Selling a kitless pen for around £170 is neither highway robbery nor particularly difficult, and YES, there are those people around you Vic - and you, Ray. You're just not selling to them at the minute. I'm put in mind of Stella Artois, which used to be a high-priced beer many years ago. Then they started wanting to expand into mass-market so lowered their prices 'temporarily'. They've never succeeded in getting them back up, because nobody sees them as a premium brand anymore.
If you want to sell kitless pens you CANNOT be charging £12.50 like I see a lot of folk doing with their kit pens. Kitless take a lot of time and a measure of skill and to underprice that work would be stupid. I charge £200 a pen and even then I barely break even - which is why I don't sell more than I can comfortably make while enjoying my hobby. If I wanted to sell more I wouldn't be displaying them alongside my £12.50 streamlines - I'd be marketing to an entirely different audience.
Oh, and BTW - if you EVER see me selling a £12.50 streamline please shoot me ...
