Midway USA
- Thread starter spooksar
- Start date
Midway doesn't export to anybody in Canada. Rumour has it that they got caught exporting several years back and got slapped around by the U.S. Dept of State and Dept of Commerce.
"...States shut down Buffalo Arms from exporting..." They were violating U.S. law. They're lucky to still be in business. The fine is 6 figures USD, last I saw.
What are you looking for? Amazing stuff has been known to happen on this forum.
"...States shut down Buffalo Arms from exporting..." They were violating U.S. law. They're lucky to still be in business. The fine is 6 figures USD, last I saw.
What are you looking for? Amazing stuff has been known to happen on this forum.
- Location
- Ottawa, Ontario
"...what happened?..." They were exporting brass and components without the export permit. I suspect they were quietly told to quit it. Never heard anything on the U.S. forums about them being charged. Silly thing considering a lot of their brass is for long obsolete cartridges.
Henry Nierychlo
Supporting Dealer
- Location
- Surrey, B.C.
I can bring in brass also. What are you looking for?
Regards, Henry
Midway has distributors in many countries, but they most definitely do not have a Canadian distributor.
They second they get the slightest idea they are doing business with a Canadian or that their shipments to individuals in the US will be exported out of the US into Canada, they will freeze your account.
It happened to me. For a while I was buying bullet molds, and other reloading stuff ( not components, as I do not wish to risk a Homeland Security spot check on my way back into Canada and get permanently banned from the US ).
I was using a freight forwarding address, a package receiving warehouse that allows you to use their street address. 99% of my Ebay purchases are shipped this way, and my sellers think they are shipping to a US residence. I am sometimes forced to this because a lot of Ebayers refuse to ship outside the US.
Anyway, one day in phoned in an order to Midway using my account number. The clerk seemed to hesitate, and put me on hold for a few minutes. Came back apologetically, and said they can not ship to Canadians. I said you are shipping to a US address, not Canada. They responded that their records showed that the shipping address associated with my account was found to be a border forwarding address which it of course was.
I asked why did that make a difference. They said they are prohibited from shipping ( even a grip screw ) if there is any possibility that their item will eventually be exported out of the US.
If they went to the trouble to do a spot check of my legitimate US shipping address, it ought to give you a clear idea of how afraid Midway is of getting fined or worse. The whole thing is rather unfortunate.
They second they get the slightest idea they are doing business with a Canadian or that their shipments to individuals in the US will be exported out of the US into Canada, they will freeze your account.
It happened to me. For a while I was buying bullet molds, and other reloading stuff ( not components, as I do not wish to risk a Homeland Security spot check on my way back into Canada and get permanently banned from the US ).
I was using a freight forwarding address, a package receiving warehouse that allows you to use their street address. 99% of my Ebay purchases are shipped this way, and my sellers think they are shipping to a US residence. I am sometimes forced to this because a lot of Ebayers refuse to ship outside the US.
Anyway, one day in phoned in an order to Midway using my account number. The clerk seemed to hesitate, and put me on hold for a few minutes. Came back apologetically, and said they can not ship to Canadians. I said you are shipping to a US address, not Canada. They responded that their records showed that the shipping address associated with my account was found to be a border forwarding address which it of course was.
I asked why did that make a difference. They said they are prohibited from shipping ( even a grip screw ) if there is any possibility that their item will eventually be exported out of the US.
If they went to the trouble to do a spot check of my legitimate US shipping address, it ought to give you a clear idea of how afraid Midway is of getting fined or worse. The whole thing is rather unfortunate.
About 5 or so years ago, Midway USA was fined $330k for exporting about 250 scopes to various countries without permits. Zeiss USA was fined $10k for shipping 10 scopes to Zeiss Canada. (Both of these incidents were/are documented on the State Department website. (Sorry I can't find the link anymore). Remember that these fines don't include the companies own legal costs, and having the State Department make the companies bend over as they go through ALL their records. And these incidents were well BEFORE the current crackdown.
In a recent post by Pete Brownell here on CGN (yes, THAT Brownell), he said that the State Department regularly checks/audits sellers records. They look for foreign billing addresses, credit cards, etc. The State Department assumes that all orders which have foreign billing addresses/payment will eventually make it out of the country, so they treat them ALL as exports and as illegal exports if there isn't an export permit.
That is why lots of sellers in the US have just decided to not do any foreign sales.
In a recent post by Pete Brownell here on CGN (yes, THAT Brownell), he said that the State Department regularly checks/audits sellers records. They look for foreign billing addresses, credit cards, etc. The State Department assumes that all orders which have foreign billing addresses/payment will eventually make it out of the country, so they treat them ALL as exports and as illegal exports if there isn't an export permit.
That is why lots of sellers in the US have just decided to not do any foreign sales.
Remember these US export rules whether you agree they do or not are intended to protect the US, not Canada or anyone else. So if Canada loses out on some guns, parts, ammo or the use thereof it is not an issue for average Joe American. Unfortunately only US Citizens get the rights bestowed by the 2nd Amendment, not us.
