Customs police came to my home

[Mini airsoft]

It depends on what the letter states.

Does it say that you need to provide a defence, or that it has been seized - which may or may not give next steps?

As above posters have already commented, you want to give details on why your import is legitimate.  (And similar to the details in the VCRA declaration forms)

Your import is a RIF as per the VCRA

Your defence is as an “airsoft skirmisher” with UKARA membership details

(give your UKARA, and possibly your member site etc —— make sure that your UKARA address has not changed as that could be an issue and your UKARA had been checked and failed - if so then back that up with “first registered on date 123 at address abc and moved on date 234 to address xyz)

Add anything useful to back up skirmishing as your use is to play airsoft skirmishing at the insured site x

Back in the day I made my first VCRA import as a paintballer importing some 40mm shells for an underslung grenade launcher - I clearly had no UKARA defend and still do not.

My declaration responses went along the lines of :

Not a RIF

For scenario paintball events (as both player and organiser)

Gave my paintball UKPSF membership

Name of our team as event organisers and named the sites/events coming up to play 



(((I had actually forgotten that I had added a cheap BB shooting dummy launcher as part of the order which I was giving away to an airsofter, so declaring not a RIF could have potentially failed me)))



My declaration was accepted, but have no idea as to whether they accepted “not a RIF” or accepted my multiple declared paintball elements

This however was only just as the VCRA came into force, and was before people began to come back with scare stories of imports seized and destroyed 

Stick to being nice and providing a VCRA defence

Thank you mate!! 

Give as much information as you can,  regarding quoting the law, be careful how you explain it, you'll never meet an "official" who is prepared to be told how to do their job, especially if they've been rumbled for doing it wrong. 

So explain your toys should be covered by your ukara, a defence recognised under the violent crime reduction act, & that you've imported rifs previously with no problems.

Maybe try to ascertain exactly why they've been held, & if so where the fault lies, because if they dig their heels in, better to be able to prove the seller or the carrier is at fault, in order to pursue a refund or replacement. 

& whatever happens, remain polite & respectful, don't raise your voice or swear, even in a lighthearted context, these days there are so many triggers that can be invoked if you enable them.

Thanks! 

UKARA should be enough, but i bombarded them with info like RIF import declaration form, prior and future airsoft bookings, my photo ID, UKARA/site card photo, how it's valid under section whatever of VCRA blah blah.

Eventually after a bit of back and forth they released my stuff.

Okay mate thanks! 

 

[Mini airsoft]

Good news! They have release the parcels 

View attachment 147172

 

[Enid_Puceflange]

Nice!

Thats a relief for you dude ?

 

[EvilMonkee]

This is why I always include my UKARA as part of my address when ordering from abroad.

 

[Pseudotectonic]

We should be able to come up with a set of best practice to streamline the process. To ease the process for customs and minimise risks of seizure or police visit, we need the parcel to be very clear about what it is and what it isn't.

1. We can make or fill in a declaration form ourselves, and tell the overseas sender to attach it to the parcel. This saves time for UPS to email you asking for it. The Tracking Number field can be left blank so the seller or UPS can fill it in themselves.

  - Since there is no official format of such a declaration, essentially it just needs to says what the parcel is and what it isn't.

  - To make it extra clear what the relevant rules are, the declaration form can contain small paragraphs to explain this is a VCRA controlled import, and the declaration is made for such control i.e. providing defence. Meaning, it is NOT firearms or other stuff requiring some sort of license, but an RIF or airsoft adjacent goods that are relevant to VCRA only.

  - The form made by UPS should do this job fine at telling what it is and isn't, but it is very basic and can confuse or spook a customs officer when they see some checkboxes for firearms, leading to them wrongly follow the procedures for firearms. So there is potential for a better version of a declaration form made specifically for RIFs and airsoft goods.

2. The parcel should have clear markings of "VCRA IMPORT SEE DECLARATION" and "UKARA NUMBER", to eliminate any excuse for customs officers (or police) to not look at the declaration attached.

  - As suggested by others some people are doing it in a hacky way like putting it as part of address. But if it isn't a big and bold and obvious label, it could be missed. It should be identifiable at first glance, like any other warning labels on other types of parcels.

With 1+2, overseas retailers need to update their procedures for sending to the UK.

We can probably draft some basic leaflets or paragraphs explaining what a new best practice might be. Which can then be copy pasted or emailed to the overseas shop.

For example...

