"US Sales only" - ?

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Typical tedious and overly-verbose British humor. Don Rickles or Rodney Dangerfield could have done better with one line! 😁
Let me tell ya about those British -- they go no respect. No respect I tell ya.
 
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I can understand the confusion as his posts are so verbose it's like he's being paid by the word

overly-verbose British humor.

You get a prize by the way for the use of verbose twice in the same thread

New thesaurus? 😁
 
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I have several items (tools) from Germany snd Spain an in every purchase I had to use a delivery(address)service in Germany, to get stuff re deliver to US yes extra expense and another layer of unknowns 2-3 weeks extra time. So far 10 purchases all here, one did go into the unknown for 6 weeks, but made. The stuff I sold to foreign countries usually goes to Florida then I’m guessing gets relabel or whatever eventually I get a item received notification.
 
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A little off topic but you made me think about traveling. Even as a US citizen coming back into the States is normally a bigger hassle than entering other countries, including China or returning from visiting Canada.

Okay, got that off my chest.
That’s no joke, I went to South Africa last year. Purpose of visit(holiday) stamp welcome.
 
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Had a horror story today shipping from Milwaukee to Newfoundland. Rockman DIstortion Generator, a guitar thing.

Buyer paid USD200 plus USD65 shipping.

I shipped UPS.

He has to pay CAD40 import duties.

He has to pay CAD65 UPS "brokerage fees"!

I feel so bad, if I knew that UPS would pull that kind of shit I would have done the postal service and their forms.
 
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That’s no joke, I went to South Africa last year. Purpose of visit(holiday) stamp welcome.
I don’t know maybe you guys look honest but when I land in China they always make me throw out any US newspapers/magazines. Upon leaving the customs dude squeezed out all my toothpaste and went through every iota of my suitcase. I’m always nervous about it as I’m never 100% sure what China considers legal and illegal. Could Tylenol put me in a Chinese prison for 10 years?
 
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[from the US]

The shipping to/buying from outside the US doesn’t bother me me a bit from a safety/comfort issue, I’ve done it a fair number of times and the only hiccup I had using FedEx/ParcelPro was UK customs trying to make a 75 year old register as an exporter for selling me his 1963 1016.

The harder part is that European import duties have priced out a lot of people who I’d like to sell to and the Euro-Dollar exchange rate isn’t the most favorable when I want to buy from the EU.

The only reason I’ve considered limiting sales geographically (avoiding the EU or other regions with high import duties) is because I’ve had multiple prospective buyers want me to ship without the right declarations, which I don’t want to do, and then try to haggle me below market price because of the duty they face, which isn’t my imperative to do. (Plus, most of the watches I’ve sold are mainstream vintage Rolex that aren’t terribly uncommon and can be found within the EU for cheaper than US price + duty.)

And as an American, yes, too many of us are isolationist and unwilling to travel, though traveling across the US is more culturally and geographically distinct than others have given it credit for.

I, for one, hope to visit my European friends as soon as we both are vaccinated.
 
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I don’t know maybe you guys look honest but when I land in China they always make me throw out any US newspapers/magazines. Upon leaving the customs dude squeezed out all my toothpaste and went through every iota of my suitcase. I’m always nervous about it as I’m never 100% sure what China considers legal and illegal. Could Tylenol put me in a Chinese prison for 10 years?
Man, how long did it take for you to get it all back in the tube?!?::rimshot::
 
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I don’t know maybe you guys look honest but when I land in China they always make me throw out any US newspapers/magazines. Upon leaving the customs dude squeezed out all my toothpaste and went through every iota of my suitcase. I’m always nervous about it as I’m never 100% sure what China considers legal and illegal. Could Tylenol put me in a Chinese prison for 10 years?
All my trips to GZ, BJ, Shanghai, HK ... that never happened to me. Frankly the airports are pretty chill.
 
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I'm still waiting to hear someone say that they had a good resolution of a claim from Secursus. I just don't trust them yet. And when there was that crazy thread with the fraudster, it scared me off, since they seemed to have incredibly strict requirements about boxing, photographing, shipping etc. And I felt like they would use any technicality to avoid paying a claim.
It's a shame the thread was deleted, as I thought there was some good discussion that allowed people to make up their own minds.

