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FrozenGate by Avery

Host seized by Australian customs

henraay said:
Might I ask, where did you purchase your lasers from? :D The seller had trouble getting things shipped initially. It took him 4 days to ship it out but he has good service. The Chinese tracking is pretty dodgy, (still says its in china) but you can't expect too much for what you're paying for. He is very helpful and polite which is always a good thing. I have messaged him about it getting picked up by customs.
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I will get the sellers from fleabay and get back to you by pm, both of them would basically put whatever i wanted on the customs declaration and not send the battery or charger which is a big flag to the parcel being opened up by customs ...
 





I haven't read the Australian regulations
However, often these types of regulations contain clauses that allow such seizures

Descriptors such as "components specifically designed for . . " allow for the parts to be seized

Also, if the "host" is something like a "just add diode" kit, they often justify seizure by using descriptors like, "with insignificant" or "with minor" alterations or changes

Peace,
dave
 
Ravenlase said:
austrilla has really strict laser laws good luck..
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very Strict but lazy or slack its really unfortunate you lost your host i believe you can be unlucky at times customs miss things and depending on what's it Called makes a big difference as to if customs bother opening and checking whats inside parcel. I ordered 7 lasers in last month and 6 so far are in my hands, one to go. But at no time was any remote mention of laser was mentioned and just torch or stage lighting was used, no batteries and stickers removed from lasers i have copies I've just put back on them ,luck of the draw ..but its only way we can continue with our illegal hobby and that's fact unless your happy with 1mw cat chase toys
 
Wow, nothing gets past Aus customs.

I guess the shape of it appeared like a working laser.
 
The customs have no proof that the host is used for laser more than 1mW.
You need stick to the story that the host is bought for a diy laser of 1mW. The customs have nothing to stand on.
 
I wonder if it coming from China was a red flag for customs (no pun intended, but its appreciated! :) )? We are going to be making a host for anaoum..and shipping it to Australia...any tips on what we should put, or not put, on the customs paperwork? We've shipped to Belgium and had no problems...we just put "professional sample" on the paperwork..no issues at all and it went right through. We were going to do the same..."flashlight body" for description.
 
From all the sellers I've spoken to, none of them seem to have had any problems. This is the first I've heard of a host being seized.

danefex had the clever idea of packing a few flash light parts in with the host so that even if customs opened it, they'd be convinced it was indeed a flash light.
 
Damn it! that sucks badly! Tyrannical governments everywhere now. Bull shit like this will soon be happening in the US now that NSA is monitoring our email/phone/internet access as well as drones flying overhead! You need some people down there with boats and private planes to start smuggling things in. Its also time for the 99% to get their heads out of their asses and rise up and retake control. All our leaders have failed us and its time for them to be replaced!:mad:
 
not sure if this exact solution was mentioned but since you bought it on ebay and im guessing paid through paypal, you have both of them protecting you. you can contact the seller and say it didnt arrive and see if they will send you a new one. tracking should show that it wasnt delivered. if they say no and wont refund you then you can open a claim and show that it was never delivered. You should win since it was a host, there for not illegal in any way so PP cant say it was against their policy.......best of luck
 
I cant see them claiming a laser without any diode to be over 1mW. That's just stupid. With that logic you could seize everything claiming it has the potential to be something illegal.

Box of wild and wacky party straws?

Clearly you're doing cocaine.

Seized for drug paraphernalia
 
You're pretty much SOL. I understand your frustration but going after the seller for a customs seizure is a douche move IMO because unless they did something stupid and mentioned "laser" on the customs form they did nothing wrong and fulfilled their obligation. You could try to contact them and see if they'll replace it or maybe offer a discount another but I wouldn't lie about it. The sucky thing is your address and likely the
seller's is now on their list so they'll probably


I know I probably sound like a jerk for saying that but trust me I was sweating bullets while waiting for over $1000 USD in lasers to clear customs this summer especially when one of them took almost two weeks to. Even though the most expensive one (CNI 80mw 589nm) has all the mandated FDA safety features AFAIK it doesn't have an accession number so had it been seized I'd have been most likely been hosed. Of course for what that cost me I would have fought it.
 
And the buyer has no way of knowing what they put on the customs form so how is it a DBag move? It isnt at all. He bought something and it isnt illegal so delivery should be 100% guaranteed by both feebay and PP policies. If you bought a TV online from bestbuy and had it shipped to your house then for some reason the post off leaves you a note saying "sorry we cant deliver your box because its illegal" youd dam well would go after bestbuy and the post office. this is the same deal so please someone dont say it isnt. He bought something that was 100% LEGAL and it is being confiscated. complete BS!

Same thing goes for if you went to a sporting event and on the way in security took your camera saying it was illegal when clearly its just a camera.......id fight the crap out of that. obviously its up to the OP but if i were him, id fight that through PP and fleabay!

Its 100% WRONG of Aus to steal a little EMPTY aluminum host

EDIT: completely different story if it really was a laser but its an EMPTY host! for all they know he could have made it into a flashlight!
 
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Really, you should be going after customs, because they are the ones that made the mistake; they seized an item that was perfectly legal.
 
however as mentioned above, the seller might have put the word laser on the customs form so its not 100% customs fault. you are unable to assign blame without looking at the confiscated package
 
I contacted the seller and he said that he always says on the declaration "LED Accessories" or "LED parts". He offered to re-send the host to me but I did not want to risk a $1100 fine for trying to "import prohibited" things. Instead, I asked for a 50% refund which was immediately refunded to me. I will now purchase a host from an Australian seller on LPF if I can find one.

Thank you for your replies and I hope all goes well :)
henraay
 
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