Purchasing a Rolex from Abroad

[marcusgrr]

Good morning everyone,
Has anyone purchased and shipped a Rolex from Japan and/or Europe (Denmark or Germany)? I've been hunting for a particular piece and found a few nice example from these countries. What should I expect from US Customs and the process as a whole? The price is ~$8000 USD for timepiece.

Oh. I should say, this is for a birth-year gift to a family member. So I wanted to get them the best condition I could find.

Cheers

[Jazzey]

Coincedence, I just wanted to open a topic about this as well but the other way around.

I wonder how it goes ordering a watch from the USA shipped to Europe.

Prices in the US currently differ between 1k to 2k easily with prices in my country.

[Cantab]

Lots of paperwork, but not a problem from Germany. You need a seller who is familiar with the process. Duty on a $6500 watch was $275 earlier this year, shipping costs vary, but are expensive.

[barneb10]

Originally Posted by Jazzey

Coincedence, I just wanted to open a topic about this as well but the other way around.

I wonder how it goes ordering a watch from the USA shipped to Europe.

Prices in the US currently differ between 1k to 2k easily with prices in my country.

I've done this twice, shipped from the USA to Italy. It was very smooth. Went to USPS, told them what i wanted to do, they gave me a customs form that took 5 mins to fill out. Done.

[marcusgrr]

Originally Posted by Cantab

Lots of paperwork, but not a problem from Germany. You need a seller who is familiar with the process. Duty on a $6500 watch was $275 earlier this year, shipping costs vary, but are expensive.

Why not a problem from Germany as opposed to the others?

[faimag]

It’s not that complicated...

In the US, for anything you buy from around the world, you have a duty free amount of 800 USD. Any declared value above that incurs around 3% import duty.

The opposite is trickier as most EU countries impose way more duty/tax. In Denmark, for instance, it’s about 25% regardless of declared value (above ~10 euro, I think).

In Asia things are better. In Singapore it’s about 9%, in Hong Kong it’s zero, and so on and so forth.

You can always work with the seller on the declared value but that may also impact shipping insurance value. (Typically you cannot insure for more than the declared value).

Note that, if you use USPS from the US, they hand the package over to the local post carrier for delivery (and vice versa). Whereas Fedex, UPS, DHL, etc typically have their own branch in different countries so they carry it all the way. Most often, if you owe duty, you receive a mail from customs or the courier informing you about it. You pay and you receive your package.

Simple enough?!

[marcusgrr]

Originally Posted by faimag

It’s not that complicated...

In the US, for anything you buy from around the world, you have a duty free amount of 800 USD. Any declared value above that incurs around 3% import duty.

The opposite is trickier as most EU countries impose way more duty/tax. In Denmark, for instance, it’s about 25% regardless of declared value (above ~10 euro, I think).

In Asia things are better. In Singapore it’s about 9%, in Hong Kong it’s zero, and so on and so forth.

You can always work with the seller on the declared value but that may also impact shipping insurance value. (Typically you cannot insure for more than the declared value).

Note that, if you use USPS from the US, they deliver to the local post carrier (and vice versa). Whereas Fedex, UPS, DHL, etc typically have their own branch in different countries so they carry it all the way. Most often, if you owe duty, you receive a mail from customs or the courier informing you about it. You pay and you receive your package.

Simple enough?!

Thanks! That was really succinct.

So importing into the US would be: 3% of declared value (which should also correspond to the insured value).

Does it matter the country of origin?

[ArtNouveau]

I have bought at least a half dozen watches from different countries overseas. Every one came with the customs form with declarations on it in the plastic shipping sleeve. Only one time was I ever charged duties and the bill came from a broker associated with Fedex. YMMV.

[mmaggi]

I read that duty fees are dependent on the country the item was purchased in. It's 5% from some countries, 3% and 1% from others. I've read about some instances where no duty was taken at all.

Wish there was a website that explains it. The US .gov website leaves more questions than answers.

[marcusgrr]

Originally Posted by mmaggi

I read that duty fees are dependent on the country the item was purchased in. It's 5% from some countries, 3% and 1% from others. I've read about some instances where no duty was taken at all.

Wish there was a website that explains it. The US .gov website leaves more questions than answers.

Agreed. I dont want to be caught off guard. Much rather have a closer ballpark figure than a wide ranging variable that affects the overall price tag.

[faimag]

Originally Posted by marcusgrr

Thanks! That was really succinct.

So importing into the US would be: 3% of declared value (which should also correspond to the insured value).

Does it matter the country of origin?

Yes, it's about 3% of declared value if >800 USD.

Country of origin does not matter, as it's almost always Switzerland (or Germany for ALS) The US has some treaties with some countries for lower or zero import duties.
I can imagine country of original coming into play if it's from Iran or North Korea, or maybe even China these days, but not as a determinant of import duties; more like a determinant of whether you will receive it at all );

You can read more here: https://www.cbp.gov/travel/internati...toms-duty-info

[marcusgrr]

Originally Posted by faimag

Yes, it's about 3% of declared value if >800 USD.

Country of origin does not matter, as it's always Switzerland The US has some treaties with some countries for lower or zero import duties.
I can imagine country of original coming into play if it's from Iran or North Korea, or maybe even China these days, but not as a determinant of import duties; more like a determinant of whether you will receive it at all );

You can read more here: https://www.cbp.gov/travel/internati...toms-duty-info

Thank you

[faimag]

This thread is also quite helpful

https://www.rolexforums.com/showthread.php?t=496889