Season's Greetings All,

This is my first post, but one which I hope the august body here may have some information/insight on. I ordered some plate armor (arm & leg harness) from ArmStreet; and the items were made in the Ukraine, and shipped about a week or so ago. It arrived at USPS in New York on November 27, according to the USPS tracker. Since then it shows the items as "being processed by US Customs." Granted this is the holiday season, but would anyone have an idea how long it would take to be "processed" by customs? Hopefully there will be no issues as I'm thinking this isn't the first time armor has been shipped from Eastern Europe to the US. Thanks for any information. I sure hope to be donning the pieces by Christmas :) Warm Regards, Dean

P.S. The communication from ArmStreet has been great - and the production time very impressive.

It's been a few years, but I've received armor from the Ukraine on three different occasions from two different manufacturers, and they all took about 3 weeks total shipping time - I don't recall the time split precisely, unfortunately, but I recall it being pretty even. Of course, this all pre-dated the Crimea situation, so that may impact how the U.S. processes items shipped from that area of the world - purely speculation on my part, but I don't think unreasonably so.

Thanks for the info, Victor. I hope it gets through Customs okay - I'd be happy to post pics of the gear here (Show us your kit) as soon as I get it. Warm regards, Dean

I had purchased a helmet from ArmStreet less than two years ago as an experiment, and If I remember correctly it took 38 days total from the day I ordered to the day I received the item. I'm sure it has changed some since then, but I hope that helps.

There's no telling how long customs will take. We receive goods from overseas at my job fairly often and customs has taken many weeks on some occasions. Hopefully it won't be that long...

Hi Dean,

I am based in the UK, but have on one occasion lost a parcel in the US and that was simply that I forgot to put the customs form on the package and at some point it got opened, checked, incorrect paperwork and there you go.

For the record other than that one mistake, it is the only parcel I have lost going to the US, so international shipping these days is very reliable.

People are right in that customs can be long or short and especially as Ukraine is in a bit or turmoil at the moment they may be checking packages more closely coming from there, however it may be that it got to customs and the paperwork has gone missing/incorrect etc and so they are sitting on it. For safety, it may just be worth talking to customs, to make sure that they have everything they need to process it and that they know there is an interested owner out there.

Tod

Thank you all very much for passing on your experiences. Much appreciated. I will contact ArmStreet to ensure they put they included the right forms - which I'm sure they did as this is their specialty. Maybe it's just the holidays and the Customs folks are catching up. Warm Regards to all, Dean

One thing I forgot to mention that you may not be expecting...you may have to pay duty for the import. So be ready to fork over a few bucks!

Thanks, Tim. Yes, I saw that - didn't realize it at first as I've ordered stuff from other foreign countries (China & India) via ebay, and it never got hung up in Customs. I found an online calculator to see how much I may have to pay, but wasn't sure how to class the item. I chose "Sporting Equipment/Protective Pads" :) We'll see. just to get the armor, I am resigned to the fact of having to render unto Caesar what is Caesar's.

I should've posted this last week, but after all my earlier drama, the armor arrived last Monday - the 14th of Dec. No duty/tax assessed. Communication with ArmStreet was great throughout. The fit is pretty good - but as they were made via emailed measurements and not fitted in-person, it could use a little adjustment. About an inch shorter for the leg and arms overall might be in the future, but still pretty impressed with the quality, timeliness and price. Hope to takes some pics and post in the "Show Me Your Kit" post soon - waiting on an arming jacket first. Christmas came a bit early!