Your Pool Cue Can Be Confiscated....Is it worth the risk?

Bavafongoul

Bavafongoul

AzB Silver Member
Silver Member
There's a Murrell cue posted in the AZ Cue Gallery by "Rudy likes poll" and he lives in Taiwan. His cue is really handsome but read his post. He had his cue shipped to him and the cue shipment had to undergo inspection by US Customs prior to leaving the USA.

He knows this actually took place because when he opened the carton, it had a sticker on the outside of the tube stating that the package was opened and inspected by US Fish & Wildlife. "Rudy like poll" must have been anticipating problems getting the cue into Taiwan, or so it otherwise seems, because he also posted that he deliberately ordered the cue with LBM ferrules instead of ivory and all of the cue's inlays were all mother of peal rather than ivory.

People on the Forum need to be aware that shipping cues into or out of the USDA is a genuine problem when the cue has ivory. You may hear stories from others stating that they never had any problems but truth be told.....they were friggin' lucky. Unless you are prepared to have your cue permanently confiscated, and explaining that you didn't know won't get your cue back either, don't ship or transport cues containing ivory into or out of the USA.
 
Good Post. I have walked away from deals involving shipping cues with ivory over US boarders. If I remember right, I took less for the cue so I could ship within the US.
 
Bavafongoul said:
There's a Murrell cue posted in the AZ Cue Gallery by "Rudy likes poll" and he lives in Taiwan. His cue is really handsome but read his post. He had his cue shipped to him and the cue shipment had to undergo inspection by US Customs prior to leaving the USA.

He knows this actually took place because when he opened the carton, it had a sticker on the outside of the tube stating that the package was opened and inspected by US Fish & Wildlife. "Rudy like poll" must have been anticipating problems getting the cue into Taiwan, or so it otherwise seems, because he also posted that he deliberately ordered the cue with LBM ferrules instead of ivory and all of the cue's inlays were all mother of peal rather than ivory.

People on the Forum need to be aware that shipping cues into or out of the USDA is a genuine problem when the cue has ivory. You may hear stories from others stating that they never had any problems but truth be told.....they were friggin' lucky. Unless you are prepared to have your cue permanently confiscated, and explaining that you didn't know won't get your cue back either, don't ship or transport cues containing ivory into or out of the USA.
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What are you selling here?


I get your sentiment, but this should be in the Main Forum.



Why do you constantly post stuff in the wrong forum? Or inject your "opinion"?



<~~~~~~~~doesn't get it :shakehead:
 
CMD said:
What are you selling here?


I get your sentiment, but this should be in the Main Forum.



Why do you constantly post stuff in the wrong forum? Or inject your "opinion"?



<~~~~~~~~doesn't get it :shakehead:
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That's definitely a good question.
 
If I was going to spend the money on a high quality cue containing ivory, I'd go pick it up my self.... 4,5,6 grand, I'd fly and get it myself.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Tapatalk 2
 
Bavafongoul said:
There's a Murrell cue posted in the AZ Cue Gallery by "Rudy likes poll" and he lives in Taiwan. His cue is really handsome but read his post. He had his cue shipped to him and the cue shipment had to undergo inspection by US Customs prior to leaving the USA.

He knows this actually took place because when he opened the carton, it had a sticker on the outside of the tube stating that the package was opened and inspected by US Fish & Wildlife. "Rudy like poll" must have been anticipating problems getting the cue into Taiwan, or so it otherwise seems, because he also posted that he deliberately ordered the cue with LBM ferrules instead of ivory and all of the cue's inlays were all mother of peal rather than ivory.

People on the Forum need to be aware that shipping cues into or out of the USDA is a genuine problem when the cue has ivory. You may hear stories from others stating that they never had any problems but truth be told.....they were friggin' lucky. Unless you are prepared to have your cue permanently confiscated, and explaining that you didn't know won't get your cue back either, don't ship or transport cues containing ivory into or out of the USA.
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I'm been friggin lucky about 80 times compared to zero times unlucky, so I guess I'm just REAL friggin lucky.

Kevin
 
This topic directly relates to sale and wanted threads in order to protect both buyers and sellers. To those of you whom have nothing better than to troll posts where fellow AZrs are trying to give good advice to those it would concern most, please relax and think to whom the post might affect before blowing it up.
 
Picardy 3rd said:
This topic directly relates to sale and wanted threads in order to protect both buyers and sellers. To those of you whom have nothing better than to troll posts where fellow AZrs are trying to give good advice to those it would concern most, please relax and think to whom the post might affect before blowing it up.
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OK , You with 48 posts and counting.
 
lenoxmjs said:
It's good to be lucky . I've been known to have a stroke or two of luck myself:grin:
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It is good, ask that Efren fella.

At a certain point, what appears to some as friggin luck might be something more like knowing what you are doing. However, I'm sure Bava is once again speaking from his vast storehouse of experience so I'll bow to his deeper knowledge and simply thank the universe for my luck.

And go to Vegas.80 winning numbers in a row at the craps table could set me free.

Kevin
 
Picardy 3rd said:
This topic directly relates to sale and wanted threads in order to protect both buyers and sellers. To those of you whom have nothing better than to troll posts where fellow AZrs are trying to give good advice to those it would concern most, please relax and think to whom the post might affect before blowing it up.
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BUT it doesn't belong in THIS forum.


I did not say it was not valid information.


Troll? That is laughable noobie. :welcome:



Seeing as you are from the tiny state of Connecticut (same as me), I am sure we know each other or have heard of each other.
 
