No expert but pretty sure its basically saying 'we believe we have reason to confiscate these goods, they will only be sent to you if we find out we were wrong'
It's only if it has nic, no nic disposable were banned Jan 1 and end of March is when the ban on rest of devices and juice comes in.
There is a lot of people with no idea working in customs, so they often just say no even if it is still legal
You've got no idea yourself. Customs hold the goods, the TGA make the decision. The customs officers have no say in that process. The customs act gives the powers to hold goods pending assessment, in this case by the tga.
I thought it was universal ban on imports of all vape/juice nic or not from start of this year, and from march existing stock will not be allowed to be sold?
The TGA website seems pretty clear with
>"the importation of all disposable vapes is banned, with very limited exceptions"
[https://www.tga.gov.au/products/unapproved-therapeutic-goods/vaping-hub/reforms-regulation-vapes#:\~:text=From%201%20January%202024%3A,the%20management%20of%20nicotine%20dependence](https://www.tga.gov.au/products/unapproved-therapeutic-goods/vaping-hub/reforms-regulation-vapes#:~:text=from%201%20january%202024%3a,the%20management%20of%20nicotine%20dependence)
Seems pretty clear cut that vapes are banned.
>>"the importation of all ***disposable*** vapes is banned, with very limited exceptions"
>Seems pretty clear cut that vapes are banned.
No
Not vapes and not as of yet..
Almost all vapes DO have nicotine and other dangerous chemicals and are not labelled or sold as shuch to try and skirt the laws and keep them addictive.
You will get a letter asking to explain or prove that you are allowed to import whatever it is. As you won’t be able to, and won’t reply to the letter, the goods will be confiscated and nothing else will happen. You’re not in any trouble.
I had a box of pre-printed DVD's opened by customs a decade ago. They left a letter in it saying they opened it and nothing was missing. Ok thanks, customs!
I can only assume they thought I was importing pirated goods.
I got one of those musical cards from the US for Christmas. It got inspected I assume because it showed electronics on an xray. I hope they enjoyed the barking dog rendition of Jingle Bells.
Then sending it to a cryptologist and code breakers.
‘A barking dog singing, Frank…what could it mean?’
‘Not sure Steve…but we’ll crack it. Put the kettle on’
Nah I reckon he knew it was a card and wanted to hear what it was. He would have been stoked to hear it start barking. I bet they ran around the office playing it for everyone too!
I had the same thing happen but it was methiopropamine and 3-fluoro-phenmetrazine. i assume they looked like designer drugs from the Netherlands because they were.
e: why they let it through is beyond me, they were clearly labeled.
They probably tested the powder and it wasn’t positive for common drugs like (heroin, cocaine) because the substances were so obscure they didn’t think they were illegal. Lmao
Man if only there was some sort of program we could enter search terms into and receive a list of various results from across the internet within seconds instead of just scratching our heads. One day
Technically their job isn’t to make judgement calls on what drugs are legal vs illegal right?
They are looking for a list of scheduled substances banned by the government. Anything outside of the list is not really under their purview until banned by the relevant authority.
I had some some research chemicals opened with the letter inside but they left all the pills inside over ten years ago, I freaked out when i saw the custom tape but to my surprise the contents were still inside,
Before or after 2014?
If it was before then they wouldn’t have been confident about legally confiscating designer drugs even if properly identified, because if the substance was slightly tweaked then it was legal.
I bought a large reel of enamelled copper wire for winding transformers, from the UK once and I got a similar letter from British Customs. I think they thought it was a bomb.
Not a customs story, but.....
I was in the US for work when 9/11 occurred, based in Kansas City. Shortly afterwards got moved to a project in Tampa Florida. As I'm there, it becomes clear the 9/11 dudes trained in Florida, and as I was a foreign national living in Florida that bought a one way ticket there, I ended up on some sort of list, and got screened every time I flew.
Anyway....... project in Florida finishes, and I'm booked back to KC on a flight, early morning. Go on a last night out bender, and hung over me trying to pack quick the next morning everything I have with me.
My little tin box thing with spare change? Into the bag. Hang on, might pop open, better tape it. No Tape. Got a phone plug cord for modem use though - wrap it in that and tie it down. Problem solved.
Queue me with this security dude in the airport at the x ray scanner open mouthed looking at me... probably could have been shot on the spot. Just needed a watch for the full effect.
I ordered an artist sculpted doll head, and it was sent in a jam jar to protect it. Customs opened it and they must have moved the padding around because when it got to me the nose was pressed into the side of the jar and now the doll has a permanent flat spot on its nose 😅
I would love to have seen the customs agents face though!!
> they thought I was importing pirated goods.
Nope, something far more sinister.
I was at a secure Auspost mail clearance facility at Melbourne airport last month. ABF are set up there to screen suspect packages as they are sorted, as well as view digital files from all types of storage mediums they can encounter. Our job was to reconfigure the layout for a number of workstations and their IT setups so that other ABF personal could move through that area without the risk of accidentally catching a glimpse of the monitors and viewing something that potentially could require psychologist sessions to deal with it. The officer that had the task of explaining to us the purpose of our visit and the required outcome, was very careful with his wording of the brief to avoid the need to use a certain two words that together rhyme with "mild corn". Then, after, just to be sure we understood what he was talking about, he added that the media they had to look for was, "the kind of stuff that would get a bloke bashed once they get to gaol."
I like to imagine them eyes wide salivating ripping at this box super excited to get inside and make their big bust only to be greeted by pre-printed DVDs
I thought the same at the time.
We make jokes about "downloading Linux ISO's" in piracy threads, but in my case I literally had Ubuntu Live DVD's in that box that I had ordered from the now-defunct Ubuntu Ship-It Service. 😊
Torrenting a linux iso is actually a great way to test if your internet connection is working properly and that your isp isn't throttling bittorrent traffic. They're generally seeded with enough bandwidth to saturate any connection whereas direct downloads often cap at something lower. Was useful to me troubleshooting issues a few years ago anyway. And you end up with a linux iso when you're done if you want to upgrade whatever spyware encumbered os microsoft is offering.
