I've replied on your other thread.
Vendors who ship to the UK
- Thread starter Edward
- Start date
@Edward I'd like to thank you for this thread, having made what now seems like such an amateurish mistake in ordering instant from Kona Kava Farms 
It did arrive, with an excess charge, by which time I'd learned about their reputation and learned about the acetone test. I'd wanted to finally try some Kava for quite a while and the test results, colourwise are leaning much toward an olive oil from say a ground nut oil (and had my first cup to at least try it before I bin it tonight with some success it has to be said).
But I'll definitely be using your list, especially as it cross references with the reputable suppliers I've since discovered and also that nails whether they ship here or not!
So, from a noob like me cheers!
It did arrive, with an excess charge, by which time I'd learned about their reputation and learned about the acetone test. I'd wanted to finally try some Kava for quite a while and the test results, colourwise are leaning much toward an olive oil from say a ground nut oil (and had my first cup to at least try it before I bin it tonight with some success it has to be said).
But I'll definitely be using your list, especially as it cross references with the reputable suppliers I've since discovered and also that nails whether they ship here or not!
So, from a noob like me cheers!
No problem, glad you found it useful. The game has changed a bit recently since I discovered stackry.com. I would use them every time now, get your kava sent to them at a US address they give you (GHK do free shipping to US addresses by the way 
) and then write your own shipping label and DHL it. Seamless when I did it.
) and then write your own shipping label and DHL it. Seamless when I did it.
No but I don't think the parcel value was high enough.
To be honest I can't remember. I know I wrote the shipping label with the contents and values. Tea, $50. It was collected by DHL from New Hampshire on the Friday afternoon and delivered to my wife's address in Wales on the Monday morning so I'm not entirely sure whether customs got much of a look at it?!
ObiWan
May the Brew be with you
The german customs knows that most declarations are wrong. Everybody seems to receive "gifts" ore items with very low value. As a result, the customs does random tests. They can't check every package, but if I were the customs I would look very carefully into every package that shows that it comes from a remailer.
Let me know if you have first experiences with taxes.
In Germany I always had to visit the customs office. After usually waiting for at least one hour, I was told to open the package. And this was always the last
Let me know if you have first experiences with taxes.
In Germany I always had to visit the customs office. After usually waiting for at least one hour, I was told to open the package. And this was always the last
yiki
Kava Enthusiast
Happened to me several times that parcels would slip through german customs without me having to collect it from the customs office (of course).
But this has become rare in the last 5-10 years...in fact, i don't remember it happening for items obviously more expensive than 22€ or whatever the tax free allowance is.
One also has to take into account, that you do not pay customs if it would be below 5€ .. would not be worth it for them.
Still, german customs is known to be tough and i sure would forfeit a kava package and not collect it...."i really didn't order it sir". Let's see if they want to prove me wrong.
But this has become rare in the last 5-10 years...in fact, i don't remember it happening for items obviously more expensive than 22€ or whatever the tax free allowance is.
One also has to take into account, that you do not pay customs if it would be below 5€ .. would not be worth it for them.
Still, german customs is known to be tough and i sure would forfeit a kava package and not collect it...."i really didn't order it sir". Let's see if they want to prove me wrong.
Do you think we would get a visa after Brexit?
You'll both be very welcome, I'm sure DExit won't be far behind anyway and we'll all be in the same boat again ;-)Thanks for the invitation
Another idea would be you opening up a secret shop until brexit makes it impossible....
Or the forum collectively migrates to vanuatu to live on a kava farm
I used DHL and it was very fast. There are other options on there at different prices though. Whether one would have been better than the others I don't know. I tend to order at least 1 lb of each kava but with a vendor who has multiple offerings that I want to buy I'll get a lb of each. I have bought certain kavas in larger amounts in the past though.
worrier
Kava Curious
Cool, thank you.
Would you still use Stackry even when ordering from a vendor who does ship directly to the UK?
The only thing I'm worried about now is the whole customs issue. Bearing in mind that it is totally legal to import for purposes other than human consumption -- I understand you've had success labeling it as "Tea"; the only problem I can foresee with that is if the parcel is held at customs, it could be harder to argue that you're not actually going to consume it if it's called "tea".
Maybe labeling it as something like "Pacific island plant", "air scenter", or even "not for consumption" would be better and would still be truthful?
What do you think?
P.S. such a shame that something so obviously helpful, non-addictive and non-intoxicating should be considered harmful because of a botched liver study!
I would consider using them depending on how many vendors I was ordering from at the same time. I've never had any trouble with customs other than the occasional customs charge. You have a point though and some more intelligent labelling couldn't hurt.
I know people officially importing kava to the UK as "fabric dye". They run a legitimate, artisanal clothing business and aparently have actually made a few shirts with kava but I think most of their imports mysteriously disappear before they can use them to make more shirts. But it's not a big problem as they can always import more "organic dye"