Need some Omega Consolation.

Hi all, I recently bought a nice vintage Contellation from a great member in Canada and took the opportunity to get the piece serviced from an equally great watchmaker there, no, not that one! To get to the point, my watch has been 'Held in Customs' in Chicago for over a week now according to the appalling USPS tracking misinformation.

Latest Update
Your item is being held in Customs at 5:31 pm on August 17, 2024 in ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS), UNITED STATES.

Customs Transit

Held in Customs

ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS), UNITED STATES

August 17, 2024, 5:31 pm


Held in Customs

ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS), UNITED STATES

August 16, 2024, 5:31 pm

In Transit to Next Facility

August 15, 2024

Held in Customs

ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS), UNITED STATES

August 15, 2024, 5:31 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

MIAMI FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 14, 2024, 6:08 pm

Held in Customs

ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS), UNITED STATES

August 14, 2024, 5:31 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

OPA LOCKA FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 14, 2024, 4:59 pm

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

OPA LOCKA FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 14, 2024, 3:43 pm

In Transit to Next Facility

August 14, 2024, 3:41 pm

In Transit to Next Facility

August 14, 2024, 12:41 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

SEMINOLE-ORLANDO FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 14, 2024, 10:36 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

SEMINOLE-ORLANDO FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 14, 2024, 7:07 am

In Transit to Next Facility

August 13, 2024, 11:02 pm

Held in Customs

ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS), UNITED STATES

August 13, 2024, 5:31 pm

In Transit to Next Facility

August 13, 2024, 2:04 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

CHICAGO IL INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 13, 2024, 5:42 am

Arrived at USPS Regional Facility

CHICAGO IL INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 12, 2024, 9:51 pm

Held in Customs

ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS), UNITED STATES

August 12, 2024, 5:31 pm

Held in Customs

ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS), UNITED STATES

August 11, 2024, 5:31 pm

Processed Through USPS Facility

ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS)

August 10, 2024, 5:32 pm

I think US Customs will mail me a form I am guessing to collect import duties. I am just a lowly private buyer not a registered company. Could some kind member who has recieved a similar notification help me please, maybe post a photo of the form and advise how long it took.
I live in S.America, Colombia to be exact. If you've made it this far you can see the package was tracking on route to Miami interspersed with messages showing it to be in Chicago! I actually almost bought a plane ticket to Miami to pick up my watch from the Shipping agency I use there based on the misleading tracking information. Now it looks like I'm in for some trouble. I read that those lovely folks at CBP need to have a Social Security Number to indentify the importer/purchaser or they cannot release the item. Wonderful ! I am not a U.S. citizen, British actually, have never set foot in the States so impossible that I have a SSN. You can see that I am suffering hence the title of this post. Any help would be most welcome.
Thanks.
Alan.

Hi @gatorcpa. When I got the first Held in Customs tracking messsge I Googled that and messaged my shippers In Miami to look out for a notification from Customs so they are aware of things and certainly wouldn't have refused deĺivery. This delightful experience has convinced me to get someone to bring the watch personally back to Colombia for me. I estimated Colombian import duties tax etc at $435 USD and you could fly from here to Miami for about half that.
Thanks for your reply.

Hi @gatorcpa, I forgot to mention that, according to the Tracking misinformation, my package was supposedly in Customs in Chicago and in Florida within half an hour on 14th August.

Held in Customs

ISC CHICAGO IL (USPS), UNITED STATES

August 14, 2024, 5:31 pm

Departed USPS Regional Facility

OPA LOCKA FL DISTRIBUTION CENTER

August 14, 2024, 4:59 pm

Hi @sheepdoll, reminds me of a story about a friend of mine Billy who worked with me in Belfast in Royal Mail. We had recently gotten some new Hi-Tech sorting machines for packets. One day a delegation from An Post, the Irish post office came to see the latest machines. Billy was on the machine when a little fellow came over to him looking very downcast. The guy was a union rep from down south and said despondently 'They want to get some of these machines for Dublin, it's gonna kill our overtime!'
Billy looked at him with an evil grin and said 'What do you mean? These machines actually create more overtime, watch this!
And he began tipping bags and bags of packets into the machine furiously. After about 30 seconds there was a trememdous explosion and bits of paper, cardboard and stuff began raining down like confetti all around.
' Now it"ll take them about 5 hours to fix the machine and they'll have to begin phoning people to come in and do overtime! Billy announced triumphantly.
'That's bloody marvelous' said the little Irish guy his face a picture of contentment.

