BerserkDS Posted October 16, 2011 Report Share Posted October 16, 2011 Okay, I ordered a TM HC AUG from Uncompany about two months ago. It was seized by customs, I emailed UNCompany and they were aware that it was seized and that they "sent the requirement to post office" whatever that means. That was a headache and a half, but luckily I was able to get my money back. But now the tracking status changed to "Return to sender, can not be shipped as addressed" or something like that. The weird part is, I've been told that US customs send a letter when they seize a package, and I have yet to receive anything, two months later. NOW, I ordered a gun from Echigoya, and now THAT is stuck in customs. My gun has been in there for three days now, and so far everything I've ordered overseas in the past 9 years have cleared customs in hours, so my spirit isn't so high right now. WTF!!!! My question is does customs have a watch list? I find it ridiculous and far from coincidental that Ive had another gun seized, from two different countries. I prefer Tokyo Marui AEGs over every other manufacturer. Living in the US, TM is becoming increasingly hard to get and/or expensive. This makes it hard for me to enjoy Airsoft if I can't even buy products that I enjoy. Any information or help is greatly appreciated. Sorry If I posted this in the wrong section! Link to post Share on other sites
bobtuskins Posted October 16, 2011 Report Share Posted October 16, 2011 Have you tried contacting US Customs directly about it? If you got a tracking number or similar they should be able to chase up your delivery and (hopefully) give you some kind of explanation. Link to post Share on other sites
Shinden Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 Apparently this is becoming more and more common. We all gotta gamble if we are to buy guns from Japan or Asia except if it's licensed and has a orange painted tip. My friends said they had their orange tip flashiness wrenched off and claimed by the customs Link to post Share on other sites
uscmCorps Posted October 19, 2011 Report Share Posted October 19, 2011 I've been stung by this twice in the last 6 months. Customs has been really inconsistent with what they have and have not been letting into our borders. I've had stuff returned to sender when the orange tip was epoxied on, and no trademarks present. It's insane. If you call USPS, they'll tell you it's in US Custom's hands, that there's nothing more they can tell you and that you should call customs. When you call customs about it, they get irritated and say they don't understand why USPS would tell you to call customs, and that they don't have the time and resources to look into any packages in their care, and that you simply have to wait. While they say they will send you a letter, I have never received one, nor has anyone else I know of who's been in the same predicament. Honestly, if you want to save yourself some serious headache, start buying from US vendors. 3 days in US Customs is nothing. You still have a chance of getting it. Once you get close to the 2 week mark, chances are good that the item is either seized by customs or returned to sender. I recently bought a TM Glock from AirsoftGlobal, paid the extra fees to get the gun sent disassembled and sent in two separate shipments to get around the US Customs regulations. The slide and parts for here in 2 days. The frame was returned to sender after a month. AirsoftGlobal offered to either give me a partial refund, or to resend the frame at my expense. Link to post Share on other sites
P.S.I. Posted October 20, 2011 Report Share Posted October 20, 2011 Yes, customs has a watch list. If you're on or if you order from someone who's on it, you'll have all kinds of issues. Customs likes to make examples and punish behavior that they don't like, and they are pretty random about when, where, what, & how they want to enforce things. A couple years ago RedWolf was being targeted by customs and they were refusing all shipments from RW outright. They weren't even opening boxes, they'd just sit on them for a few weeks and send them back to RW. This went of for a few months, then went back to business as usual. Another large factor is the port where the shipment comes into the country. Some tend to take a very hard line against airsoft, and other tend to be pretty lenient. Port of Washington tends to be one of the worst. The AIC there (the same guy behind the whole ASNW GBBR fiasco) seized a shipment of airsoft guns from a distributor, claiming that the guns are "illegal firearms" DESPITE the fact that said company has written approval from the BATFE to import those very same airsoft guns. That one is still being fought out in court, over a year later. Essentially dealing with US Customs is like dealing with the mafia. They can do pretty much what ever they want and have little to no accountability. Even when customs does illegal things there isn't much you can do unless you want to spend OBSCENE amounts of money on fighting them in court. Link to post Share on other sites
Pariah_WP Posted October 22, 2011 Report Share Posted October 22, 2011 Here in Hawaii I have had EVERY SINGLE GUN (never parts for guns, but 6 whole guns) held by customs that I ordered over seas. I have on only 4 of 6 seizures gotten a letter...the rest I didn't. I have gone down to customs EVERY time to retrieve them after about 2 weeks waiting. On 1 occasion the gun was sent back. The guys here are actually really decent about it. WIth or without paperwork they have gone and figured out what was up with my stuff. On 3 of the guns they did not have the orange tip I requested (or the tip was banana yellow...) and I painted them in front of some guys. They let me take them with no issues in those cases. I just painted them, chatted a little while and went on my merry way. It was a hastle, but I got my guns. The remaining 2 guns were nightmares. 