UK customs detained...any advice?

[orob88]

I have found a load of threads here from 2013/14 era but nothing recent.

I sent two lovely watches off to the US for repolishing work. One franken explorer and the other being a wedding day gift!

Not ideal when I received a letter today from UK boarder force!

Any advice here? Do I write this off or can something be done? Never really found a clear answer!

 

[orob88]

I have found a load of threads here from 2013/14 era but nothing recent.

I sent two lovely watches off to the US for repolishing work. One franken explorer and the other being a wedding day gift!

Not ideal when I received a letter today from UK boarder force!

Any advice here? Do I write this off or can something be done? Never really found a clear answer!

[Mod edit]
I would recommend reposting if you want, but maybe crop our your name

 

[St-Maxime]

When you say franken Explorer, what are the gen parts? And what is the other watch?

 

[orob88]

Gen bezel and xtal... Other watch is a serviced arf OP39

 

[orob88]

Gen bezel and xtal... Other watch is a serviced arf OP39

If it helps. The OP has a date engraved on the caseback!

 

[orob88]

 

[orob88]

[Mod edit]
I would recommend reposting if you want, but maybe crop our your name

Fair point! Clearly too trusting! Any advice/help from this great community would be appreciated!

 

[eBoy]

FFS Those beggar barristers apparently have nothing better to do?

I'd say ignore it if this was a parcel from Asia. But that's a bit more complicated situation... Maybe someone from UK who experienced a similar situation can chime in?

 

[orob88]

FFS Those beggar barristers apparently have nothing better to do?

I'd say ignore it if this was a parcel from Asia. But that's a bit more complicated situation... Maybe someone from UK who experienced a similar situation can chime in?

Thanks, yes. Any advice from UK is greatly appreciated. As far as I can tell there has been no real success in recovery

 

[eBoy]

Yeah, I'm afraid you'll probably have to write those pieces off. But then again, hope leaves the sinking ship last.

I wish I could give you a definite answer, but where I live, the legal situation in regard to reps is different to the UK (a bit less restrictive, I believe).

 

[p0pperini]

Damn, that's really bad luck. Sadly, I can't see how anything can be done now.

It's a harsh way to learn a valuable lesson... Avoid shipping reps across borders unless you really have to! I'm sure you could've found someone in the UK to give the reps a polish.

Out of interest, and because it might help others, do you have any idea what attracted their attention? How did you describe the package on the declaration? Although having said that, I think these seizures tend to be pretty random and just down to luck.

 

[eBoy]

By the way, I have an iron rule that I never veer off from, which is that I never myself ship or have people send me more than one rep per single shipment.

I'll rather pay for shipping multiple times, be it TD, M2M or repair. There are so many reasons speaking against it... Potential customs seizures are only one of those reasons.

It always raises my blood pressure and heart rate when I see people shipping 3 or 4 or even more reps in a single shipment.

 

[hamdy]

The best you can do is first check if it is illegal to own counterfeit goods in the UK (for example here in the Netherlands it's allowed for personal use), if that's not the case write back playing dumb and tell them they are real (and that you're the victim here if they turn out to be fakes). Tell them that you're sending them for repolishing. Other than that I think they 'get destroyed'

 

[MikeOxlong]

I did a summary on this, but I don’t have much advice for arguing with Border Force unfortunately.

UK TM and Copyright Law

As an anxiety ridden individual I've done a little deep dive on the two pieces of legislation that cover the purchase and possession of replicas. Keen to hear if you think I'm wide of the mark. I was giving a read through the Offences listed under Trade Marks Act 1994 and from what I can...

forum.replica-watch.info

 

[Spitfire63]

The best you can do is first check if it is illegal to own counterfeit goods in the UK (for example here in the Netherlands it's allowed for personal use), if that's not the case write back playing dumb and tell them they are real (and that you're the victim here if they turn out to be fakes). Tell them that you're sending them for repolishing. Other than that I think they 'get destroyed'

It’s not illegal to own or buy counterfeit goods in the Uk, just illegal to sell them, I suppose the argument could be if you’ve posted two you could be selling them to whoever your sending to. Regardless sadly I think the watches have gone and need to be written off

 

[loewenzahn]

You don't risk anything if you : declare that they are your personal properties , the are used and were repolished by a friend and you do not give consent to destroy the goods.
In my experience the right holders (law firm) do not give a damn about a single item of a private person.

 

[Bad Wolf]

You could try writing back and say the selective truth. That you are sending these watches off for service (maybe provide the service providers details ?), and that these watches are from your personal collection & for personal use, and thus fail to see how you are infringing on anyone's IP rights (while at no point acknowledging whether the watches are rep or not). Nothing to lose I would say.

 

[Micolash]

Out of interest, and because it might help others, do you have any idea what attracted their attention? How did you describe the package on the declaration?

I could be wrong, but from personal experience I think there is more control in shipping to/from the USA in general. I'm in the EU and in dozens of shipments from Asia I've never had problems with customs (fortunately). But in five packages from USA, 5 out of 5 have been checked, no matter what was inside and what was on declaration. It could just be coincidence, but it seems strange.

 

[p0pperini]

@Micolash that’s an interesting note. I’ve never noticed this pattern - and having bought over 200 watches (mostly reps) and sold probably 60 or so, have never encountered a single issue with customs either into/out of the US or EU. So I clearly can count myself lucky!

I completely agree with @eBoy btw - never send more than one watch across borders in a single package.

Given that it isn’t illegal for UK citizens to own reps, it would be interesting to hear what happens should the OP decide to try following the suggestion of @Bad Wolf - shouldn’t be any reason not to, as far as I can see. Which is easy for me to say…

 

[Bad Wolf]

Also, just for clarity,

Was the package intercepted by customs as it was going out of the UK to the US, or as it was coming back in to the UK? That letter seems to imply the parcel was addressed to you, but surely if it was outbound it would have been addressed to the repair person in the US ?