Suspected prohibited goods

[Paddwood]

Evening, reposting this in the correct section

So I sent a package to UAE containing a bulk load of old coins and tokens sold on Ebay, coming in at just over 7kg, paying over £50 for tracked and signed. CN22 filled in, everything declared, items securely packaged, picked up from my home address.

Tracking was static at HWDC for 4 weeks and has now been marked as RTS, suspected prohibited goods.

Now, as far as I know, a box of old coins and tokens that aren't any sort of legal tender are not prohibited goods, so is this just some arbitrary decision by a power-seeker at HWDC? And how can I get a refund on the postage when the items are not prohibited?

Cheers.

[adb2aber]

Possibly old coins or tokens (whatever they are) have been considered to be "counterfeit" i.e. non-valid for use, which the UAE prohibits.

[Paddwood]

I don't know. The buyer has made several similar purchases according to his feedback. They're a mix of obsolete currency such as French Francs and British shillings, tourist tokens that you'd buy in maybe Disneyland, and things like that. Nothing more than collectables.

[Snaggletooth]

Which service exactly did you use?

You mention a weight of over 7Kg. This implies that you used a Parcelforce service, as Royal Mail don’t go that high. I think PFW ban cash from all their services? Which might mean that this is a contravention of the T&Cs of the service used rather than, say, a customs or Dangerous Goods act violation.

[Paddwood]

Ok, the parcel has arrived back with an orange sticker 'not permitted to fly' on it and to be returned via land only. Whiich is just daft considering what it contained.

To answer the above question, RM allow up to 20kg if the label is purchased online and they collect the package whcih you can see here - https://send.royalmail.com/send/yourite ... ightUnit=G

The items are not 'cash', they are old coins and tokens and not classed as currency, but collectable coins, a category that is available on the CN22 options.

[yellowbelly]

Ok, the parcel has arrived back with an orange sticker 'not permitted to fly' on it and to be returned via land only. Whiich is just daft considering what it contained.

To answer the above question, RM allow up to 20kg if the label is purchased online and they collect the package whcih you can see here - https://send.royalmail.com/send/yourite ... ightUnit=G

The items are not 'cash', they are old coins and tokens and not classed as currency, but collectable coins, a category that is available on the CN22 options.

As adb has already posted, 'Currency' and 'Counterfeit items' are prohibited by the UAE postal service. If (at this end) RM/Parcelforce or Customs at HWDC suspect the package possibly contains such items they're going to stop it and return it to you. With your specialist knowledge you might know different but the authorities are going to err on the side of caution. Perhaps the label was the nearest somebody had to hand to send it back to you rather than the items being Dangerous Air Cargo which is obviously a bit misleading for you.

Don't think you'll be able to get postage back, it's probably buried in the T & C's somewhere that it's your responsibility as sender to ensure that what you're sending complies with all regulations.

[Paddwood]

But it contained neither currecy nor counterfeit items. Currency is defined as a system of money in general use. The items I sent were, as I said, things like old war-time francs, souvenir tokens (such as Notre Dame, chuck e cheese, Disney) and commemorative coins (QEII jubiliees, festival of Britain, anniversary coins). Nothing that anyone could spend anywhere, no precious metals, and classed as Collectable Coins for CN22 purposes.

They guy who bought them has made dozens of similar purchases but he says they're usually by other couriers, and I too have sold many similar items to overseas buyers without a hitch. The only difference this time was the weight.

I've put a claim in, so will let you know how that turns out.

[SpacePhoenix]

Commemorative coins by the Royal Mint are legal tender so they might be the cause of the problem

[Paddwood]

Nah,these were things like the Winston Churchill Crown and Silver Jubilee medals, nothing that is legal tender in any way. Plus the package wasn't even opened so unless they xrayed it and the coins fell into the shape of a gun, I can't see any valid reason to stick the 'Do not fly; send by surface mail only' label on it. The assumption from that is that it never even left the UK, so I'm also annoyed that it was sat at HWDC for 4 weeks.

[Paddwood]

Good news. RM have agreed to refund the postage on this.

The reason they gave for not being able to ship it was:

Whilst the contents were not found to be dangerous goods, there were areas of density found by the scanners that we were unable to clear via the security controls available to us. This meant that in order comply with national and international air transport regulations, the item had to be returned to you and could not be forwarded overseas.

So basically, their scanners weren't strong enough.