shipping swords from japan

[peterqu]

A very reputable dealer recently charged me 200 000 Yen to ship a daisho by Fed Ex out of Japan.That is more than the cost of a decent polish.I understand that the Japan Postal service will no longer allow swords to be sent by EMS because of a policy decision by Japan Airways, which is its courier ,not to carry swords with the result that dealers are left with no alternative other than to use Fed Ex.Logic tells me that there are other airlines that carry freight and that there must be another way at a more resonable cost.To make matters worse I am told that antiquities insured for more than $2000 can be subject to a 4 month inspection period.Can anyone make a recommendation? Peter Quin

[paulb]

Peter,

I received a sword from Japan last week via EMS. The sword was held in the Japanese post office for a few days, which at the time seemed unusual. It also arrived with a label I hadnt seen before attached, which doesn't exactly help with local customs (see below). The dealer told me they were having problems with EMS shipping item over 200K yen, so I assumed the delay was related to the value rather than being a prohibited item.

[Grey Doffin]

Peter,

Over $2,000 to ship 10 pounds of sword and kodogu isn't reputable practice. I think you were ripped off.

Grey

[pcfarrar]

A friend had a sword sent Fedex from Tokyo to the UK and it didn't cost more than $200.

[Brian]

Peter,

 

There has been talk about this EMS ban for quite a while now, but results have varied. I must admit, at 200K Yen for postage, that would wipe me out, and is very concerning. Was there no indication on the parcel how much was actually charged by Fedex?

I wonder if they aren't shipping dangerous goodscargo..which could be that much. It is not necessary though. Fedex is a pain and I will not use them.

And since we pay vat on the shipping charge here too, that would cost you an extra 28K Yen? OUCH.

 

Will phone you in the week to discuss more. Perhaps some of the forumites here who live in Japan will be able to make enquiries.

 

OH...and at 200K Yen for postage...please note ppl....I am VERY willing to fly there for you, collect it in person, and bring it back to you. That way I can afford to go back to Japan. (yes..I think I am serious)

 

Brian

[Ted Tenold]

I received two katana via FedEx from Japan earlier this year. Cost was about $240.00 total.

 

The customs officials in Anchorage saw fit to "inspect" the shipment. And the primate inspector's choice of expedient tools? A box cutter. Which was used to slice along the length of the sword through the bubble wrap............and through the *padded* shirasaya bag..........AND into the exterior of the shirasaya itself. Brilliant.....another triumph of civil service.

[takakage]

Hello,

i'm surprised by such shipping costs....

i used to deal with EMS ; i don't have any trouble, pack handle with care, good tracking , fast delivery for less of 10 000 yens insurance include.

for yari and naginata due to the length of the pole impossible to sent them by EMS (max 150 cm), ups for 50 000/65 000 yens seems very expensive but i don't find an other way.

have a nice day.

[Stephen]

A week or so ago i recived a wak for a good friend in the UK...nippon would not send....it was marked handi craft....works for me.

[peterqu]

Thank you all for your responses.I am told that a possible way around the problem is to describe the goods as a knife and place a Dangerous Goods sticker on the parcel much the same as is attached to one of the replies above but one can hardly fool anyone with a katana length parcel by describing the content as a knife.That doesn't work for me.For the sake of this discussion let us forget about what was charged.I think we all share the same view.Is it a fact that one cannot ship by EMS and is there any alternative to using FedEx ?

[Guido]

Even before the trouble with EMS started about 2 years ago, there were some dealers wo found it too bothersome to properly delicense swords, and ship them by just slapping a "dangerous item" label on the box, or making a false declaration about the parcel's contents. This, of course, is illegal. I know one dealer who lost his sword dealer's license because of that, and now runs his shop under his wife's name.

 

The cost of having swords shipped from Japan isn't just about the postage. It's very time consuming to delicense a sword and presenting it in person to the customs section of the international post office (been there, done that), and most dealers and/or brokers ask around Yen 50,000 per sword for this service, depending on the number of swords (the more the lower the individual fee). But 200,000 is indeed quite stiff for only two swords.

 

Peter: I totally forgot about the scans from the books I promised to send you, and only remembered after seeing you posting her. Please PM me your e-mail address if you're still interested.

[Ffffrosty]

I am in the process of purchasing a sword in Japan and have been looking into the options.

 

Has anyone had any experience with shipping via UPS to the USA?

 

Also, what kind of concerns have people been having with FedEx and was it to the USA?

