Advice sought: shipping to China?

[2knife]

Anyone offer advice on shipping custom knives to China?
I am selling a few, and have a couple of interested prospective buyers located there., not sure what kind of risk is involved in this kind of sale?
Thanks,
David

 

[Marcel54]

I just sold a knife to a collector in Hong Kong. I used UPS and it was there in two days. No problem what so ever. Be sure to follow the instructions of the buyer to the letter and think about insuring them.

Marcel

 

[Haze]

The customs office in mainland China can be a bit picky with knives, Taiwan, Hong-kong and Macau tend to be easier to post stuff to.

The buyer should be able to tell you the best way forward. I know one or two folks who had knives sent
back to the US by Chinese customs and I know people who had similar knives go through with no issues.

 

[saint o'killers]

i've had no problems sending stuff to China. i had a collector who bought multiple times from and and they all got there quickly, and yes just make sure you follow their instructions. i always put camping tools on the customs form and always put the customer's phone number on the packaging.

 

[dbl-edge]

I shipped 4 knives to a "dealer" in China about 3 years ago. He used an agent in Hong Kong and everything was great. They were all good sized fixed blades, the shortest being 8", but there were no problems. Last year I sent one to a collector who was not in HK. I was told by the collector that the knife, which had a 5" single edged blade, was technically illegal in China. I did a special wrap at the collector's request (which I wouldn't bother with again) to help it along through customs. Well, it got held up at customs for weeks and the collector was afraid it would be sent back. It was finally delivered, but it had some scuffs and other blems that weren't on the knife when it left here.

The first package went by FedEx. The last one by the postal systems. FedEx was probably twice what the post office would have charged. I am not sure if it was the shipper that made a difference or not. I do suspect that shipping to an office in Hong Kong made a difference. One thing that you can do with the PO is list your knife as something like "gardening tool" or "camping tool". With FedEx you have to list it as "knife" because that is what is on the master list of things shipped by that company, and the other examples are not.

After saying all this, it may be easier to ship a knife to China than some other countries such as the UK.

David

 

[Big Rick]

dbl-edge:

Shipping knives to the UK is no problem at all, including lock knives & fixed blades. People have the misconception that it is illegal to own fixed blades knives in the UK it is not!! It is illegal to have them in a public place without good reason. I have bought well over 250 knives from overseas mostly from the US with no problems whatsoever. The only problem would be if you tried to ship auto's, push daggers and butterfly knives which are illegal over here.

 

[Haze]

dbl-edge:

Shipping knives to the UK is no problem at all, including lock knives & fixed blades. People have the misconception that it is illegal to own fixed blades knives in the UK it is not!! It is illegal to have them in a public place without good reason. I have bought well over 250 knives from overseas mostly from the US with no problems whatsoever. The only problem would be if you tried to ship auto's, push daggers and butterfly knives which are illegal over here.

While those knives are illegal to make, import and carry they are actually legal to own.

Have a look at the wording of the law, too many people are ready to just believe what they hear.

 

[dbl-edge]

Thanks for the clarification, Rick. I do think something is odd when the government of the UK places barrels at police stations to collect knives and there are those trying to create non-lethal kitchen knives, but you can own a fighter, bowie, dagger, or sword. That seems a bit. . . contradictory. Next time I get an order for one of my specialties from the UK, I'll just label it "sub hilt fighting knife" on the customs form.

Haze, if those knives are illegal to make or import into the UK, how can you own them? They have to come from somewhere!

My post was not to pick on the UK specifically. I have sent "gardening tools" there. I was only trying to point out that the governments of many countries considered more open are probably no more friendly to knives and collectors than China.

David

 

[Haze]

Haze, if those knives are illegal to make or import into the UK, how can you own them? They have to come from somewhere!

Indeed an intriguing question.

All those knives were at one point perfectly leagl in the UK but as the laws changed those were the knives picked out for persecution.(not just in the UK)
If you own them in a collection you are doing so perfectly legaly still, if you make, import or carry one of those knives today however your are breaking the law.

The word of the law makes no distinction between vintage and modern knives..........

Edit to add:

The stuff most people hear about in the US are the anti-knife drives that are in the inner city areas. There is a problem with violence in general there but knives (and guns) are the weapons being picked out. In more rural parts of the UK knives are not seen as anywhere near the problem they are else where. That has a lot to with the fact that knives are still used as tools in those places. People will aslo tend to have a nice hunter/bushcrafter, traditional folder etc. and not a cheap plastic handled paring knife carried by someone who just wants to cut someones face or use it in a mugging.