Importing Swords to Bulgaria

[Seiko]

Hello everyone,

Making a small post to ask if any of you had experience importing swords to Bulgaria.

Before we did not have problems but recently it became harder. We tried with every forwarder in Japan to ship the sword to our customer and they do not want to take the risk.  Bulgaria has some difficult customs.

Right now, we're looking to Ship to an other country and then ship the sword from this other country to Bulgaria. So if any of you have experience doing that, it would be nice

Most of our customers come from the US or France.

[sokkon]

Hello,

 

I had my Katana delivered from Japan to Sofia in July. The local dealer in Tokyo used FedEx Priority, which was the only available option. Delivery took less than two days. Sword went through customs for a few hours (I paid VAT in advance). The Katana arrived in great condition and I love it :-) Hope you found the info useful. 

 

Cheers,

T.

[Seiko]

On 9/16/2023 at 3:15 PM, sokkon said:

Hello,

 

I had my Katana delivered from Japan to Sofia in July. The local dealer in Tokyo used FedEx Priority, which was the only available option. Delivery took less than two days. Sword went through customs for a few hours (I paid VAT in advance). The Katana arrived in great condition and I love it :-) Hope you found the info useful. 

 

Cheers,

T.

Hello,

We called Japan customs again and they clearly said that we can't send swords to Bulgaria from Japan, even toys. I guess your dealer shipped the sword as an other item but it's pretty risky and you could have had problems with customs or the dealer.

Cheers

[Infinite_Wisdumb]

@NewB

[NewB]

I'm unaware of the situation currently,  will chime in when i confirm it.

 

I exported my whole collection few years back without a problem (Also paid tax on it beforehand and also used fedex)

 

Y.

[Seiko]

Hi, just keeping everyone updated.

As there is no solution currently to Ship from Japan to Bulgaria directly we will send to our warehouse in Belgium and then ship to Bulgaria. The post in Belgium is totally okey with shipping swords.

Hope that can be useful for other people here

[sokkon]

On 9/20/2023 at 1:32 PM, Seiko said:

Hello,

We called Japan customs again and they clearly said that we can't send swords to Bulgaria from Japan, even toys. I guess your dealer shipped the sword as an other item but it's pretty risky and you could have had problems with customs or the dealer.

Cheers

Hello, my dealer sent it as an antique Japanese sword. He got an export certificate that was presented to the customs and on the invoice was written that the sword was made over 100 years ago and it is a genuine antique. In fact, the sword was 360 years old. Cheers

[Seiko]

1 hour ago, sokkon said:

Hello, my dealer sent it as an antique Japanese sword. He got an export certificate that was presented to the customs and on the invoice was written that the sword was made over 100 years ago and it is a genuine antique. In fact, the sword was 360 years old. Cheers

Great for you !