US Customs Help

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
albionphoto
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by albionphoto »

And anyway, the Govt would only refund the excise/import duty. You'd also have to get the fee from DHL returned too. Neither is going to be quick or easy.
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by JAFO »

Personally, I view imports as non returnable. In the UK we get 20% sales tax. I expect if you return a watch you could claim it back, but in practice unless there's a quality issue, I wouldn't try to return a watch internationally. I would just accept I made a wrong choice and live with it. Within the UK there's no such issue, but I don't particularly like returning expensive stuff.

In the UK, we all wish our tax charges would be under 10%
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by Vicious49 »

JAFO wrote: Tue Jul 13, 2021 5:53 pm Personally, I view imports as non returnable. In the UK we get 20% sales tax. I expect if you return a watch you could claim it back, but in practice unless there's a quality issue, I wouldn't try to return a watch internationally. I would just accept I made a wrong choice and live with it. Within the UK there's no such issue, but I don't particularly like returning expensive stuff.

In the UK, we all wish our tax charges would be under 10%
But youre not paying for healthcare, Colleges, get much longer time off for maternity and paternity leave built in, etc. Id do the trade off and prefer to be in your shoes.
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by Kip »

As far as I know, nothing has changed with the way that CW handles shipments to the USA.

Reposting this from a previous thread...
Kip wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 11:36 am Thought this was worth reposting..

Kip wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 11:55 pm
albionphoto wrote: Thu Feb 04, 2021 3:21 am It's not entirely clear to me where the failure occurs. I assume it is with DHL/US customs. CW Customer service can sort it out very quickly once they are alerted to the problem. I have seen a post somewhere on here where CW were going to refund the bonded storage fees but I have no idea what the outcome was.
As an aside, I bought a C60 BLUE LE and bracelet at the end of last year. The total was about $1200. The DHL fee and excise duty was in the region of $80. ABout half of that was the DHL fee.
The problem is definitely with DHL. When CW ships watches to the USA they send DHL a spreadsheet with all the information including the Waybill number for items picked up on any given day. Much depends on the agent viewing the package to simply look up the email by manufacturer and then find the Waybill number. In most cases they do and get all the required information. If they can't find it for any reason, they are supposed to contact CW for it. CW informs me that when they resend the email they usually spot it then.

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Re: US Customs Help

Post by Mega_B »

I'm another victim. Ordered my first CW last week, C65 chrono and got a text from DHL this morning that I owe $102.90 for Import Duty Fee. I emailed CW customer service and this is the response:

"All orders shipped to non-EU territories are subject to cross-border inspection, and where they have breached individual country import thresholds, are subject to custom charges. Please note Christopher Ward is not able to tell you what this threshold is. Typically for orders into the United States the order value is $800 or more. However, this is only a benchmark and subject to change.
Every order is shipped with the status of Delivered at Port (DAP). This puts the onus of paying for taxes and duties on the customer. By doing this the product can be released into your ownership.
With recent changes to local laws, custom officials may request your Social Security Number or Tax ID. Where this is required DHL will reach out directly to you. Unfortunately, we are not able to prevent this request.
We can’t refund any customs duties paid if you return your watch for a refund.
Repairing and/or servicing a watch does not incur customs charges."

I understand this is part of doing business but I believe that there should have been a LARGE warning before I placed my order.
$100+ is not an insigificant amount of money considering the price of the watch.

Unfortunately my first experience with CW is not going as well as I expected.
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by Bahnstormer_vRS »

Mega_B wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 9:05 pm I'm another victim. Ordered my first CW last week, C65 chrono and got a text from DHL this morning that I owe $102.90 for Import Duty Fee. I emailed CW customer service and this is the response:
. . . . . . . . . .
I understand this is part of doing business but I believe that there should have been a LARGE warning before I placed my order.
$100+ is not an insigificant amount of money considering the price of the watch.

Unfortunately my first experience with CW is not going as well as I expected.
Why a victim?

Based on previous posts $102.90 Import Duty / DHL Admin fee, on a C65 Chrono seems a very reasonable, and correct amount.

Why should there be a LARGE WARNING?

If I, as I'm in UK, buy anything from another country, it is up to me to established the expected duty (20% VAT) that I will have to pay. Caveat Emptor.

