20% doesn't sound right, usually its like 6-7%

 

The US is not part of the EU (at least it isn’t to my knowledge) so why you should have to pay 20% tax (essentially VAT) is a mystery to me.

 

Happened to me last week, $86 tax after it reached US customs (order was for $1008). Didn't have that issue last year with 2 separate orders from them. Not sure if something changed or I got lucky last year.

 

The only CW I got was a Slimline Square, and I didn't pay any duty.

And if I'm ordering from the US site, as a US customer? I'd expect the duties to be included. Pretty sure that's the case with, for example, the German brands and WatchMann or WatchBuys.

And 20%??? That's insanely higher than it's been. The only question I have is...is this part of the various trade wars and tariff battles that have been going on recently?

 

It just happens that 20% tax is the U.K. VAT rate so I wonder if CW have dropped the ball somehow.

 

VAT is collected by the vendor, not the shipper. If the bill is from DHL, it's for import duties.

 

(Owner of a shipping company here)

Whether you get pulled and assessed customs and duties is really all a matter of sheer luck with the postal service (bad luck). Where most government backed postal services world wide have an agreement (sometimes official, sometimes not) that if packages are sent through their systems, it will not be audited and assessed customs fees, it sometimes happens. Many times with expedited shipping where the customer did not pay customs fees up front, or the seller did not cover them - a seller covering the costs is rare. 9 out of 10 times or better you never see this happen, but occasionally it will. There's nothing that has been done incorrectly, you were just the person who happened to get pulled, audited, and assessed fees. This actually happened to me with a Seiko I purchased from Seiya last year. It was frustrating, but knowing the process, I chalked it up to the law of averages. Some may never see this happen, others will occasionally, but rarely.

Other non government backed shipping companies are a bit different, and this will happen sometimes when customs forms are not complete or the auditors feel they are incorrect. In any case, there really is no recourse and it's very rarely under the shipper's control to prevent.

The actual percentage charged varies widely and is based on the materials and the country of origin of the item being shipped. The trade laws are vast and complicated, and figuring out what the real percentage that should be charged usually takes a professional that is familiar with not only trade law, but the specific item type being shipped.

 

Watches purchased for less than $800 are not subject to import duties to bring into the US. Watches priced at over $800 are subject to an import duty of somewhere around 4% of the value of the watch. DHL may tack on some handling fees to bring that up some. 20% still sounds high. And if $98 works out to be 20% of the watch price, then your watch was well under the $800 threshold.

The reason you probably never paid duties on a CW watch in the past was that their prices were lower. In the past couple of years, they've increased their prices and now there are fewer of their models that slip under the $800 threshold.

There were some issues when CW switched from Royal Mail to DHL where watches were not being given the correct import code and people were being billed way too much for import duty by DHL. Not sure if someone at DHL was assuming which import code to use or if someone at CW was checking the wrong box on the form. I saw a post from one of CW's owners saying they were rectifying the situation like 10 months ago. A few people fought the fee and were able to get it lowered. There were some threads on the CW forums about it, including some "how tos" to get the duty reduced to where it should be. DHL is known to be difficult and even if you get them to agree to lower the duty to where it should be, they'll hit you with a paperwork update fee that will effectively negate your progress. There's little that CW's customer service can do for you with this, you'll have to deal with DHL directly. CW may be able to help if DHL asks for valuations on the watch head and strap.

 

There were some issues when CW switched from Royal Mail to DHL where watches were not being given the correct import code and people were being billed way too much for import duty by DHL. Not sure if someone at DHL was assuming which import code to use or if someone at CW was checking the wrong box on the form. I saw a post from one of CW's owners saying they were rectifying the situation like 10 months ago. A few people fought the fee and were able to get it lowered. There were some threads on the CW forums about it, including some "how tos" to get the duty reduced to where it should be. DHL is known to be difficult and even if you get them to agree to lower the duty to where it should be, they'll hit you with a paperwork update fee that will effectively negate your progress. There's little that CW's customer service can do for you with this, you'll have to deal with DHL directly. CW may be able to help if DHL asks for valuations on the watch head and strap.

Interesting info.

What that tells me? Consider shopping elsewhere. After this much time, this DARN sure should be fixed, IMO. Or...don't order from CW outside their big inventory dump sales, where the price is far more likely to make this tolerable should it happen. That said, if you DO get hit with it, for half-off watch...I would absolutely not fight it, because

--DHL contacts CW for values on head and strap (they have different duty rates)
--CW reports the MSRP...NOT the discounted.

NOW you're potentially on the hook for even more.

 

^^^^^

Good advice.

 

Absolutely. I ordered a CW from them at the end of November and went through an expensive shipping fiasco to receive it.

