Barbara wrote
 <That's the last time i make an overseas purchase!> or similar words.

Many collectors, even some in the USA, feel this way for various reasons
- customs interferance bieng the most frequent.  However, as long as no
CITES species are involved, and all the shells (except for the little
ones in shell grit, ie!) are identified and the localities speciefied in
the shipment, customs are 99.9% of the time no problem at all -
certainly many packages are intercepted, and one will hear horror
stories of long delays or even damaged shells, but the ***vast***
majority of packages crossing borders are completely untouched, and
nearly all of the time that Customs wishes to check a parcel, they do it
relatively quickly and quite carefully - i have sent over the years many
hundreds of packages all over the world, and only three have been unduly
delayed, no shells have ever been questioned by the authorities, and
only one shell was ever damaged - most dealers will have similar
records.  So, despite the "isolated incidents" of random beaurocracy
which occasionally befall cross-border packages, the overwhelming
majority reach their intended destinations in a timely and complete fashion.
So far as rude replies to complaints, just go elsewhere if this happens
- the vast majority of specimen shell dealers are pretty decent folks
:-) !
Finally, the cost of shipping will not be extraordinary if one refrains
from ordering heavy shells (like that 2 foot long gastropod that comes
from Australia that i can't ever remember the name of!!)

From the Great Wet North,
Ross.