Shipping kits/materials across international borders

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Andy Mitchell
Posts: 58
Joined: Mon Dec 28, 2020 8:54 am

Shipping kits/materials across international borders

Post by Andy Mitchell »

Hi all,

Sorry to keep bugging you all, but I'm looking for help/advice on shipping kits and parts to Canada. In researching possible 2nd kits to build, I discovered that there can be all kinds of problems with shipping certain kinds of wood and supplies across the border from the US to Canada. My first kit (with rosewood back and sides) was ordered in blissful ignorance of all of this, and just sailed through without a hitch, arriving here just a couple of days after I placed the order. Would I be right in assuming that this was just blind luck, and that I should be more careful in the future? Or is there some way to label a kit that somehow makes it exempt from rules that seem to trip up other kinds of imports?

And, if I should be being careful, what woods and supplies should I be avoiding to minimize shipping problems? I know rosewood is probably right out, but are there others to be mindful as well?

Thanks in advance for any help that you all can provide.

Andrew
tippie53
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Location: Hegins, Pa
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Re: Shipping kits/materials across international borders

Post by tippie53 »

you were lucky but for all the kits we sell , we stopped sending rosewood across borders. I don't think they are as tough on this as when they started but occasionally they do get stopped..
most rosewoods are not allowed to go across the borders . There is a lot of paperwork to file , and this adds a bit to the cost. Mahogany is legal to ship
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
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president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
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Stray Feathers
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Location: Ladysmith, BC

Re: Shipping kits/materials across international borders

Post by Stray Feathers »

It is frustrating for us Canucks not to have access to many US suppliers for restricted woods like rosewood. Not to do any of the people who sell kits in the US and support this forum out of some business, but Timeless Instruments in Saskatchewan sells kits. I have no experience with their kits, have only bought a bit of wood and some parts from them, but they are easy to talk to. He has some lovely rosewood just now and also Tasmanian Blackwood.
jread
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Re: Shipping kits/materials across international borders

Post by jread »

oh wow, I thought this only for Brazilian. I shipped a build, East Indian Rosewood, to Ireland and it got hung up in customs for a couple weeks because I didn't pay the VAT (taxes on the declared value) but nothing was ever mentioned about the materials. I thought to myself, do they really have someone in customs that can positively ID Brazilian vs. Indian? Note, don't put a high value on the customs form, that was not an insurance value, the person I sent it to had to go negotiate with the customs people. She got it reduced.
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