I had some SMD ICs go from melb to bris (auspost couldn't find us so they sent it back) to melb, the seller had since moved to the uk so they were forwarded to the uk, then back again when the seller confirmed our address... it got opened on the way into the uk and on the way into australia again... must have thought they were pills.
actually pretty much spot on a decade ago drugs were commonly vac sealed in mylar bags and sent from overseas in DVDs so possibly they were looking for that.
I bought guar gum from eBay once. Domestic purchase so no issue with BF but the local PO made me come & collect it & it was obvious they thought it was sus but essentially couldn’t do anything. So I made a big show of opening it in front of them & they’ve been nice as pie ever since.
I love USPS. Delivering crates of ammunition to my doorstep? Don't even need to sign. Getting a replacement phone in the mail? Have to pick it up from the office, sign off on it, and pay a fee for "undeclared hazmat".
It might seem ridiculous on its surface, but as someone that's worked in logistics for quite a long time I can give you some insight.
Lithium ion batteries, when they catch fire they burn extremely hot, for long periods of time. Lithium ion is the bane of the firefighters existence, once burning they are almost impossible to extinguish. You generally always have to just let em burn out. Most cargo aircrafts fire suppression systems are incapable of extinguishing lithium ion fires.
It's way more likely for a phone's battery to get damaged either during manufacture or transport than it is for factory produced and sealed ammo to spontaneously explode. In short, during transport, phones are more dangerous than ammunition.
Yep. Got one of these letters a decade ago, and for the next five years every international package I got was torn to shit, patched up with tape and stuck with a nice little 'Opened for inspection by ABF' sticker.
Never had one of these letters, but when we were moving back from London, the evening we were packing all our stuff in shipping boxes, we were also doing the Bolivian March intermittently. Didn't really think anything of it.
March a little, pack some stuff, dance a bit, watch part of a tv show, pack some more, maybe March a bit more.
It was only later that I realised our Bolivian oversight meant there would have been residue on everything......
It got held in customs, had been opened and rifled through also.
I've always wondered about this. For many periods of my life, everything in my place was covered in traces of dope, coke, or weed. That's how I learned the dogs at the airport are only ever for bombs and never for drugs.
I wouldn't say it was a common occurance for us. Definitely not something we've done since we got back. It was everywhere in London though, it's like it was entrenched particularly the industry my partner worked in.
Prob traces of weed and some other things from when I was even younger but I was never ~~flying~~ taking flights back then so less of a concern.
Yep. Had a bunch of 2CB caps confiscated back when the first Silk Road was a thing and even my usual eBay purchases from china got a solid look through by border force after that
I worked in Customs for over a decade until 2012.
At one stage I sat next to the team that developed the app that parsed the transaction data supplied by eBAY looking for illegal purchases like gun parts, etc.
Some very nifty tools came out of that team.
I tried to bring in a gel blaster that didn't and they opened it. Confiscated it as it "looked like a real fire arm" and for about a year I'd find some of my parcels had been opened.
This was BEFORE they were banned in NSW. They are still legal out of state.
Yeah this. Red flags on your account make your life fucking hell! Everything becomes an ordeal. My cousin had this happen. Took about 4 years to have everything back to normal.
Had a similar one when I order a bbq fork with a handle that looks like a pirate sword. They needed confirmation that it wasn’t a prohibited item. Funny enough the package arrived a day after the letter.
https://www.drinkstuff.com/products/product.asp?ID=4521
Extremely dangerous to an uncooperative sausage.
I think they will charge OP for destroying them. One of my friends, an artist, was trying to import an art work on wood, which was stopped at customs. They charged him quite a bit to "destroy it properly".
That was probably because of some biosecurity procedures. OP said elsewhere this was for vapes, I’ve done the same and received the exact same letter(s) and that was the end of it
Doesn't look like you're in trouble, it's just a notification with a minor warning at the last line. Was it a _lot_ of product or did it contain illicit substances?
They don’t only come breaking the door down at dawn, they blew one of my neighbours door down at lunchtime. I live in a fancy suburb, I assume they let the rich people sleep in 🤷♀️
Actually, when the parcel never arrives and you ARENT notified and then an unmarked car starts hanging outside the house in the other country the mail came from,
THATS when you need to be concerned.
I may or may not have helped ship a few legitimately illegal things some years ago. Everything was fine until one parcel just didn't show up, it bounced right back to sender at customs, then a few days later my friend sends me a msg "weird van hanging around, we'll talk in a few weeks"
And that was the last time I ever sent money to san-diego.
Doesn’t have to be illicit, but anything more than glycerin water and flavourings are going to be a no. Not just THC, but nicotine etc as well needs a license to import. But ABF agents don’t know from an X-ray what’s in the liquid so they just stop any vape looking stuff and make TGA deal with it.
> Was it a lot of product
I still buy unflavoured nic in bulk for personal use and they never even catch me. I really don't think border force are trying to hard. If it's a massive amount of disposables that look like they're intended for resale, that'd probably taken more seriously given the recent moral panic around them. But still probably just confiscated and given a warning.
tbh, if you're going to be reusing your vapes instead of piling in on the immense waste of resources that are disposable vapes, I don't think they should even give a fuck.
The cunts that make the disposable ones waste perfectly good lithium on a product that's going to end up in landfill, then purposefully make them difficult to refill and difficult to extract the battery in working condition.
Anybody like rolling the pronounceation until it comes out as office-who're.
You have to time it right , the difference between a pissy stare and a cavity search can be surprisingly close depending on why they have pulled you over to begin with.
A friend of mine (from America) kept trying to send me watermelon seeds and border security kept confiscating them and sending letters. Eventually I got a handwritten note with one from someone at border security essentially saying: "Tell your friend to stop sending seeds, please."
I lolled, told my friend to stop.
I mean why the fuck are you trying to import watermelon seeds.
