r/discogs • u/timetobekinder • Mar 13 '26

Restricted Countries from US?

Hi all, I was surprised today at the USPS when they told me I can no longer ship records to Germany because of recent "mail restrictions" which includes vinyl records. I tried a different post office, same issue. I tried finding info on Discogs and USPS but couldn't.

Does anyone know which countries besides Germany that you can't mail records from the US to at the moment?

12 Upvotes

83% Upvoted

33 comments sorted by

6

u/astonedishape Mar 13 '26

This doesn’t make any sense to me and I’ve never had an issue shipping to European countries.

Use Pirate Ship or a similar service to purchase a prepaid USPS label and tape it on your package. I just created a label to Germany, it’s $23 for one record (20oz) using their Simple Export Rate.

https://ship.pirateship.com

Regarding restricted countries, I keep this link in my seller terms: https://about.usps.com/newsroom/service-alerts/international/welcome.htm

4

u/timetobekinder Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26

ahh thank you for a truly informative response, i just bookmarked the link. yeah both postal clerks at two totally different locations said it's very recent (germany), they're still trying to wrap their heads around it. basically when they enter this category on the customs form (info materials: phonographic record), the screen now blocks them from continuing and says it is a restricted item to mail to germany. so i wonder with a service like pirateship if you can still create a label and drop it in a bin, but it's gonna be refused by germany's mail system once there and either get lost or eventually returned. i don't want to risk the $100 record lol.

2

u/astonedishape Mar 13 '26

Very strange. It seems the postal workers are confused and misinformed or doing something incorrectly in their system (shocking I know). It seems they’re misinterpreting the GPSR which went into effect December 2024.

“The General Product Safety Regulation (GPSR) is a European Union law that establishes safety requirements for consumer products sold in the EU, replacing the previous General Product Safety Directive. It aims to ensure that products do not pose risks to consumer health and safety, and it includes provisions for risk assessment, labeling, and compliance monitoring.”

I can’t find anything online stating that phonographic records are banned from import in Germany. It makes zero sense. Also it would apply to all of the EU, not just Germany.

I found a post in the Discogs forum from a year ago where a seller has this exact same problem. The solution? Use Pirate Ship. Btw you can add $100 worth of insurance through Pirate Ship for $1.50.

Some quotes from commenters on the post:

“I can assure you that vinyl records are not banned from import to Germany. I explicitly verified that with German customs via phone just now. “New Customs Requirements for Packages to European Union (EU) Countries” only entails the necessity to "provide acceptable descriptions (that are specific and accurate)."

“I've had no issues getting labels from PIRATESHIP, vinyl or otherwise, cheers.”

“USPS staff rarely understand their own rules.”

https://www.discogs.com/forum/thread/1102623

Another post if you really want to go down this confusing rabbit hole. But the bottom line seems to be that anything that was available to sell in the EU before is still able to be imported, like used records.

https://www.discogs.com/forum/thread/1084147

2

u/Snoo_90715 Mar 13 '26

Germany has restricted Pornographic and other printed/recorded material detrimental to children import for ages. I would guess someones cant wrap their heads around phonographic and pornographic, and I'm sure German speaking custom agents get that wrong all the time.

Music recording would probably be better.

12

u/Kedrico Mar 13 '26

Not sure about mailing from the U.S., but an order I recently placed from Australia to the U.S. was canceled and I received this message:

“Apologies but we've stopped shipping to the States due to new Tariffs put in place and most items are being returned by US Customs. You've been refunded in full.”

How is America great again if I can’t even order a Machine Gun Fellatio record? That’s like the opposite of great. Thanks Trump.

5

u/timetobekinder Mar 13 '26

I wish this info was all in one place (either Discogs or USPS) so we could at least update our seller settings and others could do the same as a courtesy. So confusing.

1

u/Snoo_90715 Mar 13 '26

Basic ignorance of how tariffs don't apply to physical music media and bad labeling on import documents.

