Hi OF members I have been trying to get a sensible quote for insuring a watch through an international courier. I've looked at FedEx, UPS etc and for a £4-5k value, I am being quoted in excess of £200 to insure shipping a watch from the UK to Hong Kong! I'd really appreciate any advice as to how OF members insure watches for shipping. Many thanks
@Ricbo2010 I'm interested to hear how you get on with Parcel Pro. They wouldn't help me as I'm not a business. Just a private individual. (I'm in UK and was looking to ship out of UK.)
You tell them you are a collector who buys and sells watches. In the US they require you to get Federal tax ID which takes 15 minutes to obtain on line. They ask for commercial references ... I picked some suppIiers i work with in my job. It could also be your watchmaker, your plumber, your mechanic, your customers.
I had a similar issue and couldn’t work it out. Some said to call them and they can open an account for individual on the phone but at least with me they wouldn’t . Eventually I gave up but a good friend that has an account helped me out and created the label for me. It worked like a charm. Easy, fast and actually less expensive than shipping Fedex or ups straight. Also of note, no matter what value you place on the watch with Fedex or ups ( and how much they charge you for insurance) they only cover for about 1000 dollars to 2000 ( depending on carrier), so Parcel pro or equivalent is 100 percent needed to be insured. For reference: a watch insured for 140000 dollars with parcel pro shipped from the US to Syngapore cost me 125 dollars, and got there on 3 days. The same watch without parcel pro valued at 14000 and insured through Fedex ( only for a value of 1000) was about $250.
I'll let you know Neil. I'm looking at DPD currently as they appear to do well in the UK at least on an independent customer feedback survey. They'll also allow insurance up to £5,000 which you pay extra for. They may not be as good for internatinoal shipping so I'll definitely try Parcelpro. Have already looked into Fedex and was put off by their $1000 maximum insurance. A third party quoted me £288 to insure a £5k watch!
That's sucks - many people operating as a sole proprietor or LLC use their SSN and not a tax ID number. I was a sole proprietor as a physician, and later when running a Subaru parts website.
What I'm worried about is the LLC is stated for the purpose of collecting firearms, and it's not really a business to make money - so will getting a Federal tax ID trigger notices saying that I forgot to file my tax returns, or get me audits after a few years of no tax returns? My LLC owns all of my short barrel rifles and suppressors. I know, I should have set up a Trust, which I did later, but the Fed wants $200 apiece for a new tax stamp to transfer them from my LLC to my Trust.
I joined Parcel Pro through this: http://canwatchco.ca/showthread.php?5370-Parcel-Pro-Great-news-for-all-members-of-CWC-!!! It’s Canadian so not sure if it’ll work in the US, but worth a try.
The IRS now requires FEIN’s for any activity, even for Schedule H household employees, which isn’t even a business. On the Form SS-4, there are boxes dealing with domestic LLC’s (8a, 8b and 8c). Then on 9c, check “other” and write in “Disregarded Entity-Sole Proprietorship”, if you are the only owner. This is straight off the IRS instructions (page 4 of 6). The worst that will happen is that you’ll get a letter from IRS asking about a return. Simply reply with a copy of the SS-4 and show where you filled out the form above, and they will go away. Hope this helps, gatorcpa
Thought I’d revive this recent thread. It seems like a luck of the draw thing getting Parcel Pro to accept your business as an individual/sole proprietor. Thought I’d share my experience. I initially called my local Parcel Pro office and the woman politely said that it’d be easier not to bother getting their service if I’m only shipping a handful of watches per year, and that they don’t really service individuals like me anyway. But I thought about it more and decided I did really want to use the service, so I called their corporate line and stated I wanted to ship a $4K USD watch with them and the rep completely paved the way for me. They didn’t even make me get commercial references, they were just like oh don’t worry about that. I had an account by the end of the day, they even guide you to how to get your tax ID. So it may just be a matter of getting the right rep, going to corporate, or maybe emphasizing the dollar value of what you’re shipping? But for those that didn’t get it the first time I encourage you to try again, maybe even inflate the dollar value of your parcel just to get the foot in the door. Their actual shipping/insurance service is excellent so it’s worth the attempt IMO. BTW, their professionalism and availability was outstanding in both instances, really impressed w their customer service even if they shot me down the first time!