Watch seized by US Customs

[Repnine7]

So I ordered my Rep from InTime, I payed for the watch received the QC pictures I approved. watch was shipped out Via DHL to New York. Watch was in transit to Cincinnati OH, passed customs then went to Rochester and second day tracking says call DHL. I call they tell me “unfortunately your package has been seized by customs. Here’s customs phone number call them and see what they tell you.” I have no clue what I should do I’m a noob at this. I’m scared to call customs I don’t wanna get in trouble with them or anything. I contacted Ryan I let him know what happened still waiting for his response. I wanna hear from you guys on what steps I should take? Should I be worried about customs can they fine me or anything like that? Some answers and help will highly be appreciated. Pretty worried here.


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[macarone]

Drive over to customs, start flipping desks over and demand your package!


I've gotten burned over Cheryl Tiegs,
Blown up for Raquel Welch.
But when I wind up in the hay it's only hay, Hey Hey

 

[Repnine7]

Drive over to customs, start flipping desks over and demand your package!


I've gotten burned over Cheryl Tiegs,
Blown up for Raquel Welch.
But when I wind up in the hay it's only hay, Hey Hey

I was actually thinking to call and tell them to hand it over because it’s for personal use. But then someone advised me not to give them a call at all.


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[nyriyadh]

Do they have time to seize watches


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[Mrgkman]

Drive over to customs, start flipping desks over and demand your package!


I've gotten burned over Cheryl Tiegs,
Blown up for Raquel Welch.
But when I wind up in the hay it's only hay, Hey Hey

Hahahaha ya I can see it now! I bet that’d go over like a fart in church.


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[Mrgkman]

Actually, if anyone has some good advice on how to properly handle this, I’d love to know. I’m just waiting for the day this kind of nonsense happens to me. I’m sorry to hear about this! I hope it gets worked out somehow?


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[atozzotas]

watch is lost. Do not call. Wait for letter about seizure item, forward that letter to your TD. Nothing else to do

 

[Repnine7]

watch is lost. Do not call. Wait for letter about seizure item, forward that letter to your TD. Nothing else to do

Are they going to give me a fine? I heard they fine you but you just ignore it and do nothing, because they will never come after you for only one watch. Is that true?


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[father_time]

Nothing you can do. Don't worry, they arent going to show up at your door and take you to Guantanamo. They have bigger fish to fry. You're going to get a notice of seizure citing the basis of the seizure as trademark infringement, with options to for you to respond. You can decide what's best for you in that regard, but my direct experience is that raising your hand will gain you nothing and doing nothing will gain you nothing nor contribute to any other larger problems as a result . It sounds like its a first for you. If they find that you keep doing it, that's when you'll start getting the kind of attention that translates to you financially. On this one, it's already basically over.

That's just been my experience when customs has seized items. Customs actually seized legitimate items that I am am licensed to legally possess by the organization they cited was the infringed party. The value of the goods was a few grand and for me it made zero sense to waste any time at all with it. I'd lose more in going through the bullshit and bureaucracy of the process of it then just sourcing alternately. In your case, it's a single internet purchase for a few hundred bucks, not a shipping container full of Yeezy's. they'll keep it, destroy it (or a customs agent will gift it to his brother at Christmas) and that'll be the end of it. Having said all that , there's a very strong chance your shipping address and name are now tagged resulting in a higher likelihood that any future imports may be inspected more closely and subject to more scrutiny. Work with the TD on an agreement to be made whole again and stick to M2M here unless you have the Vegas mindset . My .02

 

[Cicero]

watch is lost. Do not call. Wait for letter about seizure item, forward that letter to your TD. Nothing else to do

Repnine7 This is excellent advice. Do NOT contact Customs. Let your TD know the status and forward any and all communications from Customs on to your TD. Once Ryan has proof your watch has been seized he will most likely re-ship. Again, do NOT contact Customs. You should not have called them in the first place.

 

[father_time]

I was actually thinking to call and tell them to hand it over because it’s for personal use.


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That's a really bad idea.

 

[Mike116]

Dont customs send the pakage back to the sender if the recipient doesnt respond to a seizure notice ?

 

[father_time]

No. Under 17 U.S. Code § 603 the item would be destroyed. It's a civil infringement.

That of course assumes it doesn't end up on the wrist of the agent who sent him the seizure notice.

 

[Repnine7]

Nothing you can do. Don't worry, they arent going to show up at your door and take you to Guantanamo. They have bigger fish to fry. You're going to get a notice of seizure citing the basis of the seizure as trademark infringement, with options to for you to respond. You can decide what's best for you in that regard, but my direct experience is that raising your hand will gain you nothing and doing nothing will gain you nothing nor contribute to any other larger problems as a result . It sounds like its a first for you. If they find that you keep doing it, that's when you'll start getting the kind of attention that translates to you financially. On this one, it's already basically over.

