Is this price correct??
- Thread starter siric
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its_virgil
Member
Most likely yes. Look up precious metal prices. No, I would not pay that but I have seen kits priced more.
Do a good turn daily!
Don
Do a good turn daily!
Don
I think the answer to your question on what this pen would sell for is "whatever someone purchases it for".
Ed Brown frequently mentions on the Exotic Blanks zoom calls and at the Midwest Pen Turners Gathering that (paraphrasing) "you'll never know how much a pen will go for until you ask. If you want to to sell $300 pens then you probably ought to have a couple that are $500 pens available too so people feel like they're getting a deal"
Hopefully I've remembered what Ed has said correctly
I think he's correct though, If the components are expensive then it should certainly be expensive for your customer to buy it from you.
Ed Brown frequently mentions on the Exotic Blanks zoom calls and at the Midwest Pen Turners Gathering that (paraphrasing) "you'll never know how much a pen will go for until you ask. If you want to to sell $300 pens then you probably ought to have a couple that are $500 pens available too so people feel like they're getting a deal"
Hopefully I've remembered what Ed has said correctly
I think he's correct though, If the components are expensive then it should certainly be expensive for your customer to buy it from you.
jttheclockman
Member
jttheclockman
Member
I just checked as Ken did and mine said $49 also. Maybe there was an error and they corrected it. They do follow this site you know.
https://woodturnerscatalog.com/coll...atesman-rollerball-pen-kit-palladium-22k-gold
https://woodturnerscatalog.com/coll...atesman-rollerball-pen-kit-palladium-22k-gold
egnald
Member
I agree that $100 seems high, however I'm sure the price is significantly impacted by the cost of the plating materials, the plating thicknesses, and on the spot price at when the metals were acquired. The price of precious metals, especially some of the rare ones from the platinum family have essentially doubled over the past 4 to 5 years (right along with the cost of bacon and eggs).
An ounce of Gold in 2020 was about $1850 up to about $2700 (45% increase) now.
However, Palladium has actually come down from around $2700 to only $1000 (60% decrease).
As for Rhodium, to put it in perspective, it went from about $2500 in 2019 to a peak of $29,500 in 2021, more than a thousand percent increase. Although from 2022 to 2023 it came back down to around the $4500 level it still remains almost double the price of Gold. Rhodium plating options for anything other than fine jewelry has virtually disappeared. (In the jewelry industry, Rhodium is traditionally plated over White Gold to make it more durable as White Gold is a relatively soft metal).
Dave
PS It was good to see that the price has come back down to about $50. That price does seem much more reasonable.
An ounce of Gold in 2020 was about $1850 up to about $2700 (45% increase) now.
However, Palladium has actually come down from around $2700 to only $1000 (60% decrease).
As for Rhodium, to put it in perspective, it went from about $2500 in 2019 to a peak of $29,500 in 2021, more than a thousand percent increase. Although from 2022 to 2023 it came back down to around the $4500 level it still remains almost double the price of Gold. Rhodium plating options for anything other than fine jewelry has virtually disappeared. (In the jewelry industry, Rhodium is traditionally plated over White Gold to make it more durable as White Gold is a relatively soft metal).
Dave
PS It was good to see that the price has come back down to about $50. That price does seem much more reasonable.
1080Wayne
Member
Unfortunately , I think what you are seeing is dynamic pricing , at it`s worst . Ken and John get the best prices because of their buying history . It gives me a $69 quote , what it thinks is appropriate for an active long term IAP member , who hasn`t bought anything from them for perhaps 10 years . You , with minimal history on this site , get the highest price . Whoever develops these models , possibly AI , isn`t intelligent enough to know that that approach pretty much guarantees zero increase in long term customers , apart from a very few with more money than brains .
I got curious about that and clicked the link. it was $49 for me and I hardly bought anything from them last year
leehljp
Member Liaison
$49.95 for me too.
rixstix
Member
Could be the person's location that is affecting the price?
hokie
Member
Yeah, if you go to the bottom of the page and change the currency, it changes the price to exactly $101.00...
Also, out of curiosity, I changed my country of origin on my VPN several times and refreshed the page. No change in price. Only changing the currency at the bottom of the page did anything.
wolf creek knives
Member
egnald
Member
Dave - Outstanding Catch. That is something that I usually check on when looking into these kinds of posts, but I completely missed it. Good Job! - Dave
1080Wayne
Member
Thank you for catching that Dave , and my most humble apologies to CSUSA for suggesting their business practices were less than fair to all customers . I thought I had my browser set to hide my location , but I obviously didn`t . However , the notice of the currency used in pricing only shows on the home page , which is not where one spends much time , once pen making has been selected as the topic of interest .
Morse
Member
Hi guys.
Thought I'd click the link from the UK.
It comes as £41, roughly $51 USD.
Dave
Then all the import duties and taxes.
Thought I'd click the link from the UK.
It comes as £41, roughly $51 USD.
Dave
Then all the import duties and taxes.
Thanks. Strange place to put the converter (at the bottom of the page) and for such a long page at that. I would never have found that. What they should to is to put the currency in front of the price to prevent confusion.
Was a little setback there as I though that I would no longer be able to offer this as a option to my customers.
Thanks again.
Steve