Advice on Selling Pens

It has been sone time since I visited this site but I am in a position
where I need to sell some Fountain Pens, both current and vintage. I
am considering e-bay but some posts suggest this may not be the best
way. I would appreciate any advice. The current pens include a Mont
Blanc, Namiki Impressions Medley, Pelican 800, Aurora Optima, Sheaffer
Legacy and a Parker Duofold all hardly used and have original boxes.
Also is there a source for valuation of these newer pens. As for the
older pens is there a reputable dealer I could send them to to sell.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Michael

On 26 Jun 2004 10:51:11 -0700, (Michael W) wrote:

It has been sone time since I visited this site but I am in a position
where I need to sell some Fountain Pens, both current and vintage. I
am considering e-bay but some posts suggest this may not be the best
way. I would appreciate any advice. The current pens include a Mont
Blanc, Namiki Impressions Medley, Pelican 800, Aurora Optima, Sheaffer
Legacy and a Parker Duofold all hardly used and have original boxes.
Also is there a source for valuation of these newer pens. As for the
older pens is there a reputable dealer I could send them to to sell.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Michael

I offer twenty five dollars. eBay will not be easy if you have no
feed back. There are people that will sell for you on eBay but I don't
know much about it. Tell me about the Pelican 800.

"Michael W" wrote in message
om...
It has been sone time since I visited this site but I am in a position
where I need to sell some Fountain Pens, both current and vintage. I
am considering e-bay but some posts suggest this may not be the best
way.

I really don't know about dealers but I'm sure it's worth asking some of the
many that are on-line. My suggestion would be to spend a little time on the
Pentrace Market board, Penlovers board, and Rambling Snail. Look at the
way folks are selling there and perhaps that is the best place to start.
Though folks from these boards buy and sell on e-bay as well, many of us
prefer to buy from one of these boards. Most folks make offers on one or
all of these boards then if the pens don't sell they either try again later
or they move them to e-bay.

hth,
kcat

http://www.pentrace.com/ (click on "shopping" then on "Pen Market")
http://www.penlovers.com/ (click on Bulletin Board)
http://ramblingsnail.net/

http://www.ramblingsnail.net/

On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 00:19:15 GMT, "KCat" wrote:

"Michael W" wrote in message
. com...
It has been sone time since I visited this site but I am in a position
where I need to sell some Fountain Pens, both current and vintage. I
am considering e-bay but some posts suggest this may not be the best
way.

I really don't know about dealers but I'm sure it's worth asking some of the
many that are on-line. My suggestion would be to spend a little time on the
Pentrace Market board, Penlovers board, and Rambling Snail. Look at the
way folks are selling there and perhaps that is the best place to start.
Though folks from these boards buy and sell on e-bay as well, many of us
prefer to buy from one of these boards. Most folks make offers on one or
all of these boards then if the pens don't sell they either try again later
or they move them to e-bay.

hth,
kcat

http://www.pentrace.com/ (click on "shopping" then on "Pen Market")
http://www.penlovers.com/ (click on Bulletin Board)
http://ramblingsnail.net/

http://www.ramblingsnail.net/


I saw those boards and the prices are higher then eBay.

(Michael W) writes:

It has been sone time since I visited this site but I am in a
position where I need to sell some Fountain Pens, both current and
vintage. I am considering e-bay but some posts suggest this may not
be the best way. I would appreciate any advice.

Lots of people in this newsgroup sell pens on eBay all the time. For
auctions IMHO there isn't a better option. There have been dedicated
pen auction sites, but there seems to be few people looking at them
and thus you may not get as much for them.

The current pens include a Mont Blanc, Namiki Impressions Medley,
Pelican 800, Aurora Optima, Sheaffer Legacy and a Parker Duofold all
hardly used and have original boxes.

But they've been inked so that knocks down the value a lot.

Also is there a source for valuation of these newer pens. As for the
older pens is there a reputable dealer I could send them to to sell.

Well, you could simply post them on this newsgroup (this is not a
"site" it's a newsgroup, a totally different animal altogether) for
sale. Set your prices at the least amount of money for which you
would be willing to part with them plus 10% to have some bargaining
room. If I had pens for sale, that's what I'd do rather than hassle
around with eBay. Another option, perhaps less convenient, would be
to take them to a pen show and sell them there. A third option is to
find out if there is a pen collecting group in your area (if you tell
us where you live, someone here may know if there's a group).

