Safari For $11.5? M405 Stresemann For $215?

[woleizihan]

> That is not their fault.

 

I know. Just shocked again. This price increase of US postal services had consequences.

I stopped buying with American sellers - at 80-90%.

 

However, the price increase didn't lead to better service - lots of damaged parcels from the US - especially when they were priority-shipped.

 

Less problems from Europe, India and China - and from US, when not priority-shipped (using Swiss and French postal services).

That's definitely true. And you know what, USPS price has increased much more than what's on paper. A few years ago, they got rid of First Class for international, which eventually enabled them to provide First Class service now with the Priority price tag. And recently, they sealed up all the mailboxes in my area so that you can only put letters in them. You can still ship domestic First Class but you have to drop off at the post offices, which operate 9-5 on weekdays and only a half day on Saturday. This pretty much forced me to ship everything in Priority. It's just rediculous.

[anonymous3715]

As a matter of fact, Endless Pens has started offering free international shipping for orders above a certain threshold (US$149, if I'm not mistaken, but I cannot find where it's stated on the web site right now). That is much appreciated.

 

 

Its price for the Pelikan M405 Stresemann is now US$198 (and with no 'EF tax' if you want an EF nib).

 

Wow $198 is really a good price for the M405 Stresemann including international free shipping! Just wonder how often a package gets lost when shipped through USPS international shipping?

[woleizihan]

 

Wow $198 is really a good price for the M405 Stresemann including international free shipping! Just wonder how often a package gets lost when shipped through USPS international shipping?

Getting completely lost is not often as far as I know.

[penzel_washinkton]

 

Wow $198 is really a good price for the M405 Stresemann including international free shipping! Just wonder how often a package gets lost when shipped through USPS international shipping?

 

How in the world are they getting it to these low prices?

That is an outstanding deal in all honesty especially with free international shipping (and yes there is actually an option for free international shipping on the M405)

[mke]

Easy. Buy many (100+), make very low profit, keep your cost down.

 

MSRP: 475
Nibsmith 380
Nibs 380
Pen chalet 380
Jetpens 380
Penboutique 380
Cultpens 337
Penheaven 337
penhouse 273
Appelboom 261
pelikanpens.uk 255

Endless pens 198 free shipping reduces that price to perhaps 175

Edited February 17, 2019 by mke

[penzel_washinkton]

Easy. Buy many (100+), make very low profit, keep your cost down.

 

MSRP: 475

Nibsmith 380

Nibs 380

Pen chalet 380

Jetpens 380

Penboutique 380

Cultpens 337

Penheaven 337

penhouse 273

Appelboom 261

pelikanpens.uk 255

Endless pens 198 free shipping reduces that price to perhaps 175

 

It is a big risk if they indeed have a similar approach in their sales as you mentioned.

Not that anyone's complaining though.

[woleizihan]

 

It is a big risk if they indeed have a similar approach in their sales as you mentioned.

Not that anyone's complaining though

 

It's actually the opposite. They'll have absolutely no problem selling 100+ Pelikans if they are at least $50 less than the second lowest price. They'll keep the flow running and buy in more and sell more. On the other hand, if you choose to buy in small batches with a high price tag, you'll have a much bigger risk because you are really betting on people who's unaware of the lower prices. You might have a higher margin on each sale but you'll have hard time predicting your inventory because you just have a less continuous flow of sales.

[penzel_washinkton]

 

It's actually the opposite. They'll have absolutely no problem selling 100+ Pelikans if they are at least $50 less than the second lowest price. They'll keep the flow running and buy in more and sell more. On the other hand, if you choose to buy in small batches with a high price tag, you'll have a much bigger risk because you are really betting on people who's unaware of the lower prices. You might have a higher margin on each sale but you'll have hard time predicting your inventory because you just have a less continuous flow of sales.

I am just wondering if the demand of the M405 is that high

[woleizihan]

I am just wondering if the demand of the M405 is that high

Oh. I mean if you look at just a single retailer like Massdrop, they have sold ~600 just for a single m205 color and ~500 Lamy Dialog 3...... And Endless pens have much better prices. The demand is surely there. For another example, just think about how long does it take for Franklin Christoph to sell their limited run pens. It's typically 50-60 per run and similarly priced as the 405 but without the gold nib. They are normally gone within hours......

[anonymous3715]

Oh. I mean if you look at just a single retailer like Massdrop, they have sold ~600 just for a single m205 color and ~500 Lamy Dialog 3...... And Endless pens have much better prices. The demand is surely there. For another example, just think about how long does it take for Franklin Christoph to sell their limited run pens. It's typically 50-60 per run and similarly priced as the 405 but without the gold nib. They are normally gone within hours......

 

Yes I think you are right about the demand part. But I believe it will take some time for Endlesspens to be as popular as Massdrop. I don't think it will be very easy for them to sell hundreds of M400s

as they are too unknown to many.

[A Smug Dill]

The demand for hundreds of M400s from a single channel is in itself a questionable presupposition, even for Amazon.

[anonymous3715]

It is good to see Endless Pens offering more brands now. They used to have like 6~7 brands, and now they also offer Sailor, Faber Castel, Leonardo, Rotring etc.

 

I hope they also sell Pilot at good prices soon.

[A Smug Dill]

I received in the post yesterday afternoon the second order I placed with Endless Pens.

 

The contents of the package were at once both more and less than what I was expecting. More, because there was a not-exactly-just-token gift (Savannah and Michael, thank you very much!), so much so that it pushed the shipping weight of the parcel to the next weight class at Endless Pens' expense; but less, because (long story short) there was a misunderstanding somewhere along the way.

 

I may have overreacted to the latter, and sent a couple of harshly worded messages to Savannah, in what would be the wee hours of the morning in the US. Within three hours I've have heard from both her and Michael, one of the owners to whom she referred the issue.

 

What Michael did and offered in response was nothing short of exemplary customer service. I certainly believe it now when they tell me they at Endless Pens work extremely hard to ensure 100% customer satisfaction. I'm very happy with the prompt resolution, and feeling almost guilty that they extended me the courtesy of the benefit of the doubt, when I completely failed to do the same for them in the first place.

 

Were it not for the fact that I'm still struggling to come to terms with how the Pelikan gold nib on my new M815 performs (not defectively, but just not really to my preferences), I'd have pulled the trigger and placed another order with Endless Pens this very morning, having been so reassured that their customer service and reliability give me no worries.