I thought it would be good to have a list of fountain pen and ink retailers in Europe. Online and in-person-only shops separated. I have listed them alphabetically by country, and added any information I knew about the shop. One important thing I believe is whether they test nibs before shipping and whether they offer tuning or grinding services.
The assortment is large but in the same time well defined, consists of tastefully selected set of pens, inks, stationary and accessories. Specialises on Japanese pens. You may check out in person all those amazing urushi & makie pens that other brick&mortar shops do not keep on inventory.
This is the online shop of Saarpen. The owner now turns pens himself, which you can see at http://www.saarpen.com. Also mix their own inks and offer custom ink colours. He turns swirly acrylic Lamy Safari bodies — aka “Pimp my Safari”
Nice brick&mortar shop, helpful staff, great assortment. Big webshop but some of the items may not be on stock. Check it out if you happen to visit the Tilburg Pen Show
Pablo Carrasco is a bonafide nib smith. He offers a wide range of custom grinds – pretty much anything you can imagine. He can also engrave nibs, and lacquer nibs in various colours. Pablo can also turn a modern gold JoWo nib into a very flexible nib (0.18-0.8) with excellent ink flow.
In my experience Iguanasell are very reliable. I read their reviews on Amazon UK beforehand and they had top marks and very positive comments.
The only issue I had was that the pen did not ship in the expected time frame. Amazon sent me an email saying I should contact the seller to ask why. Iguana told me the pen needed to be restocked and would ship in about a week, which it did.
To be fair here, I had the same experience with The Writing Desk where the pen was not in stock and they did not inform me so I had to contact them after 10 days and ask what was up. I’ve had that issue with several pen sellers where they forgot to inform me of a delay. Once they shipped though everything went super fast.
I went beyond the 30 days return policy because I had trouble with my computer printer and couldn’t print the shipping label. They told me not to worry, and shipped the exchange pen the day after receiving my return. I received the package the next working day. It doesn’t get any faster than that and it’s because they use UPS.
Communication was good and I didn’t have to pay any additional shipping fees for the exchange. So as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t get any better. In my one-time experience very reliable and excellent customer service.
p.s. On the reliability/reputation issue, have a close look at the team photo on their website. You will notice two very familiar “FP community” faces.
and I’m shamelessly going to plug myself for Romania:
I tried to price everything competitively however I can’t yet compete with the big guys when it comes to keeping items in stock, so most of the stuff takes 2-3 days to ship until the distributors send the requested item to me. I can also check pens if you request it but otherwise I don’t do it.
La Couronne du Comte: Nice brick&mortar shop, helpful staff, great assortment. Big webshop but some of the items may not be on stock. Check it out if you happen to visit the Tilburg Pen Show
Mayr & Fessler: Diverse profile but has a big variety of fountain pens as well. Experienced staff.
Sakura: The assortment is large but in the same time well defined, consists of tastefully selected set of pens, inks, stationary and accessories. Specialises on Japanese pens. You may check out in person all those amazing urushi & makie pens that other brick&mortar shops do not keep on inventory.
Stilo e Stile: Their webshop is good and the service was nice.
Nice list. I found Platinum’s Preppy adaptor from proprietary to international converter at Stilo & Stile. Couldn’t find it anywhere else, at that time.
The original post is a wiki. (One of Discourse’s cool little features). Can you copy and paste into the original post? I cannot copy your markdown.
Marcus that adapter works on most all of the Platinum pens and is the reason I chose Platinum over Pilot and Sailor. It expands our ability to use more ink cartridges than Platinum and I think we can use International converters with it too. I like Platinum pens more than any other brand and would be embarrassed to tell you how many I have of all cost and types. Thanks for your post. I am in New Zealand and buy mostly online from all over the world. There are lots of US online sites that have that adapter and if that is all that is ordered maybe it can be sent in an envelope without huge shipping charges. Regards, Barbara
@BarbaraNZ Shipping-wise, Cult Pens in the UK is probably the best deal for mixed orders. They have, or did have, free international shipping as of an amount which wasn’t too high. But I’m guessing you have already taken advantage of that .
Seitz has free global shipping, but their prices vary a bit, so you need to find the products where they have good prices. Worth it though. Currently sampling Standardgraph inks, which they have at below 5 Euros for 30ml bottles (the 10ml cost almost the same).
Thanks Marcus. You are right I know of Cult Pens and have done many orders with them. I love their free shipping over 70 pounds but I did not know about Seitz. Thanks. I just got Diamine’s Skull and Roses from Fountainfeder and their shipping was really good. I also was really pleased with Pennonia’s ink line as it seems really good quality and I think Mate is adding to the line soon enough. I have over fifty bottles of ink and wonder when this is going to stop! Just got the Platinum Kumpoo and ordered Pelikan’s Edelstein Jade and it is a perfect fit. I appreciate your response and I will keep trying to learn how to use this site and am amazed I found you again to answer. Barbara
@BarbaraNZ I forgot to mention that Seitz has a separate web site for international customers. They also sell lots of other things beyond stationery. They seem to be a bit like a one-off Muji. Have several items under their own brand. Seitz Global
If you want to use up some of that ink I would recommend making patterns and doodles with it.
Belgium
pens. You may check out in person all those amazing urushi & makie pens that other brick&mortar shops do not keep on inventory.
Germany
Hungary
Italy
Netherlands
Poland
Romania
Spain
United Kingdom
Austria
.