panerai153 Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 Just read an article related to the new anti-counterfeiting bill that Bush signed into law yesterday. there was the usual hooplah, pressure through WTO to stop intellectual property piracy, convincing other governments such as China to do a more effective job of policing their customs control, but a couple of things did stand out. They broke up a counterfeiting "ring" in the Northeast, seized over 30,000 purses and shoes (probably one container!!) Not such big news unless you were waiting for you Louie Vuitton bag!! The second and much more alarming aspect of the bill is this: The US Dept of justice, Border patrol and Customs were stepping up training of personnel to better identify and interdict counterfeit items coming into the country. Actually for us this is the scariest. Diligent customs inspectors could if they were trained and motivated, stop every single individual counterfeit item (watch) coming into the USA. Notice I say individual items. If they routinely beginning scanning every package, watches are an easy target. Here's why. One, they have no documentation. For example if I buy a genuine watch from a dealer in the EU, it will be shipped with declared value insurance, the customs form will have the real value of the watch on the decleration, and the watch is going to be well packed in a cardboard box with the watch itself inside a logoed box with all the papers, warranty, etc. How do ours come packaged. Usually wrapped with a couple of layers of bubble wrap, inside a soft sided envelope, declared for 20.00 as a gift from "Aunt Suzie"!! How much training do you think that it would take to get customs agents up to speed on this? Every soft sided package that comes through the scanner containing a watch gets pulled and opened. If it isn't inside a box within a box within a box, with a reasonable customs decleration, it gets pulled, opened and hand inspected. If it turns out to be a Seiko w instruction manual and papers, it gets resealed and sent on. But, if it's a Rolex, Cartier, Omega, etc. It will be treated as a counterfeit unless proven otherwise. I would bet that the seizure rate is going to go up drastically. Another ploy, treat it as a genuine, send the buyer a customs bill for 250.00 for his Rolex watch. How many would you order if you knew that the watch was going to cost you an extra 200-300 dollars? Rolex has a very vigorously enforced policy against "grey market" genuine Rolexe's coming into the USA from other countries. The chances are very small that someone is going to buy a genuine Rolex in Thailand, then have it shipped to the USA. Possibly some vintage or other brands, but not many new Swiss watches would be coming from the far East. So it's pretty easy to get the customs agents attuned to these facts. I hope that this doesn't come to pass, but with the constant erosion of individual freedom and liberty in this country, much of it under the guise of the "Patriot Act", we are being more closely watched, more scrutinized, I'm afraid that we are soon going to find it very difficult if not impossible to get good accurate replicas here in the USA. Probably it will be a long time, maybe never before they choke off the supply of cheap "Canal Street" reps, but those come over by the container load, probably much, much easier to get into the country. I'm not interested in those, just the good ones. If Individuals have several watches seized, or have to pay huge duties, they will be hesitant to buy. If dealers have a big percentage seized, they are going to be reluctant to ship, unless the buyer assumes complete responsibility. When that happens, the trade will dwindle to nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest overboosted Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 Scary stuff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jraines87 Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 Hey guys, we have an off topic section.. ya just have to look for it... Try to get some discussions going on down there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Bond Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 I don't think it is possible to scan every piece of parcel going into USA. There are just too many parcel going though the custom everyday. IMHO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest overboosted Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 True, but I would assume they probally X-Ray most of them, just like thy do with ALL carry on luggage at the airport. Probally more so on stuff coming from China. We need to get the dealers to wrap the watches in lead! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugwash Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 Another ploy, treat it as a genuine, send the buyer a customs bill for 250.00 for his Rolex watch. How many would you order if you knew that the watch was going to cost you an extra 200-300 dollars? The tax on any imported rolex would not be $200-$300. It would more likely be $2000-$3000. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dani Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 LOL imposibel to scan or check even 70%of all pack and if they are gone open everything they feel can be a fake watch or any other illegal item then pleas get 10000 more staff in all the big states Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kdo2milger Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 makes me want to become a customs agent...think of the collection you could have in one weeks time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
docblackrock Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 The tax on any imported rolex would not be $200-$300. It would more likely be $2000-$3000. Hmmm, exactly where do you live that customs and excise duty is >60%??!!! Wherever, I'm glad I don't live there.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Faber Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 scary stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dutchy Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 'Aunt Suzie'.........hehehehe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archibald Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 I'm worried too. Now that the Dubai Ports deal has been killed, my plan to get 100% of my watches through is dead in the water. I was going to have all my watches shipped via DPI ports in large shipping crates surrounded by radioactive material next to a briefcase labled: "Some cash for my favorite evildoer. Happy Birthday! From Osama." Wait. now that I think about it: Actually, since the Bush administration is still resisting demands to search more than the 5% of shipping crates they currently search (while now apparently taking great pains to X-ray packages at the request of Swiss companies) that this plan may still be viable. Are any dealers on board with me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronus Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 Dealer ships to another country first that may not have as stringent customs controls... in this example let's say Australia or Germany or Argentina. This will only work if the dealer has a contact there. That contact then ships on to usa and there is less of a chance that a package from one of these countries will be checked than from the Far East. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stac Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 Enjoy what you have while you got it... This is bad for our hobby Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pugwash Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 Hmmm, exactly where do you live that customs and excise duty is >60%??!!! Wherever, I'm glad I don't live there.... For luxury goods, it's 20+% and then there's VAT. Retail on a Rolex is what, $4000-$8000? Check out this if you're in the US: http://hotdocs.usitc.gov/docs/tata/hts/bychapter/0601c91.pdf In Europe, it can be 20-40% plus VAT of up to 20%. It gets really silly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chronus Posted March 18, 2006 Report Share Posted March 18, 2006 For some reason, on the official DOXA site, it says shipping to USA will oftentimes result in NO duty, at most only a very small amount, but to the EU (right next to Switzerland) the full amount will be levied. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panerai153 Posted March 19, 2006 Author Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 Most of the guys who post on the Doxa forum, from the USA, reported that they paid around 40-50 dollars per watch for the Sub750T Caribbean's, Sharkies and Professionals. That was based on a purchase price of around 1200-1300 dollars. This works out to around 4%. I believe that US Customs allows part of the purchase to come in Duty free, you pay duty on the remainder. That applies to items that are brought into the USA by individuals and declared at customs. Not completely sure about items shipped in, but I do know how much the Doxas owners are paying in customs duties. If you buy a genuine from a store you are paying the customs duties, it's just "hidden" in the cost. Doxa sells direct, so the buyer gets hit with the customs duty directly. I'm certainly not trying to be a "doomsdayer", but I do believe that it is going to get harder and harder to get reps into the USA. I don't know, and can't speak for any other country, but the facts are plain, we( our leaders) are in a hysterical state about terrorism, and national security. unfortunately for the average guy, it's very easy for the government to hide a lot of other very onerous actions under the cloak of "national security" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest TTK Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 (edited) I hope that this doesn't come to pass, but with the constant erosion of individual freedom and liberty in this country, much of it under the guise of the "Patriot Act",we( our leaders) are in a hysterical state about terrorism, and national security. unfortunately for the average guy, it's very easy for the government to hide a lot of other very onerous actions under the cloak of "national security" "This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." Sound familiar...?..make hay while the sun shines........it won't shine on the rep world forever.....! Edited March 19, 2006 by TTK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Posted March 19, 2006 Report Share Posted March 19, 2006 "This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition. The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V." Sound familiar...?..make hay while the sun shines........it won't shine on the rep world forever.....! I want to hear Robin Williams do his Elmer Phud imitation, saying that . . . It would HAVE to be as good as his Elmer doing "Fire" 8^) B Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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