International Shipping Advice

[captaincaed]

Hey all,
Had my second international shipping issue, and had others ask me “how can we do better”. I realized I didn’t have a great answer.

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If there is already a thread, would someone be kind enough to link it? I realize older advice exists, but I keep hearing things are changing in the past year or two.
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Obviously knives can be shipped internationally, because they do get shipped internationally, but I’ve gotten inconsistent messages from shippers themselves.

DHL told me I could not ship a razor home from Spain because they don’t ship knives. I’ve received knives by DHL.

USPS rejected a package for having a knife. Knives are not on their mailing hazard list (at least my local branch), and they were not listed as an import ban in the country of receipt (Singapore). It was declared as a ‘kitchen knife’. In the past, I’ve declared ‘kitchen tool’ and ‘kitchen knife’ with equal frequency.

If any experienced traders, or vendors especially, have any advice, would love to know, share with the group.

 

[WildBoar]

I mailed knives via USPS. It should not be an issue mailing one from the US. A family member works for USPS and has helped troubleshoot close to a dozen knife packages in the last 2 years; sending knives via USPS is definitely allowed.

 

[captaincaed]

Sounds like I had a cowboy handling my package. Great.

 

[captaincaed]

Current USPS prohibition list, and a country-specific set of import guidelines. Of course the sticker they put on my box has an defunct URL. thanks USPS.

https://www.usps.com/international/shipping-restrictions.htm

Knives are not listed as a prohibition to ship from the US. I may ask for my money back.

 

[Logan A.]

Personally I’d avoid USPS. Everyone has their own shipping horror stories, and all of mine involve USPS. DHL is great, but can be expensive. I use UPS or FEDEX.
Also, always worth just declaring it as “Kitchen tool” the word “Knife” can set off red flags even if it’s allowed.

 

[Heckel7302]

I've had knives mailed to US from Europe and Japan via DHL. Boxes were clearly labeled as containing kitchen knives. Never had any issue with USPS domestically either, though I usually don't claim what is in the box.

 

[Jovidah]

Interesting that DHL doesn't ship knives; have received plenty of them through DHL.
But from what I remember most of them were marked as kitchen tool.

 

[MarcelNL]

DHL is a mess for anything other than documents and clear cut things that are nowhere near any regulation, their interpretation of laws is far off....

IMO it completely depends on what you ship from where to wat country BUT....USPS to EU is at best wonky and can take literally forever... a secondary issue is that a package is handled by the local postal service once in country...customs and handovers can mean trouble...
(I have a parcel from Japan sitting at customs now for three weeks, calling customs get you nowhere and PostNL is no help either, if someone at customs decides to refuse the package or enters the wrong code it's gone and good luck putting in a claim)

Fedex works quite well into the EU, added benefit, they handle customs clearance upfront so packages whizz through as if there was no border. UPS can do the same...surely you pay more...

 

[JBroida]

DHL does ship knives, but sometimes there will be uninformed people working at local centers who do not realize this but have power to return things. We've had that happen before and have had to argue with them to get things working. There are also country specific regulations you need to be aware of.

 

[esoo]

Every knife I've had to ship across a border has been declared as "kitchen cutlery" and shipped without issues.

 

[westcoastknives]

I've had similar issues with USPS etc. in the past, a lot of it boils down to the person you get. Sometimes, while annoying, going to a different branch or just talking to a different person will give you a different result.

Easiest way to get around any of this is just doing your labels at home/online and just dropping off. Zero questions from USPS/UPS/Fedex in that scenario.

 

[jedy617]

The system is just full of idiots unfortunately. I tried to ship a knife to Brazil using USPS, and the clerk literally wouldn't take it because he said that wasn't an approved item to ship to Brazil. I literally took the list of prohibited items on the USPS website, showed them that kitchen knives or cutlery wasn't on there, only weapons, and he still refused to even scan it in because he didn't want to get himself in trouble.

95% of the time I've been doing UPS with no issues, I've still sent a couple USPS doing all the customs stuff myself on pirateship and just dropping off the package

 

[enrico]

Do they even crosscheck the contents for usps? I’ve put Damascus spoons one time and it worked fine lol

 

[esoo]

95% of the time I've been doing UPS with no issues, I've still sent a couple USPS doing all the customs stuff myself on pirateship and just dropping off the package

I think this is part of the key - do all the paperwork at home and then just have them scan the package in.

 

[sanmateo]

regardless of shipper, it seems like it's best to avoid the specific word "knife"

 

[Gshep91]

regardless of shipper, it seems like it's best to avoid the specific word "knife"

About to start writing “chunk of wood & a metal” and see how it goes

 

[captaincaed]

In my case, it was accepted at the office, and pulled off the plane as a result of an X-ray

 

[sanmateo]

In my case, it was accepted at the office, and pulled off the plane as a result of an X-ray

wow

 

[M1k3]

"Kitchen utensil"

Vague enough, yet specific enough a knife falls under that category.

 

[captaincaed]

 

[Choppin]

“wood, horn, and a sandwich of iron and steel”

The system is just full of idiots unfortunately. I tried to ship a knife to Brazil using USPS, and the clerk literally wouldn't take it because he said that wasn't an approved item to ship to Brazil. I literally took the list of prohibited items on the USPS website, showed them that kitchen knives or cutlery wasn't on there, only weapons, and he still refused to even scan it in because he didn't want to get himself in trouble.

Interesting, post-Covid I haven’t been able to ship knives from Brazil to the US using our national postal service (Correios, the equivalent to USPS). Clerk said something about USPS flagging it as a “cold weapon” (USPS handles the delivery once the package enters the US). The clerk is probably misinformed but it might have some connection to your case.

So far I’ve used DHL, Fedex and UPS to send knives from Brazil to the US and Australia [almost] without issues. Always declared as “kitchen knife”. Although I’ll probably change that after UPS opened a package to Aus containing a Tsourkan and it arrived to the buyer with a 2 inch spot rusted and pitted (knife was oiled before packing).

 

[Barmoley]

View attachment 266096

Was the mail person trying to deliver this personally by flying in person and taking it as carryon?

 

[captaincaed]

Was the mail person trying to deliver this personally by flying in person and taking it as carryon?

One can only assume

 

[Ok__mode_6953]

"Kitchen utensil"

Vague enough, yet specific enough a knife falls under that category.

This is the way.

My local post person must think business is booming in the spatula industry.

 

[Ok__mode_6953]

Also, if you want to send a knife to UK and actually have it delivered, just avoid DHL like the plague.

Their interpretation of prohibited items is completely misaligned with UK law, which is super helpful. Plus, they will let you ship it in the first place so they can still take the shipping cost.

 

[enrico]

They usually ask me what kitchen utensil it is

 

[M1k3]

They usually ask me what kitchen utensil it is

One that you do stuff with food. A little of this, a little of that. You know, Kitchenny Chef things.

 

[Ok__mode_6953]

They usually ask me what kitchen utensil it is

Spatula

 

[dragjp]

steel with a handle.

 

[jedy617]

Bench scraper