Leather pen cases feeler

[Daniel]

I do not have a ton of info on these just yet. little details such as prices etc.
But I have seen comments about getting cases in the past about leather pen cases and came across these the other day.
I e-mailed asking for a quote. and this was the reply I got. keep in mind this is very typical of a first contact reply.
not much here to base individual case prices on but anyone wanting 300 cases in various sizes I am all set.

DEAR SIR,
THANKS FOR YOUR MAIL AND YOUR INTEREST SHOWN IN OUR PEN CASES.
WE LOVE PENS AND LOVE MAKING PENCASES.
WE MAKE ONES,TWOS ,THREES AND SIX PENCASES. WE HAVE THE FOLDER KIND FOR TWELVE,TWENTY FOUR AND FORTY PENCASES.
OUR PRICES START FROM INR 75/- ONWARDS.
A 10 KG PARCEL HOLDING ABOUT 100 PCS EACH OF ONES,TWOS AND THREES PENCASES WOULD REACH NEW YORK IN AROUND FOUR WORKING DAYS AND WOULD COST INR 7000/-.
PLEASE SEE THE PHOTOS OF OUR SAMPLES AND REVERT BACK TO US AND WE WILL BE HAPPY TO SERVE YOU. ALTERNATIVELY,IF YOU HAVE ANY STYLE PLEASE FORWARD THE PHOTO AND WE WILL BE GLAD TO COST FOR YOU.
PLEASE LET US KNOW YOUR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENT VIZ: STYLE, LEATHER-TYPE, QUANTITY, PRICE ETC. SO THAT WE CAN PROCEED ACCORDINGLY.

THANKS AND AWAITING YOUR REPLY.

BADRUDDIN
LEATHERHUB

As you can see this leaves just a few holes to be filled in.

One good thing I got was the photos i made a bit of a collage out of them for all of you to see.
What caught my eye was the single pen case that appears to be holding something like the statesman or other similar style pen.

I have no idea what an INR is but if it is anything comparable to a dollar the quote above averages over $23.00 per case. I do not expect that to be the case




anyway i am just starting to put information together and before I put to much work into it wanted to get a feel for how much interest there even is in them. please respond even if you are interest only if they are low cost or you have other restrictions. Do keep in mind that low cost may not be in the mix considering they are Leather. this is as much of an even available type thing as it is a cost saving idea.

Also I am not real clear on what the availablility status is in the group for leather cases of any type.

In short this is a budding idea that can take many paths as it forms. anything from individual leather pen cases to display cases or both.

Thanks for any help in figuring out what all of you are even interested in and what price range you woudl be looking for.
Daniel

 

[GaryMadore]

INR - Rupees (India) .... They're about 50:1

So, about $150 USD for 300 cases, including shipping - not bad. I wouldn't ask where the leather came from, though

Cheers!

Gary

 

[dennisg]

I'd be interested in few of the leather pen cases should the price be right.

 

[ed4copies]

I believe the $150 IS the shipping.

Reread

 

[Glass Scratcher]

I'd like hear more.

 

[Daniel]

I wrote a long reply and got disconnected when i hit send. not going to write it all again.
I will just say that from other things I know shipping on 10 kg should be less than $90.00
I thought you where all pulling my leg on the exchange rate so I looked it up. it is currently about 48-49 to 1 making the quote above less than $150.00 for 300 cases.

I have some homework to do but this is not someone that contacted me. i found these cases by doing a search for manufacturers on a site I have used for a while.
this is the first time I have gotten a hit for anything that I thought was interesting though. I will find out if the site offers any protection for the matches it gets set up etc. if not I have other ways to protect a purchase.

for now it sounds to good to be true so most likely is. but it also is not a flaky situation that I found these either.

 

[altaciii]

Daniel, I would be a player if you could put it together.

 

[bitshird]

Daniel, I bought a few 24 pen cases off of feeBay . looks like the same cases, the quality was decent the stitching has held up well. and the leather isn't calf skin. but isn't too bad either. I could use a couple dozen single and double cases were the price good.

