Ship ipod from Japan to Europe

Hey folks. I`ve just bought ipod touch a new model for my little brother and went to post office to ship it - and huge disappointment was awaiting on me there! According to lady from post office it is forbidden to ship any electronic devices with lithium battery inside due to some new restrictions. So I was wondering is it totally impossible to ship it? It`s my brother`s birthday and I wished to give him this present so much....
Btw, I was about to use EMS service and it did not work out... Does anyone know if DHL or Fedex don`t have this ridiculos rule??? Any advice is highly appreciated!

International Mail,EMS
http://www.post.japanpost.jp/int/use/restriction/index_en.html

i think you can send by fedex.(before dec.31.2009)

keyword IATA,UN3481

I tried EMS but they said it is no more available for ipods... In any way thanks for the advice, I`ll try to contact Fedex.

Isn't it just a regular lithium battery your brother can buy back home as well? (Apologies if I'm wrong - I don't own one of those high-tech things :)) Write to him with a note stating the battery type he needs to get.

Then you remove the battery from the iPod, take the ipod "unpackaged" to the post office to show that it does not have any battery in it - then they should be able to indicate "no battery containd" on the package, and you should be able to pack it and have it shiped it from there by air.

Battery is "corrosive material," and thus cannot be shipped by air at all (I believe which is a common restriction among most if not all countries), so I expect any air carrier to enforce the same rule....

Unfortunately, the ipod touch is complete self contained and without a removable battery.

This topic has come up concerning shipping cell phones and it seem that it is not allowed. Also, it is unclear on the Japan Post website if you can ship by regular surface mail, although this wouldn't be a good solution for you. Your only option may be to try shipping by EMS again, while being more ambiguous and listing it as a mp3 player, or music player, which will suffice for customs and insurance. Hopefully they won't ask you directly if there is a battery in it.

Thank you, yllwsmrf, for info. on iPod touch :)

Dear All,

I tried to go to post office and write in the invoice mp3 player instead of mentioning ipod and it did not work out either. The lady said that all the mp3 players have the same type of forbidden battery.

Yeap, and the worst thing is that ipod touch (2nd generation) does not have a removable battery... Getting desperate...

http://www.fedex.com/jp/about/custom/regulatoryupdates/ShipLit_30Jul09...
http://www.fedex.com/jp_english/about/custom/regulatoryupdates/ShipLit...

The lady said that all the mp3 players have the same type of forbidden battery.

That is simply incorrect, but no use arguing since it is the case for you. If you want to use EMS (likely the cheapest option), then you will have to be creative on the customs form, but keep it legal. The touch is also classified as a gaming device, portable media player, and a personal digital assistant. Also try different post offices.

Fedex rates are borderline ridiculous, but you may have no other choice.

hey, I did the same thing.

I bought an Itouch for my younger brother and had the same problem. So i went to the post office bought a box (200 yen) and put some other stuff inside...some japanese candy, a crazy shock,etc,etc and the itouch and the middle of everything..

When you post it you have to write all the items...so I wrote candy (3packs), sock (2 pairs), and when it came to the itouch I just wrote entertaiment device (the lady ask me about it and i told her it was a gaming thing/stuff)...


The import thing here is to go to a small post office and say it all in english dont try to use any japanese. They wont really understand it and you get to post it.

Be sure to say is a present.

It should be fine...

just to make it clear...I'm not proud but I was desperate.

Thanks everyone for answers. Of course, I am trying to avoid Fedex (I`ve checked the price with them and it hits some 17,000 yen!!!???? which is almost the same price I`ve paid for ipod itself).

I`ll try to go to the small post office and write gaming devise this time! Fingers crossed!

Some further updates on issue.

Eventually I went to post office and shipped it via EMS without writing in Invoice anything about Ipod (just mentioned that I am sending some small omiyage, Japanese sweets and so on).

Ipod arrived save and sound :-)))

Thanks a lot for all the help!!!