Tro said:
I had a 12k package confiscated last year. There were 5 cues in the package. 3 had ivory and were taken. The other 2 were forwarded to the buyer.

I was fortunate that I have a clean record and Fish and Wildlife didn't pursue further action against me. Never again will I ship ivory out of the USA.

And for those that just say "all you hafta do is get ahold of the curmakers and get documentation that the ivory is pre-ban", I asked about that when I was being interrogated over the phone by the wildlife officer. I was told that there is no way to prove that the specific ivory in the cues is, or is not, pre-ban, so it's all considered illegal.

By the way, these officers know EXACTLY what they're looking for, they know all the cuemaker's names, and are very well educated about cues. If they open your package and there's one tiny dot inlay that's ivory, they'll find it.

I learned my lesson. Never again.
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they do not check most packages though. if they checked yours then it would have been due to the way you labelled it or in this case, most likely because you shipped 5 cues at once.
 
Picardy 3rd said:
This topic directly relates to sale and wanted threads in order to protect both buyers and sellers. To those of you whom have nothing better than to troll posts where fellow AZrs are trying to give good advice to those it would concern most, please relax and think to whom the post might affect before blowing it up.
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Ok since you called me out in a pm I'll address you more directly .

Who are you to call out a long respected member (CMD) who has a valid point that this thread belongs in the main forum and that Bavafongoul has a bad habit of doing everything that CMD and Kevin have accused him of doing.

Your wrong for calling CMD a troll and so Bavafongoul for posting questionably good info in the wrong section.

Is that clear enough for you?
 
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I swear this place is like a DAMN soap opera. I think the reason that it was payed in this section is because it DOES relate to buying and selling. There are way to many forum cops . I do understand the rules but I also think there should be a little wiggle room in cases like this
 
Tro said:
It was cleanly packaged in a 2x4 and 3x5 case. New box. Normal labeling. Previously, I'd shipped plenty of cues overseas without a problem. I think it may have been random or they'd noticed I'd been shipping a lot overseas.

Regardless of WHY they checked my package, they did. I'll never know why. It doesn't really matter. I don't believe there's a clever way to ship or a way to beat the system. If one chooses to ship ivory, don't cry if you get popped.

Maybe I shouldn't have labelled the package "Please handle with care, sweet cues with lotsa ivory inside".

Oh well...
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i dont mean that the label is tattered etc. when i say the labelling affects. i was more referring to the way you list the contents and their costs. i know people get their stuff confiscated due to they way they ship the cue.
 
mtglassguy said:
I swear this place is like a DAMN soap opera. I think the reason that it was payed in this section is because it DOES relate to buying and selling. There are way to many forum cops . I do understand the rules but I also think there should be a little wiggle room in cases like this
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I agree. Had this been posted in the Main section, I never would have seen it because I'm 90% on this Sales forum. I recently had to pass on several cues because the overseas seller would not shoulder the risk of confiscation. They all say that they have shipped many cues over many years and never had a problem. But when pressed about who loses if the cue is confiscated, they all will admit that it will be the buyer's loss. That's not acceptable to me to lose 6-8K without recourse.

I've heard that if the port of entry is Alaska, you have a greater chance of confiscation. Maybe the fish and wildlife agents have little to do there except to hunt for ivory. If your shipment comes through JFK your chances are much better. I'm guessing that the NY customs agents are busy looking for weapons and drugs. Thanks for posting about ivory confiscation, as this has been on my mind recently. I was just about to buy a Searing for 8K from England when I noticed that the hoppe ring was ivory!
 
Before I begin I do agree that this thread belongs in the Main Forum.

I've bought several cues containing ivory, some with alot of ivory. It's a risk I take and I tell seller I assume all risk. So far I've been lucky.

For me the risk is pretty much the same as if the package was badly damaged or lost in transit. Some might argue that the chances of cue getting lost is much lower than the cue being confiscated but I prefer to simplify matters by just thinking whether its a yes or no, will or will not rather than over thinking.

To add I never insure my cues for more than $150 anyways as the tax is too high on my side. So if the cues lost there's nothing I can do.

If this thread were to serve a good purpose (for me and any potential international buyers) I'd rather discuss the reasons the cues were inspected.

Which courier service did Rudy and Tro use when their cues got inspected? USPS, DHL, FedEx, UPS..?

Where were the cues shipped from?

What was in the description of the package?

What was the declared value?

I do hope to get more info from sellers with bad experiences so that we can gather more info to see if there's a pattern in which the cues were at higher risk of being inspected.

Personally I use USPS and declare cue at $50-150 even if the cue cost five grand just to stay under the radar. Not sure if its just luck on my side or that this is a better prevention method.
 
Some of the keys or so I hear when shipping out going are to

1. Triple pack it with lots of tape make it next to impossible to open. Ship USPS GLOBAL EXPRESS.

2. Do not insure the cue !!!!!!!!!!!! After it leaves our shores it's not covered anyways and a high value is a target for thieves and an alert for other people that may be looking

3. List item as pool stick . It sounds cheap and generic yet is truthful.

4. Have an agreement in place with the buyer and save copies of all e-mails saying who the responsible party will be if bad stuff happens.

I only have one bad incoming experience with a big Gina that I bought from a buyer in Germany. The cue never arrived even though he shipped it . I ended up doing a chargeback through American Express (fantastic company). The cue end up showing up about 8 weeks later and I called them back and let the charges go through. Apparently customs in New York did hold the cue but eventually let it continue on it's way.
 
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