 

[MikeMcM1956]

Daniel,
The singles look very intriguing, I would be interested in at least 25 if the price is right....

Mike

 

[GaryMadore]

The price for single-pen cases would run approx $1.50 (75 rupees) plus a share of the shipping.

I don't think that it can get much more "right" than that (grin)

Cheers!

Gary

 

[wdcav1952]

INR - Rupees (India) .... They're about 50:1

So, about $150 USD for 300 cases, including shipping - not bad. I wouldn't ask where the leather came from, though

Cheers!

Gary

Gary,

Horses aren't holy in India.

 

[BRobbins629]

I would be in for about 20 singles if the price was low, like in the several dollars per piece plus shipping..

 

[OKLAHOMAN]

If the price is 2-3 dollares each for the singles I could see me buying 100 or so.

 

[GaryMadore]

Gary,

Horses aren't holy in India.

Hehehheheheheheheheheheheheh

Ya know, I was thinking that for a buck-and-a-bit each, they're likely made of rats or cats.

Cheers!

Gary

 

[marcruby]

I could use a couple of those 24 bangers. Probably some single leather cases as well.

Marc

 

[rjwolfe3]

I would be interested in singles and cases.

 

[scotian12]

If they are large enough to hold the larger pens I would be interested in 2 dozen. Darrell Eisner

 

[foneman]

Daniel,
I would be interested in a couple of the 24 pen cases.

 

[penhead]

If the price works out to be right, I would be interested in a couple dozen.

 

[Daniel]

Actually I think Ed is correct.
It all just makes better since to me that way and I tend to be pretty good at the guessing stuff.

So for now I will look at it as
$150 for shipping alone on 300 various cases. (50 cents per case)
$1.50 each at least for the single cases.
Money transfer costs. 4% 8 cents
postage per order I will average at $10.00 this should be good for at least 25 cases if not more.
pay pal 31 cents
pay pal 3% on the whole deal. $1.81
making a grand total for an order of 25 cases $62.12 or less than $2.49 per case.
that sounds much more real world to me.

keep in mind this does not account for the small percentage I add in order to cover inevitable mistakes lost orders replacing defects etc. I usually start a little high and try to adjust it to a real verifiable number once some orders have actually been processed.

from the above posts it is roughly looking like
200 singles
6 or so - 24 pen cases just as a warm up.
I just gave some numbers to the "I would be interested in some" comments above.

There is a 100 case min order for each style of case.
This is an item I think is going to be really big on the constant demand list. it is consumable. by adding 25 cents to each case I can eventually make it something that is always in stock. I can also eventually add some other styles colors or whatever to the line up. this is a 10% mark up in order to increase the effectiveness of group buys. I know this has been discussed before and opinions vary. But this is an opportunity to put some real world numbers in front of all of you and then let you decide what you think of it in terms of what it really costs to do. 25 cents per case for a great deal to have better service... eventually.
In this case with 600 cases ordered would generated the money for me to order 100 to keep in stock.
Demand determins what gets in stock first.

 

[Glass Scratcher]

So what is the break down in prices? I know you quoted above the shipping and an estimate on the singles but what are the various cases going to cost(estimated)?

As everyone has said it all depends on the price.

 

[Daniel]

I received a second e-mail after trying to nail the priced down a little more. still nothing on the large cases but this is what I was sent in the second round as far as 1,2 or 3 pen cases. conversions are mine and based on 49:1 Exchange rate.

ONE PENCASE = INR 95 ($1.94)

TWOPENCASE= INR 115 ($2.35)

THREE PENCASE = INR 145 ($2.96)

Shipping on 100ea of the above approx $150.00 (50 cents per case)

for orders of 2 dozen cases expect postage to be the large flat rate box.

4% transfer fee to pay for the order
$0.31 per order pay pal fee (could be lower if western union is used but there is some sort of fee to make the payment)
3% Pay Pal fee on total of your order

Unknown cost woudl be any cost related to importing such as customs etc. Iexpect there to be some sort of fee just to make the currency exchange.

This makes the above translate to approx with an order of 24 cases
Total cost per case.

