Bob,
I agree with you, that I don't make pens for the money (heck, I have yet to sell a pen!). I make pens because I enjoy watching each one develop, watching my abilities improve along the way (albeit with some significant setbacks every so often!), and getting to see and play with some beautiful wood from parts of the world that I only dream of visiting. But what the heck am I going to do with 100+ pens? I already have a collection of 20 or so, and most of them just sit around. The last thing I need is even MORE stuff to clutter our already too small house! So, that means that if I'm going to continue enjoying this hobby (or doing any other woodworking or "creative" craft like this), I'll have to either give away the results, or sell them.
As I mentioned above, my pens have only been given as gifts for family and friends (no sales yet). Since I'm still honing my skills, most of those have been decent, but nothing great. But I'm getting progressively better. But then the question becomes, what do I do once I've given all my friends and family pens? I guess everyone needs a few pens, but after the first one, I think it loses its novelty. Thankfully, I come from a REALLY big family (Mom is one of 13, dad is one if 8), and my wife has a pretty big family too, so I still have time before I HAVE to deal with this. But, eventually, I'll need to sell my pens, or else throw them away (okay, I COULD donate them too, but then I'd have to find a value for them for tax reasons!).
So, that brings me back to the idea of creating saleable pens. My goal with pens I create is to make something that will cause the recipient think "wow, that's a REALLY nice pen! I wonder where he got it, it looks expensive?" I want them to not even THINK that I might have made it, regardless of whether it is a slimline, or one of the fancier kits. To me, that means they see the craftsmanship that went into the pen, things like the selection of the materials, the care with which things were cut, turned, etc. To get to that point, it means that there can't be any visible mistakes in the form, fit or finish.
When I get to that point, I think I'll be closer to the $250 pen range. As pointed out above by some of the others, I think I'll be even closer to a $250 pen if I start doing truly innovative stuff the way Anthony (Penworks), Bruce Boone (BTBoone), Ed Davidson (YoYoSpin), Don Ward (ItsVirgil) and some of the others here have done (if I left anyone off the list, it wasn't intentional!).
Unfortunately, even my two "best" pens (thus far) aren't worthy of $250 (if you're curious as to what I think are my two best, check my album for my Lignum Vitae pens). Maybe $120-$150 in the DC market, but even that would probably be pushing it. Not because I didn't take the time with them, or because they don't look good, but because I'm still learning, and they aren't as well done as they could be. In my case, I know that if I build things like sleds for my bandsaw and a table that will better allow let me use my face plate as a disc sander, these will drastically improve my ability to really nail the fit and finish. I hope I'll get there some day!
Now, for a bit of a tirade. I've read the pricing threads for the last 6 months or so with interest. One thing that bugs me is that some people seem to feel that their market won't support higher priced pens, and therefore they have no reason to make better pens. In this day-and-age there's nothing preventing ANYONE with a little ambition from reaching markets other than their own. I understand that not everyone is tech-savvy, and so having your own web site isn't within everyone's reach. But there are companies with "shopping malls" (like Yahoo!) who will let you set up shop for a pretty reasonable fee, and without needing a lot of tech savvy. Heck, they even help you take credit card purchases! Then there's always eBay. Pricing on eBay is hit-or-miss, but you can still do well there. Neither of these options requires a whole lot more technical expertise than it does to visit and contribute to this site.
Now, I know that some people are leery of online sales for various reasons, and will reject that thought out of hand. To those people, if your pens are of a high enough quality, they will easily find a home in a shop in a market that will support the higher prices, and you can always send your pens there via the good o'l USPS $7.70 flat-rate boxes to keep your shipping costs low (probably adds less than $1 per pen if shipped that way). So, don't hide behind your local market as the reason you don't make higher caliber pens. I can appreciate the fact that some people make their pens for fun, and don't want to put the time and effort into making pens that would HAVE to sell for a high price to justify their existance. But I also just get really frustrated by those same people telling the others who are trying to make something really special that they are crazy.
Okay, I'll come down from my soapbox now...and will try to hide under it!