Hello together,
what would be the best way to ship from the US to germany or Europe to avoid customs duties?
Shipping Company, Declaration of the watch...

 

Slippery slope...
How to break a foreign Customs' law?

RISK - seizure of watch or being a imposed a penalty if caught..

 

Really? You're in the fortunate position of being able to engage in the watch collecting hobby, home of multiple $1000s in purchase prices plus hundreds in service costs, and you try to cheat on the taxes involved?

 

No way to avoid it. The only option is to declare a lower value, but that imposes other risks you and the seller will have to agree on. I'm not saying I didn't do this before but it's a gamble. You won't go to jail for it but you will be fined if..

 

Won't go to jail ! How do you come to this ?

( Google " jailed for evading customs duty " ) (( understand its mostly for several instances and higher $ amounts ))

So a record for life with international tax/duty evasion is cool. Not cool if you travel to the country you have previously defrauded at some point in your life in the future. ( and people wonder why they get their bags turned over by customs sometimes )

How many threads do we need here for people to realise that it is against the law to falsely declare to a federal office/officer. And even stupider to talk about it on a public forum.
https://omegaforums.net/threads/rec...and-declaring-lower-values.62224/#post-777198

 

I just stuck it in a box. Wrote the address on it. Declared full value of the watch if it were BNIB and insured it for the same amount. And felt very happy about it. Oh and it was only like $50 via USPS. Tracking all the way through etc etc.

 

Wouldn't have stated that IF it would have been a considerable amount and recently. The essence of my posting was: DON'T do that.

 

Thanks togehther,- I got it and will declare it correctly!

 

Not at you just the amount of how do I break the law threads lately.

 

I would not advise trying to avoid. I helped a friend by doing some bezel work on a piece. He gave to me when he visited the U.S. this past winter. I sent back and it was detained by customs in his town. He was able to show them emails between us, and before and after pictures of the bezel. The customs person released the watch to him, mind you this was a Bulova Snorkel, so not a Rolex or something well known for being expensive. No customs, but he would have had to pay if he did not have the proof it was a repair. I had even said repair on the label with actual value. If you or a friend is visiting Germany, there is always hand delivery.

 

I am pleased to see that this thread has not devolved into yet another H2 on avoiding customs. Well done gents.