Shipping for International Customers

In compliance with the Endangered Species Act, we will not be able to ship swords and tsukas with real samegawa overseas directly (except for shirasaya models). This is effective immediately and will last until we develop a synthetic rayskin line of products scheduled for launch in late 2013 to early 2014.

(Domestic US orders are not subjected to this regulation).

Currently, if you are ordering a tsuka or a fully mounted sword from overseas, we will only be able to ship your items to a domestic US address or a domestic freight fowarder, who are capable of acting as the shipper of record, of your choice.

Example: MyUS.com at( http://www.myus.com/en/landing/?aid=14023 ) have been frequently used for purchasing swords from overseas.

The process involves setting up an account, obtaining your own MyUS.com street address, then shop for your items as a domestic customer.

Due to the use of real ray skin "samegawa" (Stingray skin panels) used on our tsukas, if we were to ship your order overseas, we would need to declare our exporting shipments with the US Department of Fish and Wildlife, submit a series of documents, and pay a prohibitively excessive inspection fee in order to be in compliance. This effectively rules out Cheness acting as the shipper of record for your international orders.

This restriction applies only to shipments containing ray skin tsukas going outside of the US. (Does not apply to domestic US orders, Does not apply to international orders for items not containing rayskin -- such as Swords mounted in shirasaya, sayas, tsubas, habaki, stands, or cleaning kits, etc.).

If you are an international customer but are having your shipment sent to APO or AFO, you are also exempt from this regulation as APO and AFO are considered domestic US shipping addresses.

We apologize for the inconvenience and are working towards developing a synthetic ray skin line for export purposes by 2014 in order to avoid the restrictions associated with this regulation. Thank you for your understanding.