Postal Service

SpitfireIV

Hi,

I'm a fairly new comer to e-bay and use it because of the sheer amount of militaria items that are availible (I collect militaria by the way anything from 1798 to WW1). There was something I wondered...

Back in June I bough an inert, de-activated No5 MkI Mills Bomb, this item was sent from the UK and took a MONTH to arrive!

In early July I bought a relic, inert No23 MkI Mills Bomb from a dealer in France............hmm, I'm still waiting for that to be delivered

Three weeks back I bought an old replica flintlock pistol, completely harmless and even if it were real is still classed as 'obsolete'. Again, I bought this item off e-bay, and like the No23, I'm still waiting for it .

So my question is, do the guys in customs scan these, see a grenade or gun shape in a package and then toss the box into a dark damp storeroom never to see the light of day again? Has anyone else had any trouble like this before? Do customs not send you notice that they have an item for my address and that it is being held?

You know its a bit frustrating and you get a bit fed up of the situation when things you are paying for arent arriving, or are arriving very late. As well as it putting me off buying objects such as the flintlock pistols and the like.

Thanks for listing to my rant....

CroppyBoy1798

BrianD

Is it legal to import 'inert' weapons? AFAIK you need a licence to import these items.

Does the sender put a packing slip on the outside of the package?

In all fairness, sending an inert hand grenade through the post seems to be a grossly irresponsible thing to do. If it creates a security alert it costs everyone. I'm surprised you haven't had a knock on the door from the powers that be.

I doubt if they go into a dark store room ... more likely out into the yard for a controlled explosion.

dudara

did you have the parcels registered so you can track their progress?

SpitfireIV

BrianD and Dudara, thanks for the replies.

Brian, I'm not sure wether you need a licence, I would think that that would, yes, however the first No5 I bought was a hollow shell, no internals or externals for that matter, just the hollow body part that was recovered in France, the No23 that I am waiting on is in a pretty similar state and with a drilled body. I have no interest or even want to try and buy a mint condition grenade, I know that I could get in trouble for that and know that they would be stopped by customs. I cant understand though how a hollow, rusty metal shell can be held up though.

These items are readily avalible in all sorts of conditions in e-bay, and are not illegal, if they were thought to be of any danger e-bay would remove them, just like they dont sell many offensive weapons. I know what you are saying and I do agree, it does seem very irrisponsible to be able to sell such items, but if you go to e-bay there is a wealth of them and most can be 'posted to worldwide' so its misleading for many new e-bayers whom think that because its ok in e-bay, that there shouldnt be a problem with the law. Now please dont get me wrong here, I'm not some nut who loves all these dangerous weapons or the like, as I said in the first post, I collect militaria and fully understand the items I buy and would not buy them if I considered them to be a danger or a nuisance to the postal service.

Dudara, I never opted for the recorded delivery to be honest, I shall however in the future be opted for that and forking out the extra euro's, I think it'd be worth it.

Once again, thanks for the input guys, I appreciate it.

Regards,

CroppyBoy1798

BrianD

I understand that you are a bona fide collector of militaria. They only problem is that when postman Pat X-rays the parcel he sees what looks like a grenade. Now perhaps the machine can identify that it is 'hollow' or empty but at the same time he has to assume the worst case scenario. Let's face it you could have somebody shipping nine inert weapons and then ships a live one in the tenth package.

I suggest that you ship it by registered post or courier and declare the contents of the parcel. Also because something is for sale on eBay does not mean it is legal in this country or others. Guns are legal in the States but not here etc etc.

the_syco

CroppyBoy1798 wrote:

I cant understand though how a hollow, rusty metal shell can be held up though.

In the Micheal Collins movie, there was a part where the volunteers say "put we have no ammo", and the answer was "yes, but the enemy doesn't know that". My point being that although you know it doesn't work, they'll see one thing: a bomb. If you register yourself as a collector of militaria items, then they may cop on, but in all fairness, if it looks like a bomb, feels like a bomb, its proberly a bomb.

blobert

Has anything been said to you, or have you been contacted about your various weapons, or have they just been delayed?

SpitfireIV

:eek: .......jeez, I'm starting to look like a bad guy here now. I'll say it again just to clarify it, but by no means am I some nut job importing grenades, and glorifying the things. As I said, I collect military and have a great interest in history, from the Rebellion of 1798, Titanic, WW1 to WW2, and all aspect relating to Ireland in the early 20th centuary.

It just so happens that at the moment my interests lie in the first World War, I'm getting a collection together, I see a No5 relic Mills, so I buy it for novelty piece, a battle field find, you know, the 'been there done that' look to it. Those are the only things that I have that could be classed as 'weapons', reason being that I am not interested in that side of things and secondly just because it was easy to pick up such a relic in e-bay. My last buy was a set of relic wire cutters, I am fully award of what I am buying and what its purpose was, but it is part of history.

I rang the Post Office help line and enquired about the situation and explained what I was waiting on, he told me that those items do go to custom, but it shouldnt be a problem, its just that at the moment there is a large increase of electronic goods and cigarettes coming in illegally and they have to be sorted and tax's imposed on them etc.

I hope that sort of clears things up and explains why I bough them, I'm sorry if it angered anyone or upset them, that wasnt my purpose.

Thanks again,

CroppyBoy1798