They are so friendly at customs. For an order of 3 varieties of seeds, 50 seeds in total, 2 varieties did not meet bio security requirements. So after inspection one lot of the two did meet bio security requirements, which left ten seeds, yes ten seeds that did not meet bio security. So just throw them in the bin you ask, not so simple anymore down under at your local customs treatment office. Let’s just say a lot of emails and an extra 3 weeks on top of postage, a bill for  $500 bucks, and I still don’t have the remaining 40 seeds yet. Those ten little seeds have become a headache with a bill, not too bad for $50 bucks worth of seeds . Oh and don’t forget phyto certificate and postage. So the next time someone has a rare palm for sale and you think it’s too expensive feel free to import seeds, it can get rather expensive at times! 

Richard, I'm very sorry, because it's like throwing money away because of Australian customs, we're not doing anything wrong, it's better that the police arrest the criminals, it's become a real problem here, for the elderly, they are scammed every day

1 minute ago, gyuseppe said:

Richard, I'm very sorry, because it's like throwing money away because of Australian customs, we're not doing anything wrong, it's better that the police arrest the criminals, it's become a real problem here, for the elderly, they are scammed every day

It’s just the way it is, I respect our bio security policy. It’s a debate that’s been going on for a while now amongst importers of seeds. All we want to do is grow our palms in peace. Save endangered and rare plant species. Yet the government goes and spends millions on upgrading our bio security and customs, now they want their money back just to justify the upgrade. No commonsense anymore when it comes to the government. 
The old saying if I want to go broke I can stay at home and do that!

I have tried to send seeds to folks in Europe and it requires certain certificates and such. I won’t fib on the customs report as to what I’m sending . I get away with nothing and I don’t want to get fined for a few seeds ….not worth it. If I  wanted  to deal with customs here I would think it similar to what you are dealing with , high cost and frustration. I get the idea of foreign born plant disease potential but I fear the whole process has become more about $$ than safety. It was easy to bring home plants from Hawaii because the garden I bought from was set up with everything , but I bet they paid heavily for that , just to sell a few baby palms or orchids. That was almost 20 years ago and I doubt it has gotten any easier over there . Harry

The joys of bureaucracy, what a headache...should be able to solve it with a 3 minute phone call, but unfortunately in this new dystopia the Tech Bros have created for us, you'd end up talking to a bot or an underpaid 12 year old in a call centre in Rwanda...mumble, grumble, mumble.

I feel your pain.  Buy 10 seeds and each one is inspected under a microscope for fungal spores.  Meanwhile you can buy a whole ship load of palm kernel for cattle feed....  Makes no sense.

15 hours ago, Harry’s Palms said:

I have tried to send seeds to folks in Europe and it requires certain certificates and such. I won’t fib on the customs report as to what I’m sending . I get away with nothing and I don’t want to get fined for a few seeds ….not worth it. If I  wanted  to deal with customs here I would think it similar to what you are dealing with , high cost and frustration. I get the idea of foreign born plant disease potential but I fear the whole process has become more about $$ than safety. It was easy to bring home plants from Hawaii because the garden I bought from was set up with everything , but I bet they paid heavily for that , just to sell a few baby palms or orchids. That was almost 20 years ago and I doubt it has gotten any easier over there . Harry

The days we grew up in are long gone. Unfortunately it’s the way of the world now, technology is a great thing, but place it in a government bureaucracy system and it’s a different story. The difficult part is when I was at school we didn’t have computers to learn on. Now they give kindergarten kids a laptop we don’t stand a chance against that kind technology! 
Richard 

6 hours ago, Jonathan said:

The joys of bureaucracy, what a headache...should be able to solve it with a 3 minute phone call, but unfortunately in this new dystopia the Tech Bros have created for us, you'd end up talking to a bot or an underpaid 12 year old in a call centre in Rwanda...mumble, grumble, mumble.

Yep that’s the way it is, not even a phone call a quick email just asking for them to be placed in the bin, the best part is the rest of the order is held up and as we all know what are the odds of those seeds germinating. The joys of getting seeds is wearing thin! 

22 minutes ago, richnorm said:

I feel your pain.  Buy 10 seeds and each one is inspected under a microscope for fungal spores.  Meanwhile you can buy a whole ship load of palm kernel for cattle feed....  Makes no sense.

Apparently it’s all about the grain industry in Australia, kharpa beetle, there scared it will get into the grain industry and then the government won’t be able collect taxes and not be able to hold too a trade agreement with some foreign countries. So we continue to send our resources overseas and buy them back as a product, how many washing machines and refrigerators do we really need! I’ve had a headache with customs continually. But oh yes lets import the worlds rainforest timber and get a heap of pest in those shipments!