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View Full Version : Ink Shipping - Have you had any bad experiences?



Murfie
April 17th, 2013, 05:06 PM
A couple of weeks ago, I ordered three bottles or Architekt ink from xFountainPens.com (Pittsburgh, U.S.A.). I have purchased pens from them previously, but never ink. Yesterday a box arrived from Australia Post containing the remains of my order. In transit, one bottle was smashed. To their credit Australia Post cleaned up the mess, rinsed and repacked the remaining two bottles in a new box along with a letter explaining what had occurred and a comment that the original packing was inadequate for the contents. The original packing never got to me so I can't comment on the accuracy of their claim.

I'm fully aware that parcels from overseas can receive some terrible handling mishaps that can often damage the best packaged order. One squashed box arrived recently with the offending footprint still visible (it was at least a size 10!). But in the past 2 years I have received more than 40 bottles from overseas without a single spill - let alone a breakage. I'm quite happy to acknowledge that there may have been something very usual that could have happened that couldn't be attributed to the seller, however, what I can't excuse is that on opening the repackaged box, I discovered that one of the remaining bottle was missing around 30% of its contents and had a loose cap. There was no ink from this bottle in the repacked box, meaning the loss had occurred in the original package. I find it most unacceptable that anyone would pack ink for shipping and not ensure that the cap(s) on the bottle(s) were secure.

I sent an email to xFountainPens.com detailing the events and overnight they emailed a reply offering to replace the order, which is decent of them. However, I've declined acceptance as I don't wish to expose Australia Post to the risk of any re-occurrence. I will rely on my other reputable sources for my inks in the future.

What has been your experiences with shipments of ink? Have you had any mishaps such as mine?

Bogon07
April 17th, 2013, 07:43 PM
Sorry to hear about your postal mishap. I've rec'd some parcels with some major damage but luckily not affecting the contents so far. (fingers crossed)
Out of curiousity I might have been inclined to take them up on the replacement offer if just to see the packing they use.

I've ordered Noodler's ink from the Goulet Pen Co which arrived safe and sound in a cocoon of plastic wrapping in a wrapped up box.
Also rec'd ink with Visconti pen sets in plastic bottles inside the pen boxes with no problems.

Murfie
April 17th, 2013, 07:55 PM
My experience with Goulet Pen Co is likewise as I have had numerous shipments from them this year. Their packaging is excellent for inks, pens and parts.

cedargirl
April 18th, 2013, 02:26 AM
That shouldn't happen.
I've bought ink from at least six different suppliers - both Europe and the USA - they have all managed to get to Australia and through the Australia Post handling without breakage.
I did have one converter arrive in two pieces - it was flying around loose in a package that had a heavy bundle of ink boxes (that was well protected). It was replaced immediately by the supplier.

And funny about the footprint - I had a padded envelope (no pens or ink) arrive torn and with tire tracks on it! Luckily nothing was damaged.

KrazyIvan
April 18th, 2013, 08:43 AM
My worst experience was not bad at all. A Private Reserve Lake Placid Blue bottle leaked. Not much. Maybe .5-1 ml's but the Goulet packing kept it contained. It was my first full ink bottle purchase based on a sample. Unfortunately the sample had been labelled wrong. I got a blue ink that is okay but not what I was expecting. Brian made it right by offering me some free ink samples so I could find my perfect blue. I ended up ordering Private Reserve Tropical Blue.

manoeuver
April 18th, 2013, 10:35 AM
I had an ink sample leak. Totally contained by the snack-size ziploc bag it was in.

woosang
April 18th, 2013, 05:14 PM
I have had pen flush smash in a bubble wrap from Art Brown, who had packed it securely but with another bottle (not individually wrapped, I told it as a casualty of international postage. jet pens isellpens, writersbloc and Goulet are awesome in packing
I had a box run over with tyre tracks on it :mad: but over the years most things get through ok
Sent from my GT-N7105 using Tapatalk 2

Murfie
April 18th, 2013, 09:48 PM
I had a box run over with tyre tracks on it
Now that is priceless! Leaves my footprint incident for dead ...

