Mailing a watch to China

[chilton747]

Not wanting to post in BCCO's thread, I will be mailing a watch to China soon. I have read that others have had problems.

 

What can I expect?

[dnoblett]

Country Conditions for Mailing ¡ª China

 

Prohibitions (130)

 

 

 

Arms, ammunition, weapons.

 

Articles in hermetically sealed, nontransparent containers.

 

Chinese currency.

 

Coins; banknotes; securities payable to bearer; traveler¡¯s checks; gold, silver, platinum, manufactured or not; precious stones; jewelry; and other valuable articles, unless sent as an insured post.

 

Manuscripts, printed matter, photographic negatives, gramophone records, films, magnetic tapes, video tapes, etc., which could do political, economical, cultural, or moral harm to the People¡¯s Republic of China.

 

Meat and meat products.

 

Perishable infectious biological substances.

 

Radioactive materials.

 

Radio receivers, transmitters or receivers of all kinds, walkie-talkies and parts thereof; valves, antennae, etc.

 

Used clothing and bedding.

 

Wrist-watches, cameras, television sets, radio sets, tape records, bicycles, sewing machines, and ventilators.

http://pe.usps.com/text/imm/ce_009.htm#ep1400280

 

Now that being said, I have sent digital cameras twice without issue, but perhaps the prohibition stated above applies to film not digital cameras.

[Sam and Fen]

I have sent a wrist watch without any problems.

[chilton747]

I have sent a wrist watch without any problems.

 

Yes, I see you sent it Fedex. This watch is worth $186. How much duty tax do you think it will be?

[dnoblett]

I have sent a wrist watch without any problems.

 

Yes, I see you sent it Fedex. This watch is worth $186. How much duty tax do you think it will be?

Depends on what you put down as the value of the package contents.

 

I made that mistake with the first camera the wife paid I believe $20 or $30, with the second one, my sister-in-law paid maybe $5 when I declared package contents being less than $50

[chilton747]

I have sent a wrist watch without any problems.

 

Yes, I see you sent it Fedex. This watch is worth $186. How much duty tax do you think it will be?

Depends on what you put down as the value of the package contents.

 

I made that mistake with the first camera the wife paid I believe $20 or $30, with the second one, my sister-in-law paid maybe $5 when I declared package contents being less than $50

 

 

Good point Dan!! BTW, why is it that Chinese customs does not allow watches to be mailed through the USPS. Are they afraid they will know what time it is? Or is it superstition?

[TheMace]

I think if you insure like the above list sates you should have no problem. I just labled it gifts and letters, and also included Chinese currency. I had no use for the currency here and felt it would cost me more to convert it to US dollars, so I sent it back to my wife.

She got it with no problems, and it didn't look like it was ever opened to check what was in the package.

 

I just told the post office I was sending it to China asked to have it insured and sent it.

[chilton747]

I think if you insure like the above list sates you should have no problem. I just labled it gifts and letters, and also included Chinese currency. I had no use for the currency here and felt it would cost me more to convert it to US dollars, so I sent it back to my wife.

She got it with no problems, and it didn't look like it was ever opened to check what was in the package.

 

I just told the post office I was sending it to China asked to have it insured and sent it.

 

 

So you just stated that the contents were a gift and did not list specifically what the gift was?

[Sam and Fen]

I have sent a wrist watch without any problems.

 

Yes, I see you sent it Fedex. This watch is worth $186. How much duty tax do you think it will be?

 

 

The one I sent was under $100 and I declared the value as $25.

She had to pay a duty of 150RMB but that was becoz of the cell phone; not sure if part of that was for the watch.

[chilton747]

I have sent a wrist watch without any problems.

 

Yes, I see you sent it Fedex. This watch is worth $186. How much duty tax do you think it will be?

 

 

The one I sent was under $100 and I declared the value as $25.

She had to pay a duty of 150RMB but that was becoz of the cell phone; not sure if part of that was for the watch.

 

 

Thanks Sam......I will alert the receiving party about the duty tax potential.

[HongKong2LA]

It sounds like the solution might be to send it Fedex instead of USPS. I don't know why it would different but USPS would not have sent it to mainland China. Also, a healthy dose of discretion in listing the contents might help too.

[chilton747]

It sounds like the solution might be to send it Fedex instead of USPS. I don't know why it would different but USPS would not have sent it to mainland China. Also, a healthy dose of discretion in listing the contents might help too.

 

 

I am not a big fan of Fedex however I will check them out. The watch is going to a fairly remote village therefore I have a tendency to trust DHL more although they are very expensive.

[dnoblett]

It sounds like the solution might be to send it Fedex instead of USPS. I don't know why it would different but USPS would not have sent it to mainland China. Also, a healthy dose of discretion in listing the contents might help too.

Yep have not used Fex-EX, always the post office even with so-called prohibited items, not an issue.

 

A watch or Camera in the mail should not be an issue.

 

But yes you can note on the customs declaration "Gifts"

[Sam and Fen]

It sounds like the solution might be to send it Fedex instead of USPS. I don't know why it would different but USPS would not have sent it to mainland China. Also, a healthy dose of discretion in listing the contents might help too.

 

 

I am not a big fan of Fedex however I will check them out. The watch is going to a fairly remote village therefore I have a tendency to trust DHL more although they are very expensive.

 

 

I suspect you are sending for CNY.

 

I sent her a bunch of stuff for CNY last year using FEDEX guranteed delivery. I timed it so she would get it on CNY.

 

The package was stuck in customs for more then a week and FedEx here could not tell me why.

Eventually she ended up calling Fedex and Customs in China. They faxed her a form to fill out and she sent it back with a copy of her Id.

She also had to tell them what was in the package and what the value of the items were.

My surprise went down the drain; not to mention the $180 it cost for "guranteed delivery"

 

edited to add:

I did not put her phone number on the mailing label so they did not know who to call and had to wait till she called them.

Edited January 29, 2010 by Sam and Fen (see edit history)

[chilton747]

It sounds like the solution might be to send it Fedex instead of USPS. I don't know why it would different but USPS would not have sent it to mainland China. Also, a healthy dose of discretion in listing the contents might help too.

 

 

I am not a big fan of Fedex however I will check them out. The watch is going to a fairly remote village therefore I have a tendency to trust DHL more although they are very expensive.

 

 

I suspect you are sending for CNY.

 

I sent her a bunch of stuff for CNY last year using FEDEX guranteed delivery. I timed it so she would get it on CNY.

 

The package was stuck in customs for more then a week and FedEx here could not tell me why.

Eventually she ended up calling Fedex and Customs in China. They faxed her a form to fill out and she sent it back with a copy of her Id.

She also had to tell them what was in the package and what the value of the items were.

My surprise went down the drain; not to mention the $180 it cost for "guranteed delivery"

 

Sounds like typical Fedex to me, a hassle all the way. This is not for CNY although it will be delivered in that timeframe.