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US Tariffs on Switzerland

lindo
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Archer Archer
Oops!!!

From Japan39.webp

So what this clearly implies is that if I start selling my collection of Swiss watches (mainly Omega and Rolex), US buyers may be subject to 39% import duty simply because the country of origin of the watches is Switzerland - even if they are vintage. This cuts out a significant part of the international market, because US buyers are hardly likely to wear a purchase cost so far above even the most reasonable market rate in other countries for a nice vintage watch.

Let me know if I am wrong, but under the current tariff chaos, who would risk it?
 
gatorcpa
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There are almost no vintage watches that are sold for 39% under market value.

Add in the state use tax owed of anywhere between 0% and 11%, depending on where you live, and I would say international sales to the U.S. will be dead soon.

Better get those under $1,000 IWC’s from Closer while you can.
gatorcpa
 
pdxleaf
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gatorcpa gatorcpa
Better get those under $1,000 IWC’s from Closer while you can.

Just don't plan on shipping with DHL

"New U.S. customs regulations: Temporary restrictions on postal goods shipping to the U.S. for private and business customers
08/22/2025, 10:00 AM CEST
After August 22, Deutsche Post and DHL Parcel Germany will no longer be able to accept and transport parcels and postal items containing goods from business customers destined for the U.S. ,"
 
Peemacgee
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Or Royal Mail - who have just announced suspension of postal services to the US until import tariffs are clarified.
 
Syrte
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Hi everyone, French postal services have also announced suspension of all package to the US.
 
Davidt
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As far as I can see the Royal Mail statement only mentions business customers and only for a few days. Ludicrous situation but hopefully temporary
 
kippyk
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Relating to this discussion...let's say I buy a watch on EBAY that is shipped from Switzerland. Ebay would add a state sales tax but there would be an unpaid 39% Swiss duty? Is that true? So the watch would be held by customs until I paid the 39% fee + the customs collection convenience fee?

What about buying a Swiss watch from Japan? Some other precentage other than 39%?
 
Archer
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kippyk kippyk
Relating to this discussion...let's say I buy a watch on EBAY that is shipped from Switzerland. Ebay would add a state sales tax but there would be an unpaid 39% Swiss duty? Is that true? So the watch would be held by customs until I paid the 39% fee + the customs collection convenience fee?

What about buying a Swiss watch from Japan? Some other precentage other than 39%?
The tariff is not on the country shipped from, but the country of origin. Yes you would pay 39% from anywhere. The example I posted above was specifically from Japan...39%
 
sathomasga
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gatorcpa gatorcpa
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/business/dhl-us-shipments-suspended-de-minimis.html
I canceled my NY Times subscription last year, but from what is readable outside the paywall, this appears to be discussing DHL Express, the international shipping company, not national postal carriers. DHL did something similar in the spring, when the administration removed the "expedited clearance" (or something similarly named) option for items valued under $2500 (or was it $2000?) IIRC, the administration soon caved and restored that option, and DHL resumed shipments. I think expedited clearance allows the carrier to perform inspections on behalf of customs, so the items never leave DHL's possession.

Unless/until FedEx and UPS announce similar policies, it should still be possible to ship from abroad into the US. I think both of those carriers have IT infrastructures that can better cope with the additional work that will arise from the termination of de minimus exemptions. But stuff certainly isn't going to get cheaper.

To me, the really interesting question is how national postal carriers respond. Judging from separate comments above, the German Post (also named DHL but I think a different organization than DHL Express) and Royal Mail, and maybe others? have suspended shipments. I would have thought that their responsibility was only to land the shipment in the US and hand it over to USPS, and that USPS was responsible for navigating US Customs, collecting tariffs, etc. But the correct answer to "what do I know?" is "not much."

Maybe all of this is discussed in The NY Times article. If someone has a gift link, perhaps they can share it.

Edit to add: I see that @gatorcpa posted a Bloomberg link with lots of good information. Thanks
 
mollydooker
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I cannot imagine carriers acting as tax collectors for free. As I understand the commission ebay charge the seller on the sale of an item is calculated after adding postage AND any taxes they collect on behalf of a government.
 
gatorcpa
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sathomasga sathomasga
I canceled my NY Times subscription last year, but from what is readable outside the paywall, this appears to be discussing DHL Express, the international shipping company, not national postal carriers.
No. The article covers both. DHL Deutches Post is suspending mail and small parcel service to the U.S. for items valued over $100. Other items are directed to DHL Express who has their own customs brokers to deal with the new tariff system and charge extra for those services.

