How to ship watches abroad?

Eoin · 03-08-2018 11:51am #1

This has been asked a few times here, so I thought I'd give a quick update.

"Mailboxes etc" on Lombard Street, Dublin 2 will ship watches and insure them. I emailed them last night, and here's the reply I got.

We do ship watches to the EU and also provide insurance for loss and damage to the outer parts of the watch. Insurance is 2% of the value, minimum price to pay would be €10.00.

If a watch is of high value it can only be shipped express if insurance is required and the watches would need to be packed in separate boxes, we will provide the packaging.

It won't be cheap. But given that An Post won't accept them, and it can be a pain selling high value watches in Ireland, this might be a good option for some of you.

You could gamble with An Post - but I nearly got caught out a few months ago. I sent a watch to Poland, but they made a typo with the tracking number so it appeared to have never left the post office when I checked it online. On top of that, it took the guts of a month to get there. In that time, I refunded the buyer, thinking I would be entirely out of pocket. He then paid me again, so thankfully it worked out - but I won't risk it again. They never even got back to me when I filled in the missing parcel form.

IrishPlayer · 03-08-2018 1:08pm

Great timing for this thread,currently onto Richard Askham in the UK about getting my Bell-Matic serviced and will be posting my watch next week.Never posted a watch before so a little nervous,wasn't aware An Post won't accept them.Any advice would be great,
Thanks.

Eoin · 03-08-2018 1:33pm

You can roll the dice and call it "time keeping equipment", but it's probably effectively uninsured if it gets lost with An Post. For what it's worth, that's the first issue I've ever had sending anything with An Post, but I'm thinking of selling a few watches with a combined value of around 5K, so I'm just not comfortable taking a risk.

893bet · 03-08-2018 2:37pm

Eoin wrote: »

You can roll the dice and call it "time keeping equipment", but it's probably effectively uninsured if it gets lost with An Post. For what it's worth, that's the first issue I've ever had sending anything with An Post, but I'm thinking of selling a few watches with a combined value of around 5K, so I'm just not comfortable taking a risk.

Is max value for an post not 250?

Eoin · 03-08-2018 2:40pm

Nope, as it happens I just sent my phone to be repaired with An Post and they let me insure it for the full value which was a good bit over 250. I don't know if they have different limits depending on the time of item or destination.

saccades · 05-08-2018 8:53am

IrishPlayer wrote: »

Great timing for this thread,currently onto Richard Askham in the UK about getting my Bell-Matic serviced and will be posting my watch next week.Never posted a watch before so a little nervous,wasn't aware An Post won't accept them.Any advice would be great,
Thanks.

I put horology equipment when I sent my bellmatic to Richard Askham.

He's very good and the birth month watch is running a treat.

Edit to say the value was within the an post levels.

IrishPlayer · 05-08-2018 2:35pm

saccades wrote: »

I put horology equipment when I sent my bellmatic to Richard Askham.

He's very good and the birth month watch is running a treat.

Edit to say the value was within the an post levels.

Saw your Bell Matic when i went through the pictures thread,looks like he did a great job would love to see more pictures of it.Have read lots of great things about him.Going to post mine out next week so will put that as the description and hopefully everything will be good.

bogmanfan · 07-08-2018 12:00pm

Best option if sending to the UK is to pop up to Newry and send it with Royal Mail. Fully insured up to £2500 so no nervous wait. It's a 2.5 hour round trip from Dublin and some of the post offices are open on Saturdays.

I used the An Post express service one time (I think it's DHL that actually do the delivery). The insurance limit was low, but it was next day so less chance for it to get lost/go missing. The buyer messaged me the next day to say he got the watch. But it had been left on his front step in broad daylight. It was a Rolex Submariner! Never used them since.

I haven't used Mailboxes etc in a while. They were always great to deal with but very expensive. Still the only option I think if you want to send insured to Europe or US.

Cyrus · 08-08-2018 5:05pm

normal tracked post and parcel pro for insurance

893bet · 08-08-2018 6:40pm

Cyrus wrote: »

normal tracked post and parcel pro for insurance

As watches are prohibited by an post are you covered by parcel pro?

