You aren’t buying them from Amazon, are you? I’ve never had a genuine Bic do that, but I’ve had some cheapo bootlegs leak.

No this goes back decades. Ever since I can remember.

Interesting, I never had this problem with a Cristal. With cheap marketing pens, sure, after some use, they leak and smear, and some of them seem to have only small amounts of ink in them.

How can you tell it isn't actually a Bic?