Shipping acoross the pond and custom charges....

I bought a couple of watches a while ago, from a guy in Jersey (Channel Islands). Total cost, including shipping, was about £60. I was surprised to get hit for over £45 in customs charges.


When I collected the parcel, the sender had inflated the declared value to £200, which was the cost of the goods when new! To be fair, when I pointed out the error of his ways, he paid the extra duty.

i know it's kind of a NO NO BUT i get the sellers to make the declared value no greather then 15$ and i get all my watches directly in the mailbox

Svand said:

i know it's kind of a NO NO BUT i get the sellers to make the declared value no greather then 15$ and i get all my watches directly in the mailbox

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Thats probably a risk worth taking with low value items. But if you've paid for example 200 usd for an item, and ask the seller to declare it at 15 usd, if the worst happens and the item gets lost, you can waive goodbye to 185 usd.

Svand said:

i know it's kind of a NO NO BUT i get the sellers to make the declared value no greater then 15$ and i get all my watches directly in the mailbox

Click to expand...

I do that all the while with a trusted friend in the states and if it does go wrong one time then on average i am WELL in front. ) )

With many things it's a judgement call on how much to indicate for the value of an item but just keep in mind when the item is shipped out of the U.S the Custom's Form requires a signature and says you are declaring the info to be true and correct so if they happen to open it and it's a watch worth way more than you declare (forgetting about possible insurance issues) you're committing fraud. Would they do anything? probably not unless it's an expensive item but they could ship it back to the U.S and you could have fees and fines assessed.

Its a two way street, I usually won't mark an item a gift.
I am very big on shipping correctly with protocol,
It does add to the cost but I really want anything I ship to arrive.

Its a Risk to the seller to not insure a package properly- including declaring customs.
A Risk in that USPS does not offer much in the way of tracking confirmation when shipping overseas,short of using EMS.

Now I completely understand not wanting to pay import , customs, VAT or anything like that.
And naturally if its parts or something small I would do what is best for the buyer..

and Naturally for friends I am flexible but If Im shipping something over say 500 usd then I am going to have to be a bit of a stickler.