Not another 419 scam, honest

macspite

Member
Not sure whether to put this here or in the eBay/Amazon watch threads.

I have spent the day exchanging e-mails with an American Lawyer called Sarah Downes who has told me I have won a $500 voucher.

Yeah, right and I'm a Nigerian banker who needs help in moving $8.7million ...

The mail had a certain degree of truth about it - I had filled in a survey on the site named and it did address me by name. So I responded asking for further proof.

The site was http://www.abine.com/ who provide online privacy tools - I have their Do Not Track installed as a Chrome plugin right now and it blocks adtrackers, tracking companies, social and ad networks.

Sarah sent back a fairly convincing email and I found a picture of her in an online article. Wish my lawyer looked the same.

Short of it is that I now have $500 credit on amazon.com

(The more I write this the more it sounds like a con email itself!)

Not sure if I can get that transferred to Amazon.co.uk, if I can then good, if not I have a slight problem.

Either I buy things less than $50 a time including post and packing or I pay duty and handling on stuff landed in the UK. If the item costs $40 and p+p is $11 then I pay 20% on top of that $51 and then another $12 - 20 to the carrier for customs clearance. I object to paying possible another 30 odd dollars on top of a $60 purchase

Now - and here it really starts to sound like a con - if someone Stateside wanted a watch from Amazon I could buy it, discount by 10% and, when we were both happy it was on its way to them, get money into my PayPal account so I could give eBay UK a good tonking... :D

Now to see whether a transfer from .com to .co.uk is feasible, haven't seen an easy way to do it
 

macspite

Member
Just found out via chat:

You are now connected to PREETI from Amazon.com.
Me:I have just had a $500 gift card which has been credited to me at Amazon.com I live in UK and my account is also on amazon.co.uk. Can the account credit be transferred from US to UK?

PREETI:Hello, my name is Preeti. I will be happy to help you today.
Please allow me a minute or two while I research this for you.
I am sorry this cannot be transferred.
But this can be used on UK site.
Sorry on us site only.

Me:That's what I thought - ok for Kindle downloads but import duties on any hardware?

PREETI:It might be.

Me:OK,thanks for your help, bye

PREETI:You are welcome. Is there anything else I can do for you today?

Me:thats all thanks

PREETI:Thank you for visiting Amazon.com. We hope to see you again soon!

So - any of you guys in the States want to take up my offer? Looks like I will be one of those vendors who ships to CONUS only except that I am in the UK!
 

macspite

Member
Hi Sean, I have had a nigfht to sleep on this, woke up and checked amazon, my $500 gift card balance is still there. Also in my mailbox are 27 messages including one 419 scam and two "prizewinning" messages that just require my financial details to complete. So I fully understand your caution.

I have also done the maths (or math as you would say) - if I get a bulk buy of watches or one very expensive one then I can expect to pay $100 in tax and $20 for the clearance if they are all in the same parcel. I might as well take that hit.

So unless I hear otherwise, I'm going to go for the "all for me" option and make sure I have money put to one side to pay HM Customs.

PS, not forgotten your PM regarding watch straps, I'm on the case!
 

macspite

Member
It does sound dodgy but there is a balance of $500 in my Amazon.com account. Abine are a reputable company and viewing the full headers and the source of the mails all appears ok. I haven't been asked for any bank details. And I did enter a customer survey on their facebook page.

And now I am trawling amazon.com seeing what I can grab - a Dee and Ricky for $400 which I could sell on? - another frog to keep? 5 assorted 6900's? Apart from the Dee and Ricky there is little in the way of collabs that I have found (yet). A lot of sellers don't ship to UK. But it's a fun way to spend a morning :D
 

rutteger

Administrator
Fair enough if you entered the compo. Let us know what you go for. Could you not buy a LOT of smaller items which might not get any attention from HM Customs?
 

macspite

Member
It's all a wee bit late now. I considered a lot of small items but then I would either pay a hefty premium in loads of separate postal charges or, if sent in one package, it is the value of the total of the package and the p+p that you pay duty on. You didn't expect HMRC to be anything other than mean-spirited did you? :D

So, have now got a package with a single watch in it that will attract duty on $441. The watch is black, analog and - IT ISN'T EVEN A G-SHOCK!

I tried to spend the balance on some android apps but there are sent to the phone not the pc and UK carriers aren't served by amazon.com. So then tried to grab some books for the phone through Kindle. Again UK is not served by amazon.com - but if you are moving country you can register on the site. So, for the purposes of $60 worth of digital books I am temporarily a resident of Louisville, Kentucky :encouragement:
 

rutteger

Administrator
What did you go for in the end? The world's most expensive Ironman ;)

How is Lousville this time of year :p
 

macspite

Member
Patience mon brave, all will be revealed in 10 to 20 business days plus the time to get to Parcel Farce to pay the customs duties. I have seen a post on a certain watch seeking forum that makes me think that you will like it ...

It's strangely warm for this time of year and I've just heard on WDRB that there are likely to be some heavy thunderstorms tonight between about 7 and 9.

Here's the chart from WAVE:

ky weather.JPG
 
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