also experiences of buying ink from international retailers?

 

I know this questions would have been addressed many times but wanted to know from everyone's recent experiences.

[mehandiratta]

buying internationally is not a problem... a

 

any item bought below 10 usd might not attract customs.....

 

anything above 10 usd is liable to attract the customs.... whether custom is actually charged or not totally depends....

 

I have bought lot of items below 10 usd... which reach my place without any hassle....

 

And some items which i have bought above 10 usd e.g. from FONTOPLUMO ... many items like diamine inks... Lamy Pens... Kaweco Pens... and TWSBI pens.... All reached home without any hassle for customs in 20 days....

 

Also ordered Italix Parsons from Mr. Pen, UK ... twice....

one time i ordered 4 pens...no customs...

next time i ordered one pen from Mr. Pen.... i ended up paying customs this time.... and bribe...

 

but i dont refrain from ordering pens... on ebay u r covered with purchase guarantee...

some give u option of insured shipping .. which is good....

[lazzycoderr]

Thank You Vaibhav for sharing your experience.

[Sudhir]

Hello

 

Glad to know you are looking to shore up your collection with some international brands. Here's my experience with ordering from international sellers:

 

1. Have used both Melpens and Pengallery from Malaysia for Pelikan, Lamy, Visconti, Marlen, etc. with no problems. They ship through DHL and no customs issues so far.

 

2. Bought from Mr Pen in the UK 3 times - Italix is only available from them - and no customs issues so far.

 

3. If you buy from Franklin-Christoph in USA, then they ship via Fedex. Fedex calculates its own customs charges and insists you pay those charges. Once, when I felt they were overcharging, I refused to accept the parcel and lodged an online complaint. The charge was then reduced to a nominal one, which I paid and got my parcel.

 

My understanding is that they really do not go to customs - it is their internal employees who decide the amount, but I believe that whatever they collect as customs charges, they also duly deposit with the customs authorities. They issue a proper receipt for the same.

 

4. The one time I had a harrowing time with customs was when I bought from Goulet Pens in the USA. I had to go personally and pay the "unofficial" duty to get it cleared. I have since found a friend who is also a C&F agent, but never had to use him so far.

 

When ordering from the USA, I find it more convenient to order online, pay using my credit card and ask for it to be shipped to either my brother or sister, both of who reside in the US. Then, someone carries it back or I pick it up when I travel. This model works just fine and none of us have had customs issues when carrying pens or ink or accessories as part of our luggage.

 

5. Buying from Japan has been a mixed bag. Whenever I have bought from Engeika, I have never faced any issues with either receiving parcels or customs. I have purchased Sailor, Pilot, etc. and everything has arrived just fine and never had any problems.

 

However, I recently had an issue where one of the other retailers refused to even despatch the items without an import license as he was told by the Japanese post officials that fountain pens are considered "conditional contraband" by Indian customs. See my post here and the very helpful responses from fellow FPNers for more details.

 

https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/291878-are-fountain-pens-now-considered-contraband-in-india/

 

I hope this helps you and does not discourage you in any way, but this is the reality we have to face. FP collectors are a niche group and this is a niche hobby, so we need to put up with such nonsense from people who do not understand our passion for this hobby.

 

I have made my peace with it and just value my FPs more if I go through some ordeal in getting them...

 

Cheers

Sudhir

[Dhruv_Sood]

Hi,

 

I received my Pilot Custom 823 in Fine nib an hour ago. I ordered it from Japan and i had no custom issues whatsoever. I also have a Nakaya which is a high value pen and i didn't have to pay any custom duty on that too. The only time i did have to pay custom duty was when i ordered Iroshizuku inks from Japan, other than that, never. My single experience with the Indian Custom authorities has been good, i wasn't called to the custom office or anywhere else, no bribing, etc. They retained my parcel for 5-6 days and then released it after computing the custom duty. The postman who came to deliver the parcel collected the custom duty from me, so no hassles.

I would suggest that you always use DHL, Fedex or EMS for shipping as they reach early and are less prone to loss in transit since they are traceable/trackable. Also ask the seller to mark the item as gift, if he/she is comfortable with that.

 

The pictures:

 

http://minus.com/i/Kyog9IWEeOmR

http://minus.com/i/bkpxU2DrR7ubp

http://minus.com/i/Kat7T2imjwHc

http://minus.com/i/4mHCKt1EdeEk

http://minus.com/i/3HH3MhuW53nO

http://minus.com/i/XzBkAA3Sml72

http://minus.com/i/TUutnOG55IWw

http://minus.com/i/4XIVFH6ocOx0

http://minus.com/i/8KnqhLtZgbip

http://minus.com/i/Nhx7g6d8PcXL

http://minus.com/i/yUETX7rfY8NK

Edited July 4, 2015 by Dhruv_Sood

[lazzycoderr]

Sudhir, Dhruv,

 

Thank you for sharing your experiences and it gives me the confidence to start buying from international retailers.

[maverink]

for pelikan pens try martiniauctions.com and ask the pen to be shipped in a smaller box to avoid customs

limit buying one pen a month as customs may get suspicious if you get many parcels in a month also dont buy multiple pens at a time.

gifts upto rs10000 are exempt from customs so if the seller can mark it as gift then customs wont be levied

for japanese pens jsubculture and rakuten are good

[vikasm]

Has anyone ordered from Pengallery in recent times? I really wanted to buy a Vanishing point and I am unable to find a place where I can buy it in India. If available, the price is completely unreasonable. I am wondering whether to explore the option of buying from pengallery or just wait until I or a friend travels to the US.

[mehandiratta]

Has anyone ordered from Pengallery in recent times? I really wanted to buy a Vanishing point and I am unable to find a place where I can buy it in India. If available, the price is completely unreasonable. I am wondering whether to explore the option of buying from pengallery or just wait until I or a friend travels to the US.

 

 

you can buy from Ravi of Penspoint in South Ex Delhi...

He is a trustworthy seller...

[maverink]

buy the Japanese pens from jsubculture and rakuten

[Sasha Royale]

I don't buy fountain pens for display, so the few that I purchased overseas get inked and used, almost immediately. So, they enter this country inked and in my breast pocket. Nobody has ever asked about any of them.

 

I will not admit to evading customs duties; nor will I recommend such to anyone. However, many of America's founding fathers were smugglers. Evading taxes is sort of a national tradition.