1 gun that got seized had an orange tip on it, the cited reason was that it had no orange tip and the guys didn't know what to do. So what they did was talk to SOMEONE and he said to RE-INSPECT it. I was there with my teenage niece and for whatever reason we were not allowed to watch the re-inspection process. We waited about 2ish HOURS for the gun to be looked at. 1 of the really nice guys there that guards the property kept bugging the folks to hurry up and look at my stuff because we had been there forever. Eventually I hear a bunch of laughing and some whispering and pointing. They were making fun of me and my niece behind closed doors, but I could still hear them whispering (but I couldn't tell what they were saying) and see them looking and pointing and laughing. Eventually this guy looked the gun over and said that the tip wasn't orange "enough" and that I could take it if I sprayed it. So I sprayed it orange as the guy watched...with THEIR orange paint...and it matched the finish of the previous color exactly. When I mentioned this the guy gave me a really angry look and said that it was not the same...even though he couldn't tell me where it was different. He was really sweating at this point too. Like a lot. I finished spraying it and then I brought to their attention that it was missing several parts that came with it. He said that all the shipped parts were with it and that missing parts were not there on arrival to Honolulu, but we had seen it 2 hours prior to the re-inspection and it was now missing the (admittedly really terrible) battery, BBs, manual, clearing rod and vertical grip. They didn't even bother to look. He said I could return it to sender or take it "as is". I took it because it was for my niece who just wanted to go by this point. On the way out 3 of the office workers (the inspector and 2 others) were laughing and whispering about us...I heard something about "I wonder if he is loaded or something to have a girlfriend like that..." I wanted to clock someone, but she wanted to leave. Kind of sick...I am double her freaking age! The last one is the oddest of all. I ordered a pistol and rifle with x2 spares each in the same order. I got all 6 mags (2 included and 4 spare) without their packaging in a prepaid USPS bulk rate box from a local (READ HAWAII) address. BOTH guns however were seized, but I had no letter. I just knew because of the time frame and that I got the mags. They looked and found them both. When I was brought them the pistol was without a box, but it and all its' parts were stuffed into the rifle box with large words written on the rifle box "USED AIRSOFT COSTOME PATS" in red sharpy. There was a second notice on the box that said "Explosives detected" and some long code. The reason it was held was because ALL the magazines were all loaded gas. Now I had the magazines, but the guns were seized and there was nothing wrong with them from a customs standpoint... I was allowed to walk right out with them. ALSO... Almost forgot... Besides the SEIZURE MADNESS that seems to be going on down here they are also a blackhole for some smaller parts too. I ordered a x3 of the same red dot and 1 of them was clearly opened and had all the accessories removed. (Battery, lens caps and wrenches) Another time a scope I ordered was completely taken apart. I got the battery, lens covers, calibration covers and sunshade in a separate postal package...I order the same scope from the same shop for another gun and it was missing the sunshade. God only knows what might be missing in my next order. Link to post Share on other sites
yanikfbmartin Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 customs is tricky.they seize what they want to.it all just depends on who is seeing your package and how much theyclove or hate there job Link to post Share on other sites
frogfish Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 This is an interesting read, another federal agency making regulations that we can all follow then punishing those who follow them. I have a replica coming here in a few days if it sits in customs and gets returned to sender I WILL take the law to them, there is no reason they should be lenient or not just depending on what kinda day they are having. You are either following the law are not. I'd rather have more stringent regulations that are known to be followed than looser regs that an agency can pick and choose to follow at will. That is not how an agency for the people by the people should operate. If it does get returned to sender I will request a copy of the SOP for airsoft replicas at that office, the report from the inspecting agent, pictures verifying contents are as stated by the agent, and a transcript of any notifications sent to me about the package, the situation with it including a date, time, and contacting agent on the transcript... with a lack of any of that kind of material, a decent lawyer can have a field day. Link to post Share on other sites
kojak Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 This beauty sailed right through LA customs, with full trades and the flash hider Scotch taped in place: I've always heard that the percentage of seizures is higher with some shippers; have people had more problems with airmail or express? I've ordered lots of parts and gear from overseas but only a couple of guns. Link to post Share on other sites
paranoiddroid Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 customs are like the mafia, they will steal *suitcase* lie to you and generally *fruitcage* you over if they are so inclined. Link to post Share on other sites
P.S.I. Posted October 24, 2011 Report Share Posted October 24, 2011 Here's another lovely government catch 22... US customs requires the orange tip because customs considers airsoft guns toys. HOWEVER, according to the laws regarding orange tips, it is ILLEGAL to have an orange tip on an airsoft gun. WTF?? you may ask. Well the orange tip is SUPPOSED to designate that the item CANNOT cause physical injury. As we all know, airsoft guns can cause physical injury. This is the same reason paintball guns DO NOT have orange tips, you can be injury by them. So one customs requires something that is technically illegal. FUN TIMES!! Link to post Share on other sites
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