Sad Dragon Dice tale

[flyboy577]

I've been trying to get DD for awhile now and finally had #1971 nailed down. I found a seller in the UK, we settled on a price, I paid and the machine was shipped. Then the US customs folks refused to allow it into the country.
A few of the e-mail exchanges are below and I'm completely at a loss to explain what is going on with US customs. Are they honestly going to go after our beloved pachis.

Hi Fiona,

Have the custom folks released it yet?

Rich

-------------- Original message --------------

From: fiona

Hi,

unfortunately customs wont release it as it's a gaming machine apparently its against the law to sell gambling machines to USA, I'm so sorry i will refund you asap.

Best wishes

Fiona

Hi Fiona,

Is it a UK law that is the problem? These machines are sold by the thousands in the US and are legal because they accept tokens only rather than currency. I currently have 13 of them which were all bought legitamately in the US after import from Japan. I have been trying to get Dragon Dice for over a year now but it is a very rare machine. Could you check out to see what the problem actually is since I would really love to have that machine?

regards,

Rich

Hi,

Been in touch with City link again and they said its your customs that wont release it and they are unsure how you managed to get machines from Japan into the country. They have even had a childs magic set refused into the country as it had 2 playing cards in.

City link have been trying to get the machine into the country put once the customs mind is made up they wont change it i'm afraid. I even said it was for personal use, so sorry i guess we will have to stop sending out to USA as well now. I know France has the same problem with their customs and we have been threaten with a jail term if we send to their country.

Kind regards

Fiona

Has anyone else had this problem. I am really bummed out to say the least

[hanabi]

Heck that's very disheartening news for you,

So the Dragon Dice is sat at Customs in the USA right now??

Perhaps you could try contacting Customs yourself, if you have the relevent details,
to ascertain exactly what the problem is??

[arbycoffee]

You will need to hir a broker to get it cleared cost will be in the $250 range

[luckydog]

A pachislo dealer is South Miami had a whole container held up and not delivered for the same reason a few years ago.

and if anyone here remembers there was a seller on Ebay lat year selling a container that the customs was holding and wouldn't release.

[birdbrain]

that was eastern slots in daytona

[kmhamel]

I just had a talk with customs about importing some pachinko's from japan. Once the lady at customs found out that I didn't want to be a broker she got real snotty. I was told that prior to shipping the games I needed to send them a check for the full amount of the electronics as a bond, and fill out 3 hours of paper work (she actually said 3 hours). If the electronics come in before all the paper work was ok'ed, customs would confiscate the shipment and I would forfit the bond. If everything was ok, i'd get the bond back at the end of the year. I then talked to Lynden Int. (broker) and they said that it seems the new policy at customs is to discourage all private importation and force everybody to use a broker. They are now working on a shipping price for me.

[drcrippen324]

thats just plain wrong

[luckydog]

someone I know had a friend in China send him some Japanese version PS3's at wholesale prices.

he had them shipped one at a time to avoid customs and import fees.

[luckymoey]

I've never had a problem if they are designated as "used pachinko machine" with a very low ($0-50) gift value.

[flyboy577]

After two and a half months and Dragon Dice making three passes across the pond, it finally made it to Pennsylvania in one piece. I got it yesterday and it was worth the wait. In order to get it through customs I registered with the US Department of Justice as a broker which can actually be done online. The poor guy who sold it to me had to pay to have it returned to him and to reship it to me so he didn't make out too well on this deal. Thanks to all the Pachitalk friends who had suggestions and information on how to get this done. SN 1971

[hanabi]

Nice to hear your story has a happy ending,
and that it was worth the wait...