Selling NOS US military tubes to buyers outside of the US - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: rhb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2019, 01:19:31 am
content: I have a quantity of NOS WW II era tubes e.g. GE 211 VT-4-C. It recently came to my attention that despite the absurdity of it all, these fall under export controls (they were used in radio sets in B-17s).Can anyone point me to reliable information about selling these on eBay without going to jail?

author: 0culus
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2019, 03:19:27 am
content: I've seen some potentially ITAR listings on ebay simply say they won't ship outside the US. Impossible to know if a buyer is a front for someone else though.How much you want for them? I collect neat vacuum tubes and I'm located in the US.

author: plurn
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2019, 03:24:10 am
content: Not reliable information.But anyway:Maybe start here to try and confirm whether it is actually controlled or not.https://www.pmddtc.state.gov/?id=ddtc_public_portal_business_landingThat includes a link to information on Commodity Jurisdictions "The purpose of a commodity jurisdiction (CJ) request is to determine whether a commodity or service is covered by the U.S. Munitions List (USML)"some more infohttps://www.whitcomblawpc.com/practice-areas/international-business-transactions/itar-compliance/including some details of fees to register as a defence exporter if that is required. Quite expensive - hope you have a lot of tubes.So perhaps, confirm it is not controlled, and then sell them as you please, or if it is controlled, forget about exporting and just sell within USA to avoid the costs and hassles.As a side note, just tried putting some 211 / VT-4C GE in a cart athttps://www.tubedepot.com/for delivery to Australia and it did not mention anything about restricted exports. I'd say retailers don't know or don't care and it has never been a problem?

author: vk6zgo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2019, 04:52:52 am
content: Quote from: rhb on May 29, 2019, 01:19:31 amThey were probably sold in truckloads worldwide as surplus, like a lot of other WW2 stuff.(the complete B17 radios were!)I seem to remember seeing the 211-VT4C used in transmitters back in the day in Oz, possibly in locally made AT14 Tx, which were used by both Australian & US forces in WW2, (& as late as the 1960s, for civilian comms), but those could have been locally made tubes.it would be ridiculous to prevent you from exporting them, but then again, non-technical people are not well known for commonsense.I do think that a judge would throw such a charge out, & "chew the ear" of whichever government "apparatchik" brought it!

author: rhb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2019, 03:51:28 pm
content: The Army ordered 100,000 radio sets in 1936. The transmitter used 4 tubes. I don't have a radio, but I have a slew of tuning units. Cortlandt St in NYC was awash with the stuff after the war until it was razed to make way for the World Trade Center.

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 29, 2019, 04:02:12 pm
content: You'll need to identify the ITAR status, if any, and then identify the correct Export Control Classification Number for the items. The ECCN will then lead you to which controls the item is subject to, which you can then cross-reference with the country lists to see if it's exportable or not. You are also obligated to check the individual recipient against the DOC lists to make sure the individual is not subject to sanctions that would prohibit you from doing business with them.The country other lists are maintained by DOC, and ECCNs are given in the Commerce Control List:https://www.bis.doc.gov/index.php/regulations/commerce-control-list-cclPlan for an hour or two to slog through the list the first time, there's a lot 'if not A but any of B, C, or D, as long as E and not F'.or, you know, you could make the listing US only.Technicallythe DOC will tell you that you're still responsible for ensuring that the items aren't later exported to the wrong hands, but obviously there's only so much you can do to prevent that.