1 pen case $3.06
2 pen case $3.44


As you can see the price is bouncing around. this is not unusual with some suppliers. I have done what I usually do in light of this and started looking for a different supplier that has there business figured out. The guy is doing nothing but fishing to see just how much I will pay.
Since I have already stressed that getting the price nailed down is critical he obviously is not all that interested in meeting my needs.
the exchange rate is bouncing around as well but he will not make a quote in US dollars at all. Seems to me like that would be doing him a favor since the dollar is far more stable.
I have asked for samples so we will see if that has any effect. sometimes it does.
In short dealing with some of these people is not easy. and can take a wile to get everything ironed out. bottom line I will either get a set price or I won't. but an increase in quote of 20% over night is not going to fly.
By the way these are either sheep or cow leather depending on what is selected.

 

[thewishman]

I would like some of these! Daniel, you are a great guy for going through all of the set-up work and headaches. Hope this works out, but I agree that the price variances are more than a bit uncomfortable.

 

[Daniel]

Here is the answer I got in regard to the price difference.
there are two ways of stitching the cases the higher quote is for the better of the two.
from what I understand you can lay the two pieces of leather on top of each other sew them then cut the leather close to the stitching so that you see both layers.
then there is stitching the leather from the inside which makes a neater higher quality look. I had mentioned that quality is desired over price so it makes since that he on his own quoted the higher quality case.

I have asked for samples of the 1,2 and 3 pen cases. As well as 12. 24 and 40 pen cases. Usually it costs quite a bit for me to get samples. an examples was that it cost me nearly $100 to get 24 drill bits during the drill bit buy. so actually getting samples is dependent on what it will cost me.

For now I have mentioned that any order will be for black or brown 1,2 and 3 pen cases and black larger cases.

I also asked for a harder leather in the smaller cases but a soft leather in the larger ones.

I will be able to nail down exact postage costs if I get samples.

 

[jack barnes]

I'll jump in on some of each.

Jack

 

[JohnLifer]

I'd do 10 or so singles and one 24 case. (depending on time frame I might do 25 singles)
Sounds like we're a month or so out if you wait on samples.
Thanks!!!!!!

 

[Daniel]

John, a month might be on the optimistic side. the truth is these deals can drag along and then suddenly get wings and take off. I really have no way of knowing how long it will take. I will take orders as long as it looks like they are still coming in etc.

I think I have samples of all the cases coming. if they are actually on the way I should have them sometime next week. I will then post photos of them and be able to give a hands on opinion of them.

I still have not gotten a quote for the larger cases. I am not sure what is up with that.
At this time I am sort of in the position that he is expecting me to just order x number of cases. Of course in the course of an ordinary sale this would be expected. I am in the process of informing him that this is no ordinary sale. in time he will begin to understand what is taking place and things should start running much smoother. Basically they never understand why it is so important that I know the total cost up front. They can give me the price of there product but are thrown for a loop when i start saying I need to know all shipping, customs, sur charges, anything that will add to the total cost of receiving these. the truth is they usually have no more of an idea than I do. so it is a bit of a shot in the dark the first time around. I have gained some knowledge in all this import stuff so I know what to be looking for at least to some degree. at this time I only expect there could be duties and a customs warehouse charge that is not known. The duties on drill bits was next to nothing. I'm not sure about leather goods.

 

[meshel]

Hi Daniel,

I've been following this thread, and your fear of customs is in place, I'm not exactly certain of the tariffs involved but it could easily amount to 100% and possibly even more than that on the ENTIRE amount (total value including shipping to the US) - this is what it is for shipping textiles into the US from many places around the globe.

I hope this isn't the case. but people need to be ready.

Also from a little experience in the textile industry (I have family in the business and accompanied them to a business trip) - you should be ready for a high rate of rejects for the first batches at least - this of course depends on the factory in question - but is typical for low labor costs factories in the far east...

One more thing - this also relates to the low price - this is usually the result of cheap labor... you should be aware that this is usually the result of child labor or what is known in the US as sweat-shops where workers are being used, this might be a factor for pen buyers....

