Customs

[Ivanerrol]

Last month a Bought a STI shifter from an online Chinese seller from ebay.

Item has been held up in customs since 22 July.
Today I get a notice from the Australian Border Force telling me Shifter has been confiscated. It's been determined to be a BB gun.

There's a rig-a-ma-roll legal process to go through to get the goods correctly identified and released. It could involve court proceedings which will end up making me pay costs. It looks like a complicated business. If I do nothing then the parts will be destroyed. It's a possibility that legal action against me will be carried out.
This is guilty until proven innocent.

Everything is on line with no voice contact numbers.

Is there anybody on this forum working for the Australian Custom department in Melbourne who can point out to their fellow workers what to look out for?
Is there no firearm experts who can tell the difference between a bicycle part and an offensive weapon working at Melbourne Airport customs? Are there no custom agents or firearm experts who ride bicycles at Melbourne airport?

[MattyK]

Was it a trigger shifter?

Sorry, I'll see myself out...

[open roader]

I import rare plant seed from OS. In my case AQIS has a list of permitted plants - anything NOT on that list is considered illegal / banned and is confiscated until one can give cause (via emailed letter) why AQIS should not destroy the seed. I have successfully argued one case against AQIS and failed on one case.

If your shifter part is simply a bicycle part then you are well within your rights to defend you purchase. I encourage you to find the parts catalogue, the part number and some images from the manufacturer's website and send these as links with an explanation to customs.

Exercise your rights.

[AUbicycles]

This is really bizarre - but a mistake from a customs officer who has had a glance and made a judgement. A closer look would confirm that a shifter doesn't have the mechanics / construction to propel a projection.

In my experience, Customs have been extremely helpful on the phone. You mention difficulty finding the contact - so I suggest finding the general contact and going through the switchboard and try and get transferred to a person who can provide practical guidance.

Best case of course is that it is reviewed / identified and released.

Worst case is that they escalate it based on the wrong information. In the end they will loose anyway as you have the order details and can easily prove what the part is.... but that will cost you a bunch of time.

[uart]

Today I get a notice from the Australian Border Force telling me Shifter has been confiscated. It's been determined to be a BB gun.

That is bizarre. Send them these operating instructions that I just made for you.

[Zippy7]

bwahahahaha

[Warin]

There is the very remote possibility that the item is the wrong part...
Ask for a photo to confirm the item is what you ordered? Or provide a photo they can check against.

[10speedsemiracer]

Was it a trigger shifter?

Sorry, I'll see myself out...

lol...good work.

First thing I thought of were the Shimano Rapid-fire shifters...

[Shred11]

This is guilty until proven innocent.

I had a run-in with Customs in the late 1990s with some computer parts. A network router failed and the supplier FedExed me a replacement from the USA at enormous expense. It didn’t arrive in the expected time. Customs were holding it, demanding a large sum of money in (IIRC) import duty. Duty should not been paid, since it was a warranty exchange unit (i.e. I had to return the faulty one and I was paying nothing).

I was given the option to appeal the decision to charge duty, but the cost of appealing was about the same as paying the duty - and even if it was found that Customs had erred, I would still have to pay the appeal cost. In the end, the duty just had to be paid so that we could get the equipment quickly.

Surprise, surprise, when the device finally arrived, both the box it was in and the paperwork were clearly marked “warranty exchange unit”. The Customs officer had stuffed up and we were forced to pay for their incompetence.

Unless Customs has greatly changed their ways in recent times, my limited experience indicates that it is an extremely arrogant and inflexible organsiation that sees itself as being accountable to nobody.