a question to you Non-US tiki lovers

Our very first tiki mugs, given to us by Mr. and Mrs. Kick_the_Reverb, are lonely. They seek new frieds. Well, they CAN wait til we do our US pilgrimage in 2007, but who knows, maybe extending our wee Tiki family is possible.

Care to share your thoughts, tips and experience regarding ordering mugs from the US?

Thanks,
nuKKe, G and the two tiki mugs.

I'm in Sydney Australia. I haven't got any mugs from the US, but I have got a carving from one Finkdaddy. I had no problems, but it was only a small carving.

You just gotta buy from a reputable seller, who will pack it nicely. Travel insurance wouldn't hurt either.

Good luck

Another thing to watch is paying duty - I dont know Israel's policy on that, but getting mugs in Canada, often I am hit with a large duty charge and 'processing fee'. Very frustrating! However if you counvince your seller to mark it as a gift with low value, this thwarts that somewhat. But then it mucks up your insurance value should you need it... sigh!

Tiki-farm and Munktiki, i have found to be supremely reliable, fantastic service, i recommend ordering mugs from them.
When tiki-farm were selling the shag mondo mugs, they didn't have a bit for overseas orders, so i emailed holden to see if it was possible, when the sale started and i won my mugs he personally emailed me to say i was the last order to get through.
With Munktiki, when my Shecky mug went missing in the mail, i had a 16 week correspondence with stukie as we searched the mail for my missing mug, and when all seemed lost, stuckie offered to replace my lost Shecky with one of his own (luckily my Shecky returned to Munktiki and four days later he arrived here).
I would recommend getting mugs shipped airmail, it cost more but it stops that whole six week wait.

On 2005-07-31 05:29, tikifish wrote:
Another thing to watch is paying duty - I dont know Israel's policy on that, but getting mugs in Canada, often I am hit with a large duty charge and 'processing fee'. Very frustrating! However if you counvince your seller to mark it as a gift with low value, this thwarts that somewhat. But then it mucks up your insurance value should you need it... sigh!

Yes, same here with me. I noticed that with every package of more than about $60, I get custom fees.

ALoreei Nuuke,

I'm from behind the orange curtain in OC. I've had little to massive problems ordering $100 Mai Tais from Riptide.

I offer you overwhelming welcome to my tiki hut when you're in the OC.

Nukke: I've ordered mugs from Tiki Farm and also from Tiki Diablo. Never been stung by Customs. Mugs were packed better than I could have imagined.
I've also had a couple of mugs from brother Gecko, that my girl bought for me, which Gecko really went to extra lengths with. It's the pride of my collection.

Nukke,
Gecko really packs his mugs well, and offers great products and great service.
Also I've dealt with Tikifarm before and Holden was really friendly and helpful.

Aloha

oy vey. I probably forgot to opt for email notices for the replies and forgot to manually check out this thread. Bad me.

Thanks for the replies, everybody. Doing lots of mail-art and mail orders, I am well aware of the costums regulations of the country (fees for merchandise priced 50 USD and up). I am more concerned with good packaging and international service and think I'll opt for Tiki Farm (despite them not having coconut-mugs anymore... I crave those).

Tikibong, Beware. OC is somewhere between Washington, where an art retreat I am planning to attend takes place and San Diego, home of Mr. and Mrs. Kick_the_Reverb. Me and Mein Mensch might just stop by for a Mai Tai, but you have until Spring 2007 to mentally prepare yourself :wink:
K.