woosang
April 18th, 2013, 09:50 PM
No. I think the foot print is worse.. Someone had to step on it whilst a forklift may not notice running over a box

Murfie
April 18th, 2013, 09:58 PM
No. I think the foot print is worse.. Someone had to step on it whilst a forklift may not notice running over a box
Ha, ha ... and the footprint was probably the forklift driver's 'cause he'd spent so much time concentrating on avoiding driving over parcels, he trod on mine as he was getting off the forklift. :)

woosang
April 18th, 2013, 10:03 PM
That must be it! A rogue, disgruntled postal worker :-)

Murfie
April 18th, 2013, 10:20 PM
That must be it! A rogue, disgruntled postal worker
Now that does make sense! He was disgruntled because just before the forklift stint, his boss got him to clean up and repackage a parcel containing a broken ink bottle from xFountainPens.com.

(and this thread has now come full circle)

Sleepyside
April 26th, 2013, 11:52 AM
I have had numerous orders over the years from the Goulets, isellpens, xfountainpens, jetpens and Levengers. And nobody, but nobody, packs things like the Goulets. So far everything has arrived safely from all the aforementioned companies and I am a happily returning customer to all of them. But based on packing, I would not order an expensive pen from a certain west coast dealer from whom I cheerfully order otherwise unavailable, cheap Japanese pens.

Newjelan
April 27th, 2013, 03:01 AM
I'm stunned and hope it was a one-off and you were just unlucky. I've also had numerous deliveries from USA, UK, The Netherland, Japan and local and my worst experience was a slightly squashed corner on a notepad. All inks, pens, papers and accessories have arrived in perfect condition.

jacksterp
April 29th, 2013, 12:06 PM
The closest I've come to problems was an order from a Hong Kong vendor. Two pens and a mechanical pencil which were very scantily wrapped with small bubble wrap, some tape and stuffed in a brown packing envelope. Every thing turned out ok, but I think I was lucky.

Laura N
April 29th, 2013, 06:36 PM
I confess to being an outlier here, because I prefer less packaging than the norm on these boards. I can easily reuse or recycle a padded envelope or a box or a small amount of bubble wrap. I even donate the dreaded packing peanuts to a mailing store. But I find balls of bubble wrap and plastic wrap excessive and unnecessary in most cases. International shipping of course might be different.

JMHO, and I realize very few here will agree. :)

The only problem I've ever had with ink being shipped has been with a new manufacturer who used bad bottles and didn't seal them carefully, leading to leakage during shipping. But that was due to the inexperience of the fellow who made the ink.

mhguda
April 29th, 2013, 08:11 PM
Some of you may be aware of Fountainpenrevolution removing their 50ml Chelpark ink bottles from their for sale inks. I may be one of those whose experience led to this step. I had ordered a bottle of Chelpark Royal Blue ink, and a good part of it had leaked out into the package when it arrived here from India. The ink box was sodden with it, but luckily it was individually wrapped in bubble wrap, and other than the loss of ink, no major problems with that shipment. The funny thing was that the bottle cap was intact, and in fact resisted opening. It was a metal cap where when you open it by turning you break some metal tabs - those were the devil to break in my case. In fact by the time I had the bottle open, the cap was useless. I found a plastic replacement, luckily, and am still using the ink... but shortly after my reporting this adventure to them, FPR took down the Chelpark inks from the list.
I recently received a bottle of Camlin from them, and it was in perfect condition.

Flake
May 1st, 2013, 05:54 AM
I've ordered quite a bit from a number of dealer and the only thing I've ever had come in less than perfect shape was a bottle of penflush whose cap had cracked in transit. Admittedly little was lost and it now lives in an old olive jar. :)

ddustinn
May 2nd, 2013, 10:40 AM
I've only had an ink mishap once, and it was from a seller from a classified section. A 4.5 ounce Noodler's bottle broke - it wasn't pretty. I don't know if it was poor packaging, postal service misuse, or that the ink froze and busted the bottle.