 

Thanks,

Mark

[Andi B.]

I'm waiting for my first blade from Japan and I received this info from the dealer.

Maybe some of you have heard the same?

 

"...I have bad news.

The international aviation law was changed from JULY.

 

I can not send the swords and spears by not nonstop airplain.

From Japan to your country (Germany), there is not nonstop airplain.

 

So I can not send to your country by EMS and SAL.

I can send by surface only.

 

But surface is without insurance and need one month ~ two month..."

 

Let's see, how long it will take - I'm currently tracking the parcel with Google Earth and JP Post EMS Search and it is now in Kobe (~200 of 9.100 km)...

[takakage]

if it is true, this new law is very bad news.....seems now very difficult to buy a sword from a Japan dealer and have a safety pack by EMS.

bad for sellers, bad for trade, bad for collectors....

[pcfarrar]

I can not send the swords and spears by not nonstop airplain.

From Japan to your country (Germany), there is not nonstop airplain.

 

Presumably this means if your country doesn't have direct EMS freight flights from Japan then they can't send them?

[peterqu]

Since my initial post I have made some enquiries.I thought a good place to start would be with FedEx in my home City which is Durban ,South Africa.The quote I first received for the same container I received from Japan was approximately $1100 which was about half of the amount charged by the Japanese dealer at the same exchange rate.I dug a little deeper and discovered that the size of box used attracted a rate based on volume and that it could carry up th 15kgs.I then asked for a quote based on a smaller box in which I had also received a sword which was far more palatable at $458.It transpires that the additional charge might have arisen from the packaging.There are apparently two standards the higher being for top end art works and as the standard was not specified the higher standard was utilised.I do not blame my dealer for for what occurred but the lesson I have taken from this is to arrange the courier from my home town.I have done the same with a kabuto in the UK.It is painless and far cheaper.Hope it works for you.

[IanB]

All, I realise that this is stating the obvious, but we now face a considerable problem should we wish to send blades to Japan for polishing and shinsa. I suppose that we could arrange for a different mode of carriage for the outward journey but how would a sword be returned? This is all getting seriously out of hand.

Ian Bottomley

[Ffffrosty]

Does anyone know of a courier service that works directly with the airlines to allow passengers flying from Japan to the destination country to check a sword as part of their luggage and then to turn it over to a shipping service once it has cleared customs in the destination country?

 

Just trying to figure out some options before I trust FedEx to ship my Nihonto safely from Japan.

[pcfarrar]

Just trying to figure out some options before I trust FedEx to ship my Nihonto safely from Japan.

 

Fedex is the best choice you'll have the sword in 72 hours without issue.

[akakevin]

if it is true, this new law is very bad news.....seems now very difficult to buy a sword from a Japan dealer and have a safety pack by EMS.

bad for sellers, bad for trade, bad for collectors....

 

 

Yeah It is really really a bad news like us as a sellers hope there will be a solutions on that problem on buying a fantasy sword or any kind of sword from Japan.

 

Thanks

[leo]

Dear All!

 

There is no reason to panic if you check in advance with the seller of the sword and ask him whether he ships to your home country. This is important when dealing with ebay sellers or Japanese dealers and auction houses who are not specialised on export business.

 

Exporters like Aoi, E-sword, JSA and others usually have no problems to ship katana abroad (mainly through EMS or Fedex) and if they cannot ship to a particular country they will state this in their shipping conditions. These companies will also include the export and shipping costs as a kind of rebate in the selling price if you care to ask.

 

When shipping with EMS from Japan, a non-stop flight to the final destination harbour is required!

 

Laws and regulations change all the time but there is usually a way to deal with them somehow!

 

All the Best,

Martin

[akakevin]

Ah ok thanks for the information thanks so much

 

Thanks

[Equinox]

Gentlemen and Ladies

 

I just saw this thread there is a have a sword dealer living up the road from me (Tochigi prefecture Japan) who ships swords internationally quite a lot. So I`ll make enquiries with him during the week how he`s shipping at the moment he might be able to enlighten us as to the best way to ship from Japan at the moment. I`ll keep you posted.

 

Regards

 

David.

[drbvac]

Now that EMS can't use some airlines to some specific countries the only options are Fed-ex and/or surface mail to places like Canada. Fed-ex is fine as stated but it can cost over 2 hundred to have a blade shipped. It is the airlines that buggered it up as far as I can tell but I am pretty sure that one can be sent Japan-US for those of us in Canada and there are board members who will foward them on,

[Curgan]

It might be the insurance fee requested by the courrier that explodes the cost.