Cyrus · 08-08-2018 7:49pm

893bet wrote: »

As watches are prohibited by an post are you covered by parcel pro?

Are they prohibited ?

Eoin · 08-08-2018 7:52pm

Cyrus wrote: »

normal tracked post and parcel pro for insurance

Doesn't look easy to get a parcelpro account though? I had a quick look at their site, and I'd have been quicker filling in the census.

Cyrus wrote: »

Are they prohibited ?

Jewellery is, which I imagine a watch is considered. Edit - they accept but don't insure
http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/ChristmasChannel/Prohibited+Items.htm

Cyrus · 08-08-2018 9:19pm

Didn’t make sense that watches would be prohibited ,

Parcel pro account wasn’t that big a deal

Eoin · 09-08-2018 8:55pm

Assuming they're treated as jewellery, they're not insured but not prohibited (based on my reading of this table)

Eoin · 10-08-2018 12:14am

No I wouldn't, hence this thread

Eoin · 10-08-2018 1:01am

It does sounds worth doing

Gavin1 · 12-08-2018 9:24pm

Trip to Northern Ireland is the way to go if you can do it.

I sent a Damasko DA46 from Newry on it`s merry way yesterday to arrive before 1pm tomorrow for £ 9.60 insured for £ 750!

Approx 2.5 - 3 hour round trip from the northside of Dublin.

Gavin1 · 13-08-2018 9:37pm

Damasko delivered at 12.49pm, today.

Thats service!

Eoin · 17-08-2018 11:59am

Eoin wrote: »

It won't be cheap

And it wasn't - I just had my pants pulled down to send a watch insured to the EU - absolutely mental money. This is last resort stuff. Lesson learned.

Cyrus · 17-08-2018 1:20pm

Eoin wrote: »

And it wasn't - I just had my pants pulled down to send a watch insured to the EU - absolutely mental money. This is last resort stuff. Lesson learned.

how much eoin??

Eoin · 17-08-2018 1:51pm

I'm still crying and scrubbing myself in the corner of the shower. It was 3 figures anyway.

Eoin · 21-08-2018 2:35pm

Gavin1 wrote: »

Trip to Northern Ireland is the way to go if you can do it.

I sent a Damasko DA46 from Newry on it`s merry way yesterday to arrive before 1pm tomorrow for £ 9.60 insured for £ 750!

Approx 2.5 - 3 hour round trip from the northside of Dublin.

Am up in Belfast today and shipped another watch. 11.60 fully insured and next day delivery to mainland UK. Really efficient service in the post office too - definitely the way to go, especially given the ridiculous cost of using MBE.

bogmanfan · 22-08-2018 3:32pm

It doesn't say much about An Post's confidence in their own service that they don't offer an option to purchase additional insurance cover. Seems it would be a goldmine.

HDMI · 22-08-2018 4:02pm

Parcel Motel with extra insurance works well to the UK. I think their max might be 1k.

A few listings on eBay I have been only using courier services. Shipped one to Germany with UPS and insurance for €46 so I quoted this for the next listing. The watch sells and the guy pays, I'm thinking happy days. Went to UPS and got quoted 75 euro, turns out the guy was near the bloody North Pole and they add extra fees to areas not near cities. Ended up using DHL for 56 euro.

Lesson learned the hard way. Always find out exactly where your buyer lives or put a notice on your listing stating you will charge more for obscure places.

HDMI · 23-08-2018 10:26pm

OmegaGene wrote: »

I asked dhl about pricing before when I wanted to sell on Chrono24 and they refused to deal with me at all let alone give pricing and when I asked why they said I would only deal with companies posting watches and not individual people

Very strange, I have had no problems declaring items nor their value.

Captainsatnav · 11-06-2019 8:42am

OmegaGene wrote: »

I asked dhl about pricing before when I wanted to sell on Chrono24 and they refused to deal with me at all let alone give pricing and when I asked why they said I would only deal with companies posting watches and not individual people

Thanks again for tip on this thread - I just banged it in the DHL delivery at work. :eek:

Captainsatnav · 11-06-2019 12:03pm

OmegaGene wrote: »

That’s handy to use work, I was surprised they wouldn’t even quote me a price

€85 including insurance

ronnie3585 · 12-06-2019 2:33pm

Captainsatnav wrote: »

€85 including insurance

Does your work DHL account cover jewellery?