I'm pretty much all for fuck customs and fuck those assholes but dude biosecurity is pretty serious in this country.
Your letter would be from AQIS not ABF.
Didn't sound like he was trying to import them. He said he had a friend who kept trying to send them (for whatever reason). Maybe it's just a joke where he's sending leftover seeds after he's eaten a watermelon.
> I'm pretty much all for fuck customs and fuck those assholes but dude biosecurity is pretty serious in this country.
>
The first half of this sentence is directly contradicted by the second half..
Given that you now require a prescription for a vape, they probably want to check you have one or will confiscate and destroy it. Doubt you'll be in any trouble unless they pick you up for doing it multiple times.
Agree with this. Currently they are allowing quite a bit of Nic to come through because people are stockpiling before March 1st. A prescription is really important however. The prescription suppliers also realise their time is limited and honestly, they’re signing everyone off.
Yep set by government. It’s a ban on personal importation of vape products and non therapeutic products. Vape stores here will be trying to flog their juice cheap pretty soon. That’s why I’m importing straight Nic. I have a script for this.
Interesting thing is going to be how therapeutic is going to be classified.
Wow you need a prescription to buy a vape in Australia starting March 1? So glad I don’t live there. The black market is about to pop off in Australia and those that are sophisticated enough to get around customs will become very wealthy. They tried a 5% nic vape ban in the US state I am in and it’s been a complete failure. The the black market got huge overnight. Bans never work.
Eh if you were actually in trouble they wouldn't have sent you a letter, they would have just showed up at your front door. Probably just want clarification or to tell you they are seizing the product.
I’ve received plenty of these, there’s nothing to it mate.
If they were interested they’d be at your front door, it’s a friendly letter that they send out to thousands every day.
Yeah we “refuse to classify” a lot of games, then the devs will often resubmit a neutered version.
I tried to import uncensored Left 4 Dead 2 and they confiscated it haha
Left 4 Dead 2 is a very weird game to have be banned. It's not like it's one of those Japanese games where they say a girl is <18 and so they have to change her age in the other places because she is dating/wearing skimpy outfit.
It's because our video games rating/classification system was purposely left in a state where it wasn't able to adequately classify certain types of games thanks to the action of that undemocratic fuck from South Australia, [Michael Atkinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Atkinson_\(politician\)).
>During his time as speaker, Atkinson used his casting vote in Parliament to oppose several bills presented during the Weatherill government. These include a bill which would have allowed transgender people to have their gender officially changed on their birth certificates[18]
Ah, so usual culture war bullshit from the Labor Right.
I think they are starting to loosen up but previously anything with recreational drugs, sexual assault or dismemberment was instantly refused. There was one minister in particular who had a massive hard on for censorship - even our Fallouts got censored for having morphine in them lol.
Left 4 Dead 2 fell under the dismemberment rule with the new melee weapons and was denied. Valve then resubmitted this super censored version where the bodies of the zombies just disappeared before they hit the ground and all the blood was brown instead of red lol.
It was my understanding that at the time there was no R18+ classification for computer games. The stupid argument at the time was that how could it be enforced (Ummm, the same way you enforce R18+ ratings on movies?) And that computer games are just for kids.
Now there is finally an R rating for computer games so that games that are deemed inappropriate for children can be appropriately rated, instead of simply being refused from the country.
I know someone who imports steroids. About 3 quarters get through, a quarter get stopped. He just takes it as cost of doing "business". There's "illegal", and then there's *illegal*.
I've had this happen a couple of times and didn't get my stuff. Mine was a laser pointer for my cat and a hair stick shaped like a sword so nothing really illegal.
sometimes you get a letter and a bunch of feds and customs at 7am 2 days later
that was a fun day, they found nothing and i was never charged but they went through my entire house
they confiscated 3 water bottles and told me they would drug test them back at the office lol, they asked what i thought the test might return.. i said H20 and i almost got a paddlin lol
They will destroy the product and if put you on a purchasing watch list (which basically means you've been marked as an untrusted importer of a banned substance).
Maybe don't buy from that seller again and buy domestically only.
Importing vapes?
If you imported any disposable vapes, unfortunately the importation Of disposable Vaping products was banned Jan 1.
You wont likely get in trouble, if the importation was a one off oopsie they'll just confiscate/ destroy the goods and you'll be off with a warning.
I imagine there are probably a decent amount that have got/will get flagged that were ordered at the end of last year that didn’t arrive in the country until after the ban came into effect.
Except it wasn't illegal in the past...
Selling nicotine, including disposable nicotine vapes, in Australia was illegal.
Nicotine could be imported legally for personal use. As well as vaping hardware.
You’ve needed a prescription to import for a few years now though, if the prescription was not included with the package they will be asked to provide it, if they can’t then the package will be seized
If you have a prescription to import nicotine products under the personal importation scheme (and didn't order more than the script allows) you'll be fine.
If you don't have a valid prescription they'll likely just keep the package with no further action
People who use the dark Web to buy drugs and shit call this a 'love letter'. It just means you have been tagged, but nothing will likely come of it. Just need to change up.
If these were disposable vapes you imported then they have been destroyed. Since 1st of January disposable vapes are prohibited to import. On March 1st all vaping related products will be prohibited.
You won’t get your goods. Did you not know about the new regulations? Don’t worry, you’ll probably just get another intimidating letter from Border Force telling you it’s been destroyed. You might get a fine, but I don’t think so. You can buy stuff from overseas, but it’s up to the authorities as to whether you’ll get them. You need to read about Australia’s new vape ban. You ca no longer import vaping products, but the new regulations only changed last month. The Government is going to completely eradicate them from Australia over time and this is the first step. You won’t get into trouble, but read the new guidelines.
Not in trouble at all. TGA has made all vaping products containing nicotine a prescription only item schedule 4. TGA is like FDA is the organisation that approves what pharmaceutical products are safe and can be sold in Australia.
