UK customs charges

[Vicarious]

Hopefully I have posted this in the correct place.

I recently purchased an Omega planet ocean through puretime - this is my first replica watch purchase. The watched arrived in the UK last week and today the tracking update with parcel force changed to the following:

Your parcel has now been examined by HM Customs and charges may have been raised by them. Please check the tracking details below for further details. A letter will be sent to the recipient if charges are due.

Then in the tracking details it says: Customs charges raised

So it seems they have opened the item and need me to pay import duty, which has raised a few questions that I wondered if anyone here could help me with.

Is this standard for most deliveries and if so, is it just a small amount or are they looking to charge what a gen version would cost to import?

Also, why would they be sending a letter? When I have bought stuff from abroad before which had a small customs charge they sent me a link with a way to pay by card and the item was delivered soon after.

Is this something to be concerned about, or am I getting worried for nothing?

 

[Kentman]

You will have the Royal Mail handling fee then VAT and import duty on whatever value was declared by the sender on the package. I wouldn't worry as it won't be a lot and they almost certainly haven't opened it.

 

[Vicarious]

Thanks for the fast response.

Ah ok, what got me worried was the sending of a letter. I thought it would just be a link to make payment.

Hopefully puretime didn’t put much of a value on the item, any ideas of roughly what the cost will be from those who have had to make a payment like this before?

 

[capice]

Or you will get an invoice for tax/duties ect or you get a letter from a lawyer form the Swatchgroup that your replica is seized.......or it will pas customs without issue

 

[muiramas]

Unusual for the UK. Normally the only delay is because Parcelforce haven’t processed the package out of customs...

 

[Vicarious]

Unusual for the UK. Normally the only delay is because Parcelforce haven’t processed the package out of customs...

So normally there isn’t even a customs charge? I guess it depends what the dealer declared the value as.

 

[muiramas]

So normally there isn’t even a customs charge? I guess it depends what the dealer declared the value as.

Never heard of it happening in the uk...

 

[PhilRRS]

usually its from Parcelforce. They will asses customs change plus fee. the largest fee i ever got was about £28.00

 

[Vicarious]

Ok, so sounds like there shouldn’t be an issue with getting the watch, just a small fee to pay, which I’m fine with. Thanks for the replies

 

[Baleno3]

Have you emailed Puretime for advice?

Sent from the RWI App

 

[musikwi]

As others have said this is usually a Parcelforce process. It can be a pain but you are using a solid TD so don't worry about it too much. ​

There have been a few good but patchy threads on this but also much more on reddit about it. A sticky would be helpful - maybe too UK specific for that. If it's any help to others here is what I have learned so far.

The normal sequence on tracking for a charge letter is to get a customs charges raised event several days after the awaiting customs clearance event. Then a bit later (usually next day) you get a revised customs charges raised event. This tends to cause a bit of panic but I think this is just signalling the letter getting issued. The letter is an automatically issued standard notice that just tells you what you need to pay. ​

If you are in reach of your local depot as soon as the tracking updates to received at depot/awaiting payment you can go there and pay the fee (they will look it up) and collect it. £8 vat + £12 Parcelforce fee is common. You need to show ID for them to verify it's going to the right person. I think you can also phone up or pay it on the web and they will then deliver but the letter takes a while to come.​

There are a few variables that can lead to the charges and the letter. ​

Puretime seems to declare shipments as $20. There is a £15 low value threshold in the UK where below which they don't charge any import/vat and Parcelforce can't (or shouldn't) then charge any fees. There are official FX rates that determine what the $ equivalent is. For a while now $20 has been caught due to the low value of the £. Other TDs use a lower $ amount which seems to work. However some shipments (including from Puretime) can pass immediately through the international hub to national hub sorting even if $20, some don't, bit random. There is a blog about the international hub here https://www.blog.parcelforce.com/beh...rnational-hub/ They don't seem to open anything from TDs even if they are scanning as they are presumably looking for something other than a watch or two. If they are really busy, batches of goods can sit there not moving for 2 or 3 weeks. Still no reason to worry.

