Kobe Price Increase

[Uncial]

For a little while now I've been happily buying a bottle of Kobe ink every other month. They came in at about 16.99 with free shipping. Seemed reasonable enough and they usually slipped in under the attention of the import duties due to everything on the label being in Japanese. Today though, I was left in shock. They are now 27.99! That's almost double the price. I didn't notice the huge price jump or see anyone mention it. I'm not sure I really want to pay that price for ink; especially when there are so many others around that are under a tenner and are good inks. Does anyone know of a UK or European outlet that has reasonable prices for Kobe inks?

[white_lotus]

The KOBE inks have sold at Vanness for $30 for a while. The Kobe Nagasawa Amazon page has fluctuated a bit, but has been $28-$30 (currently $27.99).

 

My guess is they're normalizing their prices with their other outlets. Especially if you were ordering direct from Japan and they were giving you free shipping to EU.

 

I think you won't find a price near what you had before. I'm sure they intended to give free shipping within Japan.

[Algester]

wait wasnt that covered in the Sailor ink thread? they changed the prices for the Kobe inks from 1500 to 1800 yen last december

and then you have the exchange rate to bother at the same time

Edited May 14, 2017 by Algester

[fabri00]

wait wasnt that covered in the Sailor ink thread? they changed the prices for the Kobe inks from 1500 to 1800 yen last decemberand then you have the exchange rate to bother at the same time

the price increased for 200 yen mean a difference of less than 2 euro, and the rate exchange of jyen do not justify such increase in price.

[Uncial]

I thought this huge price increase was only recent. I've been buying off ebay and got my last Kobe for 16.99 only two months ago.

[white_lotus]

I haven't bought inks through ebay in a while though I sometimes check prices there, and it's been a long time since I've seen a price like that for Kobe inks. $24.99 was common for a long time, but it looks like they've gone up to $27.99.

 

Any price increase you are seeing is not from Kobe but from the reseller.

[chromantic]

I must have missed those halcyon days of $16.99 - I paid $25 for #51 on Jan 29th.

[Algester]

Nagasawa Pen Den still has their inks listed at 1800 yen so what ever the increase you are seeing is not on the hands of Nagasawa it's someone else