Hello, I had a Chinese buyer on Ebay purchase one of my more expensive ancient silver coins. When my colleague went to mail the package at the post office(USPS) they asked specifically if it was a gold or silver coin and warned it would likely be confiscated even though it was going to be sent registered and insured shipping. (possibly due to the strict capital controls??) Does anyone have experience with shipping high value ancients into China??? Would another carrier work, such as Fedex??? Any help would be greatly appreciated as the order is waiting to be sent~~~
My worry is that it would be used to make counterfeits. My contact in China says to be very careful when shipping coins there. I'd cancel the sale.
Yes that was my other concern. This buyer knew the auction where I got the coin and his history on Ebay since 2013 is only purchasing coins, mainly from Germany. I get the sense he may be a legitimate collector but yes I was worried about that as well.
You mean on the customs form? I instructed my colleague to label it as an "old token" but they still warned us against sending it into China. It will have to be insured for $500 or more so that would be a red flag.
The only Asian country I have had any luck shipping to is Japan. I had a US $5 gold get "lost" going to a buyer in India. Luckily it was at buyers risk. I would not send it to China for reasons of possible loss or the good possibility of it being copied.
I've shipped coins (including one with a low 3-figure price tag) to China, though for more expensive material, it's nerve-wracking. Haven't had anything lost, though there have been some delays. I would recommend very politely canceling the sale and explaining your dilemma. I had to cancel a sale to China once last year because the shipping costs were so prohibitive that they would have been more than the coins sold for. I apologized for the misunderstanding to my buyer, and even sent him an additional $5-10 extra on top of the refund as a gesture of goodwill. He thanked me and sent the extra money back. I think it's a bit too easy for us to paint with too broad a brush, here. The concern is understandable, but it's also "profiling", and not entirely fair. There are thousands of honest collectors and dealers in China in addition to the counterfeiters. But you probably know that. And yes, caution is warranted, and sometimes it's better to (politely) cancel the sale and avoid potential headaches, no doubt. Cheap shot, but funny nonetheless. Such a joke is inevitable, and similar things were said when I sold a high grade Pillar dollar to China. That was a legit collector/dealer who bought it, though. Ironically, it was I who did not guarantee authenticity on the Pillar dollar. It was a sharp AU coin but so heavily polished that it looked counterfeit. There's a good chance it was real, but I really couldn't say for sure and said as much in the listing.
I've had a similar issue on the occasions where I've sold coins on eBay - do I ship to countries with strong antiquities laws? I had an Italian buyer once who made me a very generous offer - one that i would have accepted if the buyer was American or British. The risk is confiscation from customs, dispute raised on Paypal, and Paypal will rule in the buyer's favour in these situations. I wouldn't do it for anything of high value. I hate antiquities laws.
Thank you for your post. I checked with the buyer and he was very polite and understanding. Thank you for lending your support as to keep me from submitting to our worst tendencies. After reviewing the buyers history, I saw the behavior of a real collector. He has bought from low price sellers and was familiar with the auction house and auction where I purchased the coin. If this person had been a counterfeiter, he/she could just get this type of coin from somewhere else. What made me cancel was the combination of the high cost of the coin and the possibility of confiscation. I will no longer be selling to countries with antiquity laws that could result in confiscation. I learned something new as an Ebay seller at least.
Yes the risks are high. Thanks. Do you know any other countries with strict antiquity laws like this? I'd like to restrict buyers from these countries in my Ebay store.
The main ones I'm aware of are Italy, Turkey, China. No doubt there are others. Generally I think most of Europe, the US and Canada are safe for now.
