Buying rosewood board neck from China via ebay - CITES issues?

Megii

I'm just idly considering taking a punt on one of these rosewood fingerboard strat necks, advertised on ebay:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Maple-Fender-Strat-Guitar-Neck-Rosewood-Fingerboard-22-Frets-Matte-Satin-Finish-/172784125607?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

- the specs are to my taste, and they appear better made than many. But no mention of CITEs in the ad, and surely that is an issue these days? Would welcome any advice on the whole business anyhow, cheers.

King85

Might be worth messaging them asking what the deal is. They may label it when posting as something different to try and avoid it.

Whitecat

China is not signatory to CITES (edit, wrong, they have been now for some time, see below) so they don’t need any export permits - the onus is on you to somehow get an import permit, which I’m not sure how you’d do it. 

Are any MIC guitars from the big makers using rosewood anymore? Wonder how they do it. 

digtheditch

Not worth the hassle to be honest when you do need an permits (China joined CITES in 1981). There must be someone closer to home who can make what you are after.

Whitecat

digtheditch said:

Not worth the hassle to be honest when you do need an permits (China joined CITES in 1981). There must be someone closer to home who can make what you are after.

Ah, I stand corrected. 

Sounds like Chinese couriers are pretty hardcore with checking stuff too...

https://www.cites.org/eng/courier_pledge_cn

Megii

Cheers and thank you all - I guess I will at least try messaging the seller to see if they have all the CITES documentation and everything sorted. Won't buy if not. And yes, there are sources of necks closer to home, which do cost a bit more money, but I may well opt for one of those all the same. I have a 12" radius, jumbo fret Allparts neck on a partscaster that I really like a lot, so may well opt for another of those from a UK seller.

crunchman

Even if they do have the CITES documentation at their end, you will still need to apply for an import permit.  I think that is £74, so it's not worth it.

Guitarnut

crunchman said:

Even if they do have the CITES documentation at their end, you will still need to apply for an import permit.  I think that is £74, so it's not worth it.

That’s what I had to pay to bring a Warmoth neck in a few months back. Plus filling the forms in took sometime!

Megii

Cheers @crunchman @Guitarnut - I had not realised re the £74 import permit - I guess I was hoping/assuming if the seller had sorted accompanying documentation then that would be all that was needed. So it's a no go, not the end of the world anyhow, there are other options.

Still, there is a curious part of me, that wonders what would happen if I did order the ebay neck? - would it somehow sneak through anyhow?

rexter

I imagine they’d just send it without mentioning the rosewood on the documents. gamble as to whether you receive it or not. On the rare occasion I’ve bought any stuff from Chinese sellers it normally arrives quickly with a false value on the package so it doesn’t go through customs. I’ve never requested this btw!

You can get an allparts neck for not a huge amount more or one from gsp and be certain of their quality, rather than take a gamble on a random neck and possibly a big import charge or risk it not arriving.

Megii

rexter said:

I imagine they’d just send it without mentioning the rosewood on the documents. gamble as to whether you receive it or not. On the rare occasion I’ve bought any stuff from Chinese sellers it normally arrives quickly with a false value on the package so it doesn’t go through customs. I’ve never requested this btw!

You can get an allparts neck for not a huge amount more or one from gsp and be certain of their quality, rather than take a gamble on a random neck and possibly a big import charge or risk it not arriving.

Cheers - Allparts is the way I will be going - already have one, so I know that will work well.