In Turkey it's very icky, but customs officers are usually very helpful - there's a 20% tax, and a relatively new system that you pay the tax at your doorstep, but no credit card, you have to have cash

You can't buy anything with a value above 1500 euros as I remember (could be 1000 euros too) - so I always see Speedmasters etc. as out of my scope

There's an unwritten rule that you should only receive one package on avarage every week, if you go above it, they hold your packages in the main customs/package center, and you have to manually go handle the tax procedure and explain yourself, not fun - they always ask the same question, "Are you doing this as a business? / For profit?" You say no, for some reason, they don't want individuals buying and selling stuff ...

UPS, DHL etc. have an automated system too, but if the package is held, their manual processing could require costly procedures if you are unlucky, and once I even had to visit Istanbul from Ankara to solve an issue, so it's always a good idea to just use regular post

If there's multiple stuff declared in a package, they usually hold it for manual processing, so all in all, very tedious, and the 20% tax is a really big hit

I always wonder how things are in US to be honest, I've never heard of anyone paying customs there, none of the packages I sent where held either, I envy people from US a lot - I know from experience that EU is pretty much similar to Turkey, but I guess they have the advantage of not paying taxes if the packages is from an individual within the EU?

 

I have received a couple watches here in the US that were shipped from overseas and were held up in Customs for paperwork, etc. The first two had the Customs fees paid by the Seller, and for the most recent one I completed the paperwork online and then paid the fee.

It is definitely odd you cannot bring in anything worth more than 1,500 euros. They are giving up tax revenue/ fees.

 

Any stuff I've bought from overseas has sailed to my US front door with no issues, no customs, no problems. My last overseas parcel came from Australia in April 2020 (value AUD $7,500) and got to me in eight days, no customs holdup, no duty, no nothing. The DHL guy drove up, dropped it at my front door, took a picture on his phone to document the delivery, and left. The amount of duty these schemes collect is tiny in the aggregate, it's really not worth their effort, some countries realize this and as long as the product is legal and the documentation is complete they'll pass it on through for delivery, but some countries want to stick it to their citizens, imo.

 

I have received multiple packages from Australia, Canada and Japan over the last few years (both knives and watches), and none had any Customs hang-ups or fees. But one shipment from Poland and one from Switzerland were held up, and both had fees due before the packages would be released for delivery.

 

Very tedious and erratic, in India.

 

My purchasing experience in the U.S. has been very inconsistent.

Purchased 2 MTM leather jackets from Aero Leather in Scotland, and both times, I had to pay custom duties before DHL released the package for delivery.

Some watch accessories purchased from Europe (watch straps from Belgium, Speedmaster caseback from Germany) were held by US Postal Service for 1-2 months, awaiting customs clearance. No bill to pay, but the delay for these small parcels to be cleared through customs was very inconvenient.

Ordered a Baracuta jackets from a department store in London a couple times, and both were delivered in 2 days by Fedex without any hold-ups.

Shoes from Portugal, Spain, England... also delivered without any delays or duty assessments by DHL and/or Fedex.

 

For watches with landed cost or market value of Php10,000 and above (about EUR150 or USD180), import customs duties of 5% and 12% VAT as well as some miscellaneous fees. So i allocate about 18% more when buying online.

 

I certainly agree

 

Collecting customs duties isn't necessarily about "sticking it to citizens" in all cases. Duties aren't necessarily all about revenue, but about "protecting" business in your country by making imported products more expensive. These businesses and industries hire lobbyists who fund your representatives, and get them to pass legislation that favours their business. Or, they campaign against those who don't comply. Seems to be a shared problem between government and the businesses that control them.

The fact that the US doesn't have a federal sales tax tends to skew the US example compared to most of the rest of the world.

Here in Canada, duties are a minor thing - it's the taxes that are the real money. Still, when there was a proposal to change the de minimis value here (amount that is exempt from taxes or duties) from the paltry $20 that has been in place since 1985 to something closer to the US $800, it was the Retail Council of Canada (industry lobby group) that put up the most opposition. The new NAFTA raised it to $150...still far short of what the US allows.

So to your point more directly, yes the amounts can be small, and it can actually cost more to collect than what they get, but that's not the point.

Cheers, Al

 

yep

Read below how the US have done it. ( be shore to look at all the download lists )

https://www.ecomcrew.com/trumps-china-tariffs/

 

I have exactly the same question but no one can give a clear answer including customs & excise in the UK.

Quite simply, if I buy a vintage speedy from a dealer in Italy when it’s lands in the UK are there any taxes to pay, VAT and or Duty?

Can anyone advise but with a real “yes” or “no” answer

thanks

 

Probably not a good time to get an easy answer: https://omegaforums.net/threads/has...he-eu-for-more-than-£135.125415/#post-1693551

Previously, EU to EU, there was no tax between individuals as far as I know, only businesses applied VAT

Currently you'll probably pay tax, so it's not a "yes", but a probably