So, you want to sell your pen (or Pens)....

What we are looking for...

We are always interested in buying Fountain Pens and we will consider anything from a single pen to a large collection. However, before you contact us or send us any pens please bear the following in mind, we are Vintage Fountain Pens Ltd. This means that we are primarily interested in vintage fountain pens made before 1970 and we are not quite as interested in modern pens, propelling pencils, ball pens or rollerballs.

Of course we still do buy propelling pencils, ball pens and rollerballs if they are part of a vintage set and we still end up with a fair few modern pens when they are bought as part of a collection but in general we are not really looking for them. Send us an email if you are not sure. 

We are often sent details of vintage fountain pens for sale via email and most of the time we are unable to make a firm offer because so much of a pens value depends on its condition. For this reason we would like to set out our purchasing policy and hope that you understand that we are aiming to be as fair as possible.

Purchasing Policy

To start with, we need to see the pen or pens before we can make an accurate assessment of their age, condition and, ultimately, their value.

A photograph will often enable us to make an indication of potential value but will not allow us to make a firm offer. You need not worry about sending your pen or pens to us, we take great care of them and if we do not come to some agreement over value they will be returned to you safely at no cost to yourself.

OK, once we have the pen or pens in our hands we can begin the evaluation process, to do this we;

1. Estimate the full retail value of the pen if it was fully serviced, fully working and in very good overall condition. This estimate would be the price that the pen would be sold for on the Website, you can check this for yourself as the pen will be listed for sale two to three weeks after the purchase.
2. From this estimate we subtract 15% to cover our overheads of running the site. This includes commission to people like Paypal and Barclaycard and also the cost of the Shopping cart and domain names we hold. It also includes a contribution towards the cost of postage as we offer free postage on all our pens.
3. From the remaining sum we subtract the cost of restoring the pen to a condition where it would be suitable for sale. The pen may need spare parts fitting and it will almost certainly need a service. It will also need preparing for sale which includes a write test and detailed photographs. There is a minimum charge of £10 for restoration and preparation, even for a brand new pen.
4. The balance is then split 60/40 in the sellers favour. In other words you will be offered 60% of the balance and the remaining 40% is our profit - which we need to be able to continue in business!

As an example, you send us a Parker 51 Aerometric with a ding free rolled gold cap and in its original box. We would value that pen at £175, if we were to buy it from you this is the price that it would be on sale for on the website - you can check this!

The cost of overheads is 15% or £26.25, reducing the value to £148.75

The pen has some blemishes and scratches on the barrel and needs servicing as it has not been used for a while, this costs us £18 in labour and materials and reduces the value to £130.75

It also needs preparing for sale which includes photographing it, editing the photos and preparing and scanning a write sample. This costs us another £5 in labour reducing the value to £125.75

We would offer you 60% of £125.75 = £75.45 which we would round up to £76

If you agree we keep the pen and send you the money by Direct Bank Transfer or Cheque - your preference.

If we don't agree then we return the pen or pens at our expense. 

I think you will agree that this is a very fair and open way of valuing a single pen or a full collection. 

Please email us if you have any questions.