|
Post by Dave Kelly on Oct 15, 2019 17:55:14 GMT
Back to 7 Oct, I had a buy on a French 1854 Carbinier HC pallasch. Ebay has gone into the freight forwarder business for the tougher to work with areas of the world. To get the sword to Sydney cost me a 9.00 stateside mailing to Lexington Kentucky where an ebay contractor took the parcel and passed it to a carrier. Cost to Sydney was only 52.00: about 40% less than retail on a major carrier. UPS will not take anything over 40 inches.
I got an email this morning, from ebay, telling me the sword shpment was held up in the Lexington collection point for some nebulous concern. Ebay is reimbursing the buyer his money. Since ebay assumed responsibility for the sword from Lexington, they told me that I could keep the money, since they lost the sword.
A totally unsatisfactory answer. Calls to ebay and Pitney Bowes got me no where.
That's all the information I have. No more sales to the British Empire for me.
|
|
|
Post by pellius on Oct 15, 2019 18:14:15 GMT
Very sorry to hear this. I had a terrible time getting a knife shipped from the UK to the US a while back. Glad ebay took some of the financial hit.
On another note, are you selling on eBay?
|
|
|
Post by Dave Kelly on Oct 15, 2019 18:42:12 GMT
Very sorry to hear this. I had a terrible time getting a knife shipped from the UK to the US a while back. Glad ebay took some of the financial hit. On another note, are you selling on eBay? I'm not a registered "seller", but I have sold items there on occasion. There are three there at the moment. A Swiss 1867 cav saber, An Ames M1840 enlisted cav saber and a Suttlles/Atrim type 18a w/scabbardthat was done in 2009/10.
|
|
|
Post by Jordan Williams on Oct 15, 2019 19:28:41 GMT
Yikes! Glad I don't live in Aussie land. Sorry to hear the sword was taken, I hope it isn't destroyed.
|
|
|
Post by Sir Thorfinn on Oct 15, 2019 19:37:50 GMT
Ugh! I'd be livid...I lost a piece of armor that way...and ate the cost.
|
|
|
Post by Dandelion on Oct 15, 2019 19:42:57 GMT
When Holger sold a sword to Australia some time ago he was told specific by the buyer to write down a certain number on the package, which was kind of the buyers "sword collecting license number", so to speak. Being in that "sword society" seemed to be obligatory in that federal state (?). This was a sword sent to Melbourne, so Victoria, though.
|
|
|
Post by theophilus736 on Oct 15, 2019 20:01:46 GMT
I just labeled mine as a stage sword for theater under the value of like $400 or so and it went through fine via UPS. I wouldnt use it for theater though.. you could kill a guy! Guess you'll just have to keep your sales in the US
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 15, 2019 20:34:27 GMT
Ouch. That hurts seeing an antique meet a fate like that.
|
|
|
Post by Timo Nieminen on Oct 15, 2019 21:00:41 GMT
I got an email this morning, from ebay, telling me the sword was confiscated by Australian customs and they are not sending it back. Ebay is reimbursing the buyer his money. Since ebay assumed responsibility for the sword from Lexington, they told me that I could keep the money, since they lost the sword. In my experience, this isn't due to Australian Customs, but due to the Global Shipping Program ebay uses. GSP get scared, don't hand the item over for customs inspection, and "destroy" it instead. I've had this happen to incoming stuff that Customs would have been perfectly OK with. The tracking should show whether it got to Customs or not (and if it did, they don't just confiscate it - they send a letter/email to the intended recipient, who can then provide paperwork showing they have permission to import it or otherwise explain, all of which takes time. IIRC, they used to give a month, but perhaps less now with more use of email). To be fair to them, GSP do work to try to reduce this to a minimum. Ebay listings that will be shipped through GSP often give me a "we won't let you bid on this item due to seller/country restrictions", even for items that are unrestricted as far as Australian Customs go. Basically, shipping something with GSP reduces the number of overseas bidders. GSP then "destroys" a certain percentage of what makes it through that system. What gets past that stage manages OK - relatively cheap international shipping, sometimes a bit slow but not too bad. While we have lots of restrictions on importing knives, swords are fine (except sword-canes, and swords with hidden daggers in the hilts). (Maybe problems with ivory? Sometimes, Quarantine complains, due to the use of naughty things like rawhide.)
|
|
Scott
Member
Posts: 1,675
|
Post by Scott on Oct 15, 2019 23:15:12 GMT
So is this something a person should be concerned about when ordering swords from Europe the United Statest? It shouldn't be an issue. The issue here wasn't customs but the shipping company. As long as your sword isn't being passed around multiple carriers as happens with the eBay global shipping program, then any package should get to you.
