'best' Way Of Dealing With One's Purchasing 'mistakes'?

[tim77]

Create and sell themed ink-sample packs? There's always people searching for the perfect blue-black, or an office-friendly green, or just the right shade of brown.

 

People might be more willing to pay Australian shipping prices for a set of a dozen inks than for one or two part-used bottles.

 

Then as the empty bottles pile up, start selling sets of bottles.

[A Smug Dill]

Create and sell themed ink-sample packs?

That's a nice idea, if I was looking to pare across my entire collection, but thanks all the same for suggesting it.

 

I actually created such packs and sent them to like-minded fountain pen users at my cost (of ink, vials, packaging and postage) in the past, because they're the type of hobbyist that I believe will buy whole retail bottles (not from me, of course!) once they identify colours they like and want to use in actual writing applications; I was most favourably impressed when one of them told me she only used a small volume from the samples I sent, identified the colours she liked, and forwarded the remaining ink in the vials to another hobbyist because she won't be needing it once her full retail bottles arrive. She's happy, the next hobbyist down the line benefits, the manufacturer and retailer she buys from also benefit, and I'm glad to have seeded what can only be good for "the hobby" since consumer spending begets more supply and variety in the market; everyone wins.

 

That, to me, is a good use of surplus volume of inks that I actually like and value, with no intention of ever just "wasting" them one way or another; certainly not what I'd count as purchasing mistakes I want to erase or remedy.

[Bibliophage]

I agree with the "PIF for Postage", at least for the inks you're considering throwing out.

 

For that matter, you could always see if some of the other relatively local Australians could put the word out on that Facebook group, or in the community, to do a "Free for pick-up". Pick a day, stack them up outside your door, and say "come and get them."

 

There's a group here called Freecycle, which is basically that, but for just about anything.

[Maurizio]

Do you not have a pen meetup near you where you could distribute them without the hassle of dealing with Australia Post?

 

If not, you could approach a local school and see if anyone there is interested in them for their classes. Or a community art group. That sort of thing.

Right.

 

Donate them to a local school or community group. Some creative teachers use fountains pens and ink as a perk and giveaway to good students ( behavior-wise or academically or both ) maybe there’s such a teacher in your area. Or I’m sure someone or more than one in your local pen community would be happy for a few bottles of free ink.

[Chaos-incarnate]

What colours? 😁

 

It's a tough one for sure- postage is so expensive to Australia that you always buy in 'lots' to either hit the free shipping threshold or spread the cost amongst more items. I keep running lists of stuff I want, and sometimes wait for ages before I have a long enough list to get that one thing from that one vendor that will cost more in shipping than the actual item... And often I throw in a couple of bottles of ink to get it across the line. So then I have these inks, which it turns out I don't particularly like, but I feel some attachment because although that bottle might not have cost that much I had to spend a lot to get it.

 

Because of this, I've been very surprised by the lack of interest in the various giveaways A Smug Dill has held- because honestly 8 bucks isn't that much compared to the whole dance I've just described to order in things.

 

I'm ok financially and that makes me hesitate to jump on such giveaways, so I wait to see if perhaps someone who's less able to afford such luxuries speaks up but it just doesn't really happen. I feel bad reaching my hand out when I know I can afford it. My goodness it's nice to just get stuff from someone though :-)

 

I don't know if you've gotten low response rate due to lack of people, lack of interest, hesitancy to register interest or if people really just don't want to pay the postage.

 

I'm in the Australia fountain pen Facebook group, I could make an ad for you if you like?

 

Another idea would be to donate/ sell them to a local art group. People forget that just because they're fountain pen usable, they're actually still the inks that artists can use (although colour fugitive in many cases as some art supplies are).

There are art groups that help people going through a rough patch that would be grateful for donations also.

 

And we could possibly start an ink exchange thread in pif- if we listed our bottles we don't really like and then we could see what we've all got to swap with. It's close to the pass around box but it narrows it down to only bottles of ink we want/don't want. There were others that have done the exchange box who might be interested?

By dint of the size of your collection though I'm afraid the advantage will lay with me and not you though- I'd be shocked if I had something pen related that you wanted and didn't have yet lol :-)

 

(I think you've given me more samples then I've ever bought combined, and thus half my inks are ones you already have and I knew I liked before I bought them!)

[A Smug Dill]

What colours?

