posted on January 14, 2003 04:02:35 PM new
Hello everybody!
I always read and never post because I don't want to bother people with my problems. However, this time I need some direction.
Namely: What are the rules on IVORY products?
Are they not allowed on ebay, period?
Or, is there any exception for the older Japanese or Chinese goods?
In addition, if ebay does not allow them, is there an alternate venue for them?
Where does one find out the rules of cross border trade of these things? I do know that it is governed by "CITES" (an international treaty), but where does one find out these rules.
Finally, does anybody know of a good book on evaluating Ivory?
posted on January 14, 2003 04:10:16 PM new
ebay based in ca,would not allow listing of elephant ivory whether they are old or new.
mammoth and hippo ivory is okay.
whale tooth,camel bone is okay,not sure about walrus ivory.
go to us customs site and they will tell you about the risk and penalty of bringing in elephant and walrus ivory.
however it is okay to sell elphant ivory once they get into this country and you can sell them on other sites.
go to amzn and search for ivory,you will find many books on ivory.
posted on January 14, 2003 06:00:58 PM new
About a week or so ago, there was an auction running for two mounted elephant tusks. It had made it to the big ticket items page and was over $5000.00 when I saw it. It had the word "ivory" in the description, and was complete with pictures. The seller was in northern Calif. He did mention in the description that it was imported into this country before a certain year and was legal to sell. About a month ago, there was another big ticket auction for a pair of tusks. There were no pics and the word "ivory" was not used in the description. Don't know if either of the auctions made it all the way through without being pulled.
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
posted on January 14, 2003 06:10:25 PM new
It's illegal to bring Ivory into this country.
BUT anything that's here should be fair game!
At least that's the way it has been.
posted on January 14, 2003 06:46:23 PM new
I found the auction I was referring to above. Apparently it didn't make the reserve and has been relisted. See auction # 2501210081.
The light at the end of the tunnel will turn out to be an oncoming train.
posted on January 14, 2003 07:13:09 PM new
Ivory, like Cuban Cigars is legal if brought into the country before it was banned. If you have doubt, and you feel your item qualifies on that ruling - place that declaimer in your auction.
Cohiba Cigars are sold daily on ebay with multiple disclaimers of packaging being the actual value of the item, not the tobbacco and that they were brought into the country before the embargo was placed (apparently hundreds of people anticipated said embargo and kept secret woodshed humidors to store these items for the past two decades ::wink wink:
posted on January 14, 2003 08:20:37 PM new
I have sold several ivory items on ebay without any problems. In fact I recently sold an ivory horse to a party in Japan. I live in CA.
posted on January 15, 2003 12:15:20 AM new
Tusk Ivory, whale teeth, white pointer shark’s teeth, etc, etc, etc are from protected species.
You “WILL” require customs clearance to ship between Australia and USA, antique or new.
However… You may choose to perjure yourself on a customs document as it seems many do.
I think it’s fair to assume that one who is willing to lie to customs, in spite of threat of high penalty, probably won’t feel to inhibited when lying to you.
You leave yourself open to being ‘had’.
Couple of cases I have heard of in which buyers have claimed to not have received the goods, but there is good reason to suspect they did; those items have been ‘prohibited imports’,
and guess what … seller doesn’t have a leg to stand on, ………how you gonna claim the insurance on that………….get ready for the credit card or paypal chargeback.
I’m not suggesting that all ivory buyers are of dubious character, but that certain dubious characters may see opportunity to defraud the other trader, knowing it may be difficult for the other to go to the authorities.
Another category that seems to have some dubious characters is the field of collecting racist material,
Particularly, it seems, ”Black Americana”
On ebay:- …..13003 items found for ivory
Although many of those are for ivory coloured items.
I believe that I can freely trade in these protected goods, ‘within Australia’ and it may be the same 4U.
posted on January 15, 2003 08:07:56 AM new
are you referring to ebay overseas bidders who claim they did not receive their ivory items from us sellers??
if both buyer and seller are in usa,seller can file insurance claim,there is nothing illegal about selling elephant ivory in this country,it is just we cannot bring them into this country,old or new.
but ebay would not allow selling of elephant ivory as i received a call from them once and the listing was removed,there are many ivory items on ebay ,but they do not say it is elephant ivory altho many are.
many so called ivory items on ebay are either elephant ivory,hippo tooth,mammoth ivory,camel bone,french ivory or celluloid,plastic,resin,alabaster stone or any kind of animal bone like buffalo or cow bone.
so if you spot an old item which says ivory,it could be elephant ivory or french ivory (celluloid),many sellers claim they dont know the difference????
posted on January 15, 2003 09:12:21 AM new
No problem with Walrus ivory. Alaskan Inuit carvers use it all the time and you will find many listings on e-bay. Elephant Ivory has to be classified as antique since international trade in elephant ivory has been banned officially - to discourage poachers. Chinese carvers have been reverting to hippo ivory and mammoth fossil ivory - the latter having been discovered in abundance in Siberia
buyhigh
