Fs. Need to sell some pens. Montblanc, Pelikan and more.

[tarheel1]

Think I need to sell one or of my fountain pens as I need to get some computer parts. What I have is as follows.
Montblanc 146 platinum with a medium nib 350
Montblanc Jules Verne with broad nib 1100
Pelikan M805 blue with a factory italic broad nib 400
Pilot 912 Fa nib 150
Sailor 1911 large black and rhodium with a music nib 150
Platinum President Blue with rhodium trim medium nib 150
All are mint and I am pretty sure I have all the boxes. The 146 might not have one, but I will search for it. I am open to reasonable offers.
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n135/agentdanrell/DSCF1151.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/agentdanrell/media/DSCF1151.jpg.html)
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n135/agentdanrell/20140906_160652.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/agentdanrell/media/20140906_160652.jpg.html)
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n135/agentdanrell/20140728_204137.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/agentdanrell/media/20140728_204137.jpg.html)
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n135/agentdanrell/20140728_204137.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/agentdanrell/media/20140728_204137.jpg.html)
http://i111.photobucket.com/albums/n135/agentdanrell/DSC_0127.jpg (http://s111.photobucket.com/user/agentdanrell/media/DSC_0127.jpg.html)

If you need better pics I can take some and email them.

[tarheel1]

I have sold the Sailor, President, and 146. Still have the Jules Verne, M805, and 912.

[Kudzu]

I sent you a PM about the Pilot 912 with FA nib.

[tarheel1]

Pm sent back.

[tarheel1]

Bump

[tarheel1]

Price drop on m805 to 370 and jules verne 900 usd.

[TheHedgemeister]

Pelikan M805 $379.90 *NEW*
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pelikan-fountain-pen-M805-M-805-/161023933960?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item257dc63e08
Yours is kinda expensive for secondhand

[tandaina]

We may price our pens however we like, this sort of post is generally considered rude. You are welcome to buy the pen off eBay. Otherwise you can ways send the OP an offer of a lower price on a pen they are selling, if they are willing to haggle they will.

[jjlax10]

I agree with the seller this is not fair. Unless you are entering negotiations to buy it you should not engage in this type of posting.

[TheHedgemeister]

We may price our pens however we like, this sort of post is generally considered rude. You are welcome to buy the pen off eBay. Otherwise you can ways send the OP an offer of a lower price on a pen they are selling, if they are willing to haggle they will.

In the land of free speech, yes it is your right to ‘price our pens however you like’ BUT recognize my right to question it (especially on an open forum). And in the home of Capitalism I am entitled to haggle openly and freely.

FYI: I do buy off eBay (Amazon, Goulet, Pen Chalet etc) and I would buy from members of fpgeeks if the price and quality is appealing. Why do you (and the other traders) feel that open and transparent comparisons are considered rude? Unlike yourself, I am not denigrating anyone merely questioning their pricing - again it is an open & public forum.

[TheHedgemeister]

I agree with the seller this is not fair. Unless you are entering negotiations to buy it you should not engage in this type of posting.

Wrong. tandaina isn't the seller, that would be tarheel1. tandaina and/or you don't need to troll.
FYI: I am negotiating to buy the M805 and further, what has it got to do with you.

[tandaina]

We may price our pens however we like, this sort of post is generally considered rude. You are welcome to buy the pen off eBay. Otherwise you can ways send the OP an offer of a lower price on a pen they are selling, if they are willing to haggle they will.

In the land of free speech, yes it is your right to ‘price our pens however you like’ BUT recognize my right to question it (especially on an open forum). And in the home of Capitalism I am entitled to haggle openly and freely.

FYI: I do buy off eBay (Amazon, Goulet, Pen Chalet etc) and I would buy from members of fpgeeks if the price and quality is appealing. Why do you (and the other traders) feel that open and transparent comparisons are considered rude? Unlike yourself, I am not denigrating anyone merely questioning their pricing - again it is an open & public forum.
Haggling is one thing, basically calling a member stupid by posting an eBay listing is rude. If you want to haggle send a private message with your offer. End of story. Free speech doth not from manners absolve us.

[akapulko2020]

I agree with the seller this is not fair. Unless you are entering negotiations to buy it you should not engage in this type of posting.

Wrong. tandaina isn't the seller, that would be tarheel1. tandaina and/or you don't need to troll.
FYI: I am negotiating to buy the M805 and further, what has it got to do with you.
Welcome to the other side of free speech: you're not the only one entitled to use it [emoji48] . And calling the others trolls just because you don't agree with the sentiments expressed by them, does not a true free speech proponent make.

[PeppWaves03]

I actually enjoy having the haggling open so that if another person wants to join in, they can as well.

[Crazyorange]

I agree with the seller this is not fair. Unless you are entering negotiations to buy it you should not engage in this type of posting.

Wrong. tandaina isn't the seller, that would be tarheel1. tandaina and/or you don't need to troll.
FYI: I am negotiating to buy the M805 and further, what has it got to do with you.

Wow...that's just rude. All your comments have a nasty tone. I saw the nasty one on the Visconti pen. If you don't like it just move along.

[Hawk]

TheHedgemeister, I disagree with your comments and your way of conducting business on this forum. Stay awhile, read and learn from others.

[TheHedgemeister]

TheHedgemeister, I disagree with your comments and your way of conducting business on this forum. Stay awhile, read and learn from others.

Constructive advice.

[mhosea]

I am negotiating to buy the M805 and further, what has it got to do with you.

You're violating a cultural taboo of the site. We don't conduct negotiations in the discussion area here. Please send the seller a PM. Nothing wrong with your original post if it is private. That's just how we do it here.