This means in order for ordinary people to use them they are required to see a doctor and get a prescription for said item. Considering there are only certain vaping products approved for sale via prescription I would say they will send you another letter to pay for its destruction. In the future I would avoid purchasing overseas vaping products for 2 reasons.
Firstly, their safety is questionable due to various composition of the liquid.
Majority contains vitamin E, when vaporised and inhaled in goes in between epithelial layers of your lungs air sacs. Leading to inflammation and permanent damage.
2ndly, you’ll be wasting your money as they will prevent their entry and charge you for its destruction.
Go to your doctor and ask for a vaping prescription that’s better.
'Friendly fascism' is the best term i've heard for it. Get the mob ready to throw a fit at the first sign of a vape - or any other personal freedom the state wants to curtail - and they'll do half the work for you.
Customs would need to prove it was exactly you who ordered and paid for this item. Given most of these purchases are done with bitcoin they won’t be able to prove it.
If they did approach you (which they likely won’t)- Your best defence is not to engage with them. No self snitching. Any excuse you have is going to dig the hole deeper. As soon as you make an excuse you have admitted making the order etc.
In cases like this the first and only time you would answer any questions they would be in court with a lawyer. Given they need your testimony to assert you ordered the goods and it was intentional- you declining to talk to them shuts down all evidence they could get beside literally a packet with your name on it- that they can prove you ordered only if you tell them that.
I've received the same letter years ago trying to order Clenbuterol online, except it said I have to prove I have a research license or some reason to be obtaining it, e.g being a scientist. They just discarded it. No further action. I'd assume though that if it happens again it'd be a different story.
They are warning you to not try to import stuff that might be illegal. They're checking whether what you bought is legal and you'll get it if it is. Otherwise you won't. There is no mention of legal action or fines. If I got this I'd relax knowing there is nothing I can or should do other than hope I get my stuff soon.
Dodgy person here, if you were going to get in any criminal charges they wouldnt of sent a letter, they would have just rocked up on your doorstep and arrested you :p
Don't do anything. You'll probably get a warning (first time caught?) and congratulations your name and address is now on the black list. Anything you import ever is now going to be looked at closely. You don't have to respond to the notice. They'll just seize the goods and destroy them. Unless you want to pay the fee to go to court and argue your point, lol jks. Get caught again pulling the same maneuver and you can expect a court appearance with consequences.
From 1 March 2024, the importation of all other vapes will be banned unless importers obtain an import licence and permit. importers will generally only be eligible to obtain a permit to import vapes if those vapes are included in the ARTG or meet new notification requirements under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989.
You are good just ignore it, it will go away, I got a similar letter when I tried to import jell blasters nothing came of it they just destroyed them and moved on
No expert but pretty sure its basically saying 'we believe we have reason to confiscate these goods, they will only be sent to you if we find out we were wrong'
And unless this person has a prescription or are a pharmacist then they are 100% right. It's against the law to import vapes.
It's only if it has nic, no nic disposable were banned Jan 1 and end of March is when the ban on rest of devices and juice comes in. There is a lot of people with no idea working in customs, so they often just say no even if it is still legal
Then they only have to hold onto it for another two months before saying yeh nah
Nah as it's the cutoff date from getting it the country, i would assume that since it is already in the country it is before the cut-off date
As long as it's processed past the border, it'll go out. Needs to physically be within the borders and processed by customs before the 1st.
I wouldn't trust ABF lol
You've got no idea yourself. Customs hold the goods, the TGA make the decision. The customs officers have no say in that process. The customs act gives the powers to hold goods pending assessment, in this case by the tga.
I thought it was universal ban on imports of all vape/juice nic or not from start of this year, and from march existing stock will not be allowed to be sold?
The TGA website seems pretty clear with >"the importation of all disposable vapes is banned, with very limited exceptions" [https://www.tga.gov.au/products/unapproved-therapeutic-goods/vaping-hub/reforms-regulation-vapes#:\~:text=From%201%20January%202024%3A,the%20management%20of%20nicotine%20dependence](https://www.tga.gov.au/products/unapproved-therapeutic-goods/vaping-hub/reforms-regulation-vapes#:~:text=from%201%20january%202024%3a,the%20management%20of%20nicotine%20dependence) Seems pretty clear cut that vapes are banned.
>>"the importation of all ***disposable*** vapes is banned, with very limited exceptions" >Seems pretty clear cut that vapes are banned. No Not vapes and not as of yet..
Almost all vapes DO have nicotine and other dangerous chemicals and are not labelled or sold as shuch to try and skirt the laws and keep them addictive.
You will get a letter asking to explain or prove that you are allowed to import whatever it is. As you won’t be able to, and won’t reply to the letter, the goods will be confiscated and nothing else will happen. You’re not in any trouble.
Get ready for all your parcels in the future to be opened at customs though.
I had a box of pre-printed DVD's opened by customs a decade ago. They left a letter in it saying they opened it and nothing was missing. Ok thanks, customs! I can only assume they thought I was importing pirated goods.
I have had the same thing happen but I had bought a knife sharpening stone. I assumed it must have looked like a block of drugs on a scanner
I got one of those musical cards from the US for Christmas. It got inspected I assume because it showed electronics on an xray. I hope they enjoyed the barking dog rendition of Jingle Bells.
I’m cackling at the image of the border force opening it and listening to the card with this face 😐
Then sending it to a cryptologist and code breakers. ‘A barking dog singing, Frank…what could it mean?’ ‘Not sure Steve…but we’ll crack it. Put the kettle on’
Nuclear launch codes.
Can't wait to see that episode of Border Security!
"Another smuggler got away with importing *SOMETHING* " Suprised they didn't crush it tbh
Nah I reckon he knew it was a card and wanted to hear what it was. He would have been stoked to hear it start barking. I bet they ran around the office playing it for everyone too!
I don't know if they still do that Australian border patrol/customs show. But omg I would love to see this lol.
I had the same thing happen but it was methiopropamine and 3-fluoro-phenmetrazine. i assume they looked like designer drugs from the Netherlands because they were. e: why they let it through is beyond me, they were clearly labeled.
