Fountain pen ink

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avbill

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Putting this in the fountain pen form as it deals with ftn. ink.



  1. If you sell FTN pens do you sell ink as well?
  2. If so, do you sell bottled ink?
  3. If so, do you sell more cartridge ink than bottled ink?
  4. If so, What colors are the better sellers?
  5. What is your major player for brand? Why?
 
while not fitting your question exactly, this is how I handle ink....

MOST of the shows I do prohibit resale...this is a good thing because it keeps out basket importers and the like. Because of this, I do not stock bottle ink, other than a sample bottle for testing. I want my customers to be happy and enjoy their new fountain pens so I keep a handful of cartridges in a variety of flavors on hand for start-up purposes. I recently partnered with those IPD folk (www.indy-pen-dance.com) to provide a gift certificate to fountain buyers for a bottle of Private Reserve ink of the buyers choice, shipped. Mike and Linda were very receptive and I think we have a winner. I have given out several certs over the last couple of weekends...we'll see if folks cash them in. M&L now have the coding in place to provide a bottle and shipping under one code. I think this is a winner for all parties...if you are interested, contact IPD_MR or IPD_MRS here on IAP. I print my own certificates with codes provided by M&L and use as appropriate. Once in a while, I come up with something useful...hope this one is for you.
 
that is a great idea. I have yet get into the FTN pen business other than a request and to keep a single one in stock. IDP folks are gonna hear from me as I continue into this WWW(Wide World of Writing)
 
avbill said:
Putting this in the fountain pen form as it deals with ftn. ink.



  1. If you sell FTN pens do you sell ink as well?
  2. If so, do you sell bottled ink?
  3. If so, do you sell more cartridge ink than bottled ink?
  4. If so, What colors are the better sellers?
  5. What is your major player for brand? Why?
Click to expand...


Av,

1. Yes
2. Yes,
3. Bottles outsell cartridges tremendously and for very good reasons. When you are using a fountain pen with a cartridge the ink flows out of the pen from the cartridge when writing. If a tiny fleck or something starts a clog there is little, other than gravity, to help move it on out.

IF on the other hand you use bottled ink then you are pulling ink into the pen as well as having the ink flow out while writing. Most FP "folks" will generally say using cartridges is ok - so long as you use some bottled ink as well and keep your pen cleaned out routinely. Therefore a good bit of the cartridge use is in pens that will only accept cartridges and during times of travel.

The other benefit bottles have over cartridges in some brands of ink is the variation of colors. Some brands just don't make every color they have in both bottles and cartridges. It seems that many of us that write with FPs generally like the ability to use lots of pretty colors rather than the standard blue/black. :wink::biggrin:

4. Blue and Black will always do well - BUT there are LOTS of shades of blue and many of them sell pretty well. GREEN is a great selling ink and PR Sherwood Green is one of my Personal Favorites!) Browns are also favored by many and looks very good on ivory/parchment type papers. Reds and Oranges are probably next - for us anyway.

I don't know that I can give any one reason why one ink will sell better than another at any given time (other than at the release of a new color) as many FP collectors also like to "collect" lots of ink :redface: and do to the different personalities of 1. people, 2. ink, 3 the pens and 4. paper any given ink will behave a little differently at any given time. For example, I have one blue that is gorgeous and works quite well in both my Pelikan Blue O Blue and my custom made w/BOCK nib - but the one time I tried it in an extra fine vintage pen (using same papers) it just acted like a grumpy teenager. I guess that is why so many ink sellers, paper sellers and pen sellers are able to exist in one place together and still make a little money. :biggrin:

5. PR probably sells the best - I would guess because we've had it the longest, it's a well known and good quality ink. Diamine is quickly catching up and Iroshizuku is brand new to us so I can't really say (but I'm totally smitten with Irosh. Horsetail for a brown!)
Hope this helps

Linda
 
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