[EclecticCollector]

TheHedgemeister also overlooked the fact that this pen has an IB nib, while that eBay listing only includes one of the "normal" nibs EF - B.

[gwgtaylor]

Not sure how posting comparables is rude. I find it quite helpful both as a seller and a buyer. I think if the price is posted openly it is fair to openly question it. Otherwise the seller could keep the asking price private and buyers could PM for more info. I think I'm pretty polite too --not sure why I can't get my head around this. Anyway agree to disagree. :-)

[NCGibbon]

Not sure how posting comparables is rude. I find it quite helpful both as a seller and a buyer. I think if the price is posted openly it is fair to openly question it. Otherwise the seller could keep the asking price private and buyers could PM for more info. I think I'm pretty polite too --not sure why I can't get my head around this. Anyway agree to disagree. :-)

I agree with you. By creating a better informed buyer the market becomes better. Some people know the worth of an item and some don't. I don't feel like prying on the informed is good business.

[mhosea]

Perhaps the unwritten rule derives from pressing the forum format into use for "classifieds", and you are supposed to show some restraint to make it work more or less as normal classified ads would work. We have other forums where it would be normal to discuss what a fair price would be on this or that thing.

[gwgtaylor]

Hmm makes sense to me that if it's relevant to this particular item than this would be the best place for it as opposed to digging around somewhere else. Why does it have to be treated like a classified ad when it is, in actuality, a forum? I say keep the comments coming and let's all keep ourselves honest with our pricing and be fair to one another. Just because traditional classifieds never had commenting doesn't mean that's the right way to go.

[tandaina]

Sometimes, often, the *way* you do something matters. Dropping into a thread or forum with no history and essentially saying "you are stupid, I can get this cheaper elsewhere" is what makes it rude. It would be like walking into The Fountain Pen Hospital in New York looking at the pens in the case and shouting "HAH, I can find this cheaper on eBay! Now you have to match the price." They'd laugh at you, and ask you to leave.

This isn't Best Buy, there is no price match guarantee. And in the case of this particular poster the things he's comparing are often not even comparable. (different sizes, nibs, not customized, etc) He's aggressive, combative and seems to think he's entitled to dictate price. That's rude. Now if he'd PMed the seller saying "Hi, I've found this same pen a couple of other places for X, do you think you could match that price, I'd rather buy off FPGs" that wouldn't be at all rude. Even if he'd done that in a public message. But the *way* he operates is what many of us are objecting to.

[Laura N]

I really think the seller should close this thread and start over. As enticing as all the extra page views must be, I feel bad that this thread has been derailed and some people have seen fit to crap all over someone's for-sale thread with links to another (perhaps affiliated) seller and then with implications of "preying on the uninformed" or of needing to be kept "honest with our pricing and be fair to one another."

I feel bad for the poor person who just wanted to sell some pens and thought this was a congenial place.

[gwgtaylor]

Ok. I didn't get it as being that combative but I appreciate your POV. Thank you

[mhosea]

Hmm makes sense to me that if it's relevant to this particular item than this would be the best place for it as opposed to digging around somewhere else. Why does it have to be treated like a classified ad when it is, in actuality, a forum? I say keep the comments coming and let's all keep ourselves honest with our pricing and be fair to one another. Just because traditional classifieds never had commenting doesn't mean that's the right way to go.

It's got nothing to do with "fair" pricing. Pricing is subjective. I have put things up for sale at just about what they are worth to me, and I have put things up where I was happy to find the market price where my valuation wasn't part of the analysis. Both prices are "fair". The only difference is whether I am in an "it's got to go" mode or just testing the waters.

Let's talk about TheHedgemeister's observation that you apparently appreciated. With shipping to me in the US, the price of the referenced item is $394.89. I don't know what the OP's shipping charge is, or if shipping is included, but I think it's safe for me to factor in about $6 to my destination, which would be $406 and also includes faster delivery to domestic buyers. Now that's the asking price, mind you, I could make an offer, and if it is not too aggressive, my guess is that it would be accepted. So, I'd be buying a used pen for about the same price as a new pen, but the problem is that the comparable doesn't include a differential analysis. It's not an exact comparable. Rolf is a great seller (I've bought from him), and his price on eBay is one of the best prices around, but that is for a standard nib, not a factory broad italic, US buyers will have to wait a bit longer to receive their item, and customs is an uncontrolled variable (usually works out fine--almost always, but...). I seem to recall that the factory broad italics have been discontinued along with a number of other factory nib sizes. If you drop the "factory" part, you could purchase a B nib and have the pen ground by a nibmeister for an additional charge. Depending on the nibmeister, you'll be out-of-pocket $70-ish when you factor in shipping, but also factor in the delay for one of nibmeisters in high demand, and I'm pretty sure the market places a premium on the factory italic now. So with the differential analysis we are talking about comparing to $465 + the premium for the factory IB and factoring in the hassle to have the nib reground. Now if you can find a comparable with a broad italic, then perhaps that would be more useful.

IMHO, the "comparable" as cited did more to obfuscate the fair market value of the pen than illuminate it, which might have been the intention.

Now, if it were my listing, I would welcome the opportunity to explain things, but it does come at the risk of coming across as argumentative to some potential buyers. And to me, etiquette is a "When in Rome..." thing, not really depending on what I might prefer intellectually. It seems to me that if you are basing your understanding of what is "rude" or not by whether you can rationalize something, you're kind of missing the point of being "polite".

[gwgtaylor]

Makes sense to me. I still appreciate the discussion though