Explaining on a public forum how you both (buyer and seller) are cheating respective governments (customs and potentially fisc) on a five figure amount might not be the wisest thing to do. Just saying.
Cheating? Arrange a face to face meeting to avoid shipping, but more specifically, to avoid paying 10~20% customs duties on a $XXXXX watch doesn't exactly sound illegal to me, but then I know nothing Jon Snow...
FIFY (and I am not judging here...)
So funny, but this not seems the case.
We know very well that there are some ways to avoid custom duties declaring the false at the time of shipment.
Arrange a face to face it's not among them.
Well, I hope you get this resolved in the time frame available to you. However, you say you're very keen to complete this transaction due to the piece being for sale for so long already. Fair enough, but why not just lower your price with the hope that would arouse some interest amongst fellow Aus/NZ watch enthusiasts? If its been for sale for a long time, and is even now only selling because of the opportunity for the buyer to avoid additional taxes/costs, then there's a good chance you're asking too much for it. I'm much happier taking a lower price from a trusted buyer, on here or TRF etc, combined with a more straight forward transaction, than eeking out the last dollar of profit.
To me the answer is really simple. No money, no watch.
Yes. But don't go blabbing about it on a public forum. You never know, @STANDY might just be on duty and catch you.
I'm really confused, I was under the impression people take flights all around the world to purchase collectable watches. You get to see the watch in person, have a face-to-face deal and bring the watch back with you without the risk of it going missing.
Have a look at this thread I posted on October 2nd - titled:
How the hell do you guys ship watches over $10000?
https://omegaforums.net/threads/how-the-hell-do-you-guys-ship-watches-over-10000.102602/
The advice to meet face-to-face was quite a popular one.
I'm really confused, I was under the impression people take flights all around the world to purchase collectable watches. You get to see the watch in person, have a face-to-face deal and bring the watch back with you without the risk of it going missing.
Yes. But don't go blabbing about it on a public forum. You never know, @STANDY might just be on duty and catch you.
Maybe we are confused. Did your buddy import it into the US and thus pay the 20% import duties (which would have happened, were it shipped)?