There are a few good reasons not to worry. There is a guide on superbuy ( a reddit rep trusted consolidation /shipping agent) that claims globally only 0.3% of shipments ever get into problems. Some of this in the UK seems to be fashion reps and only part of some packages - the brands from across the channel. There are some UK legal forums where all the questions on watches have been answered by experts. Worth a read for the latest. I gathered there is no UK law against owning a rep or against buying or selling reps that are sold as such. There is a brand issue but they are unlikely/unable to pursue an individual for the odd delivery. So there may be some solid logic to how it operates in the UK. This is a good earner for Parcelforce (their fee used to be £8) and there is a heap of stuff being bought from China above the £15 threshold. If there was a confiscation there is no income for anyone. There is no invoice in the package but if somehow they had a way to assess the value/cost of the item and charged a large amount you would likely ignore it given the TD guarantees on reship. The option then is to return it to sender which is going to cost time and money. Perhaps far easier to deliver everything coming in from China and take the fees.

Hopefully helpful, but if anyone has conflicting experiences I am keen to learn more.

Cheers

 

[Vicarious]

Have you emailed Puretime for advice?

Yes, they advised me it was sent as $20 value which is just above the threshold for customs fee, so I shouldn’t have to pay much.

 

[Vicarious]

Musikwi, thanks for the detailed reply.

That all makes good sense, just first time rep buyer’s nerves from me, wondering if the parcel had been opened as they used the word ‘inspected’.

However, as I have seen in a number of posts on here, the anticipation about the delivery coming through is all part of the process.

Am just glad I found this forum before I went ahead and purchased!

 

[Baleno3]

Great reply above musikwi

My recent TD package was sent via EMS and had no issues to the UK.

 

[channeh]

Thanks for the detailed response here - musikwi

I have had a puretime parcel delivered c. a month ago in February and paid £20 (£8 import VAT and £12 clearance fee)

Package was unopened and had no problem in shipping to me once paid.

 

[ffuhcu]

I had this message recently then my package arrived a day later, no fees or anything at all. I think it's just a standard message.

 

[Pierre Le Trek]

Hopefully I have posted this in the correct place.

I recently purchased an Omega planet ocean through puretime - this is my first replica watch purchase. The watched arrived in the UK last week and today the tracking update with parcel force changed to the following:

Your parcel has now been examined by HM Customs and charges may have been raised by them. Please check the tracking details below for further details. A letter will be sent to the recipient if charges are due.

Then in the tracking details it says: Customs charges raised

So it seems they have opened the item and need me to pay import duty, which has raised a few questions that I wondered if anyone here could help me with.

Is this standard for most deliveries and if so, is it just a small amount or are they looking to charge what a gen version would cost to import?

Also, why would they be sending a letter? When I have bought stuff from abroad before which had a small customs charge they sent me a link with a way to pay by card and the item was delivered soon after.

Is this something to be concerned about, or am I getting worried for nothing?

Hello Vicarious and fellow members,

Did you get your delivery OK?

My first rep landed in the UK at the weekend and parcel force track says "Your parcel is currently with the customs authorities and is being assessed for import duties and local taxes. These will be notified to the addressee and usually need to be paid prior to the parcel being delivered." Also says, "Awaiting customs clearance".
I am having first time nerves too! Any advice on what might happen next from your experience and from any other members would be appreciated.

Is it likely I could be waiting some weeks for parcel force to deliver assuming nothing unfortunate happens? Should I expect some kind of correspondence first?

I wonder what time scale experienced members have experienced at this stage?

I would be very interested to know.

 

[Redfoot]

Don't worry about it. Three of mine have been through the same thing when delivered to the UK. You may get an import charge (not much, maybe 5-10%) and once you've paid that it'll be on its way to you. The last shipment I had was with DHL who paid the charge on my behalf and sent me a text for the money later so it arrived very quickly.

 

[Pierre Le Trek]

Don't worry about it. Three of mine have been through the same thing when delivered to the UK. You may get an import charge (not much, maybe 5-10%) and once you've paid that it'll be on its way to you. The last shipment I had was with DHL who paid the charge on my behalf and sent me a text for the money later so it arrived very quickly.

Thanks for your advice Redfoot.
Hopefully, I will get it soon.