The ugly side to importing and selling 'artisan' soap

My UKIP reference was simply about them being anti-Europe - it was a quip. I shall probably vote Green as they are anti-Trident and Labour will win here, anyway, as always.

I'm far from confused, Stavros - when it comes to artisan shaving soap, I'm a free-trader! I spent too many years roaming the world to be otherwise and had pretty much my entire industry outsourced to the developing world - live and let live, we're all just trying to earn a buck and life goes on. I can attest to the safety of all the American artisan soaps I've tried so far.

I can't elaborate here on what I think about protectionism as this is a shaving forum.
 
Since moral righteousness and adherence to the law are the flavor of the week, what's next... a thread suggesting that anyone who every received an import under the revenue's radar start writing apologetic letters and cheques for the amounts they owe?
 
Looking across my US soaps I can see that I personally imported all of them myself. Some of the artisans I was interested in weren't carried by UK vendors and sometimes (even with the threat of customs duties) it was cheaper to buy the others direct. We've Etsy, artisans' websites and group buys - not exactly the end of the world, is it?
(Aside - of those I have, there are only 2 soaps I would buy again and both look to be discontinued, so it's all pretty transient anyway). :eek:pen-mouthed_smile:
 
jb74 said:
A handful of soaps (not drugs, arms, weapons of mass destruction, imported wives, slave labor etc.) and a few re-sellers earning a few sheckles.

It's all relatively mickey mouse as an issue if you ask me. If I was going to get up on my high horse about something, I'd at least make it something truly worthwhile.

Now we have members who have been deprived of the easiest access to the products... meh... who are the big winners here then?

I can go down to the shop and buy 20 fags and pollute my lungs now... eat 20 burgers and send my cholesterol through the roof... and that's perfectly fine, to make such choices.
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Funny old world, innit?

One of my other hobbies is car detailing and I recall all sorts of issues, but the other way around, with our artisans exporting into the US. Like we classify soap as cosmetics and so require all manner of i's dotted and t's crossed, the US sees car wax as practically a terrorist threat! If the solvents are too high, alarm bells are triggered and the goon squad steps in ...

Not only for importing, but for their domestic market, too.

Meguiars, for example (ironic story), an American company themselves cannot sell their own #16 wax in a good number of States, something which seriously irked folks in the US who were very grateful for folks like me outside "the land of the free in totalitarian Europe" being a good egg and posting them tins of #16 as a gift.

Back then, I recall saying something very similar; that I wasn't posting in drugs or sensitive documents or arranging forced marriages or any such like, but their laws are just stacked that way ... as are ours.

Then, it was "just car wax" ... here, it's "just soap".

Within my lifetime, it was "just music". Remember Polish Postcard records? Where a song would be pressed onto a postcard that could be played on a record player as a means of sending non-Communist music into the Soviet Bloc?

Funny old world, innit? :D

Still, rules is rules ... at least our faces are not going to be smashed under the iron heel of a Stasi boot for these minor transgressions. Or, are they?
 
Aye, its a funny old world... we need protection from shaving soap, but smoking 30 fags and skulling 10 pints a day for most of your adult life is perfectly fine.

I'm off to check that "What are you listening to thread", see if there's any devil worshipping going on. If I don't find anything there, I'm heading to an eCig forum to see what I can shutdown.
 
Dave Q said:
Shaving Station are now European/UK only soaps.
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FFS! Oh well, Maggard and a few others ship internationally. Still hopefully someone will sleep soundly knowing that justice has been served and the evil soap of the U.S. will take slightly longer to arrive in my cupboard.
 
Bechet45 said:
Long live USPS!
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Forgive him, for he knows not what he says! [emoji1]

Count of Undolpho said:
…a country that has invaded and annexed part of another state and is still fomenting war in that state with a view to annexing more, with over 5,000 dead so far and many wounded...
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Sounds a lot like U.S. foreign policy for the last fourteen years; however, I hardly think the soap makers in the United States are the ones who are responsible for the way "The Shrub" conducted foreign affairs.
The more I read on this topic, the less I think this has to do with a concern for product safety and the more I seem to think this is about collecting money for the EU coffers. In that way the United States and the United Europe are very much the same. [emoji53]
 
I have an uncle coming back from the States in May. Will make sure he stocks up for me!

After that, I will order from the states - a few pounds more won't kill me for a soap that lasts several months as part of the rotation. It's a pain, but no one is going to stop me. In fact, this has increased my urge to try more from the US.
 
Ben88 said:
A real shame if we are unable to continue to purchase these products from UK vendors.
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Lets hope a solution is at hand. We can easily purchase American made cosmetic products, Ogallala Bay Rum, Florida Water, Pinaud Bay Rum ( all with alcohol in), Zirh the list goes on.

Like I said in a previous post regarding Ogallala I'm sure some one said something about waiting for compliance sheets. What happens then to European makers exporting to the USA ? Do the EU compliance rules apply or are a whole set of USA ones required ?

It's the sellers I feel sorry for, in this market unique items make the company. The soaps mentioned don't in all cases have similar EU equivalents, I mean who makes a soft soap with a cinnamon or coffee scent ?
 
Chatting direct to a US artisan about this makes for interesting conversation. The way I understand it is that in the US they do not need such regs on shaving soap as it does not fall in the category of cosmetics. Artisans could certainly get their soaps tested but why should they when they are perfectly fine for consumption in their country. They will just stop selling to UK and European retailers.

From what I can tell the UK soap makers feel put out by US artisans who do not pay and conform to such regs. The competition in the soap market over the last 12 months has become fierce and it's obvious some noses got put out of joint.

As mentioned, all that will happen is the products will be shipped in privately to the individual. The disappointing thing is that some UK vendors were recently doing very well out of such products.

Life will go on. Who knows, if the costs weren't so exorbitant maybe we would see some more UK artisans starting up.....
 
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