How to Send a Watch: The Complete Guide
Sending a valuable watch through a carrier presents significant challenges: there are many risks associated with transportation, and watches, due to their high value, are especially prone to theft during transit. Your role in choosing the right carrier, the proper insurance, and most importantly, taking precautions when sending a watch is crucial and empowers you to ensure the safety of your valuable timepiece.
At Secursus, more than 1,000 watch sellers trust us to insure their watches during transit. Our experience allows us to offer you a complete guide and tips to ensure that the transport of your watches goes as smoothly as possible.
Watch Shipping Insurance - Discretion is key
The most crucial rule is to keep thieves away from your parcel. To achieve this, ensure that the external packaging contains no markings or labels that could reveal the presence of a watch inside.
When the carrier asks what's inside the parcel, you must declare "Precision instrument" or "Mechanical instrument" but you must not write the word "watch" at all.
If you are a watch company, your company name/email address may contain a sensitive word such as "watch", "Rolex", "Omega", "luxury watch", “jewellery” etc. Delete these words and shorten them. For example, change "Vintage Watch Company" to "VW Co". Always check the shipping labels for any sensitive words.
At Secursus, it is a mandatory rule to insure your watch. This is called a risk mitigation technique that decreases the risk of theft and also decreases the cost of the watch shipping insurance.
How to Pack a Watch for Shipping
1. Properly pack your watch (or watch box) with bubble wrap
2. Put this first packaging in a small box
3. Put this smaller box inside a bigger box (also called pizza box)
4. Add an extra shipping label on the small box. If the main label falls off, at least the carrier will open it and find another label inside.
5. Make sure the main shipping label is stuck on a hard surface
CAUTION: Never send your watch in a plastic envelope or a bag. Always use a sturdy cardboard box as the outer packaging.
Sending a Watch: Choose The Best Carriers and Delivery Service
Even if you have insurance, you don't want to send a watch with the wrong carrier. Bad carriers lose parcels and if they do, they will not admit it.
As previously mentioned, always consider fast and reliable carriers for domestic delivery or for international shipments such as priority mail international, or express carriers like DHL, Fedex, UPS to send your watches.
Do not forget to add the signature option, which is very important, otherwise your package will be delivered to your porch, or possibly to someone else.
Moreover, you can find cheap rates online thanks to Shipstation for example, this way you will get a range of rates based on your parcel destination, weight and size and you will be able to choose the best offers to send your watch.
Always double check that the signature on receipt is mandatory, and that the carrier is not allowed to give the package to someone else, or even worse, to a collection shop such as a grocery store, a supermarket etc.
Selling Watches Online? Double Check Your Buyer
Watches are expensive and that is exactly what scammers are looking for. This is why we would definitely recommend never sending a watch without receiving a payment first.
Beware of buyers who don't seem interested in the watch itself, but are primarily interested in a quick transaction. Always Google buyers’ names to see if they have a history of fraud. The most common scam comes from private buyers: they will tell you that they never received the package but in fact, they are already wearing your watch on their wrist! They will try to defraud you and the insurance company as well.
Make sure you use your parcel's tracking information and tracking number to follow and track your shipments progress in case your buyer would want to fraud.
How to Insure a Watch during Shipping?
At Secursus, we specialize in watch shipping insurance with more then 1000 watch sellers using our insurance product. If you're sending watches and need package insurance to cover your watch during shipping, Secursus will provide you the right cover for your watches. You can easily sign-up and get immediate coverage for your watch during transit. If you are buying or selling a watch and need advice on the watch shipping insurance process, please don't hesitate to reach out.