The Breitling Watch Source Forums

A bit of a rant so please bear with me! Members have previously posted about how they dislike those sales ads that will not ship overseas, up until now it never really bothered me too much, but that all has changed! I recently sold a Breitling Strap to a member overseas and was happy to do so, I really did not see it as much of a problem. How wrong I was! Shipping via the USPS was my first mistake, I now know why they will soon be out of business! A simple 5" X 7" inch envelope with the strap inside could not be mailed first class because I had decided to wrap the strap is a little bubble wrap to protect it. The counterman said if it doesn't fit through the slot it can't go first class. So, $24 later and it is off "across the pond". After hanging out in customs for a week the recipient was notified that it would be another $50 to have the item delivered! Import duties and whatever other charges they could come up with. This was for a strap that sold for $175, how they came up with $50 I do not know. It just seems ridiculous! Thank goodness it wasn't something really valuable, I can not imagine being hit with a surprise bill of $1500 after getting a "deal" on a watch for $5000.

Thank you for hearing me out, unfortunately I no longer will be shipping overseas. Those people who reside outside the US, and find themselves in the New York City vicinity are more then welcome to pick up any Breitling "swag" I have for sale for free! Get it touch with me, and you can have it. The aggravation is not worth it!

I had a very similar experience when I too sold a strap to a member overseas. It was a simple Breitling dive strap and he had to pay about half it's worth to pick it up. Never again.
Frank.

Import duties / taxes are something buyers should be well aware of, if they aren't that's their problem, not a seller's. As someone who has to rely on importation to get access to a reasonable selection of any category of products I expect to pay taxes and duty and I expect to educate myself on what that might mean. It's 2016 and a 2 minute Google search will give me that information. When buyers are consciously ignorant it causes situations like this where sellers won't ship internationally and all potential buyers suffer.

The irony for my own situation is that I will be moving somewhere with no mail delivery system and my 'mailing address' will soon be a Miami PO Box.

As one of those people who moans about US sellers not selling overseas, I must be honest I'm with Roff on this one I'm afraid.

As an "overseas" buyer I'm more than happy for the full postage cost to be passed on to me, and I'm also fully aware that import/customs charges are my responsibility when the package arrives : it's absolutely nothing for the seller to worry about in my opinion.

When I'm the buyer, all the seller has to do is post it. That's it. Everything else is down to me.

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Driver8

Site Moderator

Let me say that the buyer has never complained one bit! He has been a gentleman throughout the sale. My beef is that it seems that the taxes and duties add up so quickly! It is something that I have never dealt with before, and is frustrating. I'm just venting that the "powers to be" seem to hold out there "hands" every step of the way without adding any value to the transaction what so ever!

Well that's global trade. As a US resident you pay import duty on many things you buy, you just don't know it because it is buried in the retail price of items (including watches).

I'm just waiting for the strap to arrive and I'm well aware that there is a possibility of some additional costs so I'll not complain.

I understand your frustration, but here in EU we are accustomed to being skinned by State

I agree whole heartedly. I do buy from the US after weighing up the pros and cons and a calculation of the costs of the bureaucratic mugging along the way. I prefer to buy from reputable sources, wherever they are, rather than from some of the less trustworthy European sellers. The charges are annoying but inevitable and even if you factor in those costs, there are some great deals to be had.

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Breitling B-1 1999
Breitling Chrono Superocean 2004
Casio G Shock
Citizen Eco Drive AT4000-02E (for gardening)
Seiko 5 SNZG15J1
Hamilton X Wind LE

I've never had an overseas problem with the USPS and I've sent many packages overseas through the years. Overseas buyers are aware of the taxman and the possibility of paying again to pick up the package. I've found that sending Priority or Express will almost always result in a longer stay in Customs and additional taxes but sending 1st Class usually doesn't have that problem. That being said I still only send valuables Priority or Express as the buyer just has to determine whether additional taxes make it a reasonable purchase for them. Plus, the advertised travel time for a Priority and Express package is one thing but after Customs gets it it's anyone guess when they'll release it.

Today the strap came in, with no additional fees and cleared by customs in one day. Sometimes, luck is on our side