This puts them on par with UPS and FedEx.

National post offices generally do not employ customs brokers. What happens there is that cargo comes into the U.S. and by agreement, the USPS becomes the customs agent. This happens only in five locations: NYC, Chicago, Miami, LA and SF. CBP has offices on site on those places and supervises the delivery of foreign parcels to USPS.

CPB used to simply spot check and sample small parcel traffic (like small boxes with vintage watches), knowing that the old $800 exceptions to tariffs would cover almost all of these. CPB would focus only on larger items that had a high likelihood of duties due. That’s why we in the U.S. rarely had to deal with customs unless something was shipped by private couriers.

Due to the sclerotic operation of most US government agencies due to personnel cuts and other political turmoil, CBP has yet to issue revisions of the customs rules to USPS and foreign post offices. Thus some foreign post offices are simply refusing to deal with the inevitable delays caused by such uncertainty and are temporarily suspending postal services.

It doesn’t look like this going to be settled anytime soon unless Trump TACO’s again.
gatorcpa
 
pdxleaf
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gatorcpa gatorcpa
National post offices generally do not employ customs brokers. What happens there is that cargo comes into the U.S. and by agreement, the USPS becomes the customs agent. This happens only in five locations: NYC, Chicago, Miami, LA and SF. CBP has offices on site on those places and supervises the delivery of foreign parcels to USPS.
It already took forever for packages to break free of these spots. I've watched many tracked packages sit in LA or NYC wondering WTF was happening. Can only imagine now.

DOGE 🤪
 
Matt-998
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On the plus side it might crash the market for fakes ?

When you go through customs at the airport - your $100 fake Rolex gets 39% tariff as if it were a $35,000 watch !! That would be funny.
 
dsio
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I've had 3 guys keen to buy my Zenith A386 have to back out due to being afraid they would be hit by a 39% bill on arrival as despite it being a 50+ year old watch being shipped from Australia, the truth is nobody wants to chance it right now as we just don't know what will happen on a watch that costly.

Massive pain in the backside that's for sure but will probably just have to find a buyer in another country.
 
sathomasga
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dsio dsio
we just don't know what will happen on a watch that costly.
No doubt that watch would be shipped with a reputable carrier like FedEx or UPS, and not one of the Chinese delivery services that seem to specialize in skirting tariffs somehow. In which case it would certainly be subject to tariffs. The carrier would charge the recipient 39% plus other taxes and a service fee. DHL and FedEx won't deliver until the recipient pays. I did have UPS deliver a watch to me once and send me an invoice for the tariffs afterwards, but I bet that was an anomaly. The tariffs were only $1.17 USD anyway (with an added $19 service fee). Those days are gone, at least for now.
 
dsio
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sathomasga sathomasga
No doubt that watch would be shipped with a reputable carrier like FedEx or UPS, and not one of the Chinese delivery services that seem to specialize in skirting tariffs somehow. In which case it would certainly be subject to tariffs. The carrier would charge the recipient 39% plus other taxes and a service fee. DHL and FedEx won't deliver until the recipient pays. I did have UPS deliver a watch to me once and send me an invoice for the tariffs afterwards, but I bet that was an anomaly. The tariffs were only $1.17 USD anyway (with an added $19 service fee). Those days are gone, at least for now.
It’s hard to even know, here on the other side of the world I asked @STANDY about it as he knows the subject area well and his opinion was that we would face the 10% tariff based on it being shipped from Australia rather than the Swiss country of origin rate, which isn’t that bad.

But then it appears even used vintage watches from countries other than Switzerland attract the higher rate, but it appears anecdotal reports vary and even via FedEx correctly declared packages are being handled differently at times depending on interpretation.

I also don’t know how enforcement works in terms of timing, so if the tariffs are in an off period and the watch is shipped, then they go on again, does it not get tariffed due to being shipped prior to announcement or does arrival time count more?
 
gatorcpa
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dsio dsio
I also don’t know how enforcement works in terms of timing, so if the tariffs are in an off period and the watch is shipped, then they go on again, does it not get tariffed due to being shipped prior to announcement or does arrival time count more?
The answer to that question is unclear, which is why you will get conflicting answers.

Since our government has decided that it no longer serves its people, don’t count on Customs for a clear answer.

I will not be in the international market for watches for the time being. Too much uncertainty for me.
gatorcpa
 
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