[Equinox]

Hi Guys

 

I went up and had a chat with the local sword shop and as far as he was aware EMS was still allowing swords to be sent as usual he hadn`t heard of anyrestrictions. this could just be the case with the specific countries he`s shipping to (mainly european i believe) but regardless I`m now a bit confused. I guess its a case of check with the vendor. sorry guys I seem to have found more questions than answers. The only brightside is the owner said he`d keep me posted if he hears anything so I`ll let everyone know if i hear anything

 

regards

 

David

[Lee Bray]

I received 3 swords, 2 katana and 1 wakizashi, from Japan a couple of weeks back, shipped via EMS to Hong Kong.

Total cost including de-licensing, packaging and dealer fees was around US$550.

I assume the country being delivered to by EMS is the problem.

As Dr.Barrett says, the best way around it would be to get the item sent to a trustworthy colleague who forwards it on but then you're probably approaching or exceeding the cost of fedex and adding an extra risk.

[Lindus]

Slightly off topic but an also beware comment.

 

Recent scare on a parcel going to Australia,insured for £2500,£140 postage and due to a new system of two tracking numbers a claim for loss was applied.

 

Several days later I had a reply that the parcel was not insured as it was no an appropriate item, the new regulations were applied to a parcel described as containing "Oriental ornamental metaware" eg, Sword. exclusions shown below

 

 

"Artwork, including any work created or developed by the application of skill, taste or creative talent for sale, display or collection. This includes without limitation, items such as paintings, drawings, vases, tapestries, limited-edition prints,

fine art, statues, sculptures, collector's items, customized or personalized musical instruments or similar items.

Film, photographic images, including photographic negatives, photographic chromes and photographic slides.

Any commodity that by its inherent nature is particularly susceptible to damage, or the market value of which is particularly variable or difficult to ascertain."

 

Apparently this is now used in similar form by UPS,DHL,RM and others and avoids any claim, in fact when you read the full exclusion list pretty little is in fact covered.Also it seems that UPS,DHL,Fedx now will not cover for Damage only total loss.....if you are lucky.

 

Roy

[Baka Gaijin]

Morning all.

 

To add to Roy's comment above, and I am only speaking from a U.K. perspective.

 

None of the main carriers offer Compensation Cover on Antiques, Works of Art, Jewellery, Gold etc.

 

The solution, which is expensive is to use Art Shippers, and the deal is going to work something like this:

 

The object is priced according to weight or physical size, whichever is the greater.

 

Example: a gold ring will not weigh much, but it will be packed in such a way as not to look like a gold ring....almost Shoe Box size. So you've got a large package which hardly weighs anything, and you'll be charged for the Dimensions.

 

Compensation cover is going to be charged at around 2.5% of the declared item value.

 

The price only becomes competitive when a number of items are included in the package.

 

Cheers

 

Malcolm

[pcfarrar]

The solution, which is expensive is to use Art Shippers, and the deal is going to work something like this:

The object is priced according to weight or physical size, whichever is the greater.

 

It's about £100 in the UK to send a katana via an Art shipper with full insurance. Considering Parcelforce costs £60-£90 depending on location it's not really much more expensive.

[Kevin]

Roy

 

The UK branches of FedEx, UPS and DHL refuse to carry swords to foreign destinations at all. They consider them weapons. They won't even get out of the country. Parcelforce won't knowingly carry swords and if they have a claim for a sword they won't pay out on a claim because they'll argue it's breach of their Terms of Carriage. In any case, their conditions for insurance will exclude them anyway, as you've just found. In short, it is basically uninsured. They lose it, you are out of pocket and out of a sword.

 

As for art shipping agencies, you can get 100% insurance. The package may or may not 'volume' - it depends upon how you pack it. From experience, if it does 'volume' it won't be by much. It will be there in 2-3 days for most destinations, you can get hold of a person in order to track it and they will personally email you the proof of delivery. Any hiccups and they'll phone you. Any problems with procedures, they'll help.

 

On average, it costs me £100-£120 to get a sword to the US with 100% insurance, though insurance might be more expensive if you were shipping a sword worth fabulous amounts. OTOH, insurance rates will be lower if your packaging is known to be extremely robust. UPS would cost about the same and be no quicker and, even if they took swords and insured them, you're limited to £3,360 insurance. Parcelforce isn't much cheaper and can often take longer.

 

Kevin