Sending watch abroad

[EN2016]

Hi,


I have just sold my 116710LN and its going to a buyer in Italy.
Other than Royal Mail is there any other companies offering insurance whilst in transit? I need to cover it for £5500 but RM only go up to £2500 from past experience?

I have looked in to this and there appears to be one in America who will cover it but it looks quite a complex procedure just to get the insurance!
Any other recommendations?


Thanks in advance

[benny.c]

RM only cover £500 for International Tracked now. Sending by RM might also result in your watch ending up in the hands of the regular Italian Post (which isn't good!). Mail Boxes Etc do enhanced cover up to £25K: https://www.mbe.co.uk

They use one of the usual couriers and then add their insurance cover on top. IIRC you have to have it packaged by them to be covered.

Parcel Pro is the other popular one, which I assume is the American one you refer to.

[Davel]

Would UPS do it at that level of insurance?

[EN2016]

Thanks I will look in to it.

UPS wont unfortunately, I have an account with them and its states no jewellery/watches.

[EN2016]

£177 I have been quoted from Mail Boxes Etc!
I was hoping it would be around £50...

[benny.c]

Yeah, it's not cheap but this comes up regularly on TZ-UK and there never seems to be many options unfortunately.

[EN2016]

I will see what the buyer thinks about the additional cost.
I have emailed ParcelPro, they seem to be cheap but I have heard the process of getting an account is a right pain in the arse!

Thanks again

[dc2rr07]

Try DHL, insurance would be extra, here is the details from there website "The charge for insurance is £12.00 for items worth up to £800 in value, or 1.5% of the total value if greater than £800. For example, if the value of your items is £2,000, the insurance charge will be £30.00."

I take it you did look at the cost before selling it and factor this into the shipping costs.

[Lorne]

I agree with the DHL option. It's who I use for overseas sales and includes decent insurance at a reasonable price. Delivery is also very fast, within one or two days.

[DLT 222]

I buy and sell watches so shipping with insurance is very important to me.

I ship everything with UPS as i can insure it separate through a company called ParcelPro (US based) You can insure it through DHL but its expensive, but then again its worth it.

Never ever write on the package "Watch, Timepiece, Wristwatch" ALWAYS write Stainless Steel precision Instrument. As soon as watch is mentioned stuff can and will go missing.

Edited by DLT 222 on Thursday 30th June 18:19

[EN2016]

Thanks guys.

I will wait for ParcelPro to get back to me and then send with UPS or DHL both being a next day service.

Fingers crossed it all goes OK!

[scott-1vt9j]

Just to add to this

NEVER USE PARCELS2GO.COM TO SEND A WATCH

I sent a Zenith Elite to the USA, and after I had dropped it off at the post office they emailed and said they would deliver the parcel, but not insure it. They said I should go and collect it from the post office if I didn't want to go ahead, which was impossible as my wife had dropped it off for me as I was flying to Switzerland. Happily they delivered it okay, and i got my £60 insurance money returned, but it was not worth the stress.

[200Plus Club]

Out of interest how do overseas buyers pay in such situations and what's a SEPA payment? Anyone know?

[benny.c]

When I've received payment from international buyers it's always been done by bank transfer. You just give them your IBAN number. When buying outside the UK I also use bank transfer but by https://transferwise.com as the exchange rate is always better than the bank.

I think SEPA is the agreement between European banks that makes transfers quicker and easier in Europe.

Edited by benny.c on Tuesday 5th July 10:15

[halfpenny43]

I live in the Netherlands and have bought and sold a number of watches mostly from / to the UK.

I use either Paypal as a "Friends and Family" transfer, or make an international bank transfer using the IBAN I am sending money to, from my NL bank account. I specify the amount and in what currency I want and a transfer from NL to UK usually takes about 3 working days.

I can only say DO NOT use UK Mail !
Last year I sold a Tag Heuer Spirotechnique to someone in the UK. I sent it via DHL however a company called UK Mail were responsible for delivering the watch to the buyer. Needless to say the watch never arrived, but according to the DHL tracking website - it did arrive in the London UK Mail sorting office.
Luckily the parcel was insured and I got almost all the money back on delivery of the Paypal receipt.