Shipping internationally

What are the caveats? I don't see a problem shipping to like the UK, other than it's like 45 bucks, but what about Thailand? Am I gonna get beat down by the man for shipping a ukulele with a mother of pearl inlay, or a Honduras rosewood fretboard?

Wassup?

Interesting discussion about the Lacey Act/CITES over at Delcamp today with some links that might be helpful to you.

http://www.delcamp.us/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=57771

Basically, you can have problems on either end, whether importing or exporting.

My tactic is hit them with alot of paperwork (we always send 3 copies of the invoice), but don't be too honest if you think an over enthusiastic customs officer might single you out for something unusual looking on your paperwork. For example, I usually just put "Ukulele" as the description, not elaborating on the wood etc. Unless you are sending a bunch of them, I don't think they should get held up unless the value is over $1000 for most countries.
Also sending it express thru UPS or a similar company seems to lessen the chance customs will look at it too closely.

I ship overseas regularly. Things always go through but sometimes will get hung up in customs (for up to a couple weeks on occasion) for reasons unknown to me. Like Mike, I only declare it as an "ukulele" and make sure the packing slip is clearly visible on the outside of the box. Also, I never put my company name of the return address or customs form, just my personal name. I only ship USPS Express Mail--costs about $100. I also never lie about the value, no matter how much the customer pleads. A while back I shipped a $5,000 uke for a customer in the UK. He was concerned about the high VAT he had to pay and other customs regulations. I shipped it to America where he picked it up himself and hand carried back home. Let him deal with the customs.

Thanks for the advice fellas. I've made up my mind that whatever the hassle, I'll go ahead and ship wherever.

I spoke with a US Fish and Wildlife representative because they are the ones dealing with the Lacey Act issues more so than customs. I don't ship material overseas that is on the CITES list, and there isn't any form to say that its isn't, so the rep helped me develop a letter that provides all the information on the instrument in the event that if questions are raised then they can be answered. I specifically spell out that the rosewood is Indonesian, the mahogany is sapele and that the inlay is abalam or MOP, but don't describe it as mother of pearl. I also provide a packing slip with it on the outside as well as one inside the case with the instrument. She indicated to em that I should word it in a manner that didn't leave any doubt to what was in the package. No problems yet.