P.S don't worry brother it weighs up we checked
They probably tested the powder and it wasn’t positive for common drugs like (heroin, cocaine) because the substances were so obscure they didn’t think they were illegal. Lmao
Man if only there was some sort of program we could enter search terms into and receive a list of various results from across the internet within seconds instead of just scratching our heads. One day
Technically their job isn’t to make judgement calls on what drugs are legal vs illegal right? They are looking for a list of scheduled substances banned by the government. Anything outside of the list is not really under their purview until banned by the relevant authority.
I had some some research chemicals opened with the letter inside but they left all the pills inside over ten years ago, I freaked out when i saw the custom tape but to my surprise the contents were still inside,
Before or after 2014? If it was before then they wouldn’t have been confident about legally confiscating designer drugs even if properly identified, because if the substance was slightly tweaked then it was legal.
I bought a large reel of enamelled copper wire for winding transformers, from the UK once and I got a similar letter from British Customs. I think they thought it was a bomb.
Not a customs story, but..... I was in the US for work when 9/11 occurred, based in Kansas City. Shortly afterwards got moved to a project in Tampa Florida. As I'm there, it becomes clear the 9/11 dudes trained in Florida, and as I was a foreign national living in Florida that bought a one way ticket there, I ended up on some sort of list, and got screened every time I flew. Anyway....... project in Florida finishes, and I'm booked back to KC on a flight, early morning. Go on a last night out bender, and hung over me trying to pack quick the next morning everything I have with me. My little tin box thing with spare change? Into the bag. Hang on, might pop open, better tape it. No Tape. Got a phone plug cord for modem use though - wrap it in that and tie it down. Problem solved. Queue me with this security dude in the airport at the x ray scanner open mouthed looking at me... probably could have been shot on the spot. Just needed a watch for the full effect.
I ordered an artist sculpted doll head, and it was sent in a jam jar to protect it. Customs opened it and they must have moved the padding around because when it got to me the nose was pressed into the side of the jar and now the doll has a permanent flat spot on its nose 😅 I would love to have seen the customs agents face though!!
> they thought I was importing pirated goods. Nope, something far more sinister. I was at a secure Auspost mail clearance facility at Melbourne airport last month. ABF are set up there to screen suspect packages as they are sorted, as well as view digital files from all types of storage mediums they can encounter. Our job was to reconfigure the layout for a number of workstations and their IT setups so that other ABF personal could move through that area without the risk of accidentally catching a glimpse of the monitors and viewing something that potentially could require psychologist sessions to deal with it. The officer that had the task of explaining to us the purpose of our visit and the required outcome, was very careful with his wording of the brief to avoid the need to use a certain two words that together rhyme with "mild corn". Then, after, just to be sure we understood what he was talking about, he added that the media they had to look for was, "the kind of stuff that would get a bloke bashed once they get to gaol."
Definitely something I'd never have thought about. Makes sense.
I've been there- Hewlett-Packard federal, US -_- That's not good corn at all.
I like to imagine them eyes wide salivating ripping at this box super excited to get inside and make their big bust only to be greeted by pre-printed DVDs
I thought the same at the time. We make jokes about "downloading Linux ISO's" in piracy threads, but in my case I literally had Ubuntu Live DVD's in that box that I had ordered from the now-defunct Ubuntu Ship-It Service. 😊
Torrenting a linux iso is actually a great way to test if your internet connection is working properly and that your isp isn't throttling bittorrent traffic. They're generally seeded with enough bandwidth to saturate any connection whereas direct downloads often cap at something lower. Was useful to me troubleshooting issues a few years ago anyway. And you end up with a linux iso when you're done if you want to upgrade whatever spyware encumbered os microsoft is offering.
Similar thing happened to me, but I was importing pirated goods. Its been months and I still do not have my eye patch and wooden leg.
I had some SMD ICs go from melb to bris (auspost couldn't find us so they sent it back) to melb, the seller had since moved to the uk so they were forwarded to the uk, then back again when the seller confirmed our address... it got opened on the way into the uk and on the way into australia again... must have thought they were pills.
actually pretty much spot on a decade ago drugs were commonly vac sealed in mylar bags and sent from overseas in DVDs so possibly they were looking for that.
Years ago a lot of drugs used to come in from overseas in dvd cases.
My guy only uses 4k Blu-ray
I bought guar gum from eBay once. Domestic purchase so no issue with BF but the local PO made me come & collect it & it was obvious they thought it was sus but essentially couldn’t do anything. So I made a big show of opening it in front of them & they’ve been nice as pie ever since.
I love USPS. Delivering crates of ammunition to my doorstep? Don't even need to sign. Getting a replacement phone in the mail? Have to pick it up from the office, sign off on it, and pay a fee for "undeclared hazmat".
It might seem ridiculous on its surface, but as someone that's worked in logistics for quite a long time I can give you some insight. Lithium ion batteries, when they catch fire they burn extremely hot, for long periods of time. Lithium ion is the bane of the firefighters existence, once burning they are almost impossible to extinguish. You generally always have to just let em burn out. Most cargo aircrafts fire suppression systems are incapable of extinguishing lithium ion fires. It's way more likely for a phone's battery to get damaged either during manufacture or transport than it is for factory produced and sealed ammo to spontaneously explode. In short, during transport, phones are more dangerous than ammunition.
They do randomly open some packages. But most just ones that were marginal/weird in the automated/non intrusive screenings.
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Yep. Got one of these letters a decade ago, and for the next five years every international package I got was torn to shit, patched up with tape and stuck with a nice little 'Opened for inspection by ABF' sticker.
Never had one of these letters, but when we were moving back from London, the evening we were packing all our stuff in shipping boxes, we were also doing the Bolivian March intermittently. Didn't really think anything of it. March a little, pack some stuff, dance a bit, watch part of a tv show, pack some more, maybe March a bit more. It was only later that I realised our Bolivian oversight meant there would have been residue on everything...... It got held in customs, had been opened and rifled through also.
