Any hope? 6 Spydies declared as weapons!

dericdesmond

dericdesmond

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Hi, I am burning inside due to Canadian customs. I made a trade recently with Welton from Canada and it has gone bad. I received my first 2 Busses from Him in exchange for 6 Spydies (2 caly, e4, d4, tasman, P3), well he did not get his because they were declared as weapons. I can not help but laugh at this considering I have received & shipped even scarier folders from Canada in the past minus the headache.

When I shipped, I decided to Spend the extra $ ($23) in order to ship these knives w/ insurance. Well that was just more $ lost. Since the package was not lost or damaged I think I am SOL. Well not really me, Welton being the nice guy he is, told me to keep my Busses while he took it all from behind. This does not sit well with me.

Is there anything I can do assides from let some Beavis rain on the parade?

Thanks in advance!
Eric
 
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Declared as weapons? Wow that's a new one on me and I'm used to dealing with screwed-up Canadian Customs.

Everything can be declared as a weapon, rolled up newspaper and such.

Do you have the exact wording around? Not calling you out in any way but very interested if Customs is taking a different tact now.


Best regards,

Page
 
Hi, sorry if I am off as I believe that was my traders reasoning. From what I understand, due to the fact that they can be opened with syntrithical (I cant spell) force they are prohibited. I guess I assumed they considered them weapons since they are prohibbited. Am I off base?
pageophile said:
Declared as weapons? Wow that's a new one on me and I'm used to dealing with screwed-up Canadian Customs.

Everything can be declared as a weapon, rolled up newspaper and such.

Do you have the exact wording around? Not calling you out in any way but very interested if Customs is taking a different tact now.


Best regards,

Page
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They were probably prohibited because they can be opened with a flick of the wrist.

Can Welton get the knives sent back to you instead of having them confiscated? Return shipping would have to be paid, but it would certainly be better than losing the knives.

Canada Customs is getting to be a real pain in the butt. I will only import fixed blades from this point forward, because I've yet to have one seized.
 
If the customs folks feel they can flicked open then perhaps that qualifies them as gravity knives, and thus prohibited? I have to say, given the knives you sent, they'd need to be fairly loose from the factory (not very likely) or the person checking the knives has a hair across their ass is trying a bit too hard to flick them open and meet the required standard to seize them.

Is there no way for you or the person you traded with to appeal the decision of Canadian customs?
 
Ahhh, that makes sense. I usually ask the seller to tighten the pivot if possible.

Plenty of I can flick it open so it's illegal stories from customs :(

I've lose a few before I got wise to the scam.

Hopefully, you can get the knives back and try again.

Stay safe sir
 
Keith Montgomery said:
Can Welton get the knives sent back to you instead of having them confiscated? Return shipping would have to be paid, but it would certainly be better than losing the knives.
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I agree, Id pay S&H x's 5 if I could get them back. He said he tried to get someone to ship them back (Fed-ex) but with no luck.
 
jujigatame said:
they'd need to be fairly loose from the factory (not very likely)

Is there no way for you or the person you traded with to appeal the decision of Canadian customs?
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Assides from a New Persian (very stiff), there are not many Spydies from the factory that I cant flick open with just my thumb. Only one had an adjustable pivot so I really could not do much to stiffen them. This sucks.

Appeal canadian customs? I did not know it was possible.
 
Man I feel for you. Even if the buyer is willing to take the loss this has to be a tough thing for you to go through.
 
Ken44 said:
Man I feel for you. Even if the buyer is willing to take the loss this has to be a tough thing for you to go through.
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Thanks man! Tough is right. I hate to see good people (Welton) get screwed. Nothing is worse then highly anticipating new bad ass knives then having some pointless crap like this happen.
 
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It sounds like Canada Customs is using the same definition of gravity knives as New York City. If it can be opened by what they call centrifugal force, it's illegal. By that they don't just mean flicking it out normally: if they can hold the blade and make the handle flick away from it, that counts too. And a Spyderco has that hole for them to grab.

They are supposed to have an option for return to sender. Canada Customs can be appealed under certain circumstances, but I doubt this is one of them. There is too much leeway for a zealous officer to prove it's a weapon.
 
Just curious, what did you declare what was in the box on the customs forms? I usually put "tools", when I ship internationally. I don't know if that's wrong to do but it's done well for me in the past.

Either way, that just sucks. hope you are able to at least get your Spydies back.
 
The last knives I shipped overseas, I put "cutlery". The post office clerk asked me what "cutlery" was, so I told him, "knives". :)

He said, "Oh."
 
I put camping Camping tools. Today I shipped to Belgium and tried getting away with putting only collectible but Mr PO man was doing his job and told me to be more specific.
 
Esav Benyamin said:
There is too much leeway for a zealous officer to prove it's a weapon.
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This, used as a weapon?
IMG_6049-1.jpg

Some people are just no fun :(
 
Esav Benyamin said:
So, clue me in. Are these models available for sale in Canada?
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Every single Spyderco model besides the autos/balisong is avaliable in Canada.
I'm pretty sure you can get the knives shipped back to you by a courier. This must really suck for both of you guys, hope it all works out.
 
I've been playing phone tag with the Border "detainment" centre for a couple weeks. I've talked to a couple people and have got little help from them to get this straightened out. The knives were classified prohibited as they are gravity knives. The word weapon was thrown around a couple times in the two letters I have received from them.

I contacted Fed-Ex and UPS and neither of them would touch it, no straight answer, they just won't do it. I've talked to a couple people who have had the same problem and they say that it just depends on who you talk to if they will do it or not. I haven't tried DHL, but I will.

It's just sad. The deal with Eric went great and of course this had to happen. I've imported over 50 folding knives and I guess it had to happen sometime.:rolleyes: There is no way I could ask for Eric to send my knives back, it was not even close to his fault. If I can't get them returned I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet on this one. Lesson learned I guess. I will not be ordering any folders from State side again.:mad:
 
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