Buying a watch from Hong Kong on ebay?

[Clinton Baptiste]

Hi has anyone used the ebayer 'jandj' to buy a watch from? They're selling a g shock riseman for £111 with free postage. Will I get charged any customs fees, also will there be any difference to an Eu riseman? Thanks

[mikeveal]

Clinton Baptiste said:

Hi has anyone used the ebayer 'jandj' to buy a watch from? They're selling a g shock riseman for £111 with free postage. Will I get charged any customs fees, also will there be any difference to an Eu riseman? Thanks

Never used this seller. Sorry.
Is this a second hand watch, or new? I'd be wary of fakes if new.

If second hand,in general Hong Kong is not a good location to buy watches from. The high humidity means that movements and cases suffer from water ingress and corrosion. This may not be an issue with a G-Shock, they are after all waterproof.

I would buy asecond hand watch from an area of high humidity (India, Hong Kong, Philipines etc.) but not without a picture of the movement. Plastic digitals aren't my thing, but take a look at this mechanical from India:


It's from this auction.

Notice how badly corroded the case is. Look at the pitting inside the case where the back screws on. In this instance the movement has been affected too. There is corrosion on the steel regulator (bit that makes the watch run faster or slower). The watch is also a shockingly bad redial, there would be no need to do this if the dial was in decent shape. It was probably knackered due to water / moisture ingress.

This particular seller b.t.w. is a great source images of badly tarted up franken watches. He has several ebay ID's, but the format of the ads are very similar.

[Clinton Baptiste]

Cheers Mike very helpful, it's new and theydo h good feedback but maybe I'll just pay a bit more and buy one from the UK.

:-)

[mikeveal]

Should have also said...

Yes, you will be liable for import duty (VAT) at 20%. Most couriers charge about £18 for handling this paper work for you, it's a rip off, but they do it anyway.

You might get away with the VAT, depending on how the seller declares the item and whether HM Customs / your courier flag the package as liable for duty.


You should also consider the benefits of buying from the UK. SOGA and DSR are there for your protection. But you do the import and yes you'll get it cheaper, however if anything goes wrong you could be looking at bigger bills. See this thread for an upset buyer.