Exporting Dangerous Tubes

[Chris]

Just had a message from ebay Global shipping that some rectifier tubes I sold to a hi-fi buff in Italy have been seized at customs and will not be sent to buyer or returned, without any further reason.

Chris

[pre65]

Originally Posted by Chris

Just had a message from ebay Global shipping that some rectifier tubes I sold to a hi-fi buff in Italy have been seized at customs and will not be sent to buyer or returned, without any further reason.

Chris

What sort were they ?

I suppose mercury vapour rectifiers could be classes as iffy ?

[Chris]

Part of message sent:

The item in question has been classified as restricted. This could be due to import/delivery restrictions or eligibility requirements within the Global Shipping Programme. The item will not be sent on to its final destination and will not be returned to you.

[Chris]

Tubes sent were:

Electro Harmonix EH 5U4GB.

[pre65]

Very strange. Did you have shipping insurance ?

I have heard that Italy can be a dodgy place to send things to, although the relatively few things I have purchased from Italian suppliers have come through OK.

[John Caswell]

This sounds like someone has got their knickers in a twist to me. Get onto Global to find out what is going on. I regularly ship and receive valves from abroad without any problems.
Remember the higher up you take the **** the further out it spreads on the way down.

John

[Richard]

Yes I agree with John, there are some rules about magnets and batteries but it sounds like someone is being over cautious, were they described as electronic in any way? I describe such as vintage audio spare parts.

[snowman_al]

Sorry to report that this has been a problem for at least 3 years.
Just google 'Vacuum tube on ebay GSP' or 'sending vacuum tubes on ebay' or similar.


There are as many theories as answers, but the GSP restricts certain categories and or items. Wonder if you should of had a warning when you listed the items?

[Richard]

Ah yes see what you mean Al. I was reading the op as it being a customs block but perhaps it was an eBay block. I've sent valves to various European and Hong Kong etc no problems and 12" speaker units to Italy etc, but I just went down to the Post Office and followed their guidelines, not eBay shipping. Why eBay should block might be fragile glass or pressure/vacuum item I suppose or too easy an insurance claim for scammers posting broken items.

[Chris]

The buyer had a complete refund and I was able to keep the payment of the item and postage, so possibly stopped outside of ebay's control.

Chris