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Thread: Tell me your customs charges sob stories.

  1. #1

    Tell me your customs charges sob stories.

    I've never been hit with a customs charge, I figure I've been lucky. What's the worst you've had?

  2. #2
    I was hit with a $100+ charge on a Stowa once. They shipped it with an alligator strap and the proper forms weren't filled out. The charge was about the same price as the strap.

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  4. #3
    I once bought a Pulsar (I think) Railroad Homage for about £25. When the admin fee was factored in the customs charge was also £25....

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  6. #4
    Loves to yap about quartz I-B's Avatar
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    They seized my Seiko Cocktail Time that i bought from Chino. They told me it was a fake watch and i would have to pay a huge fine and probbably go to jail if i did not alow them to destroy the watch. The fines of importing fake goods in to the EU can be astronomous. Word is/was that Seiko asked to seize every JDM Seiko coming from Japan cos they don't like us to buy them. Since that time the big 3 stopped shipping JDM Seiko's to the EU (as can be seen on their site's). I think they lost a lot of watches to customs. They (Chino) refunded my cash and lost a watch...

  7. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by I-B View Post
    They seized my Seiko Cocktail Time that i bought from Chino. They told me it was a fake watch and i would have to pay a huge fine and probbably go to jail if i did not alow them to destroy the watch. The fines of importing fake goods in to the EU can be astronomous. Word is/was that Seiko asked to seize every JDM Seiko coming from Japan cos they don't like us to buy them. Since that time the big 3 stopped shipping JDM Seiko's to the EU (as can be seen on their site's). I think they lost a lot of watches to customs. They (Chino) refunded my cash and lost a watch...
    Whoa, that's not good at all! When was that?
    I'd noticed that Chino had stopped shipping to the EU, but Seiya still does. I bought my Alpinist from him a few months ago and have a SARB035 km the mail at the moment (although now I'm worried!!!)

  8. #6
    Loves to yap about quartz I-B's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by whatmeworry View Post
    Whoa, that's not good at all! When was that?
    I'd noticed that Chino had stopped shipping to the EU, but Seiya still does. I bought my Alpinist from him a few months ago and have a SARB035 km the mail at the moment (although now I'm worried!!!)
    i thinkk it's a little over a year ago now. I made a thread obout it (in Dutch) in the old place, including the e-mails and conversations between me and custom's. They bully'd and threatened me. Stupid EU...

  9. #7
    Member number 236 Richmondmike's Avatar
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    I won a Brathwait watch and three straps in a compeition, but as the sender kindly (and appropriately) listed each item at its full retail price - totalling $200 - I landed a customs fee of nearly £35 to get my free stuff! I didn't object to paying my taxes but did object to the £7.50 'processing fee' ParcelForce charge to read the customs label and multiply the total by 0.2...
    Proud veteran of the Military Watches Collection thread. 18th February 2014-22nd November 2014. Gone but never forgotten.

    My watch blog - Wristwatch Review UK | Seagull1963.co.uk

  10. #8
    Moderator gnuyork's Avatar
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    I'm about to find out.

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  12. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by whatmeworry View Post
    I once bought a Pulsar (I think) Railroad Homage for about £25. When the admin fee was factored in the customs charge was also £25....
    Isn't there some kind of threshold that has to be passed? Or it that for duty but not VAT?

  13. #10
    Moderator scottjc's Avatar
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    £18 Parcelforce handling fee with each parcel. They had over £200 off me in a week recently for three parcels with duty, VAT and fees...
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