Quote:
Originally Posted by Ian
This is now the fourth or fifth example I know of when edged weapons being shipped from the U.S. have (according to eBay) been confiscated by U.S. Customs. The legal basis for such confiscation has not been disclosed by Customs or eBay. This has never occurred for any other auction items that I have had shipped from the U.S., nor for any direct sales by individuals in the U.S. It is unique, as best I know, to eBay's Global Shipping Plan.
EBay has been remarkably unhelpful and uninformative about their Global Shipping Program's policies with regard to shipping edged weapons.
If thinking of buying an edged weapon on eBay I always contact the seller and ask them not to use the eBay Global Shipping option. This means revising their listing. Some are willing to do this, others will not. Some of those who will not say they trust eBay to protect their interests. Having dealt with eBay for more than 30 years, I can only say that trusting eBay is asking for trouble.
If you happen to be an eBay seller and want to sell edged weapons to customers overseas be very suspicious of using the Global Shipping Program the eBay wants you to use. For me, the cheapest and best option to ship overseas is to use Australia Post. From the U.S., the cheapest and best option to ship to Australia is via the US Postal Service. I've never had an issue with the USPS.
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I always ask myself from where they take their information!
For example there are only a few exceptions what's not allowed to import to Germany (for example balisongs and push daggers) but had this problem with this weird GSP several times, for example with this minasbad which got confiscated and a Luzon bolo I bought not long ago from an US seller, both items would have passed German customs without any problems.
They seem to be very uninformed!!