After I ordered it, I received a shipping notice pretty quickly. When it made it states-side, I got a notice that the watch would be getting delivered soon. Then nothing. I kept checking the online status and it kept saying 'clearance event'. After a few days of that, I called DHL and inquired what's up. They informed me that I needed to supply a watch / clock worksheet which breaks down the value of the watch. I reach out to CW support to get this process started. No real movement there. After a few more days of waiting, I call DHL back and a somewhat more helpful rep informs me that I can guestimate the values and get that back to DHL.

I proceed to do just that. Then I get a notice that I owe import duties on the watch. A somewhat eyewatering $128.49 for a watch that cost $840. The biggest charge in the customs bill - $62 for 'Bonded Storage'. When I search around for that, I find
https://www.dhl.com/en/express/customs_support/customs_services.html
"Storage charges apply when the shipment cannot be released by customs due to inaccurate or missing paperwork"

I grumble but pay the import duties just so I can get the watch. A few days later the watch finally arrives.

Then comes the part that really chaps my buns. The necessary watch / clock worksheet was included with the paperwork on the shipment. So all this delay and this rather absurd storage charge just because somebody at DHL didn't bother to look at the paperwork supplied with the package.

I raised this issue to CW support, and they said they're aware of shipment problems with DHL. They offered to refund me the storage charge, but so far that has not come through yet. As much as I like CW watches, this shipping issue is making me reconsider buying from them again. Especially seeing as there's others out there with shipping issues.

 

I have to wonder if some of the shenanigans at DHL aren't a bit of feigned incompetence. Somebody "misplaced" the paperwork so now we have to store the watch and bill you for it.

Wish CW would give the option of FedEx. Royal Mail worked great when they still used it, but apparently there were some changes with RM that resulted in a price hike for international shipping.

 

This is an issue specific to DHL. I got fleeced (~$350) when I ordered the CW- LE that was $3K. A large part of that was 'storage' charge on top of handling fee because they had to wait a few days to get the cost break-out etc.
I hope CW reconsiders using DHL.

 

Double post

 

I bought a CW in December that was under $800 delivered by DHL and paid nothing over the sale price. However, this has been illuminating. I wouldn't consider buying another CW for an additional 20% even of it was marked down considerably.

Sent from my LG-H932 using Tapatalk

 

The 20% isn't right. If someone from CW Customer Service said that, they don't know what they're talking about (and why would they know? They aren't international customs experts). I see nothing about that published on CW's website, nor on DHL's. All they say is that the buyer will be responsible to cover any import duties with the shipper at delivery.

There was one instance, chronicled at the CW forums, where a person dug deeper into the duty they were charged and found out someone had checked the wrong box on the shipping form (which is confusing, there are several different "watch" categories and someone picked the wrong one) and that resulted in a substantially higher duty being levied. They were able to get it cleared up and the duty reduced. As I recommended previously, there's some good info on the CW forum as there are a couple of threads on this matter over there. Well worth the time investigating.

Or, just don't import watches that cost more than $800.

 

CW isn't the culprit here, it is the use of an expedited mail service such as DHL, FEDEX or UPS (but NOT EMS). The aforementioned expedited services all expedite the packages through customs by paying upfront the maximum fees that could be assessed if they were sent through customs in the regular way--the latter of which is the luck of the draw, and rarely results in any fees. By using DHL, FEDEX and UPS, you are guaranteeing the necessity of paying customs fees, and you will be billed accordingly, either as part of your original payment or billed after your package has been delivered. So, it isn't who you buy your watches from, but how you have them shipped--I avoid DHL, FEDEX and UPS for all international shipments, and use only EMS--no (or minimal) customs fees as a result.

 

I believe the first $800 is duty free, and then the next $1000 is charged at a flat rate of 3%. Beyond that, there's a complicated formula that relies on the watch company accurately breaking down the cost of the watch into the movement, case, and bracelet.

 

okay it looks like this is why i wasn't charged anything extra.

 

I ordered a CW almost a month ago and haven't received any additional invoice or it being held up in customs.Either I got lucky or it's sitting in my mail pile and i skipped it.

 

Customs won't release your watch unless you pay up. So if you have your watch, no duty was owed.

 

I bought a Seiko from SeiyaJapan this month that shipped DHL. It cost $814 and got stuck in customs with a "clearance event." DHL contacted me and said I had to fill out a watch/clock worksheet, which I did. DHL called me again the next day and wanted some more info, which I supplied. They then released my watch and didn't ask for any money, even though it was above the $800 threshold. I was expecting them to send me a bill, but I guess that's not going to happen from what I read in this thread. |>

 

Got this reply from Customer Service Manager

 

That is consistent with what is on their website. As I said before, this is something you need to address with DHL directly. Unless CW cited an incorrect value on the paperwork, there is nothing their customer service can do to assist you. What was the price paid for the watch?