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Re: US Customs Help

Post by Thegreyman »

^^^if you purchase any item from overseas you are likely to be potentially liable to customs duty/tax of your home tax authority. These charges are always stated as being the responsibility of the purchaser. I don't quite follow why this would come as a shock :?
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by rkovars »

People here in the US aren't used to importing stuff or importing stuff that is subject to duty. I am not sure why it is but most merchants have a presence here and ship from here. It is a little different from the UK because not everything is subject to duty. The government picks and chooses what to tax.
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by Kip »

^^ I agree that the above is true, but any company cannot be held responsible for import/duty fees and taxes at the destination. There are too many variables worldwde. That is why Terms and Conditions are posted on most vendors websites, including CW. It remains the buyers responsibility to review those prior to making a purchase.
Mega_B wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 9:05 pm I'm another victim. Ordered my first CW last week, C65 chrono and got a text from DHL this morning that I owe $102.90 for Import Duty Fee. I
You are not a victim. However, you are guilty of not doing proper research. The information for Terms and Conditions are plainly posted on the CW website and on the checkout page.
Mega_B wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 9:05 pm
Unfortunately my first experience with CW is not going as well as I expected.
This is understandable, but it is a valuable lesson learned for any future imported purchases.

I do hope when the watch arrives that it is what you were expecting.
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kiter65
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by kiter65 »

I try not to respond to these threads in fear of being banned :lol: .....but I’m sure there are three different threads posted about this by the OP, one even mentioned an elite having a battery :shock: Now unless you are 8 years old I would thought that everyone would know that if you import something of any value into your country you would expect to incur some taxes/duties, how anyone can expect CW to be responsible for your ignorance is beyond me...do your research...
Now just off to my solicitor to start a case against a seller, cus the Reliant Robin I’ve just bought from him has only 3 f#(/ing wheels
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by Thegreyman »

kiter65 wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 10:45 pm
Now just of to my solicitor to start a case against a seller, cus the Reliant Robin I’ve just bought from him has only 3 f#(/ing wheels
Now, Rodney. Don't be a plonker :lol:
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by Mega_B »

Bahnstormer_vRS wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 9:35 pm
Mega_B wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 9:05 pm I'm another victim. Ordered my first CW last week, C65 chrono and got a text from DHL this morning that I owe $102.90 for Import Duty Fee. I emailed CW customer service and this is the response:
. . . . . . . . . .
I understand this is part of doing business but I believe that there should have been a LARGE warning before I placed my order.
$100+ is not an insigificant amount of money considering the price of the watch.

Unfortunately my first experience with CW is not going as well as I expected.
Why a victim?

Based on previous posts $102.90 Import Duty / DHL Admin fee, on a C65 Chrono seems a very reasonable, and correct amount.

Why should there be a LARGE WARNING?

If I, as I'm in UK, buy anything from another country, it is up to me to established the expected duty (20% VAT) that I will have to pay. Caveat Emptor.

Guy

"Why a victim?"
Well, I didn't expect it and just think there should have been a clear warning for overseas buyers especially since the website says "Free shipping".
I bought a Steinhart from Chronomaster in the UK a couple years ago for over $1,000 USD and did not have to pay any import duty.

Hell, I don't know a ton about CW but like the looks of the C65 chrono, saw it was on sale, read/watched some positive reviews and decided to order one.
I get on the website and it says "Free shipping", I didn't even know it was coming from the UK.
I read that CW used to have a show room in the US and thought maybe they still had a US warehouse.

It would be one thing if it was $25 or $30 but $100+ was quite a shock and is more than 5% of the price of the watch.

I will pay the fee and own the blame but I don't think it would be too much to ask to put some type of asterisk next to "Freee Shipping" to warn buyers that they might have to pay a pretty big import fee.

So that's why I consider myself a victim........of my own ignorance I guess.
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by Mega_B »

rkovars wrote: Fri Jul 16, 2021 10:01 pm People here in the US aren't used to importing stuff or importing stuff that is subject to duty. I am not sure why it is but most merchants have a presence here and ship from here. It is a little different from the UK because not everything is subject to duty. The government picks and chooses what to tax.
This!
Yes, thank you!
And based on the fact that I did not pay any fee on the Steinhart that came from the UK.

I also bought a Sinn from the UK but they couldn't ship it to the US due to Sinn's policies, so I had it sent to a friend in the UK who then sent it to me.
I guess I should have done the same thing with the CW.
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by watchaholic »

North American distributor for Sinn.
https://www.watchbuys.com/store/pc/home.asp
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Re: US Customs Help

Post by Mega_B »

watchaholic wrote: Sat Jul 17, 2021 3:29 am North American distributor for Sinn.
https://www.watchbuys.com/store/pc/home.asp
WB didn't have the model I wanted and said they couldn't get it.
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