UBB.threads Forums Edged Weapons Miscellaneous Dagger Forum Help With a Deal Gone Bad!

Any Help, Especially from our friends in Germany would be greatly appreciated! I made a cash and trade deal with a fellow in Germany by the name of Bernd Stephan, he uses the name PARKBOUTIQUE on Mweb. I sent him $190 and an army dagger for 2 Reproductions he had listed. He received the package and then stated that the dagger had been confiscated by German Customs. It has been over 3 months now with unending promises that he is about to get the item back, Refusal to send any part of the deal to me even though he admits he got the money.
Is his story even Plausable? Who would I contact to try to verify it? And how do I go about contacting the German authorities Concerned? Here is his info:

Bernd Stephan
Gaertnerstr. 5
D-66953 Pirmasens

Any help Greatly Appreciated!

Louie

I always undrstood you arent allowed to send those (nazi) items back to Germany , they want them out. So maybe there is a chance it is gone.As far as monies, sending cash is a bad idea, its better to Western Union the money or bank transfer. Its costs more but you avoid this kind of trouble.Hope I helped as far as insights concernrd.Shipping out of the country can be tricky, heck, my biggest nightmare is sending to our "freinds" north of the border.

Tiep, I absolutely agree in most cases, but this guy has 100% positive feedback on the auction site. and maybe I had a lapse in judgement. I was told by another fellow in Germany that his story is BS due to the fact that the law is against "Public" display of NS symbols. So I am now just trying to verify the laws and such and, if the story is BS, do what I can to salvage what I can. Thanks for the input!

I was really hoping that one of our German Members knew this guy and could maybe give him a nudge in the right direction on this. He seems to have been active in the hobby for a while.

Sorry to hear about your problem Louie but perhaps this situation will bring some things out in the open. If it were me I'd see if one of our forum members over there would be willing to help out.
Can anyone provide guidelines for shipping 3rd Reich items to Germany? If you ship an SS dagger for example should you tape over the grip runes and insignia even thought it will be packaged up? I know they do this at shows and on the online dealer sites.
Jim

I sent a 2nd.model RLB Officers dagger to Germany,With tape over the swaz.It was confiscated by German customs and it took the customer two month's for it's release.And they damaged the grip by putting some sort of goverment tape on it.it does take time.Paul

I sent 10 + daggers to Germany and received even more.
Always with swaz concealed - never had any problem.
In addition, the shipping always takes few days (not weeks!).

Hi Walter, I appreciate the information, but, is there anything you can tell me that could help me in my current situation? Are you in Europe? I am not familiar with Laval Island. Do you think your location helps you with your dealings with Germany? Thanks

Once again, I would ask for and welcome any suggestions on how to deal with this situation. Are there any Collectors on this forum from Germany? The individuals name I am having the problem with is:

Bernd Stephan
Gaertnerstr. 5
D-66953 Pirmasens
Germany

Wenn es jedermann gibt, das ein aktives Forummitglied aus Deutschland ist, würde ich groß jede mögliche Unterstützung mit diesem Problem schätzen! Danke!

3FL, I've never sent one, but I feel it's a plausible story. Dealers over there got hit hard a few years ago for displaying swazes on the internet (large confiscations).

The fact that he got the money tells you he's likely honest- all he had to do was say it was missing if he wasn't.

If it's the same guy, there is a Parkboutique on ebay.de that has been selling for years.

Hope this helps a bit...

Ps. I imagine he must have some paperwork regarding the confiscation. Tell him to scan some of it for you to prove what's going on.

Here's the story on sending swastika marked items to Germany - it's a roll of the dice. Once in a while, no matter how much tape you put on something, an item will be confiscated. This is illegal, but they do it anyway. Why? Because nobody is going to complain but you, and to most people, you're a nut-case who collects nazi stuff. This is why, when I send stuff to Germany, I do so with the caveat that the buyer is 100% liable for items seized by the German authorities. I have sold ultra-expensive items to Germany, and I usually hand-carry them there. Why? Because if, God forbid, a customs agent should stop me at the airport on my way in, I can be there to make sure the tape doesn't mysteriously disappear from the swastikas on said item.

Remember, the government agents responsible for enforcing Germany's "no swastika" law are ruthless - they love and believe in their job. I have watched as Helmut Weitze, who has maybe 5000 items on his table with covered swastikas, gets the one tiny thing on his table (a DOCUMENT with a nazi stamp on it), gets confiscated. You'd think that in a normal world, someone with a 99.9 percent compliance record would be allowed to quickly cover up an offensive symbol that obviously got overlooked. Nope.

Unfortunately, if your dagger was confiscated, you will have very little chance of getting it back. However, the good news is that there should definitely be a record of your item being confiscated. You should demand that the seller provide information about the confiscation. You should be able to confirm the fact with a state prosecutor's office, or customs office. If he will not give you the info, demand that he follow through with the deal. If there IS proof that it's confiscated, you both will have some negotiating to do, assuming you didn't cover this possibility in your deal negotiations before the transaction.

Thanks Craig! This is a First time deal with me. I had never sent anything to Germany before. Just my Luck! OK, I will try to proceed on your advice. Thanks Again!

quote:

Originally posted by 3-finger Louie:
Hi Walter, I appreciate the information, but, is there anything you can tell me that could help me in my current situation? Are you in Europe? I am not familiar with Laval Island. Do you think your location helps you with your dealings with Germany? Thanks

Hi Louie,

No, I live in Canada, Montreal area, so location doesn't help me at all.
Guess, I've been lucky enough to avoid the problems, but each time I send something 3rd Reich related (even without swaz) it's on buyer responsibility.
As Craig said, German authorities are really crazy about that stuff, but also very serious and accurate about the documents.
If they confiscate something, there's always some paperwork for that.