TO ALL NON-US SWORD ENTHUSIASTS:
How to Buy Swords from the US at a low cost and without the headache...
If you live outside of the US and buy swords from your local store or website, 95% of the time you will end up paying through the nose. Yet it is also a situation that you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t, because International shipping fees by UPS are often ridiculously high...
And it gets even harder sometimes when you find that the sword you want, that is being sold at a great price in the US – won’t be shipped out because the seller does not deal with non-US customers (this happens a lot more often than you might think, as the risks often outweigh the rewards from the merchants point of view).
So what to do?
Well, fortunately – there is a solution that allows you to buy swords as if you were in the US, get GREAT rates on your shipping AND legally pay less on any potential import duties!
The companies name is Access USA and they provide you with a STREET address (not just a PO BOX) and unique suite number in Florida. You can then buy swords from US companies and have them shipped to your Florida address, where as soon as they come in you receive an email from Access and can decide whether you wish to hold the shipment or have it sent out to you.
Once it is sent, you receive an email with links to copies of the shipping invoice they make (which you can legally decide to show as a WHOLEALE cost, which they will mark at around 40% of the RETAIL price – a BIG help with reducing duties) as well as tracking info, etc so you can safely guide it home.
And the best part is, the cost of shipping . For example, two Cheness swords to Denmark cost US$100 to send and arrive by DHL within 2 business days – as opposed to US$235 by UPS! And a single Hanwei sword to Australia cost US$60, instead of UPS rate of US$150, and arrived also within 2 days!!!
The ONLY downside to this service is the initial set up cost of $45 and an ongoing monthly fee of $15. But as you can see, even if you only shipped two swords a year – you would still be ahead. And their service is truly personalized and exceptional - just tell them what to do with a particular shipment and they'll do it!
A great service and a God send for anyone who wants to buy swords from the US without the headache and expense usually associated with International shipping. Indeed, I recently found out the only real restriction is that the item shipped cannot be over 9’ long, so you can buy swords of practically any dimension – and get the best deal!
Have a look at their calculator below to get an idea of the savings (after you enter the items weight, you’ll get the option to select your country in a pop-up window).
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NOTE: While it lists ‘weapons’ as prohibited items list, obviously the examples they give refer to guns, tasers, rocket launchers, tanks and probably nuclear weapons too. As many people I know buy swords and ship them by this method, it obviously is not a problem – though it is important not to ship any swords that are prohibited by your local laws and customs otherwise you could get fined and/or have the swords confiscated.
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A SPECIAL THANK YOU: To Jens Ole Knudsen of Denmark for being the first sword enthsiast to try out and recommend this service to me. Great work Jens Ole, as you can see by this post on the SBG Sword Forums, there are a lot of International enthusiasts who want to buy swords from the USA that have been waiting for something like this... :-D
I hope this information for International sword enthusiasts has been helpful. To return to The Sword Buyers Directory from How to Buy Swords from the US at a low cost and without the headache..., click here.
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