I was in a similar quandary late last year and thought of using my office's DHL account to ship a watch to the UK. When I checked the T&Cs they expressly excluded jewellery from the insurance provisions.

Ended up going with Mailboxes etc who were good but somewhat expensive. €95 insured up to €1,600.

Sickening when RMSD is so much cheaper.

Captainsatnav · 12-06-2019 2:41pm

ronnie3585 wrote: »

Does your work DHL account cover jewellery?

I was in a similar quandary late last year and thought of using my office's DHL account to ship a watch to the UK. When I checked the T&Cs they expressly excluded jewellery from the insurance provisions.

Ended up going with Mailboxes etc who were good but somewhat expensive. €95 insured up to €1,600.

Sickening when RMSD is so much cheaper.

No Idea. Anyway, parcel picked up by DHL at 5.15 yesterday afternoon. Was already in Basel at 9.10 this morning. That's impressive to be fair.

Eoin · 10-10-2020 1:53pm

Now that a day trip to NI is less appealing than before, any fresh advice on couriers for watches to the UK?

I'd rather not have to sign-up for a service as I don't buy & sell enough to justify it.

blue5000 · 10-10-2020 6:44pm

Eoin wrote: »

Now that a day trip to NI is less appealing than before, any fresh advice on couriers for watches to the UK?

I'd rather not have to sign-up for a service as I don't buy & sell enough to justify it.

Carrier pigeon?
It's going to get worse moving goods to and from UK after 1st jan. All I can suggest is make it as big a parcel as possible and label it car part or something equally obscure.
Customs are really only looking for drugs IMHO. In the courier depot customs drive in their own van with x-ray equipment on board, they set up a conveyor belt through the van and have sniffer dogs too.

If you read the small print you're not supposed to send glass either.

Eoin · 10-10-2020 6:56pm

Sorry, I didn't mean anything to do with Brexit - the problem isn't about customs, it's about being able to fully insure the package. I can put "time keeping equipment" as the description, but if it does come to a claim, that won't do me much good.

Cyrus · 10-10-2020 6:58pm

Eoin wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't mean anything to do with Brexit - the problem isn't about customs, it's about being able to fully insure the package. I can put "time keeping equipment" as the description, but if it does come to a claim, that won't do me much good.

You need one of the insurance cos Eoin

I use ifo infosure I think

Tilikum17 · 11-10-2020 9:38pm

I’m posting a watch to Italy tomorrow morning. It’s a seiko samurai so not big money. Should i just post with An Post recorded delivery?

blue5000 · 12-10-2020 9:10am

Italy has a bad reputation for valuables being posted in, courier might be safer. Post out from Italy is ok.

Eoin · 12-10-2020 10:26am

Cyrus wrote: »

You need one of the insurance cos Eoin

I use ifo infosure I think

Thanks - as I expected, it sounds like it's tough to arrange for the very occasional shipment then.

UPS got back to me and said they will send a watch up to $2K, so I guess that's an option, if you're willing to gamble on the balance over that.

Cyrus · 12-10-2020 10:52am

Eoin wrote: »

Thanks - as I expected, it sounds like it's tough to arrange for the very occasional shipment then.

UPS got back to me and said they will send a watch up to $2K, so I guess that's an option, if you're willing to gamble on the balance over that.

i set up an account pretty easily and only use it once or twice a year to be honest but maybe its changed a little .

hitemfrank · 12-10-2020 12:06pm

https://www.secursus.com/

No experience with them but they insure packages up to 100k

893bet · 12-10-2020 12:14pm

The look ok. Would need to read terms closely.

Some key points below

photos upload website

banie01 · 12-10-2020 12:19pm

Thanks for the breakdown there 893.
The Hermes exception on the Insurance would give me serious pause for thought if I was shipping anything above that 1k limit.

They are notorious in the UK for issues and there was a BBC exposé not too long ago regarding their auctioning of lost packages with clearly legible labels, being sold rather than delivered.

hitemfrank · 12-10-2020 12:24pm

Yeah if I was shipping a watch to the UK I'd be making sure Hermes are not the ones doing the delivery.

