Platinum #3776 Century Chinese market exclusive colours

[A Smug Dill]

I just noticed these today on AliExpress:

 

 

 

which are purportedly new limited-edition, market-exclusive colours for China. They are listed by that seller at the same price as the gold-trimmed translucent colours in the regular line-up (Bourgogne, Laurel Green, Chartres Blue); the available nib options are F and M only.

 

The net price of US$112.55 (plus tax, where applicable), after automatic and/or easily accessible discounts, is marginally less than the Japanese domestic market MSRP of ¥18,000(+tax) for the regular colours going by today's exchange rates. Free international shipping included (at least for Australia, Belgium, Mexico, UK, US and Zimbabwe, as far as I've checked just now).

 

The inclusion of a converter with silver trim in the retail package seems a bit out of place for either of those colours, especially when previously the silver-trimmed converters are sold at a slight premium over the ‘standard’ gold-trimmed ones.

 

[Lamy4life]

I find it odd how many cartridges it comes with, I think everyone would prefer a bottle of ink. I dont know much about 3776s...

[A Smug Dill]

2 hours ago, Lamy4life said:

I find it odd how many cartridges it comes with, I think everyone would prefer a bottle of ink.

 

Ignoring for the moment that, as retail products, a bottle of Platinum ink has a higher priced than a pack of ten Platinum ink cartridges, I'd say, no, not everyone would prefer a bottle of ink over an ample supply for his or her use case. Furthermore, 

 

2 hours ago, Lamy4life said:

I dont know much about 3776s...

 

Platinum uses a proprietary cartridge and converter format, and so you cannot just plug any other brand of ink cartridge (that you may have on hand) into it. However, by including both ink cartridges and a converter, those purchasers who prefer to use bottled ink with fountain pens will be able to use whatever ink they already have on hand straight away anyway. I'll contend that there is no practical advantage in being given a bottle of ink instead of ten ink cartridges; and, since a bottle of ink is worth more, as well as being heavier and thus can only increase logistics/shipping costs, if Platinum indeed packaged the product that way, it'll simply charge more for it; you wouldn't “get more for less” as a consumer out of that product management decision.

[Frank C]

Thanks for posting this. I like 3776s and I like different color pens to distinguish them. I've never ordered from Aliexpress before. Are they reputable? (I'm out a few dollars for a MB149 since La Couronne du Comte folded—I learned about them on FPN, too.)

[A Smug Dill]

21 minutes ago, Frank C said:

I've never ordered from Aliexpress before.

 

AliExpress is an online marketplace platform — akin to eBay (absent the auctions side), Etsy, Rakuten Ichiba, etc. — based in China but overseas-facing, so unlike on domestic-facing marketplaces such as Taobao and JD, it is designed to use foreign languages as the medium of communication with shoppers. It is not a vendor in itself, and has no retail operations of its own on the platform.

 

27 minutes ago, Frank C said:

Are they reputable?

 

As with eBay, Amazon Marketplace, and so on, it is the reputation of the individual seller operating on AliExpress that matters. Of course, AliExpress offers some types and level of shopper protection, and will step in to resolve disputes opened by customers against sellers on a case by case basis, just as eBay and Amazon do. I have placed many dozens of orders on AliExpress — for, in total, a very substantial number of fountain pens, among other things — over the past several years, and raised easily over a dozen disputes. I got satisfactory resolution in 95% of cases, as a very rough estimate; some were quicker and easier than others. For the avoidance of doubt, there were some cases in pursuing acceptable resolution was time-consuming, frustrating, onerous, even metaphorically painful, and very much not worth the effort if I were to look at it purely rationally; in those cases, being patient yet bloody-minded, fuelled by anger at perceived seller dishonesty and/or injustice in AliExpress's initial adjudication, in my pursuit of satisfactory resolution was a must, and being able to communicate in written Chinese most certainly helped. Buying “in English” is easy enough, but articulating a complaint or dispute in English in a way that AliExpress staff can understand and sympathise is not always so.

 

Spoiler

The instances of outright non-delivery or an AliExpress seller blatantly not fulfilling its side of the deal, in my experience, were… um, as rare as on shopping on eBay and Amazon Marketplace, I suppose. I complain to Amazon about what is sold by Amazon (AU, UK, or US) far more often than I open disputes on AliExpress for problem orders, but then, a large part of that has to do with how easy it is with Amazon, and how likely Amazon will do far more than the bare minimum to make things right. (There were still times when Amazon didn't make things right but tell me its hands are tied.)

 

On the whole, I'm personally very comfortable with ordering stuff on AliExpress, having now developed a fairly good sense of what is low-risk, as well as pre-empt certain types of problems. The (only) AliExpress seller offering these Platinum pens is the one of very few from whom I've placed orders with for products that cost more than US$75 individually; the several gold-nibbed Sailor, Pilot, and Platinum pens I have ordered from them came through reasonably smoothly and quickly, without my ever having had to open a dispute. I can certainly entertain ordering from them again. However, don't take that as an endorsement or recommendation from me; there are caveats, as well as things to watch out for that need to be cleared up with the seller or nipped in the bud upfront.

I hope that answers your question in a meaningful way.

 

1 hour ago, Frank C said:

I'm out a few dollars for a MB149 since La Couronne du Comte folded

 

Hmmm, could PayPal and/or your credit card provider not help you with getting a chargeback? PayPal refunded to my account what LCdC owed me in unfulfilled items on orders that were never closed before the shop went out of business. (I did, however, have a big pile of “supporting evidence” and past correspondence to substantiate my claims on the ready.)

[Frank C]

Thanks @A Smug Dill for the very complete answer. I hadn't realized that Aliexpress was similar to ebay. As for paypal's help with LCdC, they told me too much time, about one and one half years, had elapsed since my order. LCdC kept stringing me along, Covid, MB is on vacation, they sent one pen finally, and said the second one was coming, soon, etc. 

[amk]

Oh dear. I just checked Aliexpress and they seem to have gone by now. 

[A Smug Dill]

Yep. Was hoping to stack "$5 off every $30 spent (max $15)", seller discount of 5%, and $10-off coupon redeemed from Go Go Match game points come 11th November. Good thing I wasn't really that keen on it; the teal one would probably be easy to resell, but then I don't make a business or even habit of trading in fountain pens.

[amk]

Yes, it was the teal I was after! Oh well... there'll be another one along in a minute...

[A Smug Dill]

On 11/9/2022 at 10:21 PM, amk said:

Yes, it was the teal I was after! Oh well... there'll be another one along in a minute...

 

It seems both colours are available again, now that opportunity to get >US$30 in discounts is no longer there. 

[Mech-for-i]

well my " Cha " arrive just before the weekend , the package come with the chrome trim converter , a single cartridge and a bottle of Black ink , the shade and hue of the brown is lighter than that of the Pilot 823 , Mine is fashioned with a M nib