I just tried to ship a Gerry Anderson TV series UFO "Echo Gun" from the US to the UK using eBay's international shipping option (which is usually very easy). The toy was not allowed to enter the UK and was returned to me. Fortunately, eBay handled things fine for me and the buyer. But the buyer still wants the item. Any ideas on how to get this toy gun into the UK? Is it even legal to do so?
Replica Toy Gun US into UK?
- Thread starter dbrussee
- Start date
TazMan2000
Master Member
Tracking has become a bit more prominent in a lot of countries. Nowadays everything is computerized. Everything is shared on both sides. Each country knows the shipper and receiver addresses, and what is reported as being shipped. The amount of stuff that goes in and out is staggering, and they rely on personnel to x-ray each item. Whenever the x-ray inspector picks up something that is suspicious, that item gets pushed off to a different conveyer for closer scrutiny. The same goes for item descriptions. Sometimes an item will get refused just on the description alone and will be rejected even before anybody can open it up.
The customs inspector will open up the package and examine the contents to see it it breaks the rules. Some rules are written clearly, and some can be subject to interpretation. If the item is rejected, the shipper and receiver are tagged and put into a database. If there are multiple hits on either the shipper and receiver address, they could pass this off to the local police for investigation and possibly that all items from the shipper or to the receiver address being tagged as always having to be inspected.
I'm not saying that shipping the item again will get the same results, but it's possible. I had an acquaintance that used to work for Canada Customs. A lot of the stuff she told me was pretty shocking.
TazMan2000
The customs inspector will open up the package and examine the contents to see it it breaks the rules. Some rules are written clearly, and some can be subject to interpretation. If the item is rejected, the shipper and receiver are tagged and put into a database. If there are multiple hits on either the shipper and receiver address, they could pass this off to the local police for investigation and possibly that all items from the shipper or to the receiver address being tagged as always having to be inspected.
I'm not saying that shipping the item again will get the same results, but it's possible. I had an acquaintance that used to work for Canada Customs. A lot of the stuff she told me was pretty shocking.
TazMan2000
Don't use Ebay's international shipping. They open everything, and don't let anything through that is even close to restricted. I had a dinosaur bone I purchased from Ebay Us (!) returned to shipper, with no explanation. Not so long ago there was a guy on here who had some harmless electronic gizmo returned because it was construed as being military gear. They are terrible.
In 20 years of prop collecting, I have never once had a problem receiving a non-functional (not airsoft) firearm replica sent by USPS to the UK. Just don't write 'gun' or similar on the shipping label. 'Prop replica' or 'collectible' is the way to go.
In 20 years of prop collecting, I have never once had a problem receiving a non-functional (not airsoft) firearm replica sent by USPS to the UK. Just don't write 'gun' or similar on the shipping label. 'Prop replica' or 'collectible' is the way to go.
Petertiger
Sr Member
I live in the UK and i've tried to purchase toy guns from other counties including the US and it's very hard as gun laws here are very strict and one of the ways i got round it was like the above comments, i got the senders to list it as model kits, prop replicas or just toys however i had one metal toy cap gun refused from the US but only because customs opened the package and it was said to be to realistic, so it can be done just not easy to do so