My take was slightly different from yours, "I felt like they would use any technicality to avoid paying scammers". I agree that I'm also "still waiting to hear someone say that they had a god resolution of a claim" and also that they "have incredibly strict requirements", but they seem justified to me and I've now gone through the process twice. I suspect most diligent shippers follow these practices anyhow, or at least most of them in some way, shape or form.
 
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Sorry, I meant ParcelPro when I typed Transferwise. I have attempted to get a ParcelPro account on two occasions, and they will not give me one since I don't have a business.
Same here. I wish I could, but I cannot.
 
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I think this is a thread in which some of our dealers could shed some light. I know it’s been covered before- but these guys ship $50k watches around the globe.
I suspect dealers are the least likely to have issues shipping internationally, and as they do it often, they don't see the problem with it.

It always makes me startled to read that some first world countries still make their citizens fill out customs forms at the post office - haven't you got an online version?
When I ship outside of the EU, I spend about a minute or two longer filling out the online form than I would had it been domestic. It costs the same too. I print it, slap it on the box and go to my post office, get it scanned and put it in the Foreign Shipping shelf. A receipt with the tracking number is sent to my email when it is scanned.
I haven't dealt with setting up insurance yet, that may well be an issue.
I sold my Ultraman Monday night, went to UPS yesterday morning and filled out all the paperwork as best I could.

I checked online and wasn't clear what to fill out and how. So, I went in person, in hopes the person there could help make sure I did it right. I did my best to describe in detail what I was shipping, but had no knowledgeable person to ask.

We reviewed together, he said "looks good", and package was shipped with expectation of arriving today shortly after noon.

This morning I found a "Clearance Information Required" message had appeared when I checked the tracking (no message from UPS, on a package I paid a heavy premium to ship next-day). I called the UPS number, went through multiple options before finally getting to a live person. They couldn't do anything, other than tell me to email a standard address for collection of "international docs". I submitted additional details (with no actual feedback what was missing, and no way to check or confirm...).

Meanwhile, I have a buyer, who hesitantly paid me up-front for a high value item that he anxiously would like to receive. I have no ability to fix the situation, I have no ability to find out more about the situation, and I'm left nervously waiting to find out the outcome...

This is a horrible feeling, and it makes me fully understand why people are nervous to ship internationally (outside of commercial users with ParcelPro accounts).
 
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I suspect dealers are the least likely to have issues shipping internationally, and as they do it often, they don't see the problem with it.


I sold my Ultraman Monday night, went to UPS yesterday morning and filled out all the paperwork as best I could.

I checked online and wasn't clear what to fill out and how. So, I went in person, in hopes the person there could help make sure I did it right. I did my best to describe in detail what I was shipping, but had no knowledgeable person to ask.

We reviewed together, he said "looks good", and package was shipped with expectation of arriving today shortly after noon.

This morning I found a "Clearance Information Required" message had appeared when I checked the tracking (no message from UPS, on a package I paid a heavy premium to ship next-day). I called the UPS number, went through multiple options before finally getting to a live person. They couldn't do anything, other than tell me to email a standard address for collection of "international docs". I submitted additional details (with no actual feedback what was missing, and no way to check or confirm...).

Meanwhile, I have a buyer, who hesitantly paid me up-front for a high value item that he anxiously would like to receive. I have no ability to fix the situation, I have no ability to find out more about the situation, and I'm left nervously waiting to find out the outcome...

This is a horrible feeling, and it makes me fully understand why people are nervous to ship internationally (outside of commercial users with ParcelPro accounts).

Been there, luckily not with a very high dollar watch. It’s not an easy process from the US going out and they give you no assurances whatsoever- literally on a wing and a prayer with no guidance whatsoever. I understand why many of our int’l brothers get miffed when they see US only, but it’s a total crapshoot for us to ship as occasional sellers who don’t have business accounts. I have been lucky so far and will continue to sell to my OF family across the pond, but I won’t do it on eBay anymore (have been burned), and won’t do it for a buyer here that I don’t know from conversation and trust.
 
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This morning I found a "Clearance Information Required" message had appeared when I checked the tracking (no message from UPS, on a package I paid a heavy premium to ship next-day). I called the UPS number, went through multiple options before finally getting to a live person. They couldn't do anything, other than tell me to email a standard address for collection of "international docs". I submitted additional details (with no actual feedback what was missing, and no way to check or confirm...).

