Stephane Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 Hi All, Please do not ask me who's the dealer, I won't say. It's a private matter and I feel like I must NOT share my problems with you. However, there is one thing I must share, it's our community that must be protected after all and thus be aware of what is going on: my visit at the customs. The country where I am is not important. I'm in Europe. In France EMS is Chronopost, in Belgium Taxipost and so on. EMS is nothing else but the state postal service. I received TNT, Fedex, DHL packs from China or Singapour without any problem. But, suddenly, my China watches coming thru EMS were seized. I was asked to go to the customs to declare why I bought fake watches. I tried to be as friendly as possible with the guy and he started to show me his files of the day, some replicas aswell...nice atmosphere thus. In the files he showed me, there were waybills. Ok, now were these waybils from Fedex, Tnt , Dhl, ...NO I can assure you that 100% of the 10 files I saw were EMS sendings. So, my conclusion is that the state (customs) work with the state (post) very close. I thought I should let you know that for me, only registered airmail will be accepted. If a dealer persist to ship something using any kind of trackable delivery (Ems, Fedex,...) and the item is seized, I will always claim 1000% of my money back from now. Cheers Stephane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 Hi All, Please do not ask me who's the dealer, I won't say. It's a private matter and I feel like I must NOT share my problems with you. However, there is one thing I must share, it's our community that must be protected after all and thus be aware of what is going on: my visit at the customs. The country where I am is not important. I'm in Europe. In France EMS is Chronopost, in Belgium Taxipost and so on. EMS is nothing else but the state postal service. I received TNT, Fedex, DHL packs from China or Singapour without any problem. But, suddenly, my China watches coming thru EMS were seized. I was asked to go to the customs to declare why I bought fake watches. I tried to be as friendly as possible with the guy and he started to show me his files of the day, some replicas aswell...nice atmosphere thus. In the files he showed me, there were waybills. Ok, now were these waybils from Fedex, Tnt , Dhl, ...NO I can assure you that 100% of the 10 files I saw were EMS sendings. So, my conclusion is that the state (customs) work with the state (post) very close. I thought I should let you know that for me, only registered airmail will be accepted. If a dealer persist to ship something using any kind of trackable delivery (Ems, Fedex,...) and the item is seized, I will always claim 1000% of my money back from now. Cheers Stephane So it is reasonable to request a specific type of mailing service. But since you are insisting that they use untrackable shipping, when it doesn't arrive you will consequently not demand a refund--correct? I have a hard time understanding the attitude sometimes exhibited when buying these reps. This isn't <insert appropriate department store for your country> where you pay list price and have a right to expect an impeccable buying experience. This isn't the most up-and-up endeavor we are engaged in here but I don't think the ethics of drug dealers (not to put too fine a point on it) is appropriate either. Else you may find our dealers unwilling to do business with those in your country, like those in Italy from my understanding. In other words I think it is always appropriate to meet our dealers halfway. /Tim Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulV Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 I was wondering what was going on with my EMS packages beeing seized. All my other shippings with recorded mail had no problems. A watch sended by EMS from China was seized and i asked the dealer to resend by recorded mail, it came thru without any problem ! Lately an EMS package from Japan was also seized, fortunately it was a gen, but i had to pay 100$ V.A.T and taxes. So, i think you got a point here Stephane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
who Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 ... there's no way of telling which types of mailing service will have less chance to be search or inspect. To be fair, you have very right to choose the shipping method you feel good about and IMO it is not a bad idea for the dealer to follow your instruction since you live in that country and you may know better. I'm not sure is there a policy to ensure 100% refund in the event of a custom seizure, however IMO even if you choose a different mailing service other than the one dealer want to use, and if the item got seized by custom you should NOT be penalized just because you want to use DHL other than EMS. Bottom line.....all pkg are subject to inspect, it's only a matter of luck. Btw, I must add......if a customer demand to use a mailing service which is NOT traceable (like regular mail) and the pkg is lost then I think that will not be the dealers' fault. Funny things is since the booming of ems, fedex, dhl, ups.....people no longer think the old fashion "REGISTERED MAIL" is safe. I don't know about you....but it happen so many times that the ups, fedex and even EMS guys just put my pkg at the front door, Registered mail? They pretty much always ask for a signature Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narikaa Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 (edited) As I ship everything from the UK I am fortunately 'outside the loop' on this. But shipping always has to