Should You Send In YOUR OWN PEN For An AUTOGRAPH SIGNING?

So initially with every autograph signing someone wants to send in their own pen to be used to sign their item, and so there's usually some good times to do that and some bad times to do that, and that's what we're going to talk about today is when should you do this and when shouldn't you. So first off let's talk about when you should send in your own pen to be used at an autograph signing.

Well number one and this is an obvious one here is the signing won't have the pen color that you want. This is becoming a very rare occasion. I mean unless you want like a pink color or like a weird kind of yellow color or something like that, but majority of signings now have pretty much every color under the rainbow. So you don't really need to be too concerned about that, but again you probably want to ask beforehand, “Hey are you going to have this specific color at the signing?”, and if the vendor says no then yes obviously you want to send in your pen for that signing.

Number two reason you want to send in your own pen is if you have a multi-signed item. So an item that's been signed already by a few athletes and you've used that same exact pen on that item so you want to keep everything consistent. Obviously that's going to make the item look very nice if it was signed and using the same exact pen, so that would be obviously a very important reason. Keep it all consistent.

Number three reason to send in a pen is you want to use a specific pen. So you like a deco or you like a prisma. Again, most signings are going to have these pens already. Dealers and vendors want to get their stuff signed in the best pens possible as well, so they're going to have those available for you. Again, always check and ask beforehand. If you don't get the answer you want or they're unsure, go ahead and send in your own pen and you can use that specific pen for your item. 

So what would be some reasons not to send in your own pen for an autograph signing? Well number one is you're probably not gonna get your pen back. If an athlete is signing a thousand plus pieces and 30 people send in their own pens, it's very difficult to match up whose pen is whose. It's a big enough challenge to make sure everybody gets their own items back and get them all organized that way, but pens are like the least of the concerns. So these pens can be expensive, you're talking $10 or $15 for a really nice pen depending on which pen you're getting, so you may just be throwing that money away. Considering, like I said, most of these autograph signings are gonna have the pen type and the pen color that you want. So you may want to just save your money in there.

Number two and this is probably the biggest reason I see for why you should not send in your own pen. What happens if your pen is the reason why your item is not signed to your satisfaction? For example, your pen ink runs out, your pen explodes, your pen smears, whatever it is that happens to your item. If it's your pen's fault you have kind of a hard leg to stand on. I've seen this happen with other dealers where they'll just say well it was your pen and that's how it turned out, and that kind of puts you in a bad position. Now if you had not sent in your own pen and it came back not to your satisfaction, now obviously you've got a leg to stand. You can say, “Hey this didn't turn out the way it was suppose to, do you have something we can do here? Can I get a different item?” Whatever it is, with me for example, if something like that happen we'll do everything we can to  make sure that the item gets signed correctly, but again I've seen other dealers just have a bad attitude when it comes to something bad happening to your pen. They'll just use that as an excuse all the time to not get you what you want and you don't want to do that in this industry, and really in life and everything, you always want to protect yourself and I think by sending your own pen sometimes you kind of open yourself up to that. So just something to keep in mind if you are going to send in your own pen. Again, always protect yourself, 95% of the time everything turns out exactly the way you want it to, but again I'm always about protecting you guys and giving you guys all the information that you can get. Most of these signings are going to have all the pens that you need anyway, but go back and watch the previous part of this video for those three reasons on why you should probably send in your own pen and then make your own decision based off what your needs are.

So hopefully this helps you guys out with your pen endeavors. I know pens are a huge topic in the industry. It just seems like everybody's got an opinion on what's the best one and I understand you guys want to get your items the best way possible, but again most of these dealers and vendors are going to have the pen that you want. So save yourself the hassle. Tell them what pen you want, and your item will turn out. 95% of the time it's gonna turn out great.