I'm not saying any of the above applies to the specific business you are referring to - but it needs to be checked and taken into consideration before buying or making an order.

All the best,
Moshe

 

[mikemac]

I'd be interested in 20 or so single cases, as well.

 

[Daniel]

Well just so you all know I have not dropped this idea or anything.
I do have samples on the way.
I still have not gotten quotes for the large wallet type cases.
I have gotten some info from other sources that are much friendlier concerning quality control on these cases. I have verified that these other experiences are with the same company. and the news is not entirely good. It seems the warning about poor quality is right on track with at least one experience of 40% rejects. I did not hear any problems about cost increases due to duties and all that. so like I said it is not "All" bad news. I am also not ready to give up on this. But I think process shoudl take this information into account.
In order to do that I want to limit the size of this first buy to a few brave souls that are willing to step off the cliff with eyes wide shut. I am thinking of no more than 100 cases for a first time buy. I will also limit this to only one style since the min order of any one case is 100. I will not due the buy until I am in a position to be able to refund any money. I just want anyone that raises there hand to understand that all they may get for there effort is there money back.
for the moment this buy will be placed back in the shadows. it is not forgotten but I think that if I can get 5 to 10 people to take the adventure with orders of 10 - 20 cases per order. nobody is going to take a huge hit and it will give us all the opportunity to dabble our toes in the pool before anyone dives in.

I also have news that there is one other person within this group that is already hopefully almost through all the hassles of getting some quality products. It is up to them if they are willing to share the loot. but there is at least the possibility that those that have expressed interest here can still get these cases with them having already been pre approved. I was contacted privately by this member so out of that I will leave it up to them to make an offer or whatever. i jsut want everyone for warned that this "Other" Meber when and if they step forward has already been incontact with me. we ahve discussed the entire situation and this post is a partial result of those conversations. In short I am perfetly willing to turn this whole thing over to them if that is what is best for the group as a whole. i am not being pushed out of the way or being walked over. the entire situation has been behind the scenes but is very much on the up and up. As I understand it the other members is expecting delivery of a supply in the next few days. this order is pending inspection which previous orders have not passed. so with that being what I know. just be warned that this buy could very well take some drastic curves in the next few days.
Also be aware that this other memebr is not bound by any prices I have posted in any way. I have some idea of the trials they have been through but have no idea what costs have been involved.
To be blunt I don't want to see any dog piles going on if this person suddenly starts offering the same cases. My personal feeling about this is that my efforts are about a service to this group. It really does not matter to me if that service begins with me or someone else. in fact I would love to see more people involved. for me the effort is like investing in the group. the more i do the more valuable this group becomes to me.

 

[sbell111]

I'm in for 20 from your trial buy.

 

[Daniel]

Steve, I am making a file and will ad your name to it. I will contact you privately to discuss progress of this buy.
Thank You, you brave brave soul

 

[arw01]

Did the pen case group buy die or move?

Did the pen case group buy die or move?

 

[keithkarl2007]

I'd be interested in the 24-32 pen folders, maybe a few small cases also

 

[Daniel]

No this idea is not dead. I guess everyone is just getting a little more of a behind the scenes look at just what it takes to put one of these buys together. it can be a very long process. i was notified this morning that samples of 4 different cases are on there way to me via Fed Ex. Free of Charge for once. I actually have a tracking number so am very optimistic that I will finally actually receive some cases this time. Photos will follow.

 

[thewishman]

Daniel, thanks for sticking with this one (you have MUCH more patience than me). Looking forward to the report, and even more to a good report - as in "These are great!"

 

[tim self]

Daniel, if this thing does go down as planned without a exorbant price jump, put me down for 20 singles. This sounds almost to good to be true.

 

[igran7]

Daniel, I would be in for at least 24 of the single pen cases. Thanks or hanging in there on this.

 

[leehljp]

I too would be interested in some individual cases. 15 to 20. (Sent to USA addr.)

 

[altaciii]

I'm still waiting, patiently anticipating. Let us know when you have an update, please.