Dear shop,

Pls do this, also make sure to attach the RIF_declaration_YYYYMMDD_UKARA-ABC12345.pdf

Thanks,

Buyer

 

[EvilMonkee]

Believe me, none of that will work with UPS who are simply the biggest bunch of idiots I have ever dealt with.  Plus the OP was talking about Parcelforce not UPS

 

[Pseudotectonic]

The method is carrier-agnostic because it doesn't matter who is the courier, the parcel has to go through customs at some point.

Having the seller print it out is the best way to make sure it stays declared all the way. At no point in time customs can get spooked by an undeclared gun shaped object.

 

[EvilMonkee]

The method is carrier-agnostic because it doesn't matter who is the courier, the parcel has to go through customs at some point.

Having the seller print it out is the best way to make sure it stays declared all the way. At no point in time customs can get spooked by an undeclared gun shaped object.

Incorrect, you are assuming that the carrier doesn't also act as the customs agent - which UPS and others often do.  PF go via Border Force and Customs the others frequently don't.  Believe me UPS are an issue and avoid using them

 

[Anonymoose]

Good news! They have release the parcels 

View attachment 147172

That's the same guy i dealt with. ?

 

[Enid_Puceflange]

That's the same guy i dealt with. ?

You must’ve rattled his cage and he took it out on the OP ?

 

[Anonymoose]

You must’ve rattled his cage and he took it out on the OP ?

?

 

[Pseudotectonic]

Incorrect, you are assuming that the carrier doesn't also act as the customs agent - which UPS and others often do.  PF go via Border Force and Customs the others frequently don't.  Believe me UPS are an issue and avoid using them

Customs agents are not customs. And if UPS has a habit of fucking up, all the more reason to tell the seller to attach the declaration from the get go.

 

[BigAl]

Not impoIted for a few years but I always used to e mail border force with details of what was coming and my defence as soon as I received tracking details. As well as this I used to e mail sellers a letter addressed to Border Force to attach to package,  Never had any issues.  Though as I said this was several years ago, should still work though.

 

[EvilMonkee]

Customs agents are not customs. And if UPS has a habit of fucking up, all the more reason to tell the seller to attach the declaration from the get go.

You understand what a Customs agent is? Someone who acts on behalf of customs?  Its not hard.

 

[Pseudotectonic]

You understand what a Customs agent is? Someone who acts on behalf of customs?  Its not hard.

What even are you on about? Someone acting on behalf of another person doesn't mean they are the same person. Customs agents are not the one seizing your parcel.

I get you are mad about UPS. Which is fine. I am not saying UPS is good either.

 

[EDcase]

When I buy from abroad I always include my UKARA with label in the address to make sure it appears clearly on the box.

Not had a problem with customs but had to pay taxes a couple of times.

 

[r1flyguy]

When I buy from abroad I always include my UKARA with label in the address to make sure it appears clearly on the box.

Do you by any chance have an example you could share please ?? obviously remove your info and insert goofy details, I’d just like to see a ‘pro-forma’ to follow. It would be very much appreciated. TIA

We should be able to come up with a set of best practice to streamline the process. To ease the process

1. We can make or fill in a declaration form ourselves, and tell the overseas sender to attach it to the parcel. 

  - Since there is no official format of such a declaration, essentially it just needs to says what the parcel is and what it isn't.

  - To make it extra clear what the relevant rules are, the declaration form can contain small paragraphs to explain this is a VCRA controlled import,

2. The parcel should have clear markings of "VCRA IMPORT SEE DECLARATION" and "UKARA NUMBER", to eliminate any excuse for customs officers (or police) to not look at the declaration attached.

Hi @pseudotectonic

Did you by any chance create a pro-forma for your above post???

if so would you be kind enough to share it or PM me a copy, obviously with just the blank areas to fill in.

I recently popped into a shop in Fort Myers, FL and they have a item I’d love to purchase and ship home to the UK, they have never shipped to the uk before but would be very happy to do so if I provided all the info to prevent what the OP has gone through recently 

cheers

 

[Cannonfodder]

Do you by any chance have an example you could share please ?? obviously remove your info and insert goofy details, I’d just like to see a ‘pro-forma’ to follow. It would be very much appreciated. TIA

I think what he means is to put your ukara number as part of the address, eg

Joe Bloggs ukara no ABC1234,

69 High Street,

Anytownville,

Acounty.

AB1 C23

 

[r1flyguy]

I think what he means is to put your ukara number as part of the address, eg

Joe Bloggs ukara no ABC1234,

69 High Street,

Anytownville,

Acounty.

AB1 C23

ok cool, just need to understand the declaration form part and I’m good to go ??

 

[EDcase]

Yeah, usually there's an unused line in the address field.

Joe Blogs,

UKARA ABC1234

1 High St,

Sunnyville,

KT10 1KT