I haven't decided yet. I just know I'm out of cupboard space, and chances are I won't use the several bottles of scented De Atramentis inks (which I bought late last year) again, or the remainder of my Parker Penman (Ebony, Emerald and Ruby) and Montblanc 'ruby red' ink. I think some people are (more) interested in the Parker and Montblanc ink bottles, but I just find them space-inefficient.

 

And often I throw in a couple of bottles of ink to get it across the line.

Ditto, although I try to just accumulate bottles of 'workhorse' Sailor souboku and seiboku inks when they're options.

 

I don't know if you've gotten low response rate due to lack of people, lack of interest, hesitancy to register interest or if people really just don't want to pay the postage.

I can only guess.

 

I'm in the Australia fountain pen Facebook group, I could make an ad for you if you like?

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind!

 

I'd be shocked if I had something pen related that you wanted and didn't have yet lol :-)

This: https://www.fountainpennetwork.com/forum/topic/347249-a-blue-lamy-2000-coming/?p=4222132

 

because I really could never muster enough enthusiasm for the Lamy 2000 Makrolon to spend the money, even when it's being offered at around US$120 from time to time, so something that makes the pen (and ownership of it) slightly more interesting could be what tips me over the line.

 

(I think you've given me more samples then I've ever bought combined,

That's cool; you actually buy ink you like after sampling the colours, which to me seems to be the whole point of hobbyists giving each other ink samples to try out. I'm still happy to send you samples of the Kobe INK Story inks and KWZ Ink iron-gall inks I received recently. Diamine Iridescink Christine and Philip, too; but I'm guessing you also ordered them already. I'm afraid I won't receive my order of J.Herbin Cornaline d'Égypte, and Diamine Scribble Purple and Earl Grey, for a while yet.

[ridiculopathy]

Are you registered for the Pelikan Hub on Sept. 20? That could be a good place to leave your unwanted ink. Or Chaos-incarnate could post an ad on the facebook group asking if anyone going is willing to pick it up from you.

[A Smug Dill]

Are you registered for the Pelikan Hub on Sept. 20?

 

No, unfortunately I'm not. Found out too late (or, rather, I didn't start getting into buying more Pelikan pens) until after the registration closed.

 

But that's actually an idea I might keep in mind for next year. Thank you very much!

 

-----

ASIDE:

 

Does anyone have any suggestions from where I can buy empty international standard cartridges by the hundreds economically? That's one idea I may be prepared to entertain, in terms of inks I like (as opposed to my purchasing 'mistakes'), as far as offering samples go. I'm guessing they can be sealed using a low-temperature glue gun (which I'll have to buy as well, but that's OK).

 

The cheapest way I can find right now is to buy a 100-piece lot of Jinhao black ink cartridges for <'A$9 delivered, but I'd prefer not have to empty, flush and dry each one, and risk contaminating what I then inject into there.

 

Roughly 0.7ml of an ink ought to give a user enough of an idea whether they like the colour enough to source more. Those who must test it using a piston-filler pen with screwed-in housing for the nib-and-feed assembly should be able to squeeze (or draw with a syringe with blunt needle) enough out of it to deposit into the barrel cavity of one such pen; and those with either multiple ('international standard') c/c-filled pens, or multiple screw-in nib-and-feed assemblies for the one pen model, would probably get enough ink to see how the ink looks coming out of up to three or four different nibs.

 

(Of course, that means they aren't exactly convenient for aficionados of Japanese 'Big Three' fountain pen brands like myself. I'll have to think about how to deal with that part. I don't particularly want or intend to leave them out in the cold, if I'm going to offer ink samples to spread awareness and share user experience.)

Preserving enough of the ink for later actual 'use' or application, on the other hand, would be relatively tricky and impractical (but doable if you have a glue gun, and find keeping 0.3–0.4ml of it a worthwhile exercise).

Especially for single-retailer inks, such as Diamine (Cult Pen exclusive) Iridescink Christine and Philip, that only come in 50ml or even larger retail bottles, I think that's a worthwhile thing to do — giving more fellow hobbyists a taste and look-see first-hand, to see if the inks are attractive enough for them to pull the trigger in spite of having to buy a 'large' volume in one go from a source overseas, and either pay for postage or put together a big enough order to qualify for free international shipping.

[txomsy]

One question, how much would the cost be for sending a parcel of inks from Australia to "close to its antipode", e.g. Portugal, Spain or France?

