EBAY GSC UK - ORDER OF CULTURED PEARL JEWELRY DID NOT PASS CUSTOMS TO USA ?

[faith55]

Maui Divers Single Pearl, non-vintage, necklace. Restricted? 

Lichfield, Staffordshire, GBUK eBay Global Shipping Center: Item was there for 10 days, then I got a notice it did not pass customs for import to USA. Cultured pearl, not endangered. Not really valuable. Just curious how many eBay US buyers are having purchases refunded? and it this is the responsibility of seller, or eBay, and GSC UK? 

I can find no information disallowing import of Pearl, Single, cultured, being on restricted item. 

eBay holds seller to be informed they are supposed to know. Pitney Bowes was GSC shipping agent for the seller. Pitney Bowes / UPAA 'destroyed' this item. I got refunded and seller got refunded. 

UK seller states they did not know ...should they know & be informed by eBay?

Called into eBay, they said that the notes did not states why the item was restricted

This seems to be ignorance on the part of Pitney Bowes and the seller. 

Thank you, Anyone else having purchase issues? 

Natural Pearls not able to import to US where they were made?

[itscalledapostingid]

I believe US customs requires proof of the country of origin for that item.

When the Global Shipping Programe sees that info is missing they may halt the shipment, refund the buyer and dispose of the item. The new "ebay International Shipping" program for US sellers does that too.

It happens. We see similar posts occasionally.

[mudshark61369 · Accepted solution]

@faith55,

The previous answer is pretty much correct. If the single pearl "non-vintage necklace" actually means New, then a proof of country of origin for the pearl,  would have been required for it to be shipped internationally. 

As for the seller knowing about the export/import regulations, that would depend on how much experience the seller has shipping jewelry with Pearl(s) on them has. Older pearl necklaces can be sent, but the customs form should be filled out giving an approximate time of manufacture. Besides a customs declaration form the seller would have to have filled out a U.S. Fish & Wildlife certificate, which a U.K. seller may not know about.

  Another thing that may have caused the stop shipment may have had something to do with Maui Divers being part of the listing.  The only pearl bearing oysters in Hawaiian waters are Black Lipped Oysters, and they are forbidden from being harvested. I believe the ban went into effect in the 1930s due to the over harvesting of them.  There is a cultured pearl farm in Hawaii, whose pearls can be shipped internationally, but they do come with a F&W certificate of origin.

[faith55]

Hello, Cultured from the large Pinctada Maxima oyster,  most Maui Divers Jewelry's pearls are grown in the tropical and semi-tropical South Seas. Created by implanting a bead in the mollusk's mantle, each cultured pearl derives its unique color from the "lips" of the oyster. So these were from the white lipped oyster. Not endangered. 

[kathiec]

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@faith55 wrote:

Hello, Cultured from the large Pinctada Maxima oyster,  most Maui Divers Jewelry's pearls are grown in the tropical and semi-tropical South Seas. Created by implanting a bead in the mollusk's mantle, each cultured pearl derives its unique color from the "lips" of the oyster. So these were from the white lipped oyster. Not endangered. 

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The problem is that it's not enough for you to just explain it. The seller needed to provide that information in the Customs declarations. They apparently didn't.