Has anyone ever had problems buying knives from the US?

[Rebel]

I've bought several knives from the US and never had a problem.

It needs to be legal to own in the UK. Locking and fixed blades are fine but flick knives, balisongs, push daggers, etc are not.

Some people over on British Blades have had a few problems with over zealous customs officials confiscating legal knives. Whether yours gets held up in customs seems to be luck of the draw.

 

[PREPER]

I thought you couldn't buy knives on Ebay in the UK?

The knife I bought was from Paramount Outdoor Sporting Goods ebay.com (USA) as opposed to ebay.co.uk (UK) - A good quick service.

Hope this helps,

PREPER................

 

[Rumcajs]

OK, it’s not exactly a knife but I had my Leatherman delivered from US.
One-hand opener with locking blade thus illegal in UK. I had absolutely no problems with delivery, only had to pay customs duty.

 

[Mike8472]

I collect bayonets and order quite alot from US, have had several packages opened by customs and they just put opened by customs tape on it and post it on to me.

 

[sargey]

i buy most of my knives from the us, i've never ever had a problem other than shippers over valueing the goods, so i paid more than my fair share of import duty. for the most part i don't often get stung for import duty, once or twice i've had to pay over the odds. okenest:

OK, it’s not exactly a knife but I had my Leatherman delivered from US.
One-hand opener with locking blade thus illegal in UK. I had absolutely no problems with delivery, only had to pay customs duty.

just to clarify, a leatherman is not at all "illegal" in the uk. there's no law against it. but if you're out and about you would need to have reasonable cause to have it about your person, or as one police officer i spoke to recently insisted, a "legal reason"

once upon a time my mrs ordered a wristwatch direct from the states. it was held up in customs and the nice customs men sent her a very scary letter. on the very same day the cary letter arrived i got a big box of knives from the states, and a big axe from germany! she was not amused!

cheers, and.

 

[pitta-pitta]

So has anyone actually had one impounded personally. Never to be seen again.

 

[sargey]

well, not me.

tbh, the only time i've ever heard of this was with the tops atax being misconstrued as a push dagger. but that was technically hearsay.

cheers, and.

 

[Noddy]

...............

 

[pitta-pitta]

OK thanks. I'm just trying to work out if it's really hppened to lots of people here or if it's just an urban myth that one person tells another, tells another type of thing but nobody actually had it happen to them?

 

[hatethatgiraffe]

I've had a knife seized by customs, later released on appeal!
Funny thing was that it was a ukpk, totally legal and designed specifically for the uk Market!
Started my addiction to britishblades lol

There are numerous threads over there on knife seizures!

 

[wanderingblade]

OK thanks. I'm just trying to work out if it's really hppened to lots of people here or if it's just an urban myth that one person tells another, tells another type of thing but nobody actually had it happen to them?

I'm aware of 5 individual cases.

4 seized due to the over zelous application of the gravity knife definition and one plonker who bought a repro WWI trench knife which had a large spikey knuckleduster guard (theres always one )

 

[Improviser]

I bought a Gerber Lmf2 from the knifecenter in the US (no affiliation ect) at a knock down price last summer,even with postage worked out a lot cheaper than UK price.
The package arrived hassle free within a week via UPS, i was well happy with the transaction overall BUT 3 weeks later i recieved a letter from UPS stating the duty must be paid within 2 weeks or court proceedings would commence!

Whether UPS informed customs or it was picked up randomly i dont know but being the first time i had bought anything from overseas i wasnt sure at what point vat was payable to whom and just presumed wrongly it had slipped the net so beware!
Didnt need the hassle as the knife was a gift so i wont be going down that road again.

 

[jungleman]

I bought a Gerber Lmf2 from the knifecenter in the US (no affiliation ect) at a knock down price last summer,even with postage worked out a lot cheaper than UK price.
The package arrived hassle free within a week via UPS, i was well happy with the transaction overall BUT 3 weeks later i recieved a letter from UPS stating the duty must be paid within 2 weeks or court proceedings would commence!

Whether UPS informed customs or it was picked up randomly i dont know but being the first time i had bought anything from overseas i wasnt sure at what point vat was payable to whom and just presumed wrongly it had slipped the net so beware!
Didnt need the hassle as the knife was a gift so i wont be going down that road again.

Hi. I had exactly the same happen to me when I has something sent to me from Australia, via Fed EX. the extra amount was nearly more than the item was worth, so be aware when buying from overseas.
Jungleman

 

[woof]

I 've purchased 2 knives made by Jim Adams of black toe knives, and both arrived within a week. He posted a 3rd to me on 11-1-10, and nothing yet. They were all fixed blades.

Rob

 

[Terr]

I wish I'd read this thread before buying a Becker BK2 and CRKT neck knife from Knifecenter. Hopefully all goes well and comes through no problems. Both are fixed blades an the CRKT is tiny.

 

[andy r]

I've been waiting 5 weeks now for a fixed blade, turns out it was shipped USPS so is probably swimming !

 

[robevs73]

I have orderd quite a few from the US with no problems but I sold one 2 months ago to a customer from Oregon and he neve got it. I had a spyderco Hossom forester from the US last week that took a wile to get here but that was due to the volcano (I think).

 

[JonathanD]

Just to make everyone aware that this thread was started by Tim Noble in one of his multiple identities.

 

[Siberianfury]

Just to make everyone aware that this thread was started by Tim Noble in one of his multiple identities.

hes gone and done it for himself now lol.

 

[JonathanD]

hes gone and done it for himself now lol.

Uh oh, whats he been upto now