Misspelled Fountain Pen Riches

Most luxurious fountain pen seekers take a quick search through eBay looking for great bargains. However, one secret to sweetest deals are fountain pens up for an auction that are spelled wrong. There are a lot of people that have no clue what that fancy pen they found at home or inherited is worth, so they put it on eBay in the hope to sell it for a couple of bucks if they're lucky enough.

Many people misspell words describing the lot in the title. They wonder why there are no bids. Here's why . . . the item does not show up in eBay searches . . . nobody knows it's there. Many times you could be the only bidder.

People have no idea what they are actually offering, not only do they misspell the name, they haven't a single idea how to describe the pen or take a compelling photo. It's recommended that you email the seller any question you might have.

However, make sure the pen has at least one bid (preferably yours) on it . . . before you tip off the seller that they actually have a fountain pen of substantial worth up for an auction. Once a bid has been made, the seller cannot change the price or description of that item.

You can find many of these pens in great condition, minimal brassing, clean and correct nib, a lever box in great shape, properly cared for, looking mint, etc.

There is 'safe trading' advice offered by eBay team that you should pay attention to by all means. By reading this advice you will be able to eliminate the anxiety of buying a product you can't personally check out, while buying it from some stranger.

Warning: there are a lot of fake pens up for an auction on eBay. Do you know how to spot one?

- Does it have a serial number? (with all fakes flood going on, many manufacturers put serial numbers on fontain pens);
- Where should the serial number appear on the pen?
- Is the country of origin spelled correctly?
- Name of a manufacturer spelled correctly?

If you are still unsure on what you are looking for, there are many fountain pen forums online. These experts will be more than happy to answer any question you might have, just type in "Fountain Pen Forum" into any search box and then look around. Or look for blogs owned by fountain pen collectors - most probably you will get an expert advice in no time by leaving a comment for blog owner.

Not only should you be aware of fake pens, but be aware of bidder scams. While rare enough in luxurious pen auctions, it still does take place sometimes, unfortunately. But you can and should avoid being scammed! This type of scam is run by one person in control of two eBay accounts or two people with separate accounts. One eBay account will place a small bid on your fountain pen. Then another eBay account will place a very high bid. Right before your fountain pen auction is about to close, the high bidder will cancel or withdraw their bid, leaving the low bid as the winner. Setting a "reserve price" on your fountain pen will avoid this scam.

Hopefully, this information will be of help to you in your struggle to find a great bargain and not get taken or scammed (which is worse) when using the world's largest e-auction for shopping for fountain pens.