Shipping Fur Sporrans internationally

[Dale-of-Cedars]

A Coyote's Tale

The Coyote fur sporran I bought from Kilted Carver in April finally arrived safely, only a few months late, after being detained at the Canadian border because it was identified as Wolf fur. Wolves (Canis lupus) are a protected species, listed in CITES.

The regulations gave me 6 months in which to apply for 're-identification'.

So I took my time and composed an affidavit, gathering information and pictures from both Kilted Carver and the original sporran maker, Brice Lythgoe (UT Kilts), who gave me the creation and purchase history, as well as the name of the original supplier of the Coyote pelt.

All of that documentation paid off, and the Enforcement Officer re-identified the fur as Coyote (Canis latrans) last week and mailed the sporran on to me. It arrived today. Whew!

I told the Enforcement Officer that I would pass on to XMTS the information on shipping 'wildlife products' from the USA to Canada (most countries that are signatory to CITES will require similar steps.)

Shipping wildlife products out of the US requires Export documentation from the US Fish & Wildlife Service.
See "Importing and Exporting Your Commercial Wildlife Shipment".

Environment Canada's Wildlife Enforcement Division expects to see this documentation when the package passes through Customs.

If the article is from a species on the CITES lists it will be confiscated permanently unless you have a very specific permit. If the article is from domesticated non-CITES species there should at the very least be some identifying paperwork included so confusion does not occur.

Be aware of these possible complications when shopping across borders.

[seanachie]

I recently sent a kilt back to Canada for minor repair with "return for repair" all over the blasted paperwork, and sending to Canada requires special forms. None of it did any good....I warn one and all never to use UPS from the US to Canada.

[Big Mikey]

The horror stories abound about using "courier" services in the kilt world. Undisclosed fees, brokerage, taxes, handling, the list goes on and on. I have always used Canada Post and have had purchases sent to me by USPS. Never a problem with unexpected or undeclared cost to me.

[B R Gordon]

I wouldn't use anything but USPS or the Royal Mail Service for shipments to or from the UK. In fact I'll pay extra to have suppliers use USPS instead of UPS. The last item that I shipped with UPS from Louisville, Kentucky to New Mexico took nine days. The last two shipments from Scotland by Royal Mail took less than a week each.

[artificer]

I wouldn't use anything but USPS or the Royal Mail Service for shipments to or from the UK. In fact I'll pay extra to have suppliers use USPS instead of UPS. The last item that I shipped with UPS from Louisville, Kentucky to New Mexico took nine days. The last two shipments from Scotland by Royal Mail took less than a week each.

***

I never ship ANYTHING by any method other than USPS.

Their rates are much better for small to medium sized packages. If you use priority mail it only takes 2-3 days to get anywhere in the country vs a week via UPS or FexEx's comparably priced serves.

They deliver 6 days a week instead of UPS' 5. Tracking is very accurate.

And, as an above poster said, there are no usurious "brokerage fees" for international posting, unlike UPS/FedEx.

ith:

[EagleJCS]

Wow. I wasn't aware CITES covered all of that as well. I'm familiar (somewhat, by "word-of-mouth") with the ban on ivory importation - as it relates to the decoration/mounts on bagpipes, etc.

[longhuntr74]

I generally prefer USPS for shipping...so I won't argue against that. I think they are cheaper and I also like the 6 days per week vs. 5 of most commercial carriers. Now...if only they could get some organizational design specialists and business experts in there to fix the fact that they are constantly in the RED before the government decided to cut their losses and do away with the USPS altogether...or decides to double the prices of mail to make up for the lack of revenues....

But that's not the reason for my post. What I wanted to say is that I like UPS's tracking website much better than USPS. The postal service does a very poor job of in-transit visibility IMHO. When I order something and it's shipped via UPS, I can see exactly what time it arrives and departs at each step of the journey...and I like that. USPS is frequently 12+ hours time delay in their updates.

I have a small UPS story to share: I just ordered a new messenger bag from Zappos on Thursday afternoon...pacific time. I received notice on Thursday evening at about 9pm that Zappos had opted to upgrade my standard shipping (which was free to begin with...the upgrade was also free) and that I would be receiving my bag earlier than expected. The departure location of the bag was Louisville, KY. The shipping label/pick-up order was generated by Zappos at 1:02am Friday morning...central time. The bag was delivered to my front door on the coast of California at 10am Pacific Time...Friday morning. 12 hours from warehouse to my door. Thank you UPS...and Zappos!!!