Earl Camembert wrote in message . ..
On 26 Jun 2004 10:51:11 -0700, (Michael W) wrote:

It has been sone time since I visited this site but I am in a position
where I need to sell some Fountain Pens, both current and vintage. I
am considering e-bay but some posts suggest this may not be the best
way. I would appreciate any advice. The current pens include a Mont
Blanc, Namiki Impressions Medley, Pelican 800, Aurora Optima, Sheaffer
Legacy and a Parker Duofold all hardly used and have original boxes.
Also is there a source for valuation of these newer pens. As for the
older pens is there a reputable dealer I could send them to to sell.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Michael

I offer twenty five dollars. eBay will not be easy if you have no
feed back. There are people that will sell for you on eBay but I don't
know much about it. Tell me about the Pelican 800.

To the seller of the pens:

First of all, before you sell your pens, you must know the prices of
the pens you are selling and find out how much they are worth before
you sell them. I would advise setting up a ebay account. Once you
set up one, and upload pictures of the pen you are selling, people
will place bids on them even though you are a new dealer. If you sell
yourself as a trustworthy person, people will give you a chance to get
established and place a bid.

One option is to go to a pen dealer in a city to see if he or she will
make a fair offer. Before you do that, research the values of the pen
by looking up past sales on ebay so you will know where you stand when
you start negotiating with the dealer. Remember the dealer has
overhead to meet and will have to give a lower offer to you so that he
can mark it up and earn a profit. The advantage of this one is that
you can rustle up fast cash on the spot by selling to the dealer while
an ebay transaction can take two weeks to complete from contacting the
buyer to waiting for the money order to arrive to sending the package.
I would advise money orders instead of personal checks for obvious
reasons.

One option on ebay allows the buyer to set a reserve price so that
bidding can take place until the reserve is met. If nobody meets the
reserve price and the auction expires, the buyer can relist at no
additional cost. Reserve prices are a fair price set by the dealer to
protect you from selling a pen at a loss. The bidders do not know
what the reserve price is during the auction.

I do not want to appear shilling for ebay, but there are other venues
one can sell. One is a flea market, but you will not get good prices
for expensive pens there. Another is to sell to a friend who
appreciates good pens and that is good as you will leave a good pen in
your friends hand. A good discount to a good friend helps move
things.

I hope I have been helpful. Whatever you do, good luck!

James K. Goodwin

"Earl Camembert" wrote in message
...

http://www.pentrace.com/ (click on "shopping" then on "Pen Market")
http://www.penlovers.com/ (click on Bulletin Board)
http://ramblingsnail.net/

http://www.ramblingsnail.net/


I saw those boards and the prices are higher then eBay.

well - I disagree completely. More importanly to me, I know who I'm working
with on those boards but I've gotten and seen much better deals than on the
'bay. On the e-bay, a Waterman Phileas will go for over $40 when it's worth
$20. Pentracers especially know the value of the pens they sell and buy.

well - I disagree completely. More importanly to me, I know who I'm
working
with on those boards but I've gotten and seen much better deals than on
the
'bay. On the e-bay, a Waterman Phileas will go for over $40 when it's
worth
$20. Pentracers especially know the value of the pens they sell and buy.


I addition - keep in mind that most of those prices on the boards include
shipping. Seen some of the absurd shipping costs on ebay? I wanted to buy
a $10 Levenger item there the other day - but the shipping was $12!!!! For
a little leather wallet. and cheap pens for $5 should ship for $1 but they
are often 4-8 bucks for shipping. just not worth it.

there are great deals on ebay but there are great deals on the boards too.
And trades (you don't get to trade on ebay) and so on.

all depends on what you like but I'll stick with people I know and trust
TYVM. :-)

KCat wrote:
well - I disagree completely. More importanly to me, I know who I'm
working with on those boards but I've gotten and seen much better
deals than on the 'bay. On the e-bay, a Waterman Phileas will go
for over $40 when it's worth $20. Pentracers especially know the
value of the pens they sell and buy.

Agreed. I have had the same experiences as KCat.


--
Cordially,

Sonam Dasara
dovekeeper+at+electric-ink+dot+com

I prefer buying and selling from pen board members, people you get to
know via the postings. You often get screwed on fleabay, rarely from
ther board sellers and buers.

I agree 1000% with KCat, havoing consumated a good deal. .


"Sonam Dasara" wrote in message
...
KCat wrote:
well - I disagree completely. More importanly to me, I know who
I'm
working with on those boards but I've gotten and seen much better
deals than on the 'bay. On the e-bay, a Waterman Phileas will go
for over $40 when it's worth $20. Pentracers especially know the
value of the pens they sell and buy.

Agreed. I have had the same experiences as KCat.


--
Cordially,

Sonam Dasara
dovekeeper+at+electric-ink+dot+com