International Shipping Same'

[Mark]

Seems I remember a past thread but I can't seem to locate it. I mail 20+ swords internationally each year. I just had one returned. It was rejected by Fish and Wildlife. The form letter does not say what the issue was but I guess it must be the same' as it was a gunto sword with no ivory or other materials but wood, metal and cloth.

 

Maybe others have had similar problems and can save me some time trying to figure it out. Any suggestions for properly mailing swords and avoiding this issue?

 

Thanks

 

[Ken-Hawaii]

Mark, have you read http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/15714-recent-shipping-issues/? I think this might be added to that topic, rather than as a stand-alone.

 

 

Ken

[Mark]

if the moderators think this should be combined please do that. It seems the other thread is about the problem of shipping swords as they are classified as weapons. My issue is not being able to ship it due to 'Fish and Wildlife' regulations. If that is going to be an issue in the future it will be difficult to ship and koshirae or tsuka with same' internationally. I am hoping this was just some over zealous employee, but if anyone has any knowledge of the regulations it would be good to hear about it, I tried to navigate the web site but can not find any straight forward information

[Ken-Hawaii]

Mark, I've brought in samegawa a number of times, but have never had an issue on importing it, so I can't figure why Fish & Wildlife would have a problem with shipping it within the U.S.

 

 

Ken

[Kai-Gunto]

I think they saw the samegawa as ivory. They are ignorant.

[Mark]

Ken, I was shipping it internationally.

 

Thomas, maybe that was the case, never run into it before. They gave me a form letter about fish/wildlife so I thought they were worried about the ray skin.

 

I just wanted to make sure there was no obscure regulation restricting same' and any suggestions how to explain/describe the same' so they know what it is and that it is ok

[Kronos]

I just came across this: http://www.chenessinc.com/export.htm

 

It seems you need to declare it and pay an "inspection fee".

 

So perfectly legal with the correct paperwork but it's the bureaucracy interfering. I'd look up the cost and if it is too much just resend anyway and it'll probably get through.

 

 

From my reading of US import/export laws when I needed to send a sword there you can be pulled for not having the correct paperwork and following their process for a number of things, however most people ignore this as it's ridiculous and rather poorly enforced.

[Mark]

James

 

so it looks like the same' is the issue. Sounds like the fee is expensive. Interesting. If they are going to be more aggressive checking that will be an issue for international shipping

[Kronos]

If you do a search there's other topics on the forum where people have had swords held because of Samegawa. Usually they get sorted out as I don't recall anything ever being returned due to it. Here's a couple:

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/13758-has-anyone-heard-of-this-before/

http://www.militaria.co.za/nmb/topic/9421-our-goverment-not-allowing-Japanese-swords/

[Mark]

thanks! those are the threads I remember... I searched using "same' " but got 0 results, must be doing it wrong

 

in my case I sent it Express, they held it in customs for a week, then sent it back marked "return to sender" but forgot to repack it with the materials I used, it came back crushed and torn up, guess they were having a bad day.