Aussie Tilley Lamp Purchase from Britain - Goes Pear Shaped

Hi All

Very recently, via eBay, I purchased from England a Tilley Pork Pie lamp base. The transaction went well and seemingly all was good.



However I recieved this message from eBay's shipping persons, "Global Shipping Centre"

RESTRICTED ITEM
Dear Peter,

We are writing to inform you that your recent GSP transaction from XXXXX cannot be completed.

The item was stopped at the Global Shipping Center, and has been restricted from international shipment. The item will not be shipped forward to its final destination.
Under the terms of the Global Shipping Program, you will automatically receive a refund for the full purchase price plus all GSP program fees.



I have been refunded the monies, but that's not I want, I want the lamp .... dammit!!!
I must point out that I've purchase quite a bit of stuff from England, through eBay, including a PL53. I have had no issues until now, I was happy with all the previous eBay transactions.

I've tried to ask why its restricted but the site doesn't give me a clear avenue to do so, my particular question, WHY", doesn't fit the menu they provide. The "Global Shipping Center" site refers and gives a list of restricted and prohibited items and for the love of me I can't see why the lamp base has been restricted.

I have asked the seller as well and I'm waiting a reply.

Has anyone else had "Restricted" issues with lamps?

Has anyone else experienced a similar kind of action?

Can anyone suggest why the Tilley lamp base would be a restricted item?

I'd be very interested to find out, not knowing the cause will affect any future transactions, via eBay, with England.

Cheers
Peter

 

G'day Pete, I have not imported lanterns but there are several posts about the difficulties some members have had. Here are links to two of them.
Can you ship lantern parts?

Warning about posting lamps abroad!

 

Hi Pete, I have had one email like that.

I think the problem is that it had no control cock on it to stop leakage of any fuel left in it.

If it leaks or stinks ... it's going to be sent back.

I have had many sent from the UK with out a problem.

Better luck next time

 

Hi Martin

Thanks for the link .......... its explains all, basically if its a pressure vessel and at any time contained a hydrocarbon then its a restricted item and will not be shipped. This is even if it hasn't had any fuel in it for ages, if its going by air then forget it.

Buggeration and tulips......

Thanks again mate

Peter

 

I do not know what regulations the carrier has but when I have bought lanterns from Base-Camp, they always put on a copy of a confirmation from the Royal Mail that the products conform to their regulations.

Why not try to contact the seller and see if he got the tank back and make a buy directly from him and not involving eBay.
He can send it by himself and send the parts disassembled.
He should be able to state "spare parts" on the shipping manifest and I can not think there will be no problem.

Michael

 

The restriction is on the fuel so in theory an empty lamp tank should not be a problem. It sometimes is though because some cretin has decided that the work fuel means the item cannot be mailed. I have encountered this problem a couple of times and now ship stuff with UPS. They have the same rules but are prepared to accept your word that the tank is empty and free of fuel residues. Costs more perhaps but the items do arrive. ::Neil::

 

A year or two ago a chap from Germany asked for help in retrieving a couple of lamps which he had purchased from a seller in the UK, but was being held at the UK international goods depot with the threat of destruction due to the item being restricted - and leaking fuel.

I stepped up and contacted the shipper willing to collect the item. All good with them, and I stripped, purged residual fuel, and re-packaged the items and shipped through a different shipper.

The original shipper refunded the German customer in full, and I was able to ship the items at a lower cost. They arrived with the German customer intact, and he paid me handsomely for the effort.

So it can be done - unless Royal Mail has a hand in anything. But there's an irony: RM claim - and each Post Office counter staff will ask what is in the package - that batteries must not be sent through the post - even AAA's.

But guess what - you can buy batteries from any outlet selling through Ebay - and they arrive by - Royal Mail!

A lot seems to be about what is declared - and which jobsworth is on duty. But items once containing fuel have to be squeaky clean and bone dry.

 

Yep, I've had li-po batteries via Royal mail, aerosol spray paints and zippo lighter fluid all on the prohibited list, but no problems.

The last Tilley hospital lamp I bought, came out of the back of UKmails delivery van dripping with fuel and stinking the poor driver out, but it was delivered.

The trouble with the GSP is that I believe you have to put the Ebay item number on the parcel, which means the exact contents of that parcel are known and can be removed as Peter's has. Some items I've listed, I have been informed at the time of listing that they are not eligible for GSP and therefore I would have to organise shipping myself. For some reason Ebay haven't yet classed our lamps.

 

What a shame... I have purchased lanterns from England, Holland, and Germany and so far, never had any problems. The one thing I stress with the seller is that he makes sure the lantern is completely empty of all fuel. I know this can be a problem from what I've read. A lot of this crap is really up to the seller. They should be sure that all fuel is washed out and nothing is leaking before they send it.
These are the times we are living in and I guess we have little choice for our own protection.
Never know what Luney Toon is running around out there!

 

The problem here is obvious, it was sent using Ebays global shipping programme, this in turn uses the sellers description of the item he wanted to sell on ebay so the seller will have words like kerosene paraffin oil mantle lamp etc etc....this is what they would have used as the description of contents...which is a no no for rules....

 

When sending a lamp via parcel post I have been known to describe it as a "vintage light" which is true, and not to mention "oil" or "paraffin" or "pressure"
No good of course for ebay GSP that uses the sellers description.

 

Hi All

I've made contact with the seller, who is as perplex as I am. They have shipped a lot of lamps internationally and this is the first problem.
Its now appearing to be an issue with GSP in so much who's doing the evaluation on the day and their interpretation of the regulations. I have asked the seller if we could complete the purchase through a different channel. Lets see what transpires.

Cheers

Peter

 

Good luck, Peter - I lost a stove in exactly the same circumstances.

Best regards

Tony

 

On the very few occasions I have posted a lamp via Royal mail - I just tell the guy behind the counter it is a "light fitting" - No one has ever been interested enough to ask any further questions.

 

Had this very same problem when ordering a tank only (!) from a vendor and they ended up having the item shipped by slow boat across the pond to me. Took about 30 days, 2 weeks of going through ISC in New York then on to Maine. Think I could have paddle a kayak over and gotten it quicker. Perhaps they could do this for you.

 

Had the same problem with global shipping program from the states on a pretty rare X460 lantern. After it was deemed dangerous and money refunded it re appeared some weeks later on eBay and re sold. After 12 months of so I ended up purchasing the same lamp from the U.K. and received it without any problems. I organise my own freight through transglobal express who do a great job and class things appropriately and I have never had anything rejected from them to date

 

On the other hand........ Last year I recieved a lamp in "good working condition". Indeed it was, parafin and all. The parcel smelled like the hell unlit .