All he had to do is not ask me to commit fraud

[byrd69er]

A buyer inquires about getting some vacuum tubes from me.

I reply....

Good evening,

Due to restrictions placed upon vacuum tubes being shipped to Canada via the Global Shipping Program (GSP), I have placed Canada on the list of countries I do not ship to.

Thank you for your inquiry.

He writes back.....

I'm having a very hard time finding these for my Audio Research power amps and I would gladly pay your asking price of $60 USD for six. I need 12 so could you please make an exception and send them as electronic parts? Pretty please!

Had he not asked me to commit fraud to get the tubes through customs, there would be 12 tubes headed his way.

Instead.....blocked.

[wesk_36]

You mean you would have unblocked shipping to Canada despite the GSP restrictions if the buyer had asked another way?

[byrd69er]

No...I would have lifted my own restriction of shipping to Canada, and not used GSP. The buyer would be notified prior to the sale that there is still a chance the tubes will be seized by customs.

Sometimes tubes get through to Canada, using GSP....but more often not.

I try to accommodate people when I can, but not when it includes committing fraud.

[tryno2]

Seems to me if you ship them to a restricted area, you have violated the law.  So you might as well ship them to the guy who ask.  

[byrd69er]

I don't know who restricts the tubes, or why. Sometimes they are okay to pass through, other times not. It is the same for some other tube sellers I know. This same non-logic applies to some other countries I ship to. Sometimes its a go, other times...nope. I don't know if they have a list of specific types they won't let pass through, or if its just a customs person who doesn't want to bother to repack them properly and just say...."eh, restricted".   I have no clue.

I've started adding countries to my do not ship to list for a few reasons. To avoid disappointed buyers, and to avoid seeing valuable tubes go off into limbo. When they are restricted, the buyer doesn't get his/her tubes, and I don't get them back. Nobody is really a loser, but it is disappointing on both ends.

[wesk_36]

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@byrd69er wrote:

No...I would have lifted my own restriction of shipping to Canada, and not used GSP. The buyer would be notified prior to the sale that there is still a chance the tubes will be seized by customs.

Sometimes tubes get through to Canada, using GSP....but more often not.

I try to accommodate people when I can, but not when it includes committing fraud.

---

Your first reply to them, was no, you will not ship to Canada; you didn't offer to lift the restrictions for them in that response nor offer to ship without GSP.  You just said no.

But after telling them the first time no I will not ship to Canada, you said you would have shipped to them if they didn't ask the second question??

[a_c_green]

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@byrd69er wrote:

Had he not asked me to commit fraud to get the tubes through customs, there would be 12 tubes headed his way.

---

Wait a second here... I'm looking through the USPS page on Prohibitions and Restrictions for shipping to Canada, and I see no limitations of any kind regarding vacuum tubes or electronic parts: 

https://pe.usps.com/text/imm/ce_003.htm 

I checked FedEx info pages as well, with the same result. No limitations that I can see: 

http://crossborder.fedex.com/us/assets/prohibited-restricted/canada/index.html 

Just because the GSP doesn't want to handle tubes, there's no reason why you can't just ship them directly to your buyer. The problem appears to be with GSP's own preferences. I can't find anything to indicate that Canada would have a problem with them.

[nocoolnamejane]

Sometimes tubes are restricted because they may contain mercury, but I believe the GSP's decision is solely based on the fact that they don't want to handle fragile/breakeable items because they now how they handle packages...

[byrd69er]

Your first reply to them, was no, you will not ship to Canada; you didn't offer to lift the restrictions for them in that response nor offer to ship without GSP.  You just said no.

That's correct.

But after telling them the first time no I will not ship to Canada, you said you would have shipped to them if they didn't ask the second question??

That's correct.

[*madison]

Had he not asked me to commit fraud to get the tubes through customs, there would be 12 tubes headed his way.

---------------------------------------------------

The buyer asked if you would make an exception, and said pretty please,

 so how was the buyer supposed to word the message that would get you to ship the items?

[wesk_36]

Buyer: Hi, I want to buy your items but you have Canada blocked.

Seller: NO, no no, I will not ship these to Canada. No, sorry no. These are restricted so no, I added Canada to my do not ship list, so sorry, no, but thanks for asking, the answer is NO! Hope you understand NO way.

Buyer: (not taking NO for an answer asks again) Can't you list the  tubes as electronic items and send them that way?

Seller; the first time you asked me, I said NO I will not ship to you. I will not ship these to Canada. I would have said yes the first time you asked but now I say NO because I don't like the way you are asking. Too bad, I would have said yes.

Buyer shrugs Moves on uttering something about gaslghting...