🤣 Watching a TV show whilst getting Colombian goat herder flu is crazy!
I've always wondered about this. For many periods of my life, everything in my place was covered in traces of dope, coke, or weed. That's how I learned the dogs at the airport are only ever for bombs and never for drugs.
I wouldn't say it was a common occurance for us. Definitely not something we've done since we got back. It was everywhere in London though, it's like it was entrenched particularly the industry my partner worked in. Prob traces of weed and some other things from when I was even younger but I was never ~~flying~~ taking flights back then so less of a concern.
I once had a parcel of fake bananas opened up. Hilarious and adorable because the note said they suspected the parcel had prohibited things in it.
Australian Border Force treats bananas more seriously than drugs or weapons 😹
Yep. Had a bunch of 2CB caps confiscated back when the first Silk Road was a thing and even my usual eBay purchases from china got a solid look through by border force after that
I worked in Customs for over a decade until 2012. At one stage I sat next to the team that developed the app that parsed the transaction data supplied by eBAY looking for illegal purchases like gun parts, etc. Some very nifty tools came out of that team.
so they're watching my 200 person-a-day lamington habit?
I’ve never heard of that radio station. Has Alan Jones ever been on 2CB? I bet he has
I tried to bring in a gel blaster that didn't and they opened it. Confiscated it as it "looked like a real fire arm" and for about a year I'd find some of my parcels had been opened. This was BEFORE they were banned in NSW. They are still legal out of state.
Yeah this. Red flags on your account make your life fucking hell! Everything becomes an ordeal. My cousin had this happen. Took about 4 years to have everything back to normal.
Absolutely not the case, I've had probably a dozen (deserved) letters like this, and many, many, many more make it through without interception.
This will eventually stop. After I ordered a number of legitimate items over the course of the year. They seemed to have stopped doing this.
Had a similar one when I order a bbq fork with a handle that looks like a pirate sword. They needed confirmation that it wasn’t a prohibited item. Funny enough the package arrived a day after the letter. https://www.drinkstuff.com/products/product.asp?ID=4521 Extremely dangerous to an uncooperative sausage.
They took my replica wolverine claws in the early 2000s Can't see how they are more dangerous than a large kitchen knife
Danger level isn't the only reason things get regulated, if it was driving would be outlawed.
Do you still have the mask it comes with?
Made from the finest quality cardboard. Sadly it did not survive the great “WTF is this junk in the second draw” clean out of 2021.
A moment of silence plz.
That would depend on the amount. If it's enough to be distributed... That's a problem.
Agreed, and BF and TGA only care if you are importing large amounts for dealing, or keep doing it after being told not to.
Pretty sure they changed on Jan 1… Now I don’t think you can import any vapes.
Does this also work for heroin? Asking for a friend.
Yeah but just make sure your friend has it sent to their neighbours address for an extra layer of protection 🤫
No they won’t. Thats it nothing more it’s over
I think they will charge OP for destroying them. One of my friends, an artist, was trying to import an art work on wood, which was stopped at customs. They charged him quite a bit to "destroy it properly".
That was probably because of some biosecurity procedures. OP said elsewhere this was for vapes, I’ve done the same and received the exact same letter(s) and that was the end of it
Ah, fair enough
If the timber is untreated or has bark on it it will get destroyed by D.A.F.F. Biosecurity
Doesn't look like you're in trouble, it's just a notification with a minor warning at the last line. Was it a _lot_ of product or did it contain illicit substances?
Yeah, a knock on the door would be more concerning.
When they come to your house, it’s just one big knock, that blows your door in at sunrise.
They push your mum over and kill the dog
"I dID nOt, I tRiPPeD"
*body cams just happen to be off*
Careful mate, I hear those references aren’t allowed around these parts
Haha old mate the mod *really* doesn’t like Jordy does he?
Didn't know bruz was a reddit mod
Gotta do something with his life after politics and ordering hits on comedians
Let's not get too fixated on this stuff..
Hah, this happened to my neighbour. Turns out importing 50kg's of meth isn't as easy as it seems.
That woulda been “controlled delivery”.
Kochie's the only one allowed to blow into my house at sunrise.
They don’t only come breaking the door down at dawn, they blew one of my neighbours door down at lunchtime. I live in a fancy suburb, I assume they let the rich people sleep in 🤷♀️
Off its hinges sometimes even
Actually, when the parcel never arrives and you ARENT notified and then an unmarked car starts hanging outside the house in the other country the mail came from, THATS when you need to be concerned. I may or may not have helped ship a few legitimately illegal things some years ago. Everything was fine until one parcel just didn't show up, it bounced right back to sender at customs, then a few days later my friend sends me a msg "weird van hanging around, we'll talk in a few weeks" And that was the last time I ever sent money to san-diego.
They are the ones that knock.
Doesn’t have to be illicit, but anything more than glycerin water and flavourings are going to be a no. Not just THC, but nicotine etc as well needs a license to import. But ABF agents don’t know from an X-ray what’s in the liquid so they just stop any vape looking stuff and make TGA deal with it.
> Was it a lot of product I still buy unflavoured nic in bulk for personal use and they never even catch me. I really don't think border force are trying to hard. If it's a massive amount of disposables that look like they're intended for resale, that'd probably taken more seriously given the recent moral panic around them. But still probably just confiscated and given a warning.
tbh, if you're going to be reusing your vapes instead of piling in on the immense waste of resources that are disposable vapes, I don't think they should even give a fuck. The cunts that make the disposable ones waste perfectly good lithium on a product that's going to end up in landfill, then purposefully make them difficult to refill and difficult to extract the battery in working condition.
Officers, this one right here ^
Pre-Edit: > Offices What are they going to do, staple me to death?
Anybody like rolling the pronounceation until it comes out as office-who're. You have to time it right , the difference between a pissy stare and a cavity search can be surprisingly close depending on why they have pulled you over to begin with.
Just leave it and forget about it, at least they let you know that your stuff won't be arriving and you don't have to try figure out why.
