I am based in the UK and since having seen a Seamaster 300 Master Co-Axial recently I cant get it out of my mind, I have had a good hunt around on Chrono24 and have found a dealer / shop offering the watch for quite a discount in Italy. I haven't had anything this expensive shipped from outside the UK before and a little hesitant hovering over the confirm purchase button. Obviously using my credit card for the extra protection it offers. Anyone had any problems or can offer advice ?

 

I can't say I've had the best luck with transactions from Italy. I'm dealing with a situation with an ebay purchase from Italy right now. There was a defect that was not disclosed which made the watch unacceptable to me. I first tried to arrange a return with the seller, who denied my request and offered a discount instead which I declined. I then went through ebay to initiate a return and compel the seller to provide a return shipping address, and shipped the item back with insurance. The seller refused to accept the package because he said to do so would incur a 25% tax and duty. This is a new one for me, and I have no idea how this is going to work out.

 

I don't buy from Italy unless it's something that I really need (do we really neeeed any of this stuff? ) and can't find anywhere else. Nothing against the sellers or Italians as a group (I love visiting there), I have just had several bad experiences with the Italian shipping services.

 

Really. Bugger. I have a flightmaster making its way from Italy as I write this. Well at least it's still being tracked...

 

I have purchased more than a dozen watches from Italy, and have had no problems. Just remember the old saying – buy the seller. Also, broadly speaking I have the impression that the problems are more associated with ingoing, rather than outgoing shipments.

As far as shipping goes, either TNT registered and insured, or Fedex.