Michael

As someone who likes in the UK (and we have traded together ourselves) it seems from the article that you posted that only certain countries may have problems with shipping, although it did not say which ones.

It appears that shipping to and from the UK is ok, and most packages arrive in around a week.

The only problem I have is with import duties, and I wonder if this has been part of the reason for the costs here.

Any shipment from the US to the UK (and I believe the rest of Europe) for more than around $25 is subject to VAT (which in the UK is 17.5%) and Import Duty (which comes to around 5% in the UK). This has affected my buying chips from dealers who charge above face value and provide an invoice as customs use this and charge me these costs before I collect my chips, otherwise they get sent back to the sender.

On a trade, the charges still apply, but for a face value for face value trade, the customs declaration can list only the face value, and so this brings down the import costs, and in most cases falls below the threshold for charges.

Hope this may be of use to anyone sending chips.

As a final note, I have only had one damaged package so far, which was re-sealed and packaged by the post office here, and the chips were complete and undamaged, mainly due to the quality of the packaging inside the outer envelope.

Jason