Value hierarchy?

[SAK]

What is your opinion of the worst to best place to find pens based on value? I am interested in a rating comparison between EBay, pen shows, forums like FPGeeks, and second hand stores. What has been your experience?

[Jon Szanto]

Wow.

You are going to have to be a lot more specific than just "value".

Can I find cheap pens on eBay? Sure.
Can I write with them, feel their weight, examine the nib like at a pen show? Nope.
Is a pen show more expensive than eBay? Mostly yes, sometimes no.
Do you get a better feel for the item? Usually.
Does talking with the dealer, rather than just ending up in an auction, help you get a better pen? Sometimes, not always.
Does buying a pen from another "pen person" on a forum guarantee a good transaction? Not necessarily.

This is a really complicated question, and you are going to have to define your parameters a whole lot more. Unless you were just trying to see a bajillion opinions on all manner of tangential stuff.

[jar]

Depends on the pen and what you are looking for.

[SAK]

Thanks Jon. As a newB, I'm looking for calibration, assuming a given pen, let's say a silver knurled rOtring 600 fountain pen with a medium nib. I'll go to my first pen show next month. As luck would have it, FPGeeks lists one right here in Portland, and I'm excited. Anyway, I am trying to set my expectations. eBay seems very expensive and I wondered if that was common knowledge. I saw a rOtring listed on ebay with a starting price of $189. The listing ended with zero bids.

[scrivelry]

What things go for on ebay has to do with everything from what someone mentioned on line somewhere yesterday to the perceived reliability of the seller to the day and time the auction ends to whether anything being mispelled made it hard to find to... about a jillion other things. Also, what something is posted at does not tell you what it sells at - you have to view completed listings to see what people are actually paying for a given pen online, what is the higher end, what is the lower, etc.

I've done most of my pen-buying online, but I buy mostly handfuls of old beaters - third tier pens with pretty celluloid missing various bits, etc. The two times I have found pens in antique shops I've actually been ok with the prices, which were not out of line. On the other hand, I did better with a Pilot Metropolitan at Staples this week than I have ever seen online, and they delivered it to the store free.

I have been to one pen show and it was very very nice - terrific people and I learned a great deal. I picked up a few bargains in ink, and didn't have to pay postage on the shellac and pen sacs I needed. Some of the pens were going for what I thought was a bit high, others were not. I already know one vendor I want to see next year about a particular type of pen.

I think that pen collecting/using is a hobby with many aspects, and for me, it would be a mistake to limit the elements considered in a purchase to where I could get it cheapest. I say this as a person on a budget who really really really does not want to overpay for things. If you are buying Chinese pens you can get for under three dollars shipped, then the thing to do is trawl ebay for Chinese pens under three dollars shipped - unlikely you will see this at a pen show or find them cheaper elsewhere online. If, however, you are talking about whatever you would consider a major investment, then the stakes are higher and you have to take many more elements into consideration.

[VertOlive]

That is a bit tough to answer specifically. For my part I've gotten a couple great deals on FP classified sites. Then Engeika for a bargain priced Platinum 3776 Koi [I couldn't find a better price anywhere else]. Then a small few from Goulet and nibs.com, not necessarily the lowest price, but they had the pens I wanted and couldn't find elsewhere. Then I like to troll eBay for oddities and novelties--mostly Chinese pens.

So. A crapshoot, really.

[gbryal]

Not a hierarchy, but I think my worst bang-for-buck has been from office-supply stores. On the other hand, this might be because there aren't many places to buy a pen in person here, and the order of operations for me goes: 1) I want a pen today. and 2) Who sells pens right now?, which may be my real issue.

[jar]

Okay, so looking for a not at all common pen.

The best bet is to do a search on r0tring here and at FPN and locate folk that concentrate on such critters and then contact them. You might also want to contact the good folk at Penboard.de and gopens.com to see if they can locate one for you.

[gbryal]

I saw a rOtring listed on ebay with a starting price of $189. The listing ended with zero bids.

Some sellers on eBay are just trying to move a pen for a fair price. Some, instead, throw something out there trying to see how much someone will pay for it. The latter type is what you will find when you are looking for something specific. The former is what your best friend found last week while you weren't paying attention.

[Tony Rex]

For that particular pen search german ebay: eBay.de

[SAK]

Thank you, everyone, that sure was enlightening. This is the kind of insight I was looking for.