Overseas purchases and shipping

cr4igo

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
21
Hey guys,
Currently located in Florida US. I was wondering if anyone stateside has made purchases from some of the overseas board members. I can only assume that the travel time and LAG experiences vary. Species being purchased and its sensitivity could also be an issue... What are your experiences? I'm noticing that certain species of scorpion and tarantula are slightly less expensive. I figured with shipping and good board prices I could potentially get some rarer species for good or better prices. My main concern is death during shipping and then being out the money shelled out. Thanks again!
 

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
Staff member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
3,292
Hey guys,
Currently located in Florida US. I was wondering if anyone stateside has made purchases from some of the overseas board members. I can only assume that the travel time and LAG experiences vary. Species being purchased and its sensitivity could also be an issue... What are your experiences? I'm noticing that certain species of scorpion and tarantula are slightly less expensive. I figured with shipping and good board prices I could potentially get some rarer species for good or better prices. My main concern is death during shipping and then being out the money shelled out. Thanks again!
Intercontinental shipping overnight will be insanely expensive, if available at all. You've got plenty of great breeders and dealers here in the States with rare species, why bother going overseas? Not to mention, you'll have to ensure that you're not breaking any laws by shipping across boarders. Florida has some very strict import/export laws as I'm sure you know.
 

cr4igo

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
21
@Vixvy and @SARNAC seem to have some rarer species <'scorpions in particular'> compared to other board members. Prices are slightly lower but with shipping factored in, break even or even pay more. Dubias in FL... definitely a no no... Not that I haven't seen them ;) Just curious about the import and shipping process. Someone has experienced it.
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
Slightly less expensive? Ah ah you can say that, man. But remember: those European (or worldwide) "steal" prices are nothing at the end of the day against the brand new :mooning: that the "system" will open to "you" in the case of a brown boxing parcel spotted.

Unless of course "you" have all the regular import papers/bureaucrecy/licenses etc and what needed for.

I agree with EulersK and btw "those that risk" or dared to risk before, as far as I know used normal shipping only, and DOA and such things doesn't even enter in the issue.
 

Vanessa

Grammostola Groupie
Joined
Mar 12, 2016
Messages
2,423
There was recently another US member who purchased some tarantulas from overseas. Eventually, after many days, they did arrive. I believe only a couple ended up being alive.
The legalities were discussed extensively on that thread. There are so many laws that need to be researched and understood before shipping live animals, including invertebrates, over borders - especially into the USA and Canada. Chances are very slim that it would be legal.
It would be far more beneficial to you, and the animals, if you stuck to ordering within the USA. If you are looking for something more rare, sometimes you can contact breeders and ask them to keep an eye open for you if they are importing from other countries. I know that Tarantula Canada always send out an email to their subscribers before doing an import asking us if there is anything specific we are looking for.
 

cr4igo

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
21
@Chris LXXIX Appreciate the response. I really didn't think hard about the legality aspects of it. I've ordered 'different' umm substances from overseas. Probably putting myself at huge risk from a legal perspective. Thanks again!
 

Chris LXXIX

ArachnoGod
Joined
Dec 25, 2014
Messages
5,845
@Chris LXXIX Appreciate the response. I really didn't think hard about the legality aspects of it. I've ordered 'different' umm substances from overseas. Probably putting myself at huge risk from a legal perspective. Thanks again!
Oh nothing man. I have, of course, a personal opinion about the whole "brown boxing" issue thing. I have noticed more than once that this term, "brown boxing", jumps out only when U.S or Canada are involved but reality is different.

For instance: If you live in Greece, Italy, France or what else among UE nations, and you order T's from... don't know, mere example, Indonesia... well, without the import papers (which of course this, as a pure technical detail, could differ from the U.S needed ones, and prices etc) is "brown boxing" as well, for that there's UE laws about.

Granted, lazy, more or less, controls. Maybe less severe than the U.S ones. Or a bit more of a soft laws, or the "who care" mentality but still, "brown boxing" is "brown boxing".
 

TownesVanZandt

Arachnoprince
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
1,041
Oh nothing man. I have, of course, a personal opinion about the whole "brown boxing" issue thing. I have noticed more than once that this term, "brown boxing", jumps out only when U.S or Canada are involved but reality is different.

For instance: If you live in Greece, Italy, France or what else among UE nations, and you order T's from... don't know, mere example, Indonesia... well, without the import papers (which of course this, as a pure technical detail, could differ from the U.S needed ones, and prices etc) is "brown boxing" as well, for that there's UE laws about.

