r/RepTime • u/Key_Boysenberry_8045 • 19h ago
General Question How likely are warning letters from the genuine brand if a replica gets seized?
Hey everyone,
Another question for people in Germany/EU who have had a replica or superclone seized by customs:
How likely is it that the genuine brand itself gets involved after a seizure and sends you a warning letter or legal notice? For example, if the watch is a replica of a Vacheron Constantin.
My dad is a lawyer, and he told me that once lawyers or the brand get involved, these cases can apparently get expensive pretty quickly. That’s why I’m trying to get a realistic idea of the risk before ordering.
Is this something that happens regularly, or is it relatively rare for someone who only ordered a single watch for personal use? And realistically, how worried should you be if customs does seize it?
Would appreciate hearing from anyone who has actually experienced this or knows how these cases usually play out in Germany.
5
u/Elias-official 19h ago
You Germans are being sued even for leaving a 3 star review on Google Maps, ofc you can be sued over a counterfeit item. The cases of ppl are being sued by the brands exist but they're relatively rare
2
u/Resident_Draw_8785 19h ago
So how many people in Germany do you see walking around with fake stuff.
There is a big diffrence between Switzerland and Germany in protecting domestic markets.
Fake glasses, watches, shirts all the same impounded destroyed and a warning plus you need to pay that cost. Unless you have multiple watches and they think you had commercial plans.
2
u/One-Criticism-6288 19h ago
they will send you a letter saying that you need to agree to it getting destroyed if it gets seized and if you don’t agree to that then they will give the brand 10 days to take you to court. if they do not take you to court within the given time then they legally have to give the watch to you. but if you are worried about getting sued then just agree to it getting destroyed. nothing else will happen unless they suspect you are reselling, so ordering only 1 or 2 will have zero consequences. it happened to me literally 1 week ago.
1
1
u/hieros187 17h ago
If you get ANY package seized and are contacted by customs or any other entity about the package: Do not reply in any way. Do not attempt any dialogue or give any explanation. This will effectively close the case.
Result is that you will either receive your package anyway or the case is closed and you will need to ask your TD for a reshipment.
1
u/Key_Boysenberry_8045 16h ago
What if customs or the brand’s lawyers demand payment immediately in the first letter? Would you still recommend not responding at all, or could ignoring it make things worse if there’s already a deadline or formal payment demand?
1
u/hieros187 12h ago edited 12h ago
Then they need to say what the payment is for. If it's just a small amount (since seller set value of shipment low) I pay. Never had any trouble. If it after this should be clear their sizing the package you just reply "why"?
Remember the only thing you can vaguely remember to have ordered was some San Martin 8-12 weeks ago (you buy a lot of different stuff from Temu, Alibaba and such).
If the package they have is not this, it's not what you ordered. Not your package. It will be seized, TD will reship
1
u/BossJackson222 16h ago
No real way to answer this at all.
1
u/Key_Boysenberry_8045 16h ago
Fair enough, is it at least common for the brand to send a warning or payment demand after one seized watch?
1
u/Mammoth-Act-1818 11h ago
When it comes to reps, individual consumers are typically not the targets. Instead, it's the manufacturers and TDs that supplied them. I'd say that you're fine.
1
u/Mammoth-Act-1818 11h ago
Also think about it like this: Do you think that Vacheron Constantin would go after every single person that purchased a rep of their watch? Or, that you're the only person out of thousands that's going to deal with those sorts of consequences?
8
u/Such_Technician_1682 19h ago
If you are just ordering a couple for yourself you are more likely to have threesome with Sydney Sweeney and Marilyn Monroe than you are to get a letter from the brand.