I’m rather unsure about all of this. On the one hand I don’t want to commercialise my blog and I don’t usually mention any retailers in blog postings, I don’t have any ads on my blog, etc. On the other hand, quite a few people ask me about retailers, and there are a few retailers I would like to mention – for better and for worse.
I’ve dealt with a lot of online retailers, and most are satisfactory, average, OK, all those sort of words. But a few are different, so here goes.
The Good Ones
I’ve dealt with these folk more than once, and I recommend them. No comment about their pricing, product range, etc but if you are looking for customer service people that respond to questions, people that won’t rip you off, people that will fix up their mistake in the unlikely event they make one, then:-
- Pen Gallery in Malaysia,
- Cult Pens in the UK. In particular, and without critiquing it, I commend them for their “Guide to Mechanical Pencils”, particularly the Table of Features therein.
- Bundoki in Japan and their English language mini-site Pencils.
The Bad Ones
“The foul bitter aftertaste of poor service lingers long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten.”
I’ve had the misfortune to deal with the folk listed below more than once. Maybe I’m a sucker for punishment, but I guess anyone can make a mistake, everyone deserves a second chance. Well these folk had theirs, maybe even a third chance.
• I have now deleted the name and link of these two retailers as it has been over 3 years since I last dealt with them. They might have improved over the years so I don’t want to continue denigrating them for ancient failings.
Others Worthy Of Consideration
I haven’t dealt with these folk enough to make a personal recommendation, but I have heard lots of good things about them via the grapevine, so if I did buy from them a few more times they would likely end up on ‘The Good Ones’ list.
- Andreys Pencils an eBay store in Russia
- JetPens in the USA
Disclaimer: Just for the record, these opinions are my own, from my own personal experience and knowledge. No payments or other inducements were offered or accepted to be mentioned (or not mentioned!) on this page.
This posting was originally on my Organiser blog, but was transfered to this blog 27 February 2010.
Another suggestion is your local University Bookshop. Some do online ordering.
ReplyDeleteAll the university bookshops I've seen here have awesome ranges of stationery. Mine has almost the full Staedtler range, notably including the 925, and 925 25 hard to find coloured leads from Staedtler & Pilot and a full range of faber/Staedtler leads weight/sizes. Disappointing they have no Pentel, however some are in the catalogue, so they might order them in.
This was all in store on the shelf. Prices at mine are generally 'fair' and you don't have to be a student - though students/members get additional discounts at my bookshop.