Online vape seller has ‘no intention of stopping’ shipments to Australia, despite nationwide ban — ‘We have no intention of stopping just because of one twat in Canberra.’

L4sBot@lemmy.worldmod to Technology@lemmy.world – 380 points – Vape Seller Has ‘No Intention of Stopping’ Shipments To Australia, Despite Ban
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Online vape seller has ‘no intention of stopping’ shipments to Australia, despite nationwide ban — ‘We have no intention of stopping just because of one twat in Canberra.’::The New Zealand-based seller issued a notice to its Australian customers that shipments will continue regardless of the government's vape reform.

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The thing about shipping internationally is that you generally need a logistics partner to actually physically move the packages for you, and they also have a legal responsibility to ensure that what they are carrying is legal. I don't know what number of packages you need to have seized by customs before they stop doing business with you, but I'd doubt it's much more than 1.

As a bonus, there are only a handful of logistics companies in NZ that do international outbound, and they are the major domestic delivery companies as well, so if you fuck around enough you could end up finding out that no one will deliver your packages locally either

Those rules might apply to the sender… but the customer who places the order doesn’t get off so lightly. They can go to jail for five years for importing a drugs without a license.

That’s not even really a vape thing. Nicotine is a drug. Importing cigarettes is also illegal with the exception of travellers in person can bring a few packets with them.

It wouldn’t be hard to catch people - international shipping requires labels declaring the contents. And if the vape seller is lying on those declarations then they’re breaking NZ laws.

I can confirm that the rules do apply to the sender. You have to declare on a package what's inside. For businesses using the normal postal system this is generally done electronically and also printed on the package so they'll just be intercepted and binned. We ship product to Australia frequently and this is how it's done. Same with private carriers but slightly different process. It's still clear what's inside.

Even if they try to avoid the ban by not putting correct customs information it'll quickly become apparent to Australian customs which packages to seize who will then work directly with the private carrier if necessary (though it is prohibitively expensive to ship to more remote locations in Australia with private carriers so unlikely they will be used).

In short this is bluster.

Darknet markets have no issues shipping millions of packages internationally that contain drugs or steroids. Why should this be any different for these vapes?

  • I think you'll find "millions" is an exaggeration
  • Depends on how happy you are with risking prison

a lot of darknet vendors don't even bother with australia and their insane import controls, at best it's a "no refunds" type of situation