Quick tip to build sales

The simple card proves that the item is not a cheapo rip-off, but an item of value. I use something similar for my products.

True.. and I think it also says something like "I didn't buy this at Wal-mart, I cared enough to have something made for you".. With what folks pay for some gifts, $50 for a pen, case and card is a pretty decent value for them and a nice markup for me..

mac

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Do you have it delivered in a sachet or box? How much do you add beyond material cost? This is both interesting in general and can explain popularity as a 5$ pen would be a hit, a 150$ much less. Keep them coming Mac, Max

Simple plastic gift box, black bottom, clear top and wide enough for a business card.. I think they were about $3 each..

I'm guessing that with the pen kit, (Classic twist), the wood, sand paper, etc., that I have about $8 - 10 invested... the rest is labor and keeping the price high so they perceive the value..

Oh.. and $3 plus shipping for the initial cap and 2 initials..

We went to the cantina last night to listen to a friend play and sold 2 more, $40 and $65, both without initials or case... life is good this month.. ;-]

mac

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Thanks for the info. I've wondered what pens and such would sell for.

Greg G.

Incidentally, what brand pen kits you find possess the highest quality

- both in mechanism, and ink/writing smoothness/life span?

In my mind, there could be no worse critic than a pen that fails to write, or writes sporadically, and ends up never being used. Kinda like the give-away promo pens that stop writing after a week, yet the businesses that hand them out have their names permanently displayed on the cheap POS.

Greg G.

I buy from Penn State, Woodcraft and Pens of color, mostly.. AFAIKT, all the kits are made in Taiwan and all originate at Penn State,who licence's distributors or sells to relabelers.. I might be wrong on that, but I can buy, say, cigar/el grande pens from 3 or 4 vendors and interchange parts..

The only real difference in degrees of quality in most pen kits is the plating on the metal.. whether it's 24k gold or platinum, the tubes, transmission, refill, etc. are all the same.. On my more expensive pens, I replace the refills with better quality, usually a gel.. If I'm gift boxing a higher end pen, I'll leave the original refill in the pen and put a gel refill in the gift box..

When I say "higher end pen", It's still just a 24k or 10k kit, just a little more fit, shape, finishing care, etc... with an inflated price to give it "value"..

mac

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mac davis wrote in

Mac, have you tried the Berea kits. I've been getting them from Arizona Silhouette. The kits have worked well for me with one exception. After pressing, a transmission would not turn. I had a bitch of a time seating it and don't know why. The pen was a Euro designer with the TG finish. I turned it from black and white ebony (why couldn't it have been a 24k slimline with a less spectacular wood?) It took about twice the force to seat it as I normally use. Don't know if was a bad transmission or a bad presser (me). From now on I will check them before pressing. Pen turning is very relaxing. I've been turning ten slimlines at a time for practice. After the first one the others went well. When I hit a hundred, I going to send them to the Freedom pens project. I never would have thought about turning pens if the man I bought my newest lathe from hadn't included everything needed to turn pens. I'm now turning pens on a 15" lathe while my Jet mini sits there looking at me. Must be something wrong with that.

Hank

No, I've seen their ads and looked at their web site, but haven't tried their kits yet... They seem to have a lot of interesting stuff..

Small chance that it might have been a tiny bit of glue in the tube from gluing it in the blank.. It only takes a little smear to make a tight fit too tight..

I just went to the pen mill with changeable shafts for just that reason... shop made adapters will center the mill in larger tubes but won't scrape out glue...

I also check my tubes before putting them on the lathe... a bit of glue can also give you a slightly oval pen..

Hank, I'm guilty of the same thing... I use my 14" jet for everything and the mini sits waiting for friends or students.. lol Part of it is laziness... the 1442 has variable speed and the mini doesn't.. I like to turn pens at fairly high speeds and then sand at as slow as the lathe will go..

I said that I would NEVER turn pens... Bowls were my thing and pens were 10 minutes of turning and an hour or so prep and sanding/finishing..

A couple of my mentors were trying to get me to try pens but I wasn't interested.. lol Then, my dentist asked me if I wanted some wood that he'd had in his garage for about 10 years, since his dad quit turning... I ended up with a few nice pieces of hardwood and about 400 assorted pen blanks!

I still didn't want to do pens, but my wife got me a "starter set" from Penn State for a Valentines present, and I became addicted..

The really funny thing is that when we moved to Mexico, I almost gave my brother all my pen stuff, (he turns segmented bowls), but decided to bring them along for fun... I knew that folks moved to Baja to get away from pens, watches, cell phones, etc... YEAH, RIGHT..

In the last 14 months I've probably sold 50 or 60 pens and about 6 bowls or goblets... go figure...

OH... about your mini... It's a pretty good buffer for pens, ya know..

Also, when I had a run of 15 pens for the local pro shop, my son used the mini with a spare pen mandrel to do the sanding and buffing.. That way, I could turn the pens and then hand the mandrel to my son... he'd hand me back the last mandrel and I'd start the next pen.. A real luxury, to have someone else do that PITA sanding.. ;-]

mac

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