Does the world need yet another ink distributor?

[ChristianBertram]

// This a repost from FPN. It was my first FPN post and this is my first FPGeeks post. I duplicated it here, because I was not able to find the right forum on FPN. And then - you are cool :P //

Hello FPN!

I don't know if this is the right place, but I would like the hear your opinions on this.
I have been getting into vintage pens and ink, the latest months. I've been thinking about the possibility of becoming an ink distributor. I'm a student, so it's not like I need to earn money to support myself. Because of this, I would think, that I could start pretty small, and still have good prices.
I live in Denmark, where there aren't really any big distributors. Theres a company selling Diamine inks, but that's basically it. But then again the FP market in Denmark is definitely not a big one, so I would be selling internationaly (especially Europe, I guess).

My idea was to invest in 80ml bottles of every Diamine ink (and the special ones) to sell as samples. I would then as soon as possible get some stock of the inks to sell. Later I could expand to more and more inks.

I don't need to earn a lot of money and I think it could be fun. But I don't know if this is actually an unrealistic idea. Maybe the international market is just too crowded or something?

What do you think? Could I fill an empty spot somehow? Or should I forget the idea?


I got this answer from fountainpagan on FPN


Diamine is distributed by a large number of distributers covering the world.

In Europe the Bung Box inks, among others, for exemple, are not distributed. If you want to start something, do it with the part of the market which is not covered.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck.


It seems interesting to try to distribute some uncommon inks in europe. Do you have any input? :)

[Jon Szanto]

My very first question would be: what is you business background? As soon as you start advertising and selling products to people, it stops becoming fun and becomes a business, and you have bills to pay, and work to do (all the shipping) and figuring out pricing and import duties and all that. And unless you have a target market that is underserved, you will have a difficult time differentiating yourself from retailers who have been at this for a long time. Not to mention, how will you advertise?

Once you get past the "fun" and "hobby" aspects of this, there are a lot of hard questions you need to ask yourself, and prepare to do a lot of research and hard work.

[ChristianBertram]

My very first question would be: what is you business background? As soon as you start advertising and selling products to people, it stops becoming fun and becomes a business, and you have bills to pay, and work to do (all the shipping) and figuring out pricing and import duties and all that. And unless you have a target market that is underserved, you will have a difficult time differentiating yourself from retailers who have been at this for a long time. Not to mention, how will you advertise?

Once you get past the "fun" and "hobby" aspects of this, there are a lot of hard questions you need to ask yourself, and prepare to do a lot of research and hard work.

Well I don't have any business background, I'm just a young student. I am ready to do some work, and work hard, but I am of course limited a lot by school. I was worried, that I would not be able to differentiate from other 'big players' and that is why I liked fountainpagan's idea. I don't know if this is enough to differentiate myself, and generate any kind of sales, but it definitely seems better than selling Diamine inks. Also I would think that there's a marked for these more uncommon inks, but I don't really know.
I thought that I would advertise through social media, but then again I don't really know if that is possible / enough.

I would like to do this if it's possible to get started small and then expand into more inks and more work, if people start buying stuff. But as you can tell, I need some guidance to know if this is a realistic idea, since I personally don't have any experience and don't know the market as well as some of you guys do (Something which would of course change, if this idea becomes a reality..)

[Jon Szanto]

You mentioned the suggestion to consider some of the unusual or boutique inks. fppagan even mentioned the Bung Box inks. Here in the US, there is only one place (maybe someone else?) that imports those inks with any regularity, and the inks retail for over $40.00.

Which brings up two points: you will have to have funds available, as you start this venture, to actually *purchase* the inks, before reselling them. Looking at the item cost, that is a lot of money you'll have to have on hand. Beyond that, if you don't go with the standard, easy-to-get inks and you go with more expensive more rare inks, AND you decide to get your word out via social media... Well, it has been my observation that a lot of the people your age who frequent the forums and reddit aren't in a position to pay out that kind of money. More often than not, they are looking for the bargain inks. Again, you have to really know your market, and the audience you are selling to, or else this will be come a very expensive lesson learned.

Lastly: if you start a business, and customers place orders and expect a product in return, your service immediately becomes First Priority, because those customers are not going to wait around while you do "school stuff". That is why you can't treat this like a fun side-project or hobby.

I don't mean to be entirely negative, and of course I wish you well. But I'd rather offer up a lot of blunt scenarios that you haven't really thought through and keep you from a bad situation. If all anyone said was "hey, go for it!", you might find yourself in a difficult spot at some point. Really, really think this whole thing through, ok? :)

[ChristianBertram]

Okay I can see, at that price it would quite another decision and risk taken. When doing some calculations on selling Diamine inks (Before realizing how crowded the market is) it seemed pretty realistic, but at this price, It's probably not a thing I'm going to be able to invest in for a long time.

It's nice that you are critical, I'm not just looking for a "go for it!", I needed to know if this made sense. And you pretty much cleared it up for me :)

Though, I still wonder, if you have any idea, if it's possible for me to start some kind of business, around fountain pens, in another way. (I'm getting into fountain pen repair, but I'm still a long ways away, from being able to repair other people's pens.) I'm not looking for a magic way to earn easy money, but if (when) I have to work hard, I think it would be awesome to be able to do it, in an area, which interests me :) So if you have any ideas/directions, I would love to know!

[Sammyo]

You mentioned the suggestion to consider some of the unusual or boutique inks. fppagan even mentioned the Bung Box inks. Here in the US, there is only one place (maybe someone else?) that imports those inks with any regularity, and the inks retail for over $40.00.

Which brings up two points: you will have to have funds available, as you start this venture, to actually *purchase* the inks, before reselling them. Looking at the item cost, that is a lot of money you'll have to have on hand. Beyond that, if you don't go with the standard, easy-to-get inks and you go with more expensive more rare inks, AND you decide to get your word out via social media... Well, it has been my observation that a lot of the people your age who frequent the forums and reddit aren't in a position to pay out that kind of money. More often than not, they are looking for the bargain inks. Again, you have to really know your market, and the audience you are selling to, or else this will be come a very expensive lesson learned.

Lastly: if you start a business, and customers place orders and expect a product in return, your service immediately becomes First Priority, because those customers are not going to wait around while you do "school stuff". That is why you can't treat is like a fun side-project or hobby.

I don't mean to be entirely negative, and of course I wish you well. But I'd rather offer up a lot of blunt scenarios that you haven't really thought through and keep you from a bad situation. If all anyone said was "hey, go for it!", you might find yourself in a difficult spot at some point. Really, really think this whole thing through, ok? :)

I tried adding rep for this post... but I got the message "You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Jon Szanto again.".

I think that this is good, HONEST, advice. Jon is right, you cannot go into any venture, or job half hearted and expect to succeed. I also agree that an honest answer will do you more good in the long run than just a pat on the back.

If there is a gap, you must first know If there is a market. There may not be distributors for multiple reasons; one of them being there is not a large enough market share to sell to. With Amazon, eBay, Rakuten, etc... in the mix, people may already have a source for the products they want. I think you are doing the right thing by asking the community for their opinion and feedback. Good luck, and I hope if nothing else, you can help some people with no access to "boutique inks" a chance to try something new :)