Same for me. In my case everything that's not from the EU has to go through customs.
And they arbitrarily ask for documentation/etc., even when buying from Chrono24 or eBay.
Pics from the website, paypal, descriptions and random declarations which sometimes are needed and other times not.

Then you have to wire the money to customs.

And then you call the delivery company 1000s of times and they tell you they don't know when the customs will free your package... or they need more documents.

The only consolation is that when using FedEx/DHL/UPS your package stays with the delivery company so at least it's not being poked or fiddled.

Hi @mseamaster, so customs send you a notification about duty owed, what is the reference of this form and could my shippers complete it for me?
I am just hoping I don't personally have to fill out and sign any form as I am not in the US and there would be more delay. I had the watch serviced and I think the watchmaker marked it 'Watch repaired and returned' I just want to pay whatever and get this moving again. Thanks for you answer.

Hm.. The shipper does have to file a declaration or so when sending an item.

However that declaration would usually go to the post office/delivery company which would then offer to act on your behalf with a power of attorney to free your item from customs. They would then need more information to prepare the customs declaration based on which they would also prepare an invoice.

Afterwards they would ask you to pay this invoice and send them a copy which they would submit together with the declaration to the customs.

In your case, I believe you would need to somehow prove ownership of the watch so it's not taxed as if you bought it. Meaning you would probably need to provide a document about sending it and if possible something to prove ownership.

Hi @gatorcpa, strange that Canada would be treated this way. I specifically choose to send my watch from Canada to my shippers in USA as they are experts in importing to Colombia. Now, especially after my experience with US customs, I am going get someone travelling to Florida to bring my watch back here thus avoiding 29% import duties, tax and the shipping and insurance not to mention possible theft.

I wouldn't have noticed it if you hadn't pointed it out lol I have been reading the title as Constellation all these days

Just to let you guys know my watch just arrived this morning,to my shippers in Miami, completely out of the blue. USPS tracking unfortunately completely useless and still showing 'Held in Customs Chicago' as of this moment.
Thank you to those members who replied and especially to those who messaged me and helped with information and consolation! I had thought in was in for some dealings with Customs maybe being charged import duty etc. but thankfully that didnt come to pass. Now definately I will ask someone to bring the watch back for me and not post it and have worries with Customs over again.

Yeah a shipping label that sits on more than one side won't scan.
I know this as I've installed, commissioned the plant and trained the maintenance staff for automated mail and parcel handling systems.
Improper labeling, and damage to labels create havoc with automated parcel handling systems.

What happens is any items that don't scan properly sit on the conveyor until they can manually removed and processed.
The items to be manually processed get put to one side in a pallet bin, possibly stacked under many others.
It should on a rotational basis and be 1st in 1st out, but the operators can sometimes not bother with this, either through stupidity or laziness and just grab the one on top, so they end up processing the last in 1st and the 1st in can sit there until it comes to the fore.
Which is why the sender should inquire as to why the item hasn't been delivered in time, this triggers a search through the system, and low and behold the item magically gets found at the bottom of the pile and starts moving again.
Of course the is no acknowledgement of this happening by the freight handling company the item just starts to mysteriously show as moving again on the tracking!

And the US can't charge duties on something passing through on it's way to another country, the parcel will be held in bond, away from the other parcels destined for addresses within the USA, until such shipments are ready to leave US soil.
US customs, would only be interested if scans showed something potentially naughty, however they may show interest in a damaged or mislabeled parcel.
Which could be cause for a possible delay.