Thanks gents, that confirms my thinking.
Actually he has just responded after I sent him the Customs website for prohibited goods, and he said that Royal Mail refused to compensate him when one of his parcels went missing, saying that it was photographic and therefore a banned item. I suggested to him that: a) we actually have cameras etc in Australia, and most are imported, and b) Royal Mail was simply lying to avoid payment...
(Maybe he has confused "photographic" with "pornographic"!)
Now he says he is checking his catalogue to see if a binocular case is a photographic item: and he claims to be a "professional store"!!!
I think I will be looking elsewhere....
- Dean