Shipping knives sold or traded...

Status
Not open for further replies.
Gary W. Graley

Gary W. Graley

“Imagination is more important than knowledge"
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Feedback: +828 / =0 / -0
Joined
Mar 2, 1999
Messages
27,584
It amuses me, but doesn't take much to do that now a days ;), that people will put in their sale or trade threads the following;

Shipped in the USA...(I use this one a lot)
Shipped in the CONUS
Shipped in the lower 48'

While I know a lot of us are nervous shipping overseas, sometimes with good reasons, but for the USA I don't know why we'd abandon Hawaii and Alaska ?
Maybe it's because they can't get there by car in case the deal goes sour? dunno, just a thought on that :)

I was thinking of putting this the next sale thread I make;

Shipped in the USA except for certain counties of North Dakota and Montana and possibly the city of Liars Corner, Ohio...just because ;)

just a thought as I sit and ice my ankle some more, hmmm maybe it's been on ice too long and it's reached my brain! nah, I'm fine...where am I again?

G2

edited to say 'apologies to folks in North Dakota and Montana' as I just picked those at random, not intended to offend anyone from there, and Liars Corner Ohio? I wonder what the school mascot is???
 
Thank you. Flat rate.shipping is the same as anywhere and most knives can fit in the small boxes.
 
I usually say anywhere in North America. It's not that complicated to ship to Canada... Especially if its a high value item - when you're making that much money, you should be willing to go a little farther for the customer if needed.
 
Gary W. Graley said:
It amuses me, but doesn't take much to do that now a days ;), that people will put in their sale or trade threads the following;

Shipped in the USA...(I use this one a lot)
Shipped in the CONUS
Shipped in the lower 48'

While I know a lot of us are nervous shipping overseas, sometimes with good reasons, but for the USA I don't know why we'd abandon Hawaii and Alaska ?
Maybe it's because they can't get there by car in case the deal goes sour? dunno, just a thought on that :)

I was thinking of putting this the next sale thread I make;

Shipped in the USA except for certain counties of North Dakota and Montana and possibly the city of Liars Corner, Ohio...just because ;)

just a thought as I sit and ice my ankle some more, hmmm maybe it's been on ice too long and it's reached my brain! nah, I'm fine...where am I again?

G2

edited to say 'apologies to folks in North Dakota and Montana' as I just picked those at random, not intended to offend anyone from there, and Liars Corner Ohio? I wonder what the school mascot is???
Click to expand...

By the sound of things you guys have a few states and counties that that are a bit ummmmmmmm " different "
We are the same here in Australia , we have a State to the south of us called Tasmania that is luckily separated from the mainland by a fierce strip of water .
They are the unlucky recipients of many jokes , usually about how they really "love" their farm animals etc .
Some of the jokes are funny but I try not to be cruel about them , they are actually very nice people and they are often gifted with great musical ability .
I guess the extra fingers help in that regard .
:)

So where is your guys Tasmania ?


Ken
 
Hah well we try not to disparage folks much if we can help it, keeping the peace is a good thing.

(edited out comments of my home state as it was off topic)

G2
 
Last edited:
I always find it a little disappointing when people won't ship to certain places on some arbitrary grounds but I respect the business decision. At the end of the day if a knife maker or seller wants to limit their market it is up to them. We all know the customs horror stories so it's understandable. Having said that if anyone has concerns or questions about sending pointy stuff to our fair shores I am always happy to point them to the info. Education beats fear :)
 
I can sympathize Chris, if I were in your shoes and not able to benefit from the sales forums here as readily as those in the USA, that would be frustrating for sure, but, as you noted you understand the Customs thing.

I lost a knife to the Canadian Customs a few years ago so that's been something I've avoided, they contended that it was a gravity knife, but it wasn't, anyway it was held by them and the guy in Canada never got his knife, I was sick over that, sorry that I lost a knife and that he didn't get his knife. But the government aka City Hall is tough to fight in such situations.

Only other time I've been burned was from a fellow in Belgium, sent a sheath before payment and never received payment, so that leaves a bad taste when a few things go wrong, it makes you leery of further attempts.