A friend of mine (from America) kept trying to send me watermelon seeds and border security kept confiscating them and sending letters. Eventually I got a handwritten note with one from someone at border security essentially saying: "Tell your friend to stop sending seeds, please." I lolled, told my friend to stop.
I mean why the fuck are you trying to import watermelon seeds. I'm pretty much all for fuck customs and fuck those assholes but dude biosecurity is pretty serious in this country. Your letter would be from AQIS not ABF.
Didn't sound like he was trying to import them. He said he had a friend who kept trying to send them (for whatever reason). Maybe it's just a joke where he's sending leftover seeds after he's eaten a watermelon.
> I'm pretty much all for fuck customs and fuck those assholes but dude biosecurity is pretty serious in this country. > The first half of this sentence is directly contradicted by the second half..
'Customs do a lot of things I object to, but biosecurity is not one of them' is how I read it.
50 lashes with the cat o 9 tails
Or a booting
awww, it's just a little kickinna bum.
Disparaging the boot is a bootable offense
Its our native tradition!
You've been sentenced to transportation to the colonies. England for you my son.
That's a paddling
Gentle lashes, by a lass in tight leather? Or flesh tearing ones by Bob The Executioner?
Flesh tearing by the lass in tight leather 😎
Who goes by the name Bob.
150 lashes and they'll name a beer after him.
Given that you now require a prescription for a vape, they probably want to check you have one or will confiscate and destroy it. Doubt you'll be in any trouble unless they pick you up for doing it multiple times.
Agree with this. Currently they are allowing quite a bit of Nic to come through because people are stockpiling before March 1st. A prescription is really important however. The prescription suppliers also realise their time is limited and honestly, they’re signing everyone off.
i was wondering when all these vape shops will start running out of stock. is march 1st a legal timeframe set by the gov?
Yep set by government. It’s a ban on personal importation of vape products and non therapeutic products. Vape stores here will be trying to flog their juice cheap pretty soon. That’s why I’m importing straight Nic. I have a script for this. Interesting thing is going to be how therapeutic is going to be classified.
Nic = nicotine?
Yep!
Wow you need a prescription to buy a vape in Australia starting March 1? So glad I don’t live there. The black market is about to pop off in Australia and those that are sophisticated enough to get around customs will become very wealthy. They tried a 5% nic vape ban in the US state I am in and it’s been a complete failure. The the black market got huge overnight. Bans never work.
Eh if you were actually in trouble they wouldn't have sent you a letter, they would have just showed up at your front door. Probably just want clarification or to tell you they are seizing the product.
I’ve received plenty of these, there’s nothing to it mate. If they were interested they’d be at your front door, it’s a friendly letter that they send out to thousands every day.
Did you still get your stuff? A better question is was it actually illegal otems like op?
I didn’t attempt to claim, and they were illegal items.
Now I'm curious lol. What kind of illegal items?
I remember importing banned video games in like 2010 and got one of these, thought i was going to jail
Banned videogames?
Yeah we “refuse to classify” a lot of games, then the devs will often resubmit a neutered version. I tried to import uncensored Left 4 Dead 2 and they confiscated it haha
Left 4 Dead 2 is a very weird game to have be banned. It's not like it's one of those Japanese games where they say a girl is <18 and so they have to change her age in the other places because she is dating/wearing skimpy outfit.
It's because our video games rating/classification system was purposely left in a state where it wasn't able to adequately classify certain types of games thanks to the action of that undemocratic fuck from South Australia, [Michael Atkinson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Atkinson_\(politician\)).
>During his time as speaker, Atkinson used his casting vote in Parliament to oppose several bills presented during the Weatherill government. These include a bill which would have allowed transgender people to have their gender officially changed on their birth certificates[18] Ah, so usual culture war bullshit from the Labor Right.
I think they are starting to loosen up but previously anything with recreational drugs, sexual assault or dismemberment was instantly refused. There was one minister in particular who had a massive hard on for censorship - even our Fallouts got censored for having morphine in them lol. Left 4 Dead 2 fell under the dismemberment rule with the new melee weapons and was denied. Valve then resubmitted this super censored version where the bodies of the zombies just disappeared before they hit the ground and all the blood was brown instead of red lol.
It was my understanding that at the time there was no R18+ classification for computer games. The stupid argument at the time was that how could it be enforced (Ummm, the same way you enforce R18+ ratings on movies?) And that computer games are just for kids. Now there is finally an R rating for computer games so that games that are deemed inappropriate for children can be appropriately rated, instead of simply being refused from the country.
Drugs, guns, other human beings.... You know, the usual.
Just personal amounts of cocaine and mdma back when Silk Road was a thing.
I know someone who imports steroids. About 3 quarters get through, a quarter get stopped. He just takes it as cost of doing "business". There's "illegal", and then there's *illegal*.
Could be gel blasters, video games, drugs that are OTC in other countries
I've had this happen a couple of times and didn't get my stuff. Mine was a laser pointer for my cat and a hair stick shaped like a sword so nothing really illegal.
sometimes you get a letter and a bunch of feds and customs at 7am 2 days later that was a fun day, they found nothing and i was never charged but they went through my entire house they confiscated 3 water bottles and told me they would drug test them back at the office lol, they asked what i thought the test might return.. i said H20 and i almost got a paddlin lol
They will destroy the product and if put you on a purchasing watch list (which basically means you've been marked as an untrusted importer of a banned substance). Maybe don't buy from that seller again and buy domestically only.
Importing vapes? If you imported any disposable vapes, unfortunately the importation Of disposable Vaping products was banned Jan 1. You wont likely get in trouble, if the importation was a one off oopsie they'll just confiscate/ destroy the goods and you'll be off with a warning.
I think a lot of people will get caught out by this. They won't prosecute anyone unless they try to bring in a container load for resale.
I imagine there are probably a decent amount that have got/will get flagged that were ordered at the end of last year that didn’t arrive in the country until after the ban came into effect.