be a balance between safety of shipment and customs avoidance. Yes regd airmail is in my experience (yes I do have vast experience of shipping from the Far East) more likely to slip thru customs undetected (If presented well). But extremely more likely to get stolen in the source country. And regd Air Mail..... is negated by the perverse obsession of most peeps wanting 'by the minute' tracking!!!! . Edited March 17, 2007 by narikaa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fotoman Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 Keep in mind, the resending of seized packages is a Privilege, not a RIGHT - Dealers could stop offering that tomorrow - If you insist on non-trackable shipping, i can assure you that no dealer will offer you this type of "insured" shipping. further, the "terms" of their insurance, rather it be $$ back or a replacement watch or a discount is also dictated by dealers - If you want it made clear re: your $$ back, i suggest you make that part of the terms up front. Because if not, your accepting the dealers terms - written, not written or implied. we are lucky that dealers are willing to work with us on this. We are knowingly ordering illegal goods out of a foreign country. Please communicate with your dealer and work out the terms ahead of time if your not willing to accept business as usual, but please do not beat up dealers after the fact over this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cats Posted March 17, 2007 Report Share Posted March 17, 2007 Stephane, I'm also in the EU a little bit north of you. Over here I think we have more trouble with Fedex at the moment. I agree that you have to make your arrangements up front and resending a package which was taken by the customs is a favor rather then a most. I'm curious how it goes on with your shipments from outside the EU. What I learned is that my name and address is on a list and the local customs inform all the couriers to intercept all packages which have my name and address on it. Regards, Cats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephane Posted March 18, 2007 Author Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 What you said so far make sence, all of you. I think I didn't clearly explained my feeling and decisions though. It must be because my english is froglish ... Who said "Funny things is since the booming of ems, fedex, dhl, ups.....people no longer think the old fashion "REGISTERED MAIL" is safe". Well that is my point, exactly and I am asking to all the dealers I'm ordering from to use this shipping only since a while. What I also mean is not that if a watch is seized allthough shipped by registered mail that I request, I will ask for a refund. I share the risk with the dealer of course and none of the ones I'm dealing with will tell you the contrary. But, if knowing I only want registered mail and no "courrier", the dealer is shipping with a "courrier" then, sorry, but I will ask for a refund. Again, I will not post my negociations with my dealer here of course; it's our private business and not a public matter. But I sincerely think that if I ask for a cheap & safe way of shipping, it should be done that way. After all when I order a MontBlanc, I'm not ordering a Panerai, am I? Shouldn't be different for shipping. Narikaa: "And regd Air Mail.....is negated by the perverse obsession of most peeps wanting 'by the minute' tracking!!!!" Yes, you are right on two things: 1. shipping from UK is safer (sorry for the CN only based dealers). 2. customers that want instant tracking will get their tracking toghether with the risk of being inspected much more often than if they patiently wait for a couple of weeks and use registered mail. So, please fellows, do not missunderstand me. I will never fight with any dealer or ask for refund (even partial) as long as my request for registered mail is fulfill. If a dealer does not want to ship that way, he should let me know, and that's it. My only statement in this thread is: good old registered mail is inspected 1 time out of 100. "Courrier packages" are inspected probably 25 times out of 100 or more. EMS in the countries where the main postal service is owned by the state is inspected 100% of the time if it comes from CN with a low value declaration like electronic parts, 25$. That is how I experienced it in my country. Hope I did clarify what I meant and, on top of this, help some of you to make a desicion in the choice of shipping. Cheers Stephane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ken Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 so let's say i want to order a rep from cn. i would request registered airmail, not something else, because the chances of it being inspected are much higher if they ship it with a courier? is that the same in the US? to me it makes more sense to wait, delayed gratification can be a good thing, but the upside is that it's inspected less often i guess? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
narikaa Posted March 18, 2007 Report Share Posted March 18, 2007 Understand the two fundamental differences with Couriers and normal post as far as customs go..... Couriers work 'hand in glove' with customs. They are an easy target for customs to get to do their work for them (in many countries they wont send a shipment unless they the couriers inspect it first!!). Use them and it is stacked against you. Post is too mighty an animal for customs to 'tame' in this way...so they have to completely 'row their own boat' so much gets overlooked. . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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