Pleased Customer of Tokyo Pen Shop Quill

[DonkeyStonky]

41 minutes ago, Penguincollector said:

Right on, I don’t have a timeline, so it’s fine. Much cheaper sounds worth it.

And once you do get your order in, it will be packed really well and shipped quickly.

[Penguincollector]

22 hours ago, DonkeyStonky said:

And once you do get your order in, it will be packed really well and shipped quickly.

 Nice!

[TitoThePencilPimp]

On 7/11/2023 at 2:00 PM, DonkeyStonky said:

That’s great news @TitoThePencilPimp, I’m glad they got back to you. What is the retail price of an Emperor (or Urushi No. 50 if you prefer) in JPY? I recall that it was something around ¥148,000, is that correct?

 

 @Harold , I agree with your assessment that it’s just him and his wife, all of the emails I got were signed by him, and the customs paperwork with my pen were also signed by him. I’m definitely ok with waiting a while for a reply in exchange for supporting such a small shop that is busy but has great service and seems to have a very close relationship with Pilot.

Just checked my bank statement, and yes, that was the price of the Urushi No. 50.

[Manny C]

On 7/9/2023 at 2:43 PM, Linger said:

Recently I have had the same experience. No replies to emails. Never any such issues in the past in ordering three pens (pilot custom 845, namiki yukari, namiki chinkin) so a bit strange - i gave up in the meantime.

@Linger do you mind me asking you how much you paid for the Custom 845 including shipping, buying from them?

Edited March 19 by Manny C

[Linger]

@Manny C Difficult to answer...it was in the summer of 2020 and paypall doesn't keep records that long...I paid the local price in JPY, added with shipping, and then the whopper: EU import duties and VAT...ultimately it was EUR 585 whereas at the point it became available in the EU the recommended retail price was some EUR 630-ish.

 

You live in the US and I believe to have read somewhere that the treshhold for import duties and sales tax is some USD 800? That means with current JPY?USD forex rate you would make a killing...

[DonkeyStonky]

@Manny Cunfortunately Pilot recently announced price increases for many fountain pens, and the Custom 845 was the hardest hit of them all, jumping from ¥50,000 to ¥80,000 excl. tax. However, even at this new higher price, you stand to save about $325 by purchasing from Japan rather than through a US (or EU) retailer, since the US MSRP is $900. At the current exchange rate, your total cost should be around $575 to your door, including shipping and PayPal’s 3% international transaction fee. I bought a bottle of ink with my Custom Urushi which bumped up the shipping cost a bit, but considering that Iroshizuku is $10 a bottle in Japan it was still worth it.

[Manny C]

Yea @Linger @DonkeyStonky They answered my request and quoted me 80,000 Yens + shipping 4,330 Yens = Yens 84,330. If I was going to pay with PayPal the conversion ended in US$ 581.79. Still much better than the retail price of $ 900 in the US. But wow, I can't believe that not long time ago it was only 50,000 Yens, that is dirt cheap for a pen like this. He didn't take too long to answer, a few days. But since it was my first time and didn't know how long would it take him to answer (if at all), I actually found many on eBay and ended up buying from a seller from Japan from whom I previously bought 2 more pens with great success. I ended up paying $ 568, including taxes (eBay charge taxes) and shipping. Not a bad deal at all. I am good with that price, still much better than what it costs here in the US.

[2ouvenir]

Customer service and price aside, this retailer seems to have a very limited selection... like they only have Iroshizuku inks? And uh... they are from Japan?!

[DonkeyStonky]

Yep, they sell a good bit of paper but just Pilot products as far as pens go. It’s just a husband and wife.