Sending Banknotes from India

Hi,

I want to know if sending banknotes from India is allowed or not?

Will Post Office accept it and will customs pass it?

Any legal implication?

What to write for content declaration for customs?

Thanks

vbhargava71

What to write for content declaration for customs?

I would suggest "Numismatic papers" – it is the description I always use when sending banknotes abroad. It is accurate without revealing that currency notes are in the package, which might attract theives.

I have no idea about your India-specific other questions.

Hibernia

vbhargava71

What to write for content declaration for customs?

I would suggest "Numismatic papers" – it is the description I always use when sending banknotes abroad. It is accurate without revealing that currency notes are in the package, which might attract theives.

 

I have no idea about your India-specific other questions.

I agree as many non collectors would not know the meaning of numismatics. The other alternative is declared it as printed matters. Some use the word photos (for do not bend message on the envelop). 

Hibernia

vbhargava71

What to write for content declaration for customs?

I would suggest "Numismatic papers" – it is the description I always use when sending banknotes abroad. It is accurate without revealing that currency notes are in the package, which might attract theives.

 

I have no idea about your India-specific other questions.

Thanks for your reply and suggestion.

I am worried because in India rules say that you cannot send currency notes by post. The post office staff says that customs will stop my package if I send it abroad.

It will help if I can get some information from someone who has sent or received Banknotes from India.

ahkai

Hibernia

vbhargava71

What to write for content declaration for customs?

I would suggest "Numismatic papers" – it is the description I always use when sending banknotes abroad. It is accurate without revealing that currency notes are in the package, which might attract theives.

 

I have no idea about your India-specific other questions.

I agree as many non collectors would not know the meaning of numismatics. The other alternative is declared it as printed matters. Some use the word photos (for do not bend message on the envelop). 

Thanks for the suggestion.

All above suggestions are valid.

To date I have sent 7 packages of banknotes to India. They have always reached the person I exchanged with (Non Numista swappers).

I have received 3 packages to date and they have been fine. The package content was labelled Art work delicate  or printed matter or photos & definitely  have a DO NOT BEND on the label.

I have received registered mails from collectors (exchange partners) from India in the past and it all went well, except one. In those letters, one of them was with coins. Unless the authority is using a sniffing currency dog to check outgoing mails (which I believe is unlikely), there is no way they can tell what's inside the contents, unless you declare it as money. In this country, some letters do get opened by the Customs for inspection, if they believe it is suspicious and this is usually done under CCTV. I had a few letters opened for inspections in the past and all went well. The first time was a letter from Italy with 44 banknotes. If you are worried, perhaps try sending a small amount first and see what happens. Good luck

vbhargava71

Hibernia

vbhargava71

What to write for content declaration for customs?

I would suggest "Numismatic papers" – it is the description I always use when sending banknotes abroad. It is accurate without revealing that currency notes are in the package, which might attract theives.

 

I have no idea about your India-specific other questions.

Thanks for your reply and suggestion.

I am worried because in India rules say that you cannot send currency notes by post. The post office staff says that customs will stop my package if I send it abroad.

It will help if I can get some information from someone who has sent or received Banknotes from India.

 

I have received notes from India on two occasions, once without contents declared, the other time it was labelled as “music discs”, since it was a larger and more rigid package.

Thanks a lot friends for sharing your experience. I am confident now to try sending banknotes. Will update my successful swap here once I do it.

Thanks again 🙏

Of course! Good luck!

vbhargava71

Hi,

I want to know if sending banknotes from India is allowed or not?

Will Post Office accept it and will customs pass it?

Any legal implication?

What to write for content declaration for customs?

 

Thanks

It is illegal to post currency almost everywhere and yet you see hundreds of swappers (perhaps thousands) mailing it everyday.

Post office is not likely to open your package, it is always customs. And no, they will not pass it if they get a clue about what's inside.

Worst is that they will confiscate your notes/ coins, it's not that they'll come and arrest you so the only risk is that what you're sending/ receiving might be taken away. Even not that always, I was sent coins and notes from a fellow from Russia, it was found out at the GPO and I was notified about it. I went there and talked to the customs in-charge and convinced him with my arguments and he released the package. Just he didn't hand it over me and told me that it would be delivered as before and it came.

Since the whole idea is to sneak items through secretly, it doesn't quite matter much what you label it as. I always mark it as ‘Wedding Invitation Card’ Please Don't Bend/ Ne Pas Plier. And it almost always worked. If it didn't work, it was because they sussed out about what was inside. So just pack your mail without leaving a hint but keep in mind, no method will work 100% and you're bound to lose once in a while so send accordingly.

I generally send the banknotes mentioning them as postcards. In my parcel whenever opened the first thing visible is some post card with greetings message. The notes generally I do well pack with masking tape so that it wont be easily visible if someone opens it.

Couple of times my incoming letters were opened by customs and I had not notification to visit them personally. Once I convinced them it as the notes are mainly for collection purpose and not significant commercial value. Once I had to pay the customs charges. Once I got the tempered envelope with banknotes were taken out and I received empty envelope. It was third swap with same sender hence doubting that in transit the notes are stolen but couldnt trace also, it was loss for me.

Once the receiver collector friend reported the notes are missing from the envelope and it was loss for me.

Hopefully it gives some confidence to you for swapping and enjoying the hobby.

Happy collecting.

I can only speak for myself here.

Confiscating by Customs or postal thieves are not the only issues we are facing here. There are other issues facing collectors too: -

1) Posting empty mail. Been there not once but 4 times, always from the same region;

2) Having a staple in the middle presumably done by the local post office. This happened to me for an inbound letter recently. 

3) And this is a strange one. After 3 months waiting for a registered letter from Central America, someone punched a tiny perforated hole in the middle of the letter. and it went right through. Why?

Have fun.

We need to sign on a declaration letter which will be put along with letter using tape, not by staple pin.

Also for packing if we put any staple pin, they ask us to remove and use tape or glue.

Hey all,

Sorry for my confusion, but the problems with sending currency outside of state (namely India in this case) only applies for a currency that is currently in use, or also old coins/notes that can't be used as legal tender anymore?

Thank you!

LuluCoins

 

Sorry for my confusion, but the problems with sending currency outside of state (namely India in this case) only applies for a currency that is currently in use, or also old coins/notes that can't be used as legal tender anymore?

That's for both, they may confiscate/ return your letter and other times it gets stolen on the way. For example I was sent 6 banknotes but I found only two. Since there are too many personnel involved, you can't know who took it, even if you do find out, what can you possibly do?

One more thing, sometimes the senders don't send all items and blame it on the postal workers and you still can't do much. So basically, successful international swap rate is just about 50% and you should be prepared to make some losses here and there. However, NEVER ever swap your highly valuable items internationally, that could turn into a complete loss.

LuluCoins

Hey all,

 

Sorry for my confusion, but the problems with sending currency outside of state (namely India in this case) only applies for a currency that is currently in use, or also old coins/notes that can't be used as legal tender anymore?

 

Thank you!

Hi,

I've made almost 20 parcels, containing coins, with “Collectible Numismatic coins” as the declaration. A couple of parcels, containing banknotes, were declared as “Printed material”---- All registered. 

All reached their destination.

Customs opened the last package I received from Turkey. The packaging was destroyed but I received all the coins. Had to pay high customs though.