US Customs - Anyone had any problems lately?

[flexbrah]

Got a letter notifying me that mine was seized in Chicago Currently trying to contact Toro to see what can be done now

[Resistor]

Now you're scaring.......I have my replacement shipped via LA this time.......

Don't let my situation worry you - I was just venting about the usps...I don't think this is a customs I issue since the package hasn't made it that far.

Tracking shows from Malaysia to LA, processed through International Sorting Center, then nothing else for a week. No indication that it was turned over to customs. Aggravating because it shouldn't take more than a few days to travel from California to Ohio.

[watchedup]

Got a letter notifying me that mine was seized in Chicago Currently trying to contact Toro to see what can be done now

Yea toro is good about it as he knows about the issue going on in chi-town.I just had to email him a copy of the seizure letter,confirm new qc's and give him a different address and he sent another one.At least that was the procedure for me.Hope you get it all worked out.

[seafoam]

Man this sucks!

[seafoam]

Can we be criminally charged with anything here?

[pcardoza]

Man this sucks!

No

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[watchedup]

Can we be criminally charged with anything here?

If someone were to claim the item and admit they new it was a rep and if a prosecutor were willing to take the case then yes.But that is way to many "ifs"for reality.Your safe,throw the letter away and send to a different address,preferably one that in a different state so it goes through a different import point.My first one went through chi-town,second time of the same item it went through nyc and no problem at all.Just am waiting for it to make to me now.will post pics once it makes it (gmt master II).

[shinynewbling25]

Well,  we can make this the Chicago customs thread.   My 3 watch package was "handed over to customs" in Chicago on Feb 6th.   Still there on the evening of Feb 12th  so that's one week down.   Got a pam512, and quartz grand carrera and a calibre de cartier from Trusty.    Was really wanting to get my hands on the 512 especially and also the cartier so super bummed it's stuck and from this thread going to stay stuck in Chicago.   My last order went through LAX and may have had a 1 day delay but I don't recall even seeing customs though it was my first order ever and didn't even think about that possibility.    I will be keeping you posted.

[hiker01]

Based on all these posts, I guess Chicago as a point-of-entry for our collector items, is out.

 

My 2nd shipment was sent via LA as registered parcel post in two batches, the first batch of 3 went thru and is now on the way to me via USPS Priority.

Now waiting for the 2nd batch!   

[panerai153]

Obviously, Chicago has either gotten a mandate from above, or they have discovered on their own that a high percentage of packages coming through customs from that particular area in China contain counterfeit items. Probably not  just watches but all sorts oof goods. i'm sure that this is a self perpetuating loop, you open a few packages and a high percentage contain counterfeit goods, so you start tp open more, and sure enough you find more counterfeit stuff.

 

There are a coupld of problems associated with this new paradigm, one, neither we, or the dealers have any control over where our packages land. Second, there is no way around customs, period. The third worry is to what extent are the dealers going to go before they decide that it's too risky to ship to the USA with a replacement guarantee for seized packages? Because the US Customs system operates in secret, there is no way of predicting any changes in their programs. So we don't know whether  this is a unique situation confined to Chicago Customs, or it's something that will eventually spread to every POE in the USA that has customs clearance. Another possibility is that US customs has decided that all individual packages coming from that postal zone in China have to be shipped through Chicago. that would be a logidstic nightmare for sure, because from what I've read, when a container is filled with packages, it is scheduled out on the next available flight that carries parcels, but i  don't have any proof of that.

 

No matter what the answeres are, I can see that for the forseable future, getting a watch or watches from China will entail considerable risks, which to this point have been absorbed by hte dealers, but for how long, We can't be sure. I do believe that shipping only one watch at a time is a better bet than shipping multiple watches in one parcel. Sad to say, but  there may come a time when the dealers will be forced to tranship USA bound watches to another country and then onward to the USA, like what occurs with some of the EU countries.

 

There is no way of telling what percentage of counterfeit goods are being seized by customs, but if it's your watch or watches, the number is 100 percent!!

[seafoam]

Agreed panerai153.  This could be a developing trend in the customs world and if/when (more likely when) the other customs port of entry locations catch wind of this, they might develop the same practices and create a widespread bolo.  Or this is just scare tactics and they have added extra personnel to go thru more boxes in order to facilitate a panic button response and scare people from wanting to order counterfeit goods and it will die down at some point. 

