Posting wooden yoyos to the US

Do you know if any of these companies needes a permit to ship their wooden items to the US?

I suppose you wouldn’t know, I guess. That would be something they’d need to organise at their end.

That doesn’t apply to wood. It’s agricultural items.

If that’s the case, then I can post away!

But are you sure about that?

Every time I mail a package that’s one of the questions they ask - “Does this contain any plants?” Never “does this contain wood.”

Plants can carry diseases and parasites, wood, not so much.

Why don’t you ask your postal people?

I will when I go to the post office today.

They don’t really speak much English though.

So I checked at the post office as to whether it is ok to post wooden items to the US or not.

The lady had her handy-dandy guide to posting overseas and apparently it’s all OK!

Good news for me! :slight_smile:

Items made from wood is usually not a problem. The US post office is more concerned with unmarked, uninspected packages that have plants that are still alive, soil, and or raw lumber.

I’m still not so sure about all this. My post office says it’s fine, other Australian wood working sites say it’s fine but I read on the US Customs site in regard to importing wood:

“A Timber and Timber Products Import Permit (PPQ form 585) must accompany each wood shipment. The permit will list the required treatment.”

That really does sound like no wood products can be posted to the US without a special permit.

I think you’re over thinking this.

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I really hope that you’re right. Perhaps I am.

I just really want to get some of my wooden fixed axles in hands. I’m getting some new tools to help open up new shape possibilities and hopefully greater quality finish and accuracy. If I can’t post these to the US then it would really suck.

I assume they are referring to raw bulk wood. If not shipping a pencil would require a permit. :slight_smile:

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Haha. You’re absolutely right.

That’s putting it very succinctly.

It is really dependent on CITES. If the wood you are using is protected in any way by CITES. Something like Brazilian Rosewood, Madagascar Rosewood, a lot of Ebony, etc. They all require paper work. However, it kind of goes back to the whole “if you don’t get caught” thing. I doubt USPS is opening every package and checking what it is, and neither is customs I’d think.

It’s just that off chance that you are using a protected wood, and customs checks your package and sees that there is no paperwork for it, that is where problems begin…and fines.

Thanks, Aaron. Fortunately I haven’t posted anything listed on CITES. What about the IUCN? Are there fines for any woods listed there?

I’m not as familiar with them. I worked with guitars for years, CITES is what we dealt with 99% of the time, so became quite familiar with them.

Well after more research, it’s become pretty clear that posting wooden yoyos to the US is a no go.

It’s a shame really. Lately I’ve been making some ultra nice yoyos out of Australian woods. I’m in the process of getting my branding together, and I may have even ended up selling them on the YYE store.

Never mind. You folks in the US already have plenty of great wooden yoyos to choose from.

Check into wood that already has documentation. If you have the paperwork on wood that says it meets the various qualifications and that it’s not illegal then you can ship a lot easier.

In the musical instrument world Cole Clark and Maton guitars use native Australian woods and are shipped to the US all the time. I use to be a dealer for Cole Clark.

Some times there are loop holes for “Finished products” also, if the wood is known to be a safe wood (not harbor insects or disease), and not endangered, then it may be fine to ship these to the US.

Just a couple other options that just came to mind.

I finally managed to get a hold of the American Embassy here in Australia.

They told me it was perfectly fine to post wooden yoyos to the USA! It’s great to finally have a clear answer.

I will be listing my yoyos on my BST again soon. :slight_smile:

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