• I sold one item to a buyer in EU. I will never go through that nightmare again. I sell USA only.

 

Seber, that's a blanket statement. What happened to your deal? Kind regards. Achim

 

I sold a watch on Ebay to a customer in the EU. Took it to the the post office and was told that I would need to pay customs up front but they could not tell me how much. Back home again I tried to find out how much. Every site gave me a different amount. I finally determined that it had to be sent by private carrier. Off to UPS. They told me the customs amount could not be determined in advance an that I would need to pay 100% of the value up front and the difference would be returned to me after delivery. No time could be given for that. At that point I cancelled the order and got slammed on my Ebay account as a result. Never again. USA only.

 

There are a few reasons people choose to use the program and I wouldn't call them stupid. I don't use it, but still...

1. Some foreign addresses are difficult to understand for the average person. For example, I've sold watches to people in Japan and China... as well as to smaller markets and you'll commonly see unconventional addresses or ones with foreign characters that need to be explained and clarified by the buyer. Which then open up Ebay protection issues if you send to an address other than the exact one listed. Sometimes you'll need to figure out what is the province... the state, the business name and zip. And sometimes that takes work. And generates anxiety: "What if I screwed it up?".

2. International packages are banged around more, I would guess.

3. Shipping internationally takes more time and knowledge to ship. Yes... I know that making money should motivate going the extra step. But a lot of people are anxious with dealing with all the various forms and procedures for international packages.

4. Customs! I've had buyers reject to pay customs on the items they bought. And it gets messy.

5. Language barriers.

6. It's sometimes harder to verify a package's arrival at a foreign address (seller protection). Tracking can be more simplistic. Or non-existent in some places. And that can be scary.

All of this can be avoided by people who don't have experience with this stuff by clicking a little button and sending to an address in Kentucky or wherever it is. Once it hits Ebay's distribution center, the seller is automatically protected from buyers claiming not toe have received their packages. It's so much simpler...

I would guess most Americans have never sent an international letter or package. And it can be anxiety inducing.

 

Trump Wants To Buy Greenland

...

 

You live in the USA?

I have never heard that US residents have to pay customs duties when exporting watches to the EU.

But maybe this is a recent weird idea of a weird president?

 

Greenland is just the start ........

 

It's not all USA watches but it could well be the Global Shipping Programme at work. I'm sure I've brought pre-owned watches in from the USA but I have had a similar "You can't" message when I've tried to bid on pre-owned Seikos in the US. In the dim and distant past I'm pretty sure I've convinced US sellers to drop Global Shipping Programme because they weren't aware of the restriction it causes.

 

Overseas? Isn't that where you live dear chap? I think it might be fair to suggest that "CONUS only" is probably the most common buyers restriction in the sales pages of this lovely forum.

It is certainly possible to stipulate "Buyer pays for return postage" at the point of creating the listing in EBay.

 

That's tough, and harsh, and puzzling: shouldn't Duty/Customs be the responsibility of the buyer at the point of import? That's how it is for me in Britain: I buy your watch and import it. If you've used EBay's Global Shipping I pay the duty at the point of purchase. If you don't use Global Shipping Programme the package is assessed by HM Revenue and Customs on entry to the UK, they send me a demand and I have to pay up before they release the purchase to me.

 

I think we'd both call it "tax avoidance". If the customs declaration for the $4000 watch is wrongly filled out as say $400 then that'll be the limit of compensation should anything go wrong in transit.

 

This started with Rolex before they lost the case where they had rights to all importation of Rolex to the US. Ebay began blocking US bidders in overseas Rolex purchases.

 

Very complex topic. Shipment is always the weak part. Compensation is limited, no matter, how much you insured for and paid accordingly. Watches are Jewellery and that limit is around $500. In some countries you can use a 3. Party insurer and that does not show in the shipment papers. They encourage you, to declare low. To not attract unwanted attention during transport. My experience is, never to use the word "watch" in the declaration and declare low to go with the flow. Real time internet tracking for peace of mind a must. EMS courier pretty good and not expensive. Ups worldwide not good. FedEx into countries with Vat a bit better...... A few Carriers get paid by the government to do the customs clearing and get paid for it. It is in their best interest to collect Money....... kind regards. Achim

 

Wow, that’s new. The usual process used to be that the buyer pays customs upon delivery of the item. Guess they must have had too many shipments stuck in limbo with buyers not paying taxes and sellers not wanting to pay for return shipment for the delinquent buyers...

Agree with @Modest_Proposal that the Ebay global shipment program may give sellers peace of mind

However I just found out the Ebay shipment program doesn’t even bother with getting items signed. At least in my case buying a small gold watch from the UK, Ebay (ie Pitney Bowes) used a private service called wnDirect to a French hub, then dumped the shipment in the regular postal service in France, “delivery without signature”.

 

I need to replace "avoidance" (minimising tax liability by legal means) with "evasion" (ditto by non-legal means) and of course we're all pretty much free to trade with whom we want to trade with.

 

The basic lesson here is to not let eBay handle the shipping and do your homework before sending.

I sell all over the world from the UK. If you make yourself aware of customs and shipping requirements it’s difficult but not impossible. Before you guys in the states pat yourselves on the back about your wonderful free market vs all these Euro backwaters demanding pesky import taxes, be aware that to send a watch into the USA is a paperwork nightmare vs many other jurisdictions. Are you aware that each watch being imported needs a watch worksheet breaking down the cost of the case, movement, strap/bracelet and if fitted battery, and that there are different tariffs payable on each component? Of course precious metal cases have a different code and tariff to steel and so on. You need harmonisation numbers etc etc, it’s an admin nightmare.

Sending to Europe from the USA and ROW normally means declaring the value and the receiver paying a % fee in duty, 20% in the UK (same as our flat rate sales tax) and in many ways this is much simpler (but more expensive) than the US approach. How would you Yanks (and Rednecks) feel if the ROW said as one man ‘watch worksheet? Sod that, I’ll sell it here.

It’s a two way street...

 

I'm glad I live in a backward country.

I buy a watch, wait for a few days and the postie drops it in my mail box

The only thing that shits me now is paying GST, but eBay sucks that out on my behalf so it's still hassle free.

And what "Goods and Services" am I using when buying a used watch?

I'd better leave it there before I start a real rant.