The Breitling Watch Source Forums

Hello,


I'm wondering if someone out here can help me please. There are a few older Breitlings on Ebay that I'm interested in and just had two questions for the experts out there who really deal with them. For arguments sake:

1) If I purchased a Breitling from Ebay Switzerland, UK, Germany, Holland or wherever it may be (as long as it's still Ebay but for that country-not Chile, or Indonesia, etc) am I still covered under the same rules as Ebay Canada/USA?

2) If I purchased a watch for say $5000 or its equivalent (watch is overseas outside north America) and tell the seller to put down the worth as $400 on the FEDEX shipping invoice (tax /customs purposes) should the seller send me a fake watch or a rock or empty air am I still covered for the $5000 amount or is it now $400 because of what was put down as the value on the FEDEX manifest from seller's end?

Please guys no lectures on ethics just answers from those who can answer these questions. Thank you very much!!! (Sorry if this is in the wrong section my apologies).

1. Yes. Its an international warranty.

2. You are only covered for the declared amount. Having said that, most shipping companies only allow you to insure up to $1000 (I think thats the amount) for international shipments. You would need to get separate insurance from a 3rd party company.

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-RJ

Thanks RJ

its almost never worth it to purchase used form overseas, or new for that matter, but the time you add in the extra shipping and duties, and added risk, I'm sure you can get one in the same country for the same amount or close.

I have successfully bought from a number of overseas locations including places like Turkey with no issues at all - you go to where the watches are and buy the seller first.

Up to you what you do on the declarations as long as you are aware that it is technically illegal - no lecture, just ensuring awareness.

1. Yes, you are still covered by eBay rules irrespective of where you buy (providing it's still within ebay of course), but be aware that regional non-eBay laws will differ. For example, in the UK we are covered by a "distance selling" law meaning that buyers have the right to return goods bought via the internet and be entitled to a full refund irrespective of the reason for teh return. HOWEVER, that only applies to goods bought and sold within the UK. So if I buy from Japan for example, I'm not covered by the UK's distance selling law because the item wasn't bought within the UK. I buy lots of stuff from abroad and rarely have problems.

2. As others have said you will only be covered for the declared amount if something goes wrong and you need to claim insurance. I wouldn't dream of lecturing about ethics either as ultimately whatever you decide to do is completely up to you. However in the interest of keeping you fully informed, and just to reiterate other's comments - asking for a false value to be declared is a doubly dangerous game to play as firstly it's illegal and can land you in trouble with the law, and secondly (as said above) you could lose a lot of money if the package goes missing. If the seller just does it off their own back (i.e. without you asking), then at least you aren't on the hook legally.

To give you a real life example, a few years ago I had a call from Customs asking me if I had sent a watch abroad to be repaired. As I hadn't, I told the complete truth which was that I was expecting a brand new watch from abroad and certainly not a repair. As it turns out, the vendor had (entirely off their own back) declared a tiny amount for the watch on the customs form and said that it was a repair. (I guess they did it to "do me favour" somehow). Now, I'm not sure what happened next as the watch still arrived a few days later (after clearly being opened by Customs) and I heard nothing more about it, but what I can say is that the vendor was no longer trading a few weeks after that. Whether their closure was entirely down to this incident or not I don't know, but it certainly gave me room for thought that these things are not just idle threats.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Beating the tax man and customs should be left to the pro's not regular folks . So remember when crossing the border in the summer with 8 watches on and a short sleeve shirt have an open copy of watch time magazine on your dash with a picture of N. Hayek sr. displayed . I have never done that so let me know how it works !! But I have gotten through with no questions asked by having a copy of the Watch Tower on display on my dash.

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Veni, vidi, vici

The true value of a watch to the buyer is quite subjective.

Fedex no longer offers any "insurance" for international watch shipments, rather they limit any claim you can make for their neglect to $1000 for watches. You have to prove the item and value etc... More cumbersome than an insurance claim.

Also, the entity you are dealing with on a Fedex shipment really isn't the destination country customs. Sure they do a quick scan to make sure it's not a bomb or drugs or prohibited exotic skins - maybe - but you are dealing with Fedex on Value and Customs Duty. Their Customs brokers are rather loose, but every now and then they can be real buggers. And the broker gets part of the duty collected so there is some incentive there.

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SHARKMAN

I used to sell watches , at one time through ebay, as others say buy the seller first , INCREDIBLY important this , if you can contact them direct do it , several times if you can, a genuine seller will understand. I've bought MANY watches from abroad, third party insurance is essential if you quote the value low, make sure this is organised, if you seller is offering the normal warranty set up, ie.. with a full doc set, then they probably do lots of business, but check feedback etc..

If the seller should be sending you a fake watch, why should they purchase extra insurance, as they are already dodgy, you may lose all your cash if you suspect something is not right.

Check what customs will be involved. Having been burned as a dealer a few times, i would only use people have a faultless history of watch sales and experience of doing just that.

I prided myself on being totally honest, it meant something to me, others DONT.

In addition you have to remember that just changing the stated value for Customs purposes doesn't mean if it's lost that's the amount you refund the buyer. I've been caught on that before. If the buyer uses PayPal he can file a claim for the full amount vs the stated amount. So even though the buyer asked you to state a lower amount he can still get the full amount back from PayPal. For example, if you sold a $2k watch on ebay and shipped it off with a stated value of $500 on the Customs forms, $500 is what you'll get back if it's lost and you're out $1500. PayPal will have no sympathy that you made the decision to insure it for less than the selling price and will refund the full amount to the buyer who didn't receive what he paid for. Seller beware in this case.

Isn't it easier to just be honest? Seems like a lot of hassle to me.