the refills supplied are cheap and nasty and only half filled. I've found that it seems that some refills work straight away, others need teasing to work and a few are only fit for the bin. If you buy cheap refills then you will be buying the same as supplied in the kit. On the other hand if you buy genuine Cross refills, then you can pay up to £3.50 a refill so there's a bit of a quandary. Neil will probably have a better answer but I stick to selling the pens with cheap refills and if they come back complaining which very few do then I give them a Cross refill. I also promote them buying a refill for £3.00 at the time of purchase of a pen.