That's just been my experience when customs has seized items. Customs actually seized legitimate items that I am am licensed to legally possess by the organization they cited was the infringed party. The value of the goods was a few grand and for me it made zero sense to waste any time at all with it. I'd lose more in going through the bullshit and bureaucracy of the process of it then just sourcing alternately. In your case, it's a single internet purchase for a few hundred bucks, not a shipping container full of Yeezy's. they'll keep it, destroy it (or a customs agent will gift it to his brother at Christmas) and that'll be the end of it. Having said all that , there's a very strong chance your shipping address and name are now tagged resulting in a higher likelihood that any future imports may be inspected more closely and subject to more scrutiny. Work with the TD on an agreement to be made whole again and stick to M2M here unless you have the Vegas mindset . My .02

Thank you so much for the advice! I never called them and I won’t call them. I’ll just act like I never ordered anything and have no clue what’s going on. Ill wait for the letter to come in, mostly likely I’ll just ignore it. And go on from there. And yah Ryan is on it already. But is my name and address really flagged now or something like that?


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[father_time]

But is my name and address really flagged now or something like that?


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Don't let that scare you in any way. It's entirely up to the officer and port of entry. But it is happening more and more frequently. With the DHGate's, Alibaba's etc of the world shipping all kinds of shit into the US direct to consumer, they've started taking measures to enforce at a more granular level. Their opinion is, it starts with one, and ends up being 10 on Ebay, 20 on Ebay, etc. So they start documenting from violation one, which doesn't mean any action is taken beyond that- unless the bell keeps ringing .

I am an owner in a consumer electronics company and we manufacture in China. Our products require some pretty strict licensing (i.e. Dolby, DTS, HDMI, etc) and we use a very controlled (regulated) spectrum for our wireless home theater which requires government approval by country of import. Some of the shit we have to deal with is absurd, some I appreciate as it protects my brand (however, on a commercial level it's a much higher stakes game than a watch purchase).

Having said that, I have quite a few relationships with the folks wearing the uniform at several levels. I've had direct discussions where I've learned quite a bit about the process even at the one-off consumer level and they have all said the same thing. The more they can show "enforcement" actions and seizures, the more raffle tickets they get towards the free microwave at month's end (not literally, but you get the idea.) . The trade/tariff crap isn't helping as we have someone in the oval office who specifically brings up IP theft in China..so the focus is getting much sharper on these things.

I won't buy from a TD. Not because I don't enjoy a nice rep, but I dont need to be on the radar with my business reliant on importing goods into the US well into the 7 figures which contain 3rd party trademarks I hold license agreements for.

Your best bet, just move on. If Ryan re-ships, don't be disheartened if it gets nabbed again. Then you'll have a pretty good indicator you have a friend in customs saying Hi. Having an alternate destination for the package might not hurt.

 

[Sedonut]

The item they confiscated is gone. Be glad it wasn't more than one. There is a reason they are sold online and on street corners and not in stores.

 

[Mike116]

No. Under 17 U.S. Code § 603 the item would be destroyed. It's a civil infringement.

That of course assumes it doesn't end up on the wrist of the agent who sent him the seizure notice.

Ah ok. I remember reading here a while back that DHL were to be avoided if possible too with regards to our hobby

 

[Repnine7]

Ah ok. I remember reading here a while back that DHL were to be avoided if possible too with regards to our hobby

What really? I heard the opposite, I heard that DHL to US is the best option on Reps.


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[Mike116]

If you go to the search bar and search DHL you'll find a few threads about them. Im sure Ryan will sort this out for you though

 

[Yankindeez]

Don't let that scare you in any way. It's entirely up to the officer and port of entry. But it is happening more and more frequently. With the DHGate's, Alibaba's etc of the world shipping all kinds of shit into the US direct to consumer, they've started taking measures to enforce at a more granular level. Their opinion is, it starts with one, and ends up being 10 on Ebay, 20 on Ebay, etc. So they start documenting from violation one, which doesn't mean any action is taken beyond that- unless the bell keeps ringing .

I am an owner in a consumer electronics company and we manufacture in China. Our products require some pretty strict licensing (i.e. Dolby, DTS, HDMI, etc) and we use a very controlled (regulated) spectrum for our wireless home theater which requires government approval by country of import. Some of the shit we have to deal with is absurd, some I appreciate as it protects my brand (however, on a commercial level it's a much higher stakes game than a watch purchase).

Having said that, I have quite a few relationships with the folks wearing the uniform at several levels. I've had direct discussions where I've learned quite a bit about the process even at the one-off consumer level and they have all said the same thing. The more they can show "enforcement" actions and seizures, the more raffle tickets they get towards the free microwave at month's end (not literally, but you get the idea.) . The trade/tariff crap isn't helping as we have someone in the oval office who specifically brings up IP theft in China..so the focus is getting much sharper on these things.

I won't buy from a TD. Not because I don't enjoy a nice rep, but I dont need to be on the radar with my business reliant on importing goods into the US well into the 7 figures which contain 3rd party trademarks I hold license agreements for.

Your best bet, just move on. If Ryan re-ships, don't be disheartened if it gets nabbed again. Then you'll have a pretty good indicator you have a friend in customs saying Hi. Having an alternate destination for the package might not hurt.

Do you know how their seizure process works? Like how they determine what packages to check, how many they check, etc.