Granted, lazy, more or less, controls. Maybe less severe than the U.S ones. Or a bit more of a soft laws, or the "who care" mentality but still, "brown boxing" is "brown boxing".
Here up North it´s a little different. Luckily enough we´re not members of the EU, but the backside is that we have rigid control of the mail coming in to Norway. Anything with a value of more than 300 NOK (around 31.5 EUR) you need to pay importation fees and taxes for. When it comes to T´s, we have a list of species we can freely import from anywhere. But, they don´t really bother about spiders. They scan it, see a spider, see that the value is declared as less than 300 NOK and let them through. When it comes to clothes, enclosures or electronics it´s another matter. They will for sure open it and try to force you to pay some importations fees for it. Even if you get the people sending you, say, a brand new iPhone to declare it as worth 29 EUR, the custom officials will say "haha, no way, you´re not fooling us!". If a parcel with 10 female P. metallica is declared as worth 5 EUR, they will think "eeeek, live spiders, you could not pay me 10.000 EUR to come close to them!" :D
 
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cr4igo

Arachnopeon
Joined
May 25, 2016
Messages
21
Always seems to be taxes and fees now a days... Maybe its time to move to Europe. The tarantula seminars that I have watched online seem to draw a huge following. I'd love to attend someday :)
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Hey guys,
Currently located in Florida US. I was wondering if anyone stateside has made purchases from some of the overseas board members. I can only assume that the travel time and LAG experiences vary. Species being purchased and its sensitivity could also be an issue... What are your experiences? I'm noticing that certain species of scorpion and tarantula are slightly less expensive. I figured with shipping and good board prices I could potentially get some rarer species for good or better prices. My main concern is death during shipping and then being out the money shelled out. Thanks again!
The issue isn't the species price. You will need a permit from the Federal gov't, not hard to get. However, the minimum order from another country could be anywhere from 500-2,000$. It's 2,000$ min order value to get Ts from TCanada.
 

EulersK

Arachnonomicon
Staff member
Joined
Feb 22, 2013
Messages
3,292
The issue isn't the species price. You will need a permit from the Federal gov't, not hard to get. However, the minimum order from another country could be anywhere from 500-2,000$. It's 2,000$ min order value to get Ts from TCanada.
Which is why intercontinental shipping does happen, just with established dealers who have the funds to lay down in investment.
 

viper69

ArachnoGod
Old Timer
Joined
Dec 8, 2006
Messages
17,851
Which is why intercontinental shipping does happen, just with established dealers who have the funds to lay down in investment.
Obviously, or I and many others in the USA wouldn't own quite a few species and localities. Some people see those Euro prices, and think ordering from abroad as a USA citizen is no different than ordering from Swifts/Jamie/Arachnoiden/classifieds.

The USFW license is not expensive, it's 100$, all the rest becomes expensive.

Here's a concise breakdown for an import shipment into the USA, minus Euro/Dollar fluctuations in value, I looked into this at one point, but decided against it.

Bringing in say 15K worth of spiders (€ -> USD value), one would pay $750 air cargo + $250 USFW fee +$250 US Customs fee + $250 broker fees and other fees (even the clerk at Lufthansa will charge $25 for filling out paperwork) = roughly $1500 per shipment.
 
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cold blood

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
13,223
:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

Without expensive permits from both the seller and the buyer...what you get is on top of this guy's head-->:bag:
 

TownesVanZandt

Arachnoprince
Joined
May 12, 2015
Messages
1,041
:banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead::banghead:

Without expensive permits from both the seller and the buyer...what you get is on top of this guy's head-->:bag:
Oh, @cold blood , don´t knock your head into the walls repeatedly like this. From what I understand you live somewhere in the U.S with a similar climate to ours, so it´s just the heat of the summer catching up with you! :D I need your brain to be working in order to identify if I have fished salmon or big trouts over here! :wideyed:
 

cold blood

Moderator
Staff member
Joined
Jan 19, 2014
Messages
13,223
How did we go from overseas shipping to sports, politics and sexual orientation?
Oversea shipping for the hobbyist is pretty much an open and shut story....Leave it to the big dealers and buy from them, even at higher prices its still less than legally buying them yourself.

We should thank all these larger dealers that sink that much $ into these shipments and support their hobby supporting actions if we are able to.
 
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