Since the old thread got locked, I figured I’d make a new on dedicated to this topic.


It appears that the USA government is beginning to crack down on the export of MV lamps, as both me and some European members have had their lamps confiscated in the past few weeks. I expect obtaining American made lamps will become pretty much impossible for foreign collectors in the coming months/years.

As I mentioned in the previous thread, I'm still convinced that it's eBay being strict with the exports, particularly ones sent through the eBay shipping centre as I presume they don't want to deal with the liability since they handle the exporting. Unfortunately the only options are to either: drive over to the US and pick up the lamp from a PO Box yourself, find a forwarder that will still bring it over, convince the seller to ship direct, I'm guessing a ground based shipping service would still be ok with shipping this stuff now as it seems like the restriction might be for items exported by air.

Finally you could always see if a LG member is willing to buy and reship. I agree with what Funkybulb mentioned about declaring them as vintage or antique light bulbs, most of us are importing them for the collection purposes so vintage and antique light bulb is a more accurate descriptor.

Hello,
I had lamps alredy opened by cuatoms. For me the thing was very simple. I opened the lamp datasheet and showed the Following:

Lamp base E26 or E39-- European lamps have E27 and E40. So the lamps are for special application and so exeptiioned from the bans. That worked, at least the last time.

Yeah, that could further strengthen the argument to customs that the lamps in question being imported are for collection use and not for general lighting or resale which is probably the primary goal of the ban.

Unfortunately it seems like the lamps are restricted from being exported outside the US by eBay as it seems like the past cases where the lamps were held up, it was an issue with exporting from the US. It seems for now that once the package leaves the US, customs on the importing country doesn't have too much of an issue with imports.

Update on this: ive heard that it will get through if the seller does not include things like “mercury vapor” or “HID” in the item description. You need to contact the seller after making a purchase and getting them to write something like “vintage antique light bulb” instead.

 I've done that for every lamp I've shipped !  I've literally sent lamps all over the planet with no issues...YET!

I wonder if any North American members have had problems with importing European mercury vapor lamps for this same reason as well.

I had problems  with ebay once cant ship 8 foot fluorescent tubes from UK.    Only shipping company that can do it is UPS
And it pricy shippinng.

Update on this: ive heard that it will get through if the seller does not include things like “mercury vapor” or “HID” in the item description. You need to contact the seller after making a purchase and getting them to write something like “vintage antique light bulb” instead.

The problem is with any listing containing the title or description of the item as a "mercury lamp", "mercury vapor lamp" etc.
Liquid mercury has never been allowed to be transported on planes as it is reacts with aluminium (which the plane is partially constructed with).

I think it is pretty unlikely that the Goverment is specifically banning the export of MV lamps. It is more likely that there may have been a recent incident with an item found to contain mercury in a parcel that has made the customs focus more firmly on items listed as containing this metal.

For all of the many international trades I have done with lots of collectors in different countries around the world, I always list the item as "light bulb" on the customs form and have never had a problem.
I don't even put "vintage or antique" because this could indicate a potential higher value of the item which could attract fees or possible theft.
If this rule is followed, collectors should have no problems exchanging lamps with each other internationally.

The trouble with the lamps on eBay is that the seller's description is what is fed into the Global Shipping Program and will show up on the customs declaration.
For this to be avoided, the seller either needs to:
1. Ship the item directly to the seller at the post office with "light bulb" on the customs form.
or
2. List the item on ebay with a title and description that contains no mention of "mercury" "discharge" "HID" etc.
They could just list the item as HR400A33 bulb, H39KC-175/DX lamp, 400W MBF/U lamp, 125W HQL bulb etc.
   

Will this affect mercury containing CFL lamps such as PL-S and PL-C or is it only applicable to HID?

So far, I have had no problems with importing European fluorescent lamps from European eBay sellers.

I have this feeling that foreign collectors will also start to have trouble with importing North American high pressure sodium and metal halide lamps for these very same reasons.

Why someone would ban selling these bulbs on ebay or make trouble exprting them to Europe or somewhere else ?

I have this feeling that foreign collectors will also start to have trouble with importing North American high pressure sodium and metal halide lamps for these very same reasons.

If the suggestions that I made earlier in this thread are followed, then it is unlikely that there will be any problems importing such lamps from North America or elsewhere!

I wonder if there are some other alternative forwarders that can help foreign collectors obtain North American mercury vapor lamps as well. Sometimes, this makes me worried about the possibility of not being able to obtain mercury vapor lamps from Europe since I like to collect fluorescent and HID lamps from around the world.