Anybody go with Zen pen?

[Chief Hill]

I have a customer that wants me to make him 10 of these Zen pen kits that have a magnetic clip?
Anyhow I have seen them on the website. How do they sell generally? Just wondering as I will have to buy bushings, bits and the kits. But I don't know how the demand is for these pens or if it's worth me asking the customer to go to another kit that I already make.

Thanks all

Rob

 

[ed4copies]

Rob,

I like it, and it sells ok. Certainly easy to make and the magnetic is a "gotcha" for shows. Different from others.

FWIW

 

[BigguyZ]

Rob,

I like it, and it sells ok. Certainly easy to make and the magnetic is a "gotcha" for shows. Different from others.

FWIW

I have another suggestion- buy a dead center and the poly digital caliper on sale at Rockler for $10. Cost= about $20, and you'll never have to worry about bushings again for ANY kit. Now, you can buy whatever you want, and you have the needed tools.

To me, that sounds like an easy decision. And for me, that improved my quality by a LOT.

 

[Chief Hill]

I have digital calipers. Life is much easier with bushings IMHO, quicker as well. To save a buck I may go caliper in the future.

 

[ed4copies]

I have four calipers that are the poly digital type. The ones I have do not lock at a dimension, so they are a pain for this application. Also they eat batteries. I would not recommend MINE for this. YMMV

 

[DurocShark]

I love making them, and my customers love them.

 

[wolftat]

I have customers that love them and some that hate them. If I could find one pen that made everyone happy I'd be a lot happier, until then, you never know what people will like at any point. Give em a try and see how they go.

 

[bitshird]

I agree with Don and Ed, the Zen is an easy sale and an easy pen to make, people go GAH GAH over the magnetic clip.

 

[Chief Hill]

Alright I will give it a go then. My customer even offered to have the harware delivered to his business and hand deliver it to me in Canada as he is always here in my city. To save hassle of customs shipping What a great customer. His only stipulation for the sale is a checkered segmented pen for himself and plain simple woods for the rest.... ( gifts )
Too easy.

 

[stolicky]

There were many complaints a while back about the magnet falling out. Has anyone had any trouble recently?

I haven't tried this pen yet.

 

[DurocShark]

None that I've heard. I've heard about that problem too and was worried. But a couple of that blue batch get heavy use and haven't had a problem.

 

[ed4copies]

Careful, if the pen kits are delivered to him, he could see the packing list that may have pricing. At least he would see the supplier and be able to go online and find your pricing.

MAY not matter, but some people think if you make more than a half a buck an hour you are gouging them.

Just another FWIW

 

[Chief Hill]

He is the one that pointed these out to me I guess this guy knows what he is looking for. So yes he already knows the price of the kits. Keep in mind everyone ANYBODY can cut and paste the description of what you are selling from the basic hardware kit to the finished product. If a customer complains about my price I would tell them politely to find what there looking for elsewhere.

 

[wdcav1952]

There were many complaints a while back about the magnet falling out. Has anyone had any trouble recently?

I haven't tried this pen yet.

CSUSA issued a statement offering to take back kits and replace them if the magnets came loose. The also offered instructions for re-gluing the magnets. They further stated that they had corrected the problem in all sales after their statement.

I find the zen to be popular with "wild" acrylics. The ladies I show them to absolutely love them.

 

[greggas]

Zen is my best selling model and I love the simple cool look. I do hope they come out with a titanium version soon. I have found that the 10K gold wears extremely quickly where the magnet in the cap touches the nib. Still overall a great pen...and probably the easiest to make.

 

[bitshird]

There were many complaints a while back about the magnet falling out. Has anyone had any trouble recently?

I haven't tried this pen yet.

There was a few when they first came out, but I've don close to 30 and sold about 15 of them with no troubles yet.