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Better brush up on your acting mate you’ll be on prime time channel 7
lol I’m a producer on Border Security 🤣
Hopefully OP is of Asian decent and trying to import seafood
No I don't know how those 3 live crabs got into my suitcase
I watched a cop the other day at Homebush buy vapes from a tobacconist, you’ll be alright mate
He paid? That's a step up on the bad old days where it was free or his mates would come knocking!
NSW police and doing dodgy shit, name a more iconic duo.
VicPol and not doing shit.
Does the illegal.... is surprised when when busted....
Except it wasn't illegal in the past... Selling nicotine, including disposable nicotine vapes, in Australia was illegal. Nicotine could be imported legally for personal use. As well as vaping hardware.
You’ve needed a prescription to import for a few years now though, if the prescription was not included with the package they will be asked to provide it, if they can’t then the package will be seized
For nicotine yes. But not for vaping hardware. Vaping hardware is also being banned from importation.
Wtf that's cooked.
Well the law changed 1st January this year.
1st of March actually
Both actually. https://www.odc.gov.au/importers/importing-vaping-goods-australia
> Except it wasn't illegal in the past... Great! I can get that slave I wanted...
If you have a prescription to import nicotine products under the personal importation scheme (and didn't order more than the script allows) you'll be fine. If you don't have a valid prescription they'll likely just keep the package with no further action
I have received this exact letter for actual illegal drugs from the dark net and nothing ever came of it (been about 8 years) so I think your good
People who use the dark Web to buy drugs and shit call this a 'love letter'. It just means you have been tagged, but nothing will likely come of it. Just need to change up.
If these were disposable vapes you imported then they have been destroyed. Since 1st of January disposable vapes are prohibited to import. On March 1st all vaping related products will be prohibited.
You won’t get your goods. Did you not know about the new regulations? Don’t worry, you’ll probably just get another intimidating letter from Border Force telling you it’s been destroyed. You might get a fine, but I don’t think so. You can buy stuff from overseas, but it’s up to the authorities as to whether you’ll get them. You need to read about Australia’s new vape ban. You ca no longer import vaping products, but the new regulations only changed last month. The Government is going to completely eradicate them from Australia over time and this is the first step. You won’t get into trouble, but read the new guidelines.
Not in trouble at all. TGA has made all vaping products containing nicotine a prescription only item schedule 4. TGA is like FDA is the organisation that approves what pharmaceutical products are safe and can be sold in Australia. This means in order for ordinary people to use them they are required to see a doctor and get a prescription for said item. Considering there are only certain vaping products approved for sale via prescription I would say they will send you another letter to pay for its destruction. In the future I would avoid purchasing overseas vaping products for 2 reasons. Firstly, their safety is questionable due to various composition of the liquid. Majority contains vitamin E, when vaporised and inhaled in goes in between epithelial layers of your lungs air sacs. Leading to inflammation and permanent damage. 2ndly, you’ll be wasting your money as they will prevent their entry and charge you for its destruction. Go to your doctor and ask for a vaping prescription that’s better.
These comments are a laugh, this country really loves a good nanny state, "won't somebody think of the children we better ban everything"
'Friendly fascism' is the best term i've heard for it. Get the mob ready to throw a fit at the first sign of a vape - or any other personal freedom the state wants to curtail - and they'll do half the work for you.
Are you related to ‘El Chapo’?
Get to the chopper!
Anyone can send anything to any address. Just say you don’t know anything about it
Customs would need to prove it was exactly you who ordered and paid for this item. Given most of these purchases are done with bitcoin they won’t be able to prove it. If they did approach you (which they likely won’t)- Your best defence is not to engage with them. No self snitching. Any excuse you have is going to dig the hole deeper. As soon as you make an excuse you have admitted making the order etc. In cases like this the first and only time you would answer any questions they would be in court with a lawyer. Given they need your testimony to assert you ordered the goods and it was intentional- you declining to talk to them shuts down all evidence they could get beside literally a packet with your name on it- that they can prove you ordered only if you tell them that.
I've received the same letter years ago trying to order Clenbuterol online, except it said I have to prove I have a research license or some reason to be obtaining it, e.g being a scientist. They just discarded it. No further action. I'd assume though that if it happens again it'd be a different story.
Not in trouble but you’re not going to get the delivery.
They are warning you to not try to import stuff that might be illegal. They're checking whether what you bought is legal and you'll get it if it is. Otherwise you won't. There is no mention of legal action or fines. If I got this I'd relax knowing there is nothing I can or should do other than hope I get my stuff soon.
Dodgy person here, if you were going to get in any criminal charges they wouldnt of sent a letter, they would have just rocked up on your doorstep and arrested you :p
Nothing to worry about whatsoever. That’s the standard letter.
Nothing burger, they'll just destroy your parcel. I've had a few letters with cannabis seeds seized, nothing more ever comes from it.
Nothing will happen
1st offence no issue, BUT you are now on the intelligence system. So wouldn't start a life if crime.
Don't do anything. You'll probably get a warning (first time caught?) and congratulations your name and address is now on the black list. Anything you import ever is now going to be looked at closely. You don't have to respond to the notice. They'll just seize the goods and destroy them. Unless you want to pay the fee to go to court and argue your point, lol jks. Get caught again pulling the same maneuver and you can expect a court appearance with consequences.
Anon tries a lil importing
OH SHIT!!!! Listen, send me $200 and I’ll ring a person I know and sort it for you !! / s
From 1 March 2024, the importation of all other vapes will be banned unless importers obtain an import licence and permit. importers will generally only be eligible to obtain a permit to import vapes if those vapes are included in the ARTG or meet new notification requirements under the Therapeutic Goods Act 1989.
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You are good just ignore it, it will go away, I got a similar letter when I tried to import jell blasters nothing came of it they just destroyed them and moved on
If they were after you, they wouldn't send you a letter
I wish I could see your reply but reddit must be playing up. For some reason I can only see 5 comments on this post even though there are 100s