[pcardoza]

Unlikely this will become a trend.   US Customs is simply not staffed anywhere near enough to deal with the volume coming into the US.   If they are chasing our small packages, they are ignoring something else...... Like full containers.

 

They may target some period of time where they inspect a larger sampling of small packages, but it cannot become standard practice without a huge increase in people.

 

Agreed panerai153.  This could be a developing trend in the customs world and if/when (more likely when) the other customs port of entry locations catch wind of this, they might develop the same practices and create a widespread bolo.  Or this is just scare tactics and they have added extra personnel to go thru more boxes in order to facilitate a panic button response and scare people from wanting to order counterfeit goods and it will die down at some point. 

[seafoam]

Unlikely this will become a trend.   US Customs is simply not staffed anywhere near enough to deal with the volume coming into the US.   If they are chasing our small packages, they are ignoring something else...... Like full containers.

 

They may target some period of time where they inspect a larger sampling of small packages, but it cannot become standard practice without a huge increase in people.

 

Agreed.  I meant added extra personnel on a temporary basis to create this panic attack response

[shinynewbling25]

Just to update.  I received my customs confiscation letter today.   Pretty quick really.   Hit Chicago on the 6th and letter to my house on the 17th.  It's just like the one someone posted in this thread previously.   Majorly bummed.   All I had was 1 more watch plus the incoming and I would have had all I wanted (so I tell myself).   I'll wait till after the Chinese new year,  email the TD and see what happens while searching google for all the info I can find.   I would gladly pay a huge fine to get them but seems that's not an option.   If all fails I'll be scouring M2M for the exact same items which will take a loooooong time since none of mine were APRO's 

[panerai153]

Unlikely this will become a trend.   US Customs is simply not staffed anywhere near enough to deal with the volume coming into the US.   If they are chasing our small packages, they are ignoring something else...... Like full containers.

 

They may target some period of time where they inspect a larger sampling of small packages, but it cannot become standard practice without a huge increase in people.

P, you may be right, but you know success begets success. Since Chicago is not a seaport, they aren't concerned with containers, as those clear at the POE, like Los Angeles/San Diego, Miami, New Orleans, Seattle, etc. Pretty much everything coming into Chicago comes through the airport. While I'm sure there are tons of packages coming in every day, if they are running everything through X-Ray machines, it's pretty easy to pick out packages with watches, divert a certain number to be opened, and then basically the only options are counterfeit (Recognized brands that are on the counterfeit watch list) or non branded watches with either sterile dials/cases or branded with some unknown name that is not on the watch list. The counterfeits get seized, the others move on.

Probably a lot of the watches you see in places like convenience stores, flea markets, etc. are non branded. The place where I buy gas has a display case full of hideous big, blingy quartz watches with no recognizable name!! 

 

Since even boutique watches that are built in China and shipped from there are shipped in cardboard  boxes with the watch inside a watch box. They also have invoices, warranty papers, instruction books, etc. All of the rep I have ever received have been in a soft mailing envelope, wrapped in  bubble wrap, no box or papers. I would guess that it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that a Rolex Submariner coming from China, packaged like that is a rep, although I suppose occasionally a used genuine watch with no box or papers could be shipped that way. In that case the seller better enclose some convincing paperwork certifying the watch as a genuine, as well as a customs declaration for way more than 50 USD.

 

Hopefully this is a temporary deal, and our government, which has the attention span of a gerbil, will move on to more interesting and newsworthy searches. I believe that the biggest plus we have is over time, the resources will be re allocated to things that make more sense, and the 6PM news. You aren't going to have Fox and CNN sending news crews out to a C&I press conference to report that 13 counterfeit watches and 5 counterfeit handbags were confiscated today!!

[pcardoza]

Damn!   That's a great point!

 

I wonder if there's any way for the TD's to work with EMS to select flights with destination cities other than Chicago?    Maybe avoid shipping on specific days of the week?    This could become a real problem.    I've still got a shipment missing from Ryan, with no activity at all, since supposedly leaving China on Feb 3rd.

 

Since Chicago is not a seaport, they aren't concerned with containers, as those clear at the POE, like Los Angeles/San Diego, Miami, New Orleans, Seattle, etc. 

[xpletiv]

Soon or later ^that^ should happen otherwise TDs may stop doing the resending thing because it will start to affect them. And we don't want that happening for either side- customers and dealers.

