Evening all

I'm looking for a nice, reasonably priced 70's 861 speedy for a daily wearer (or maybe an '82 model as it's my birth year) and it's pretty slim pickings here in the UK.

Does anyone one have any experience importing watches to the UK from the US as there seems to be a much better choice, especially from some if the members here.

Is import duty always due or is it the luck if the draw? I presume if it's due it's around 20%?


cheers!

 

It's like the elephant in the middle of the room, that everyone knows about, but no one talks about. Openly

 

UK customs are very efficient...so don't count on getting lucky....its about 20 % maybe a bit lower...

 

There is no import duty on watches imported to the UK from non-EU countries. Only VAT is charged, currently 20% of the declared value. (Many other imported items are charged duty as well as VAT - camera equipment for example). So how much you will pay depends on the declared value that the seller has written on the customs label on the outside of the package. Some sellers are sticklers, and will not adjust this in your favour. Others will do a little downwards adjustment. Anything coming into the UK via the main carriers like FedEx and Parcel Force will also be subject to a handling charge, usually between £10 and £15 GBP.

The exchange rate at the moment is very good for us here in the UK, but shipping costs can be outrageous and that 20% really hurts. Personally, I prefer to purchase within the EU whenever possible.

P.S. The best deal I had was from a seller in the US who shall be nameless, who sent me a rather nice $950 Omega Seamaster. On the outside of the package was written "Old Mechanical Watch, $75". That kind of made my day when it turned up in Cornwall (I hadn't asked him to do that, by the way!)

 

A never-ending issue of course.

If he wrote that amount and it was sent as such, it was not insured fot its true value. Therein lies the rub. If it goes via Fedex, for example, declared with a value of $75, that's what it's insured for. Depends what you are willing to lose/risk/gain.

 

A very good point, and this is a real risk of course. Having said that, I have never lost anything in transit from the USA so far, and I have been importing stuff from there for many years (guitars, camera lenses, and now watches). But there is always a first time . . .

 

I was speaking with FedEx a while back and they told me watches are a 'special case' and only insured for a maximum of 500 (can't remember if pounds or dollars), so the insurance issue may be smaller than initially thought.

 

Never lost a single shipment (except some GBP5 crap from China once). My experience is that as long as you send tracked using normal post services it is never an issue. As for declaration of values and insurance it may be made a case of it for expensive watches (where I would use a Courier Service) but for "regular" stuff a low declared value may serve as extra insurance since it will make it look less interesting to others...

I have shipped plenty of watches to and from the UK (I am outside of the EU), and it has never been an issue with taxes as long as it is declared as "old used watch" and a low value. I know you may argue that I am not acting according to applicable laws, but I can not stand that governments should tax our hobbies. As long as things are kept non-commercial I can not see much harm done.

Good luck!

 

Very risky for sellers; and amazing that sellers are willing to do that...-as the seller is the one at risk if through ebay..or paypal..; if there is a loss -the buyer will make a non receipt claim for the full value amount-not the lowered value; seller will lose the claim- and the buyer will be reimbursed through seller funds...seller will have no insurance to fall back on.

 

Noted! When sending I always ask the receiver how he would like stuff declared.
Fortunately our government seems to pay little attention to non-commercial stuff. In my professional life I do take pride in paying what is due.

 

Hmm interesting, what's been said is pretty much what I thought but I didn't know that some companies only insure watches up to 500. That said, if it's insured for 500 or 5000 it's highly unlikely to go missing. I guess ill budget an extra 20% when looking at watches from the US.

Cheers

 

John makes a point often misunderstood: there is a big difference between Duty and VAT (sales tax). Duty, as John pointed out is not charged coming into the UK, but VAT is.
And in my experience, it is hit and miss on lower value items. But when you get to around $100 or so, it's always there - and on the postage, too! That really irritates me, as the postage is, technically, a service and not a taxable product; but that's just the way it is.
In mail terms (UK>US), there is no connection between the amount a package is insured for and the declared value, they're not joined up. Two independent processes. The insurance is your arrangement with your post office and Customs don't know what the insured value is; the declared value (taxable, and written on the package)is of interest to the Customs folks.
This is also true going the other way, from the US>UK. Doubt it? An eBay seller can buy independent insurance (ShipSaver) from within the eBay.com (only) seller platform and USPS have no idea what the item is insured for, as they're only acting as a carrier, handling an item with a declared value for Customs purposes.
A subtle difference? Maybe, but an important one.
FedEx (etc) is a different thing - they are clearing the items for you and make no such distinction as they are performing two services simultaneously, therefore the declared value and the insured value have to be the same for their system.

 

On this subject (international transactions). I got screwed by bank wire fees last week.

I paid for a watch in Europe, the transaction was agreed in USD and the buyer said he wanted the wire in USD, I performed the necessary citibank incantations being sure to select the "recipient is to receive X" rather than "send X" option.

Two days later seller informed me that despite being sent $1810 as agreed, his bank credited him with $1700. He went to the bank, puzzled as I was, and they insisted that was how much they got from Citibank, it wasn't their fault.

Now I'm chasing Citibank but I expect they will tell me it was forex, or fees on the other end, or something else unexpected. Now I'm basically up for another 8% to seal the deal.

Maybe in future bitcoins will stop being a volatile hacker infested minefield, and mature to a useful nearly fee-less way of sending money. Until then..

(ps: paypal isn't much better, they show your fees but neglect to mention the huge foreign exchange spread when any currency conversion is involved).

 

that being said, the paypal spread basically is equal to the outrageous credit card transaction fees. Lose lose.

 

Cornwall is a country which is proud of its tradition of smugglers and wreckers. Our aim is always to thwart the Excise man . . .

 

On the subject of wiring money abroad. I recently bought a 60's speedy from Sweden. I used a third party to pay and it saved me over £150 as they use the real exchange rate rather than the artificial one that banks use. What's more, the funds cleared in two days.
I presume I can't name the company here but it's one of the first on google. PM me if you want to know.

 

Hi David.
I don´t think there´s a problem naming the company here. We´re constantly talking about Paypal and eBay.
Please, do it, so that all of us can take the benefit of of knowing the name.

 

Absolutely name the company. There aren't silly restrictions here.

 

Ah, righty o. The company i used was 'TransferWise'.

When looking at my speedy i did a quick currency conversion on google to see what it would cost in £GBP. After I agreed to buy the watch I went to transfer the money using my British bank and the amount they quoted was around £160 more than I expected. Turns out (I guess most of you already know this) major banks claim they don't charge you a fee but make their money by giving you a @$!: exchange rate. I did a quick search and found this company. They do charge a small fee (I think about £25) but offer the real exchange rate. I used them and saved about £130. As I said, it cleared quicker than my bank would have done as well.

Btw, obviously I'm not affiliated with this company or anything, just seems like they're a good way to avoid ridiculous bank rates!