 

That's the farthest I can think of (since Australia's antipode is in the North Atlantic, but these are the antipodes of New Zealand). You may know better.

 

I ask because I had a quick check and from SW EU, a parcel with three-four ink bottles would cost about 30 EUR shipped to e.g. Melbourne. Considering that Parker Penman bottles (to name one) are no longer in production and run in the hundreds, you may be able to find people interested almost all over the world. A worldwide PIF might work for 3-4 partial bottles batches of ink. Just ask people to cover up the cost face up. If you can provide an upper bound to cost (by asking what is the most expensive parcel at your local PO) it might open up a World of possibilities.

[A Smug Dill]

One question, how much would the cost be for sending a parcel of inks from Australia to "close to its antipode", e.g. Portugal, Spain or France?

Australia Post standard International Parcel Post flat-rate satchel/box charges

	Up to 500g	Up to 1kg	Up to 2kg	Up to 5kg
New Zealand	A$18.55	A$26.75	A$37.95	A$60.75
China	A$20.80	A$33.10	A$56.25	A$81.45
Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong	A$22.00	A$34.30	A$57.45	A$82.65
Canada, USA	A$24.00	A$33.70	A$61.40	A$86.90
United Kingdom	A$28.20	A$41.90	A$65.60	A$91.10
France, Germany	A$29.30	A$43.00	A$66.70	A$92.20
Portugal, Russia, Brazil	A$34.55	A$54.30	A$86.30	A$138.80
Egypt, South Africa, Chile	A$36.05	A$55.80	A$87.80	A$140.30

 

Two glass bottles of ink will probably fit (along with suitable void-fill material for protection) inside an "up to 500g" flat-rate satchel and inside the weight limit. Three full bottles of 50ml Sailor ink will exceed 500g in total weight even without the shipping box and satchel (and Customs declaration paperwork!), so I'll assume an "up to 1kg" satchel is needed for three (or four, or five) bottles of ink, as a rule of thumb.

Edited August 30, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[como]

If really nobody wants it, ink down the drain, bottle recycled. Out of sight, out of mind.

[silverlifter]

If really nobody wants it, ink down the drain, bottle recycled. Out of sight, out of mind.

 

Depending on what ASD is looking to offload, I'd happily pay postage+ before that option.

[amberleadavis]

Out here, I collect pen stuff that others no longer want and then I give them to students and newbies. Smug, if you don't find a taker, I will line you up with one in Australia.

[TSherbs]

.....

 

What would you do? Would you "throw badgood money after goodbad" in the name of supposed benefit to some faceless fellow hobbyists (but nevertheless strangers) you don't know from a bar of soap, as a consequence of your retail purchasing mistakes?

 

 

Yes, and limit it to someone in your country. Kindness to strangers is the best "kind."

 

 

.

Edited August 30, 2019 by TSherbs

[TSherbs]

Out here, I collect pen stuff that others no longer want and then I give them to students and newbies. Smug, if you don't find a taker, I will line you up with one in Australia.

 

Take this offer.

[A Smug Dill]

Smug, if you don't find a taker, I will line you up with one in Australia.

Thanks!

 

Depending on what ASD is looking to offload, I'd happily pay postage+ before that option.

 

I'd say that's just under 30ml of Parker Penman Ebony, about 25ml of Parker Penman Emerald, and maybe 40ml of Parker Penman Ruby, in their original bottles. They add up to just under 500g, so once I put them in a cardboard box with some void fill, it'll require postage at the 1kg weight class — so A$11.55 for a flat-rate Australia-wide 1kg satchel if the post office sells them as singles.

 

 

Montblanc ruby red is an ink I don't use; it's too pink for a red. I know some folks are fans of the Montblanc bottle, but I just find it space-inefficient. That's another 163g, and so will fit inside the 1kg weight class with the Parker Penman ink bottles.

Edited September 3, 2019 by A Smug Dill

[silverlifter]

I'm sorry: none of those really float my boat either I still think that they'd make a great donation to a school. Or even St Vinnies.

[amberleadavis]

Smug do you want me find someone?

[mariom]

I'd be happy to take the Penman off your hands and pay shipping to Melbourne if you're happy to pack and send.

[amberleadavis]

Whoo HOO! And Mario is a wonderful CRV pen pal.