Stationery Pal: Chinese Stationery for Less, Until You See the Shipping Costs

Stationery Pal is a stationery store based in New Territories, which is next to Hong Kong, but not quite in China yet (that's Shenzhen). Therefore, it is able to take advantage of the price differential between China and other continents. Unfortunately, it is a small company and does not have fulfillment power like Temu or Alibaba (Aliexpress), and therefore, the shipping costs are... shocking when you try to check out, no matter how many discount codes you were able to stack on. 

It's probably easier to show you my shopping cart as an example. There aren't that many items, really. 

• 2 stacks of loose leaf paper, A5 (100 sheets and 50 sheets, resp)
• 2 notebooks (A5, at least 100 sheets)
• 4 small fold-flat storage boxes (more like totes)
• 1 brush rest
• 3 small ink bottles
• 1 pen holder (for tying around notebooks)
• 1 micro tip gel pen
• 2 Sanrio "blind box" items

and the June Mystery Set (which is a random mix of stationeries, but will have many pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, erasers, correction tape, stickers, notebooks, and so on). 

The price may seem low, but with 2 discount codes, I was able to drop the total EVEN FURTHER From $38.xx to $32.49. 

However, here's the shipping cost shock: The shipping cost estimate for my order is $24.90.  

One becomes so used to "free shipping" offered by Amazon in the US and Temu from China, the actual shipping costs are just truly "shocking". They almost doubled the price of each item. Which means for the "fungible" items like spiral notebook, Stationery Pal does not **feel** competitive, unless you specifically want those Chinese Kokuyo Campus notebooks (which are NOT the same as the Japanese Kokuyo Campus notebooks!)

SIDENOTE: Kokuyo is a Japanese brand, but they have a branch in China licensed to locals, who has their own domain, kokuyo.cn. And they have a different product line than Kokuyo Japan... and because its priced to compete with Chinese domestic products, the prices are also MUCH cheaper than Japanese Kokuyo. Either it comes in a much larger pack, or the prices are much lower than the ones "made in Japan". 

What you need to do is search for the same items on Temu, and if it's available on Temu, order them on Temu instead, as Temu was often able to offer the same items for "almost" the same price, with free shipping to the US. 

I found the fold-flat storage boxes on Temu for just a few dimes more ($1.77 vs $1.40 here, which is more like $2.50 when you count shipping). 

As for the small ink bottles, generic cylindrical bottles with metal caps are like 10 for $3 (10 ml each) on Temu with free shipping. They don't look as good as the square ones, but they are also a SMALL fraction of the price. 

And only order those you can't find on Temu on Stationery Pal, AFTER factoring in shipping costs (rule of thumb: add 80%) to make sure it is still worth ordering there. You *may* find that your continental store (Amazon, Jetpens, etc.) actually have the item for competitive prices without waiting 8-12 days shipping. 

Fountain Pen Esoterica: Used Vintage Pen Update

Back on June 8th, I mentioned that I had placed an order for a used Sheaffer fountain pen on Mercari. 

It never came. I was forced to cancel the order on the 12th, even though I had given the guy 2 weeks to ship the darn pen. Original order was placed on 2024/05/29. Took him 3 days to create the tracking number, and it NEVER came off "label created" status, which means the pen never got to the post office to be mailed/shipped. 

He could have cancelled my order, if he can't find the pen. But he didn't. I have no choice but to get Mercari customer buyer support involved, and I got my refund, plus $5 credit for my troubles. Eh... okay, thanks. My first order EVER on Mercari, and it was a dud. 

Probably should have ordered on eBay or Etsy instead. 

Still, I kept looking. This time I set my bar a little lower, and I found a Sheaffer No Nonsense vintage (probably from the 1970s?). With the $5 credit, I'm paying less than $15 including shipping. It's not worth more than that, but those old pens are supposedly smooth. This one was listed as in good condition with an italic broad nib. 

Sheaffer No Nonsense Fountain Pens, photo courtesy of
https://www.peytonstreetpens.com/sheaffer-no-nonsense-fountain-pens-original-version-various-series-new-old-stock.html 

Label's created, but that's easy. We'll see if it gets shipped on Monday. THAT will tell me if this seller is serious. 

EDIT: USPS tracking says it'll be here by Friday 21-JUN-2024. 

And that is one old pen, almost as old as I am. But you can find even older fountain pens for under $100 USD. With some proper maintenance and some parts, these fountain pens, unless they were loaded with corrosive ink and left to dry and clog, should last almost forever until they are physically damaged beyond repair. I've seen some fountain pens from the turn of 20th century (early 1900s) that can still be bought for about 100 - 200 USD. Rare, yes. They are probably worth a bit more than that if they survived this long and is in a decent condition. Could be over over 1000 if the right model or right provenance. 

But remember, the Sheaffer No Nonsense, already a cheap pen, is pushing 50 years old, and can be had for under $15 shipped. 

There are some Esterbrooks from WW2 years (1940s) complete with a desk holder that can be bought now for $25 or so. Look on eBay. 

As long as you hunt for it, you don't need to spend a lot of money collecting fountain pens, even ones that are older than you. 

P.S. Pen is here ahead of schedule (on Jun 20th, 2024). I'll post an update in a day or two complete with writing samples. 

PC Macroboard Update: I Bought One! Epomaker EK21 VIA

Sometimes, somethings are just too good of a bargain you can't pass it up. And when I saw a macroboard available for sale, it took me several minutes to decide to take advantage of it. 

I am buying this: Epomaker EK21 VIA

Epomaker EK21 VIA, courtesy of Epomaker.com

You may be asking: so what? It's a numpad. 

Ah, but it's a triple mode numpad: wired, Bluetooth, and dongle-wireless. 

Okay, so? 

It's also VIA firmware customizable. No proprietary software needed. Use the nearly universal VIA website to map everything, from macros to layers. And it has a knob in the upper left corner. It's RGB, hot swappable switches, And it has 4 layers (0 through 3), and can be paired to up to 3 devices under Bluetooth. No more struggling with proprietary macro software. 

And the best thing is the price. It's on sale for $33.99, and there's a $5 off coupon you get if you do the spinner game on their website. Shipping from China is free. Final out the door price: $28.99. No tax either. 

I can easily program the RGB lights to indicate the layer mode, which means I have 20 keys and 1 knob to program * 4 layers to map. Even if we take away 1 key as layer switch, that's still 19 keys + 1 knob x 4 I can map actions to. 

The only thing that could be better would be it has a display, like Stream Dock or XenceLabs macropad. And those are $100. Maybe discounted to $80 if I find it REALLY on sale. And they don't have nearly as many keys as this. For saving $50+ dollars, I can live with the limitations, esp. if I find my "relegendable" keycaps I stashed away somewhere.