How do customs know by x ray that our watches ain't legit and to confiscate

[Guest rolexuk]

Customs xray the parcels, but I presume all they can see is a watch, which I imagine they see a lot of and a large quantaty genuine watches of all types of low and high value. Also theese replicas can fool most people and only when you look inside the watch it becomes very apperant it's not real, so I'm surprised our replicas get seized that or am I missing something.

[pcardoza]

Not a lot of GEN watches come in from China.   Especially marked as "toys" or some other innocuous item description.

[Ezio]

Not a lot of GEN watches come in from China.   Especially marked as "toys" or some other innocuous item description.

1+

[docthor]

yepp...it's the whole package.

They can't see if the watch in the package is legit or not. But from their experience they know which package to open and if there is a a brand watch inside, it's most likely fake.

+...they don't seize and destroy immediately. The recipient gets a message that the watch is most likely fake and that they are going to destroy it unless he proves that it isn't.

[gran]

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm.....dont say the toy word out loud

Edited May 28, 2014 by gran

[Guest rolexuk]

Oh I see

[fraggle42]

This is a reason why I've bought a dozen small watch boxes, so any that I sell I can put into one of these cheap boxes on a cushion, in a new cardboard box so hopefully the whole "package" looks authentic as if the receiver has bought a new, gen, cheap watch.

[beano2004]

Having had first hand experience with this ( custom seizure) they look for trade mark makings in every different brand as each one is different and if you cannot prove with a sales receipt from an AD that you bought this watch from they will seize the watch and send pictures to the trade mRk owner like audemars piguet. At that point they AP will make the determination if the watch is genuine... This process listed above take 6 months however if you go down this route and fight them and lose you will e required to pay a hefty sum of fines to the us government which is why almost everyone just gives in and let's them take their watch.

[gran]

hopefully the whole "package" looks authentic   you guys are crazy. Never had a shipping problem due to the box ever.

 

Imagine you guys ar answering X-ray and customs questions to a guy that has been here 1 day (= one day)

 

[Guest rolexuk]

Don't be like that Gran there's no need I may be new to site but how long do I have to wait before I can post or make disscusions.

Edited May 28, 2014 by rolexuk

[martijnp]

The OP might be a secret spy for the goverment who want's to seize all our precious watches    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

just kidding, or am I? 

[Guest rolexuk]

Guys it a shame you don't know me behond this site as then you would have no worries in the area gran suggests. Although he has a very good point but not so in this case I'm quite the opposite in fact.

[Jkay]

There is nothing we could tell a customs agent that they do not already know. The dealer list is in the front page, for feck's sake.

[Guest rolexuk]

Haha true m8

[gran]

You do seem like a polite and agreable fellow rolexuk (watch prefarences indicated in name aside) and you are free to ask and discuss whatever you may wish and I will and cannot stop it. Freedom of speech is something we should embrace. I am expressing my freedom of speech by raising a red flag when customs issues are discussed in the open.

 

So its back to discussing X-rays again then

 

 

so what watch is this an X-ray of? (and dont cheat by looking at the name of the picture file! or by tiny eye!)

[panerai153]

Not sure what watch X-ray above is, which would be the same from a person looking at a scanner as packages go through, practically impossible to tell from and X-ray. But, like someone said before, it's all about the origin country and the packaging. I'm sure most everyone here has gotten a genuine watch shipped from a dealer or from the company. But for those of you who haven't , the difference is  Night and Day I couldn't find a photo of a watch package from a TD, thought I had one, but it's lost in several thousand photos!!
Here's what a genuine watch that comes through the mail will look like. If it's coming from overseas it will be declared for it's full value and will be insured for that amount. A 2K watch will be declared and insured for 2k.




 
 
 
Now, contrast that with the typical package you receive from a TD. Soft non padded envelope, usually containing either a bubble wrapped watch, or at best a Styrofoam watch container. All this with a declared value of 20-50 USD, listed on the customs declaration as "Toy" or "Novelty watch".
 
I doubt that the folks who work for customs are that stupid, that they are fooled into believing that any of our watches are anything but what they are. In this country, most aren't caught, simple because US Customs has bigger things to worry about, they are much more concerned with packages containing  drugs, and any type of weapon or device that can be made to make a big BANG!! Another big priority is agricultural products. Any pest be it either plant or animal has the potential to eventually cause millions if not billions of dollars to eradicate or control if unleashed.  Another thing, Customs processes literally hundreds of thousands of packages every day. If they took the time to stop and open every package that contained a watch, clock, or electronic device it would bog down the system to the point that in a few days they would have such a huge backlog, they would never catch up. So they have to keep the system humming along. Be happy, because if they ever decided to stop and check, they would make it very difficult to get reps into the country. At this point in time, I believe that they could care less about individuals bringing in one rep from another country.

[fraggle42]

+1 to everything panerai153 said.

A single watch in a typical rep package (bubble envelope with bubble wrapped watch inside, or styrofoam box with bubblewrapped watch inside), most seem to get through.

Two seems to be mostly OK.

Three or more, dodgy.

I suspect that customs workers actually have instructions on the priority of what they see on the xray. Single or two watches (heads or bracelets), not worth bothering with. Three - maybe they consider this could be a dealer shipping a dozen watches via 4 parcels, so will open it.

As I said above, I've bought a couple of Alphas, a couple of homages, and they have arrived in small, generic, black presentation boxes made from thich card with a pillow inside, which is inside a new cardboard outer box.

These black presentation boxes are 50p each, and the cardboard boxes 10p each. It just makes sense to me to use 'em! (and I hope the new owners appreciate the decent packaging)

As to talking about customs in a public forum? They ain't stupid, they already know very well what we know about them, we're just too small a fish to bother catching - too low a volume and too hard to prosecute any one person and make an example of them by taking them to court and fining them $50,000 or something.

Personally I'm quite glad they are more concerned about large shipments to people that are looking to rip other off by selling them as gens, and keeping an eye out for genuine dangers.

[Nightwatch]

exactky like Fraggle said from my experience: "A single watch in a typical rep package (bubble envelope with bubble wrapped watch inside, or styrofoam box with bubblewrapped watch inside), most seem to get through.

Two seems to be mostly OK.

Three or more, dodgy."

 

Most apprehensions are related to 3 or more. Same goes for other non-watch items like pocket-knife, flashlight etc. from China if it´s one ok, 2 mostly, more = trouble sooner or later. Quantity is the reason the package is selected for inspection in the first place (most cases), that the content are rep-watches is discovered in step 2.

[highoeyazmuhudee]

i assume the toy they hide it in contains so much lead paint that the watch is radiopaque

 

[danialq]

Also a lot of packages mention gift. So that is why rep watches are not confiscated. The magic word is "gift ".

[jpz5142]

Also a lot of packages mention gift. So that is why rep watches are not confiscated. The magic word is "gift ".

Probably a good point for the guys in the US as it is not illegal to be in possession of a counterfeit item rather illegal to sell or have intent to distribute. There was some hubbub a while back about a couple of members of congress drafting a law to make it illegal to posses counterfeit goods in the US, luckily for the rep community our congress is so inept at actually passing legislation that it didn't pass.