G2
 
I can absolutely understand your position. Purchasing on here is all about both parties working together and that is doubly true when the buyer is overseas. I've bought several fixed blades from makers here and never had any significant issues, but that's also because I do my research, don't order anything that has any reasonable chance of being confiscated and don't act like a twit if the post is late. There are always going to be a few buyers who don't look up if they can import what they buy and even worse some who mislead (or ask the seller to mislead!!) Customs. While I have only seen a few instances of that here it would be enough to make some sellers wary.
Unfortunately a small business can't afford too much risk with their products and for some the risk is too high. All an ethical buyer can do is show that they are just that.
:)
 
harronek said:
So where is your guys Tasmania ?
Ken
Click to expand...

Probably the closet thing to the way you characterize your Tazmanians would be our Appalachians. This is a region that spans parts of many states. Areas where there still is no indoor plumbing, and/or possibly electricity. "Skewlin'" stops when you're of age to be of use on the farm, and dentists have coined the term 'Mountain Dew Mouth' (the results of a popular soft-drink in that area).
 
I'll ship to all 50 and to Canada without hesitation. I'll ship to any of our allied nations without hesitation. I've shipped to Canada at least a half dozen times without issues (knock on wood). I'm shipping to Canada in the morning. I've shipped to Hong Kong and have made a friend there. I'd ship to Great Britain, Australia, and to my buddy Gustavo in Brazil. (Hello Gus, can't wait to get that knife.) It largely depends upon the person I'm shipping to and the relationship the person/ PAID MEMBER has with myself and BF. Can't forget South Africa, tons of good makers and members there. Also New Zealand, I have a relative and BF member there.

Good topic sir, I hope your ankle feels better.
 
Few thoughts
Many put CONUS down from seeing others do it and without real thought to what it means.
Many also do think that shipping to Hawaii and AK will cost them more, and it can if they don't ship by USPS flat rate(but flat rate is the way to go)
Unfortunately shipping overseas comes with a number of extra risks-customs, and going in and out of different mailing systems(unless you go with one that keeps it in system like FEDEX, but they are more expensive), hard to impossible to track and insure(depending on country)the hassle of filling out forms(which most ask you to lie on to avoid dutiy), a lot of time & work figuring out extra charges associated with the deal(PP and shipping) and doing it in different time zones. The only packages I have lost(15-20% of my overseas shipments) have been overseas and I try to avoid it, but I do feel for those trying to buy.
 
Last edited:
VictorLouis said:
Probably the closet thing to the way you characterize your Tazmanians would be our Appalachians. This is a region that spans parts of many states. Areas where there still is no indoor plumbing, and/or possibly electricity. "Skewlin'" stops when you're of age to be of use on the farm, and dentists have coined the term 'Mountain Dew Mouth' (the results of a popular soft-drink in that area).
Click to expand...

Sir I live in the Appalachian area and can say for certain that your analogy of this area is completely wrong. Maybe it's stories that you have heard to make you say something like this but it is incorrect I can assure you! Do we have "slum" areas? Yes but everyone does I don't care what part of the USA that you live in.
 
Kentucky is one of our nation's most beautiful states with it rolling tree lined hills and beautiful natural caverns. Bad analogy sir on his part, but he is upside down under and I'm sure he meant no harm.
 
I almost posted this same question a few times. Being from Hawaii it comes up often with shipping in general not just on BF. Flat rate is indeed just that, same price anywhere in the US. Or why not give the option to pay a few more bucks if not shipping flat rate. Ive bought a couple knives off of here that said where the buyer said "CONUS ONLY" and was never asked a question and the knife was mailed, maybe just a lack of understanding of the meaning of conus. Any knife I get has to be mailed since there is no knife store on this island. A big thanks to all the people who recognize Alaska and Hawaii as states. We may seem distant but we still love you mainland.

Aloha
Jon
 
Well...I see this was moved from Community, as it was initially intended as subtle humour with a bit of reality tossed in, but I had also thought it might work well here too since it was about the Exchange section stuff.

But it wasn't meant to stir up undue rancor amongst the folks by pointing out this area or that area, my selection was picked at random but also for their more remote section of the USA.

So, I will put a close on this for now to help keep things civil, and so it doesn't further degrade which might force it to be moved to Whine n Cheese section as I had a couple threads that I made end up there, just because they ran off course ;)

For those interested, keep our fair brethren in mind when selling and trading, flat rate is a good thing :)
G2
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top