Do some research (members at the official Christopher Ward forums have a lot of information on this) to understand what you actually owe in duty and contact DHL for a breakdown of what they are charging you for duty (vs other fees). If they are overcharging duty, find out why and you might be able to get it reduced to the correct amount.

Or just pay the toll they are asking.

 

I was recently shopping for watches and reading the fine print in the sellers disclaimers it said that they do not charge vat to USA customers and when I clicked buy now the price changed to the lower non vat price.
I further read about all the disclaimers and possible add on charges. The possible customs problems, I finally said the hell with it and ordered locally. Less hastle, less time waiting and help support the local economy some.
I ordered a Rolex several years ago out of the UK and I was on pins and needles for several weeks. I don't want to do that again!

 

I just received a watch from CW last week and was worried about additional duties tax but I was less than $800. The amount in the packing slips was also the discounted amount, not the msrp.

 

I have purchased CW watches over the years and never ran into this issue. I recently ordered a CW watch from USA website and they sent the tracking number. I saw the watch is stuck at London Heathrow Airport for few days now and then finally delivered to USA. Today I got notification from DHL to pay US Import Duties around $98.5 USD to release the watch for delivery. I spoke to CW Support and they received its mandatory to pay 20% tax for any watch you order in USA. If it doesn't go to customs, you might not be charged but if they hold the watch, there is no way out and its mentioned on the website that every watch you order for shipping US needs to pay 20% extra tax. That is such a bummer and I might not order further CW watches if this will be the future.

Any other experiences on here?

Guess any import taxes will cut into people's profits of flipping from the half off or nearly new buys.

 

Im going to re-up this post...currently having a related issue. DHL reached out and wanted me to fill out a form about the watch and supply an IEN number...which makes no sense since i a) didnt make the watch and b) am not the company that sold the watch. I let CW know and supposedly they are handling, and said the watch got to DHL before the paperwork, which seems like they screwed up to me. So basically DHL pointing the finger at CW, and CW pointing the finger back.

Its been on hold in LA since Nov 29th. Fun times.

 

Same here! Took advantage of the CW 15% discount on Black Friday and I just got a text from DHL asking me to fill up some paper work. Like, how am I supposed to know how much each of these components costs? I suppose you can look up the cost of the bracelet (sold separately on the site), but it still leaves you to figure out how much the movement and the case cost. I've called CW's customer service line before and I'm not sure if they're all like that, but the one I talked to was pretty curt.

 

Ugh. These would put me off buying a CW. Unless it's a really special watch, I'm not filling out paperwork for it, and nothing they're currently offering qualifies as really special to me. I don't like it, but have no problem paying customs duties and some additional (reasonable) fees, e.g., what FedEx charges, which comes out to about 6% in my experience. However, if a vendor (CW) can't be bothered to appropriately and accurately fill out paperwork to expedite shipping, or if they continue to use a shipping company (DHL) that appears to be consistently incompetent and/or dishonest, I'm not interested in doing business with them.

 

Some of it is CW, but there's an element that's US Customs and you will have problems importing any watch over $800. See the link I posted, Toonces ran into a wall trying to import an Alsta due to US customs purging some database which forced him to submit a 5106. A couple of other people had the same issue.

 

I ordered a CW watch recently that was less than $1000 with the sale price, so only slightly above the threshold. DHL charged me over $90 in customs and administrative fees. Only a couple of weeks earlier I had ordered a watch from Germany that cost almost double and was shipped by UPS yet the customs fee was about half what I was charged by DHL. so you can see why I felt I was gouged by DHL and won’t buy from CW or anyone else that uses them for their courier.

 

Hmm. I bought a C65 bronze during the Black Friday sale and I paid about 1k. As I had never imported a watch before, you can imagine my surprise when I was charged 20% by DHL.. I’ve been thinking long and hard about buying another CW watch that is a little bit more costly, but it’s the extra 20% that’s holding me back. It’s a tough one to weigh.

 

Hmm. I bought a C65 bronze during the Black Friday sale and I paid about 1k. As I had never imported a watch before, you can imagine my surprise when I was charged 20% by DHL.. I've been thinking long and hard about buying another CW watch that is a little bit more costly, but it's the extra 20% that's holding me back. It's a tough one to weigh.

20% seems a bit steep. Excluding DHL's handling fees, it should only be more like 4-5%. Even with fees, it shouldn't be more than 10%.

 

I got lucky on my last CW. The package clearly indicated a value of $960 and I was not charged a duty.