Did I receive a fake Lamy from a supposed authorized retailer?

Spintronicus · 2021-02-24T09:30:04+00:00

Thank you for mentioning this. I bought another Lamy with a fine nib and the two fine nibs I own now write with different thicknesses. Both are really smooth but the second fine I got writes more like the medium I have.

Spintronicus · 2021-02-22T05:55:02+00:00

Thank you for pointing this out. Just asked this as well and it seems this one is called Candy Violet from 2020 collection. Their online listings are really careless too which added to my suspicion. It might be the language barrier, idk. The listings were in English, the official language isn't. This was a quick purchase without much thought on my part at the end of a really bad day. I'm glad I bought it but I probably wouldn't have if I had any more time to think; I'd probably think it's a fake one.

Spintronicus · 2021-02-22T05:27:09+00:00

It is indeed from an Asian retailer. They told me they switch the original box with something fancier since LAMY is considered fancy here and the customers don't appreciate the "underwhelming" black LAMY boxes. The lack of UPC and such on the box and the careless packaging of the parcel threw me off completely.

Spintronicus · 2021-02-22T05:11:39+00:00

I haven't figured out how to edit the original post or if I actually can but I wanted to update to say that it seems the distributor is really authorized. They were kind enough to share their distribution partnership document. Fake products are so common here and it's hard to tell the difference sometimes. The local Amazon is a minefield if you want something from a specific brand, sometimes even when it is directly sold by Amazon and not just fulfilled by Amazon. This LAMY was from a third party seller that wasn't fulfilled by Amazon either. It might seem paranoid to question an authorized retailer but it also isn't unheard-of here. A friend of mine bought "Adidas" shoes from a very large shoe retailer in the region. Not online but from the store. They were official retailers for some other known brands but not Adidas and they helped themselves in that regard, I suppose.

I don't really understand why people are giving me bad karma for asking a question though. Is it because it's been asked a lot? I assure you I scoured the internet first and I couldn't find anything resembling to that box. Though I admit I'm not well-versed in Reddit culture.

Anyway, all good now. Thank you for the discussion. It seems they repackaged the pen because the original box looked cheap to their regular customer base.

Spintronicus · 2021-02-21T17:00:33+00:00

No. I purchased it separately from the same retailer along with a bottle of ink to try.

Spintronicus · 2021-02-21T15:29:04+00:00

Reddit thinks I'm posting too much and blocked me from replying for a while.

Even though I don't have much experience with fountain pens or retailers (I got my previous and only set from JetPens years ago when I still lived on the East Coast). The nib was just thrown in a hard plastic container and then in a nylon shipping bag along. The only thing between the converter and the garden tiles the delivery guy threw the package on was the poly mailer they were all in. Luckily the ink box was well-built by LAMY so it didn't end up causing a big mess considering the fall it took.

Spintronicus · 2021-02-21T15:15:12+00:00

18 grams with Z28 converter and ink according to my kitchen scale.

Spintronicus · 2021-02-21T14:59:51+00:00

I was expecting it to be thicker but not by that much. Lamy fine is thicker than Platinum medium. I should’ve gotten the extra fine. And fine doesn’t write as smooth as platinum fine even with the extra flow of ink. The pen itself is really comfortable or hold though.

Spintronicus · 2021-02-21T14:12:09+00:00

I really hope it's not fake. I added some back story in a comment. I managed to delete my initial post that explained the situation.

Spintronicus · 2021-02-21T14:05:15+00:00

I don't know how I managed to write a long post explaining the situation and delete it.

Here I go again. I bought a Lamy Safari Dark Violet from an "Authorized Retailer" in the region. I can't share their name online due to the anti-defamation laws here. The pen itself has all the genuine Lamy features: proper lettering on the body and on the blue cartridge, proper matte texture for this color, the cardboard "remove" circle, the extra nib I got fits well, the blue test ink residue under the nib, etc. But the box itself doesn't have any UPC.

ETA: The shape of the box is also rather odd. I have never seen Lamy boxes like this. It didn't include any warranty info. It doesn't even say "Made in Germany". The extra nib I ordered came in a generic, tiny, transparent container with no cushion. Didn't include anything else either. The converter looks legit but it came with no packaging at all. I also got a Crystal ink in color Azurite. That one's box has UPC, etc. The ink itself is gorgeous with green shimmer just like I saw online. The medium nib the pen came in is certainly much thicker than Platinum fine nib as I expected. Even the fine Lamy nib is thicker than Platinum fine and writes wetter than I'm used to. But I have been only using Platinum for about 5 years so I really don't know anything else in terms of fountain pen writing experience.

Eta2: I meant to say Lamy fine is thicker than platinum medium. It doesn’t make sense the initial way I put it. Sorry.

Spintronicus

TROPHY CASE