[hiker01]

Got all the watches (5)! Shipped via Hong Kong thru LA. 

 

LA might be the way to go koz it's a large inbound area....what with all the ports and LAX! If Homeland's funding get's stopped or cut by the silly republicans, it might get better for us.....but, I'd rather stop ordering

than have Homeland unfunded/underfunded. These guys are just doing their jobs and the freakin politicians are playing games with our security.....

 

I won't have any of my orders now go thru Chicago!

[chronoluvvv]

Got all the watches (5)! Shipped via Hong Kong thru LA. 

 

LA might be the way to go koz it's a large inbound area....what with all the ports and LAX! If Homeland's funding get's stopped or cut by the silly republicans, it might get better for us.....but, I'd rather stop ordering

than have Homeland unfunded/underfunded. These guys are just doing their jobs and the freakin politicians are playing games with our security.....

 

I won't have any of my orders now go thru Chicago!

 

All of West Coast ports are being held hostage by the longshoremen union

and i've yet to meet a union member who was a republican

 

if you find one please ask Chicago postal customs to hire him so that they continue & succeed in their efforts to deprive us of Chinese costume jewelry

[panerai153]

I'm not sure it's possible to have the dealers pick where the watches land in the USA. I would suspect it's a geography thing. If you live on the West coast or the mountain states, I would guess that most all of that air freight comes through LAX, SF, Seattle. Whereas if you happen to live in the heartland, Most likely Dallas, Houston Chicago. East coast likely Atlanta, Dulles, JFK. Pretty much figure out which airlines have flights to and from the Orient and that will give you as clue as to where a package will land, of course that doesn't account for the freighters who may be carrying lots of parcels, and it's difficult to tell where they come from and end up.

 

As someone said above and I believe hiker demonstrated, if you have a friend or family member on the west coast, may be a good idea to try to set up some sort of relay where they receive the package and then re-label it and send it on.  Might work until they shift their focus to other things or shift from Chicago to other POE's.

[Lacuadra]

I am very new to watches but am relatively junior with bags. At our forums,  we have noticed that Chicago, and SFO are usually the places where we see retentions.  I hear Houston is also becoming a little bit of a nuisance.

Edited February 22, 2015 by Lacuadra

[tomwid12]

This thread has gotten me very nervous.  Why are your packages going through Chicago vs the other major cities?

[panerai153]

This thread has gotten me very nervous.  Why are your packages going through Chicago vs the other major cities?

 

Tom, I don't think there is any control over where a package lands. I believe and I may be wrong that packages that are ready to ship are put on the first available flight, so it's a luck of the draw as to where your package lands. having said that, I do believe that there is some degree of regionalization involved. I would expect that if you live on the west  coast, you wouldn't  likely have packages clearing through Chicago or New York, if they are coming from China. If they are coming from and EU country, they might well clear in NY, Atlanta, Chicago, etc. as there are probably more flights from Europe coming into JFK than LAX. So it's possible that both your geographic location as well as where the package originates plays a part. I live in the south, and I have had packages clear customs in Anchorage AK (Haven't seen any clearing there in a long time),LAX and SF. Interestingly, I very recently had two packages sent from Singapore, both of them cleared customs in Miami. First time I have ever had packages go through there inbound. My wife sends a fair number of packages to Europe and almost every one of hers go through the  Miami ISC.

 

I doubt that this convoluted discourse answered your question, but it is only to illustrate that we really don't have any control, and where you live does have a part in where your package ends up entering the USA. As hiker said above, he had watches seized in Chicago, the dealer resent them to a different address on the west coast, they cleared through LAX with no problems. I believe that if you are getting watches from a TD, there are a couple of simple rules or suggestions. 1. Use the dealer option that guarantees delivery, and 2. make sure the package has only one and at the most two watches. A package full of watches is almost certain to draw scrutiny, especially in places where they are actively looking for counterfeit goods. Sending only one is no guarantee that it will get through, as several members have had single watch shipments confiscated, but it may help. Suggestion 1 above is really important as it guarantees the dealer will reship another watch. Also before you buy, if you are not sure, you need to make sure the dealer's policy is guaranteed delivery.  

 

[Hyjynx]

Why are your packages going through Chicago vs the other major cities?

One word: Logistics.

[tomwid12]

panerai153, thank you very much for that informative post. 

 

I'm a little surprised that not all dealers guarantee delivery.  I just learned something new.

Thank you again.