Banner Sponsors
For artists and collectors sponsored by Intercal...your mohair supplier and Johnna's Mohair Store
Posts: 36I remember seeing a post about U.S. Customs doing bad things to bears. I bought a Jodi Moisan bear off of ebay from a girl in the U.K. selling part of her collection. Will it probably be safe, or should I ask her to include a note to customs? I don't but too many things from overseas, so I don't really think a whole lot about how Customs affects me personally.
aerBearsI think that was just a random check. I have sent several bears overseas and they arrived safely. I am awaiting my first shipment from overseas but I am not expecting any problems.
It wouldn't hurt to ask her to put a note in there especially if the bear has steel shot for stuffing. But if you think about it, if someone was sending drugs or bombs overseas in cute teddy bears, they would also put a note in there asking them not to tear any of them open. 
So I am not sure how helpful the note would be.
Good luck!
Aerianna
Posts: 36Okay, another question I have is this: If they ruin a perfectly good bear, will they reimburse the amount, or am I just out the money? It would be just my luck that MY bear would be that random victim!
Patty
I've probably sent 40 bears to the US in the last 12 months and not had a problem....I think what happened to Melanie Jayne was an unfortunate incident with a rather over-zealous officer. If it hasn't been posted yet, ask her to put the "this bear has been stuffed with...." on the green customs form - it's just an extra precaution.
In the only other incident apart from Melanie Jayne's that I heard of, the customs people contacted the sender of the parcel and said they wanted to know what was inside and that the buyer could either pay x amount to have it fumigated or x amount to return it to the sender. If that were to happen to me, I think I would wear the cost of the return and I'd definitely refund the buyer's money - it's not their fault that customs stopped the bear.