I am assuming you are shipping this to the US? If so, did you include a watch sheet, with the breakdown of values for the movement, case, and straps? Note that this is a requirement of US customs - there is no similar requirement for Canadian customs, or for any other country I have ever shipped to.

So the problems you are experiencing here appear to be shipping to the US, which is not in any way related to shipping from the US, the subject of this thread. If you need a copy of the watch sheet, email me and I'll send you a copy.

Cheers, Al
 
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I am assuming you are shipping this to the US? If so, did you include a watch sheet, with the breakdown of values for the movement, case, and straps? Note that this is a requirement of US customs - there is no similar requirement for Canadian customs, or for any other country I have ever shipped to.

So the problems you are experiencing here appear to be shipping to the US, which is not in any way related to shipping from the US, the subject of this thread. If you need a copy of the watch sheet, email me and I'll send you a copy.

Cheers, Al
Al, I most certainly did not include a watch-sheet with any kind of breakdown and values for movement/case/straps. I did send a commercial invoice with a list of included items, but not with individual values assigned. As we all know, Omega sells these LE's with an abundance of included items. It all comes as a "package", and that's how I sold it. Already somewhat regretting that I agreed to... I was nervous about it, and now it seems rightfully so.

I have called and emailed UPS several times, but it's impossible to get a human on the line who can explain what is needed.
 
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This has happened to me a couple of times when receiving a watch from Europe, and the shipper contacted me (as a buyer) and asked me to give them the information needed for the watch-sheet, or sent me the blank form and asked me to fill it out. The customs duty calculation is really complicated, and uses different rates and amounts for the movement, case, strap, etc. It depends on the case and strap/bracelet materials, chronographs have different rates, even the number of jewels, etc. It's not a simple overall percentage of the value. So the way that the form is filled out can dramatically affect the amount of customs duty.
 
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We shipped countless watches via Fedex from the Philippines to USA addresses and the Fedex counter person had those watch work sheets on hand for us to fill out. Not as difficult as it seems but one has to describe the contents accurately and estimate the value of the components so the total comes out correct. We also were careful not to ever ship leather straps on the watches as we did have one package kicked back because of it.
 
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The customs duty calculation is really complicated, and uses different rates and amounts for the movement, case, strap, etc. It depends on the case and strap/bracelet materials, chronographs have different rates, even the number of jewels, etc. It's not a simple overall percentage of the value. So the way that the form is filled out can dramatically affect the amount of customs duty.
Agreed and understood. When someone goes to their local shipping depot the first time to ship internationally, none of this is explained or clear. It cannot even be ascertained in any way without helpful people in a watch forum.

I have worked as a logistics manager, and am painfully aware of how difficult customs paperwork can be. I went through several rounds of painful "audits" from our Canadian customs officers. During this process, it became abundantly clear:
1. How challenging it can be to determine that appropriate HTS or HS code for each item crossing a border (Harmonized Tariff Schedule)
2. The reality is that customs entry clerks at large brokerages clear a lot of items every day. They often make their best 'guess' and simply choose an HS code that seems close enough.

Interestingly, every country has their own version of HTS, with primary chapters being common and then subheadings differing along with related rates of duty and preferential treatments/agreements. I'm surprised to hear that only some shippers/countries require detail while others don't. Ultimately all declared imports are booked under some HTS code with applicable duties owed.

The following is a page from the US HTS page related to an Omega Speedmaster (I believe...).

A customs brokerage has to determine the appropriate HTS code (ie: 91022.21.70) and then the value breakdown with applicable duties owed ($1.53 + 4.2% on case + 9.8% on strap)

 
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Here is the UPS Customs Brokerage "Watch Sheet" they needed filled out to get the watch "imported" to the US. It is very similar to the FedEx version @Archer was kind enough to email.

I'm curious if anything similar is required for watches leaving the US?

 
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This is the form on our national postal service online platform (I chose "USA" for destination):



- Type of export (documents/samples/gift/etc).
- Currency of stated value.

- Amount (for one watch, type "1").
- Net weight.
- Description (max. 30 letters).
- Country of origin.
- HS Tariff No. (never used this).
- Value.

That's it. Probably takes me two minutes to fill out.