|
|
|
Post by Dave Kelly on Oct 16, 2019 2:07:31 GMT
So is this something a person should be concerned about when ordering swords from Europe the United Statest? It shouldn't be an issue. The issue here wasn't customs but the shipping company. As long as your sword isn't being passed around multiple carriers as happens with the eBay global shipping program, then any package should get to you. At the prompting of the buyer this was my first exposure to the GSP. Pitney Bowes is the shipping agent for ebay. My package went to Lexington and never got forwarded to a carrirer. The reason offered was bu.ll manure.
|
|
Scott
Member
Posts: 1,675
|
Post by Scott on Oct 16, 2019 4:36:24 GMT
It shouldn't be an issue. The issue here wasn't customs but the shipping company. As long as your sword isn't being passed around multiple carriers as happens with the eBay global shipping program, then any package should get to you. At the prompting of the buyer this was my first exposure to the GSP. Pitney Bowes is the shipping agent for ebay. My package went to Lexington and never got forwarded to a carrirer. The reason offered was bu.ll manure. Not saying they gave a good reason as it's clear they didn't. As Timo noted there are no restrictions on importing swords into Australia. Even in Victoria, the state with the strictest laws, if your paperwork is in order you shouldn't have any issues. My experience with freight forwarders/ebays gsp is that parcels tend to get passed from one carrier to another without notification, and yes it really sucks to have a parcel get turned back along the way. I've had that happen without any notification of what had happened or why.
|
|
stormmaster
Member
I like viking/migration era swords
Posts: 7,649
Member is Online
|
Post by stormmaster on Oct 16, 2019 4:41:28 GMT
germany held a package i sent there for over a month, the receiver had to fight for them to release it, maybe the buyer in australia could talk to their customs for them to work something out, but then again australia has even more strict weapon ownership rules
|
|
Scott
Member
Posts: 1,675
|
Post by Scott on Oct 16, 2019 5:36:53 GMT
germany held a package i sent there for over a month, the receiver had to fight for them to release it, maybe the buyer in australia could talk to their customs for them to work something out, but then again australia has even more strict weapon ownership rules It's worth a try, but I'm pretty sure the issue here is the shipping company not customs. For a sword like that neither NSW state nor federal law has any restrictions on owning, buying, or importing. Selling is fine to as long as you're not selling to a minor.
|
|
|
Post by Siward on Oct 16, 2019 12:33:14 GMT
germany held a package i sent there for over a month, the receiver had to fight for them to release it, maybe the buyer in australia could talk to their customs for them to work something out, but then again australia has even more strict weapon ownership rules Similar to my last order from KOA and indeed a current order in transit from Lockwood, having to leap through hoops of fire to get it released !
|
|
|
Post by Dandelion on Oct 16, 2019 12:45:11 GMT
"Stranger Things"... we just received a DSA "Eindride" we bought from a guy in here; shipped on October 10th, arrived at local customs on Tuesday. USPS priority, nothing special, went smooth through. *headscratching*
|
|
|
Post by Dandelion on Oct 16, 2019 13:24:59 GMT
germany held a package i sent there for over a month, the receiver had to fight for them to release it, maybe the buyer in australia could talk to their customs for them to work something out, but then again australia has even more strict weapon ownership rules Oh yes... but the problem here was the transaction was trading, not buying... they just didnt beleive that. They insisted stubborn they need an invoice and Paypal proof... finally after more than a month they took the shipping cost as the base for tax calculation... bureaucrats.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Oct 16, 2019 15:02:37 GMT
Wasn't the issue Australia?
Cheers GC
|
|
|
Post by Dandelion on Oct 16, 2019 16:56:17 GMT
Wasn't the issue Australia? Cheers GC Oh, excuse... i thought it might be interesting to tell our and Stormmasters latest experiences with international buys...
|
|
|
Post by Dave Kelly on Oct 16, 2019 18:23:54 GMT
Wasn't the issue Australia? Cheers GC The issue was the monkey fornication of my first time use of GSP, and suddenly getting an email from Ebay telling me they were not going to ship my sword because of "a problem". That I and the buyer would have their funds reconstituted, and the sword would be liquidated. This morning I get a summons from Ebay because the buyer sent in a complaint for not receiving his sword (He wasn't supposed to get the sword until 23 Oct anyway.) So I called back Ebay this morning. It was well worth doing. They patched me to an adjudicator. He told me that he had all the transaction docs in front of him: 1. Disregard the claim action. GSP is an agent of ebay, and their failure to ship the sword made Ebay liable to cover all the funds of both parties. The buyer has been refunded his share, and as stated in yesterdays letter you keep what you were paid. 2. The sword will be brokered out for sale, funds to make financial restitution to Ebay for it's payout to the buyer. 3. I was told that while GSP has been a very successful cost saving program for both Ebay and their customers, there have been many situation, such as this, where Pitney Bowes has made arbitrary exceptions to shipping and customs standards. They don't do weapons. (Said they had a case several months back, where they wouldn't ship a "staff of Gandalf the white" to Australia. Don't think I'll be shipping to Oz very soon in the future...
|
|