Here at Castille our priority has always been providing our customers with the highest quality fencing equipment with the best possible customer service. It is with this goal in mind that, sadly, we have closed direct international shipments starting May 1st, 2019. Our products will only be available for direct shipment in the United States and Canada due to ever increasing costs of business and our desire to devote more time designing excellent products rather than dealing with the customs office.
We still invite our international customers to place orders directly through our website and use package forwarding agencies (re-shippers¹) located in the US and Canada as some of our customers already do. To aid our customers in this transition we have made the following guide advising which re-shippers to use, some commonly shipped package sizes/weights and some additional tips on international shipping regarding getting through customs.
Please be aware of your own country’s regulations, fees and prohibitions before placing an order. Most re-shippers do not include duties and taxes in their fees although a few will calculate them for you prior to releasing a package. Please note that DHL is (to our knowledge) the only shipping service that will deliver to PO boxes.)
We will be unable to give order specific estimated box dimensions and weights.
We will not warranty damaged goods. It will be up to the customer to provide shipping/damage insurance. We will take responsibility for any incorrectly shipped or missing items and, as always, we will carefully pack the items so there should be no damaged goods. Please check your re-shipper’s invoice before confirming their release of the package to ensure that all of your order is present.
Typically we affix a copy of our invoice to packages shipping domestically, however, if you are using a re-shipper service please indicate in the note section at checkout that you need a “Sales Receipt”. Sale receipts allow us to provide a simplified, “Customs Friendly” version of your invoice. For example, your “pappenheimer, basic twisted quillon block, bright, basic rapier blade 42 F2… etc.” becomes a “Complete Sport Fencing Foil”. This allows non-fencers to better understand the contents of the package. We are unable to label our items as “gifts” or provide a sales receipt with a less than true product value for the sake of avoiding or lessening duties due upon receipt.
Although this process may seem intimidating at first it is surprisingly simple on small scales. It is only the quantity of international shipment we were dealing with that made this process complicated for us, and you may find that having a re-shipper in the states proves handy for your other online shopping habits as well!
(We can still ship to APO/FPO/DPO addresses. Please email us at info@castillearmory.com for assistance in this process.)
Here’s our top picks for re-shipper services in the United States:
MyUs: Weight based pricing, Florida based warehouse, email/live chat/ call back customer service, seems to be the least expensive overall due to weight based pricing.
Shipito: Dimensional weight pricing, California/Oregon based warehouses, email or live chat customer service.
Planet Express: Dimensional weight pricing, California based warehouse, accepts cryptocurrency, email or US telephone customer service.
Common Package Approximated Weight and Dimensions
| Product | Approximate Box Size (in inches) | Approximate Box Weight |
| Rapier/Sidesword | 49x9x9 | 5-6lbs |
| Longsword/Feder | 52x9x9 | 6-7lbs |
| Rapier & Dagger Set | 49x9x9 | 6-8lbs |
| Basket Hilt | 42x7x7 | 5-6lbs |
| Sabre | 42x7x7 | 3-5lbs |
| Blade | 49x2x2 | 2-3lbs |
| Guard | 8x8x6 | 2-3bs |
| Two Rapiers | 49x9x9 | 9-10lbs |
| Add Gorget | 2lbs | |
| Add Mask | 4lbs | |
| Add Maintenance Kit | 1lbs | |
¹Re-shippers are companies that allow customers to sign up for a shipping address in the US where purchased products can be forwarded when retailers cannot ship directly to the international customer. These services usually have cheaper shipping rates than DHL/UPS/FEDEX and they allow for multiple box consolidation when purchases are made from several retailers.