This is why I don't ship to Russia

creativeguy

creativeguy

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I posted something about this awhile back but wanted to share this letter from USPS to warn you guys and hopefully save you some trouble and losses. I lost out even though everything was properly marked and even though I paid USPS for insurance. I'll keep shipping using USPS in the USA but they won't get any more $$$ for insurance. I'll go through Endicia and they have paid one of my claims with no hassles.

It's probably not just Russia but this is the one country I've had trouble with so far out of many that I've shipped to.


 
To add to this, the USPS listing prohibited items does not say anything close to "Weapons of any kind, and parts thereof." It does say "Firearms of all kinds, ammunition, swords, cutlasses, bayonets, lances, and similar arms." which is the line they had used to deny my claim up until this final letter. What a load of crap.

http://pe.usps.com/imm_archive/html/imm_archive_2006/imm/immicl/immiclnr_025.html
 
One of the hazards of overseas shipping....... I ship to Europe sometimes but avoid Russia for this very reason. Sorry for your loss!!
 
I battled Canada for 3 months after following every rule to the "T". Came out $225.00 on the loosing end. I ship to the lower 48 now. That is it.
 
I shipped a $1200 William Henry knife dec 17 from San Diego to Washington. Tracking shows being in oregon sort facility since Dec 20. Its been about 10 days now since I filed a claim wondering where it is, have received 3 phone calls in response but nothing has been done as they state they've been too busy to call the oregon post office and find out where it is. Being registered with $1200 insurance I'm not too worried but concerned at the lack of response in attempting to find it to date. Has anyone ever heard of a registered package being lost? The guy that bought it is concerned as am I. I've heard bad things about getting a claim paid from the post office but it was hearsay. Hoping for the best.
 
Sorry to hear that, rodblder! That's lame! How long do you have to wait before they pay out?

I have been waiting on a knife coming from Illinois for 2 weeks come Monday but USPS say it's because of weather which is plausible right now.
 
Yep, shipping overseas is always a crap shoot, because you never know what sort of arcane laws you are going to run into on their end, or in this case on ours. I hate it for the foreign guys, but it's really just not worth taking the risk.
 
My frustration here is that USPS appears to be dodging paying my claim by misquoting Russian laws. I shipped at least 10 knives over there before this one all properly marked without trouble. USPS is happy to take my money for insurance until it's time to pay out.

It only takes getting burned once to change one's mind about shipping over there.
 
Definitely not worth shipping over borders. Increases the risk of losing the package by 10 fold. Even from the states to Canada it's a nail and tooth battle to get the damn package from customs not to mention when it gets lost, the border officials and the shipping company claim no responsibility.
 
RevDevil said:
So the other 2 states get shafted? 50 US states....
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Thanks, Rev! I was thinking the same thing. We get hosed on shipping quite a bit up here but most forum members have been great about shipping to me. I ship to y'all in the "lower 48," haha!
 
overseas is not a problem, Russia is, with normal parcel mail ( USPS )

the manager off the Russian postal distribution center burned down the place to cover up for all the items stolen in his center

my company ships much parcels world wide, at this time France is a bitch, if they get the wrong carrier
( lost and lost off shippers contract the same carrier in a country , so you ship DHL and will be delivered by a local hero like ducroux your bascily left to the sharks ) you gotta love free market ;-)
as they all underbid on these contracts ( outerwise DHL would have used there own service ) the work load ( parcels delivered a day ) is very high, to be profitable, and many things will not get just a little attention to deliver a parcel ( but this happens every where, just look at the UPS delivery youtube clips )

and you guys only conus... in our company shipping history we lost only 2 parcels, bought in the US

Russia, use fedex , and no knives on the customs papers , but use kitchen cutlery or camping tools , but this is for many countries, as knifes raises so many eyebrows
 
creativeguy said:
Thanks, Rev! I was thinking the same thing. We get hosed on shipping quite a bit up here but most forum members have been great about shipping to me. I ship to y'all in the "lower 48," haha!
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If I ever sell anything you want to buy from me, I'll ship to you mang, no worries. ;)
 
My worst shipping experience was when I shipped a $3000. custom knife to Canada. Canadian customs kept it and never returned because it had a little bit of ivory on the grip.

I have other horror stories. But that one was the most costly.

Never ship to Canada! ...
or New York!
 
colubrid said:
My worst shipping experience was when I shipped a $3000. custom knife to Canada. Canadian customs kept it and never returned because it had a little bit of ivory on the grip.

I have other horror stories. But that one was the most costly.

Never ship to Canada! ...
or New York!
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I think you should clarify that about New York! New York City yes but the rest of the state is fine! I ship to the 50 nifty only! I have heard too many horror stories about shipping through customs! I have friends in customs and they have trained eyes! If they spot what looks like a nice custom knife in a box they simply open her up stating it looked suspicious and if they like what they see.....well you can figure out the rest! It sucks, they are a holes, but its true!
 
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