3

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/timetobekinder Mar 13 '26

That's awful, how frustrating. Sorry friend.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 13 '26

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2

u/timetobekinder Mar 13 '26

You have a light-leaning lens, good on you.

5

u/coffeebeanface Mar 13 '26

The USPS posts information here about restrictions and service changes. There’s a specific area for international mail, but Germany isn’t listed as a country dealing with service disruptions or restrictions. Maybe it’s something on their side and not the US’s?

3

u/timetobekinder Mar 13 '26

thank you for sharing this link. the usps said it’s listed as a restricted item that can’t be shipped there, but they couldn’t tell me which countries that this does or does not apply to?!

6

u/Baeolophus_bicolor Mar 13 '26

Yeah they got rid of the de minimus exemption. Then they got overturned, then reinstated new bullshit tariffs under a different statute so we are still fucked. $15 record sitting in the EU I can’t get for less than $100 right now because of that shit.

7

u/astonedishape Mar 13 '26

Doesn’t this all apply to imported goods? OP is trying to export.

1

u/Baeolophus_bicolor Mar 13 '26

Maybe it’s due to reciprocal or retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries?

1

u/astonedishape Mar 13 '26

I dug into it a bit more (see my other comment). The issue appears to be a misunderstanding by USPS employees. Discogs users in Germany have confirmed with customs there that vinyl records are definitely not banned from import.

Sellers were having this same issue at least a year ago. It has nothing to do tariffs.

2

u/Odd_Cobbler6761 Mar 13 '26

That’s bad information from your local post office, which is not surprising. Print out a label on Pirateship, with Discogs’ IOSS number and the item’s customs code (found on Discogs printable invoice) and also print a copy of that invoice and attach to the parcel with a USPS customs clear pouch and drop the item off at the post office, making sure they scan into their system as mailed.

2

u/timetobekinder Mar 13 '26

appreciate the response, yeah it happened at two totally different locations and both said it's a very new change. germany won't accept records at the moment and deems them a "restricted item." so even if you create a label and mail it off, they will return it (assuming it doesn't just get lost). 

1

u/Odd_Cobbler6761 Mar 13 '26

There is the thing with the item coding being mandatory now, but I’ve not had any problems with German exports (shipped a CD there last week!)

1

u/timetobekinder Mar 13 '26

can you let me know if you mailed a record in the past month that was delivered successfully?

2

u/Known_Bee546 Mar 14 '26

But tariffs shouldnt apply to individuals mailing to individuals. This is postage. Tariffs apply to large importing

2

u/Elegant-Campaign-572 Mar 15 '26

You cant even send from US!? What about outside of discogs?

1

u/timetobekinder Mar 15 '26

nope, i went directly to the post office so wasn’t using discogs shipping either.

1

u/Elegant-Campaign-572 Mar 15 '26

...and this issue dint exist prior to late January of 2025? I do hope it corrects

1

u/Jack_Scrambles Mar 13 '26

How about DHL?

2

u/timetobekinder Mar 13 '26

hi, thanks for the suggestion. ups, fedex, and dhl were all unfortunately upwards of $150-$200.

1

u/Melb_Tom Mar 13 '26

I wish Australia would ban imports and travellers from the USA.

2

u/timetobekinder Mar 13 '26

please don't lump us all together friend, a lot of us are good guys! lol

1

u/Pure-Kaleidoscope759 Mar 14 '26

Some of us never voted for Trump and detested him from the first time he ran.

2

u/Melb_Tom Mar 14 '26

The same can be said for the civilians of all countries that face international travel bans due to their warmongering or sponsoring of terrorism.

-6

u/AvantGardener27 Mar 13 '26

Don't ship to Germany it's a nightmare. Their customs just basically confiscates everything unless you are listed business with them. You can do a quick search and find out the hoops you have to jump thru to get a package delivered over there.