I have just discovered that the USA have rules regarding the collection and ownership of certain birds feathers! A friendly fellow Etsy seller informed me that some of my feather accessories are actually illegal to ship to the United States. I was completely oblivious to this rule and could have easily broken the law without knowing...
The laws are to protect the birds from poachers who kill them for their feathers, Falcons are on the list of protected species. As you may know I have a contact who does falconry and she collects their naturally shed feathers for me to use in my jewellery. Although the feathers I use are cruelty free and ethical, the rules still apply to any feathers being sold to the USA! I have been looking into shipping laws for different countries and it's all so complicated with each country having their own rules and regulations. I have decided to keep all of my falcon feather accessories within the UK by only offering local deliveries on those items, this is a big shame as most Etsy buyers are American!
So glad someone told me otherwise I would have been in deep trouble... spreading the word now so no-one else gets caught out!
Anyone else come across this problem when selling feather jewellery?
