EMS or FedEX?

[Pappie]

Hi all,

I am ordering a rather expensive piece from Malaysia and i have the option of going either with EMS or FedEx. I don't want to get caught by the customs and FedEx has a reputation of never missing any customs charges.

The seller however notes that EMS does not offer tracking when the item has arrived in the foreign country but in my purchases from other countries, I could always track them via parcelforce. Would that be the case for using EMS from Malaysia?

To complicate things further, the seller says that the watch will be fully insured but from my experience EMS offers limited insurance on stolen or lost items. Would FedEx be more safe in this respect?

Pavlos

[Tokyo Tokei]

EMS is trackable from ParcelForce once it arrives in the UK as you know. The seller may not see any detailed updates on his or her Malaysian EMS tracking site once it is handed over to ParcelForce.

EMS has insurance available ( at increasing cost ) for up to US$20,000 from memory. In my experience customs interest regardless of carrier or what's written on the papers ( "horological item" / "item for repair" / any other internet WIS legend ) appears to remain a lottery. For the insurance to be valid though, the full value of the goods and an accurate description must be entered on the EMS form.

I have recently been asked to explicitly declare on the description whether the watch has a lithium battery or not when sending to the USA due to new rules, so things do change from time to time.

Paul

[Pappie]

Many thanks Paul. I think I will go with FedEx in the end. Will call the seller and confirm.

Pavlos

[markosgr28]

Fedex is safer IMHO, but this does not mean that EMS is not safe. I have used EMS several times with no probs, but for rather cheap items (around 100 euros or less).

In my experience, Fedex has its own customs services offices on most major airports, so they are taking packages directly from the (or their) plane to their offices and they charge in Greece 60 euros for each package for their service to get it through customs, plus the customs taxes the country applies. So, since they are making money out of this, they don't have any reason not to follow this procedure.

[wuhengjiang]

Fedex-faster
EMS-cheaper

[Marco-T]

Fedex-faster
EMS-cheaper

+1

Also Fedex has a very friendly helpdesk :wink:

[Pappie]

... in the end i told the seller to use one he thinks is best. I am paying same money for either anyway (courtesy of the seller) :) Only concern is the insurance against theft or loss since the value of the watch is quite high :|

[jole777]

Here in Croatia FEDEX is known for NEVER missing the chance for customs taxes (~30%) + additional Fedex charges of 60Euros for every package.
Needled to say, I (and everyone else I know) hate it.

[auti]

In Spain, for my experience, I prefer EMS