Import duty

[LagoJardin]

Hi,
I'm a newbie. Can anyone advise on the percentage, or average cost of importing a watch to England, from either China, or the EU?

 

[P..DR..D]

If you're in the UK check out Supermirrors (Sead) who usually has UK stock.

If you choose another TD, their job, and what you pay them for, is to get the watch to you, with zero duty. Most (but always worth checking) offer a refund/replace in case of customs seizure.

I have found anywhere into the UK lately (examples being EU, AUS and USA) post has been fine, uninterrupted, but never guaranteed.
Am sure some UK based members will pop along and give some local advice.

 

[eBoy]

Hi,
I'm a newbie. Can anyone advise on the percentage, or average cost of importing a watch to England, from either China, or the EU?

Hello and welcome to RWI!

I noticed that this is your first time posting on RWI. You are welcome to introduce yourself in the new members area in the "New members say hi" sub section.

If you haven't already, please take some time to read the sticky threads in the new members area (in all subsections), as they contain lots of information for newcomers and, most importantly, our forum rules which you need to know, and of course ideally to follow, to get the best out of your experience on RWI!

A good starting point is this list of links to the most important RWI resources:

New Members - WELCOME! Must reads and interesting info, START HERE!

Welcome to RWI! :) Here are some links with interesting information and must-reads, that helped me a lot in the beginning. Hope it will do the same for you! Start reading, there is a lot of interesting information available. Forum Terms & Abbreviations, what do they mean: this will make...

forum.replica-watch.info

Also this please read this important sticky:

You are welcome

If you've just joined and are reading this, welcome to RWI. If you stop here, or read just the next few lines, that's on YOU, but don't ever say you weren't warned. If you are approached by ANYONE, absolutely ANYONE, offering you a watch, or a deal, via Private Message (PM), exercise common...

forum.replica-watch.info

If you need further assistance, please feel free to contact me or @Feefo during your time as a newbie. That's what we are here for!

 

[eBoy]

You said Import

Ahhh huh huh ahhhhh huh hu hu

Seriously though, I have never paid anything of the sort when ordering through a TD. However, that's inbound to EU and my guess is that if anything is paid, they do it through an agent who is probably registered for that One-Stop-Shop import taxation system the EU introduced in 2021. Of course, I'm guessing they will pay a very low amount as I'm certain that they grossly under-declare the value of the shipment during import processing. But this all happens before the stuff gets relabeled and arrives as a domestic package, so us end customers don't really witness any of that. By the way, I totally love the way the TDs ship stuff and that it arrives as a domestic and thus import tax-free parcel.

I would imagine that's how they do it in the the rest of the world, including US and UK, as well.

 

[p0pperini]

Hi,
I'm a newbie. Can anyone advise on the percentage, or average cost of importing a watch to England, from either China, or the EU?

It depends whether you're importing a watch, or an illegal Chinese replica of a famous brand watch.

If it's the former, then you'll either be paying duty at the point of sale, or you'll be importing an item of value upon which duty corresponding to its value will be due when the item goes through UK Customs.

If it's the latter, then no one involved in the process wants to shout out to Customs "YOO HOO! I'm a $500 dollar copy of a $10,000 watch! Can I pay duty on that $500 now please?" So, as mentioned above - the stated value of your package will be low, and the content marked as something that doesn't draw undue attention. And if the package still manages to get intercepted, then the price we pay for reps means they've built in cover for replacements should the odd one get seized. But it almost never happens.

 

[Geonor]

Hont declares my watches as "mechanical parts" and with a value of about $3.50 with duties already paid. Never paid more than the price of the watch.