893bet · 12-10-2020 12:39pm

They are also notorious for signing for you and tossing the parcel on the porch. In which case you would be in trouble.

Also in the Covid world there is no signing so......

There are a lot of get out clauses in the terms.....! Much better to have the insurance by the same carrier but that’s a real challenge.

Eoin · 12-10-2020 12:46pm

hitemfrank wrote: »

https://www.secursus.com/

No experience with them but they insure packages up to 100k

Interesting! If they're legit (prob hard to find reviews from someone who's had to claim from them), then this looks perfect.

893bet wrote:

Some key points below

So sounds like avoid Hermes, and make sure the buyer opens the package in the presence of the courier?

893bet · 12-10-2020 1:20pm

Eoin wrote: »

So sounds like avoid Hermes, and make sure the buyer opens the package in the presence of the courier?

yup. Difficult to do. Will the courier wait? Or can you sign to say not checked

Also you need a valuation prior to shipping and it seems proof of payment for the item. So if the RRP is 7000 and the valuation shows this, and you only paid 4 k then you will only get the 4k.

This is the kinds of insurance that is great to have until you need. Can see a night mare claim process but maybe I am overthinking.

Eoin · 12-10-2020 1:37pm

If I do end up selling my PAM outside of Ireland, happily I have both an insurance valuation and a receipt from chrono24.

893bet wrote:

Can see a night mare claim process but maybe I am overthinking.

This is exactly it - with this kind of thing, you don't want to tick a box, you want complete confidence that you won't be out of pocket should something unfortunate happen.

CalamariFritti · 12-10-2020 1:50pm

Just posted a watch to the UK the other day. Had no problem at all.

The only one of the main carriers who dont seem to have a problem with watches/jewellery are DHL. Their T&Cs specifically allow them to be shipped and insured up to a value of £4,000. Its not cheap tho, 1% of the value. A €3,000 watch will cost you €30 just for the insurance bit, but still better than sweating over it and potentially losing the watch.

Eoin · 12-10-2020 2:15pm

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Just posted a watch to the UK the other day. Had no problem at all.

The only one of the main carriers who dont seem to have a problem with watches/jewellery are DHL. Their T&Cs specifically allow them to be shipped and insured up to a value of £4,000. Its not cheap tho, 1% of the value. A €3,000 watch will cost you €30 just for the insurance bit, but still better than sweating over it and potentially losing the watch.

Interesting, I went in there in person a couple years ago and they wouldn't accept a watch, but maybe the guy there just wasn't arsed. I've signed up online and will see how far I get.

CalamariFritti · 12-10-2020 3:12pm

Eoin wrote: »

Interesting, I went in there in person a couple years ago and they wouldn't accept a watch, but maybe the guy there just wasn't arsed. I've signed up online and will see how far I get.

Just go to DHL and find their list of prohibited items. It specifically says watches/jewellery over £4,000. And they offer insurance for those <= £4,000 items. Wasn't cheap but item was in the UK next day safe and sound.

Eoin · 12-10-2020 4:15pm

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Just go to DHL and find their list of prohibited items. It specifically says watches/jewellery over £4,000. And they offer insurance for those <= £4,000 items. Wasn't cheap but item was in the UK next day safe and sound.

Perfect, thank you! That's still likely a ton cheaper than what I paid Mailboxes Etc.

david · 13-10-2020 1:58pm

Will never ship a watch standard post again.

Sold my Orient on Adverts three weeks ago, he hammered me on the price, offered €80 standard post or €90 registered. Of course they took the cheapest option... 2 weeks of capital letter messages later, logged a claim with An Post last Friday and it magically appears on Monday.

Nightmare.

Eoin · 16-10-2020 11:57am

CalamariFritti wrote: »

Just go to DHL and find their list of prohibited items. It specifically says watches/jewellery over £4,000. And they offer insurance for those <= £4,000 items. Wasn't cheap but item was in the UK next day safe and sound.

OK, I don't know how I didn't try this before (prob because they told me to FRO when I went into them in person), but this was incredibly easy to do online.

Cost was just over 100 to the UK, fully insured.

Many thanks!

Edit: successfully delivered the next day, great service.

How to ship watches abroad?

Comments