Wtf @ yahoo news ?

[Roparadise]

They are calling it smuggling to ship and sell iPhone 5's in Russia.

http://news.yahoo.com/smuggled-iphone-5s-sell-much-3-700-moscow-140555062--abc-news-tech.html

In the days of the Soviet Union a tourist in Moscow could pay for his or her entire trip by selling a suitcase full of smuggled Levi's jeans. Now, one could make substantially more sneaking a handbag full of the latest Apple products into Russia.

Why would someone need to sneak it in,when you could just order a few cases of them and have them forwarded to Russia?

 

[meathead1234]

Because if you ordered a few cases of them they would be stopped at customs...

 

[Roparadise]

Because if you ordered a few cases of them they would be stopped at customs...

But you could just pay the import tax on the value,and still sell them for many times more then what you paid including the import tax.

 

[phatzilla]

you're naive; half of them would 'get lost' in the mail

 

[stungun1]

Lol yeah Yahoo comes out with some doozie's now and then

 

[Roparadise]

you're naive; half of them would 'get lost' in the mail

If someone was shipping in a few cases,through fedex or ups they would most likely have insurance on it.

 

[Amsterdammer]

I don't know about Russia but mail has a bar-code where I live, this means there is a database of your incoming mail including sender.
If you get stopped at the customs you pay your fine and be done with it. When caught with mail they have a file including all other mail from the offending sender and it is easier to sue the addressee.

The Apple phone is not for sale in Russia but if it was you could pay your taxes but I guess it will work like USA products so when you pay taxes the price difference evaporates. Also, besides customs there are the transporters that will file a case for you at customs. TNT in The Netherlands does that for you for instance, they open packages if suspected and inform customs... Not even criminal things, anything of value.
I know for a fact not all transporters open packages though and some seem to just not care so I am not claiming nobody is shipping items. But, if the profit is high enough you could even think of just shipping parts and do assembly at place of delivery, just as a thought.

But, thinking about it, I think they just sneak it across some border with a country that does have an Apple store.

 

[Roparadise]

Custom's wont confiscate it as long as you pay the import duty on it. Its not illegal to have mail forwarded. And its not illegal to resale a product that you own.

 

[SEO_Alchemy]

Well, I'm Russian living in the U.S. An iphone5 costs about 10X in Russian then in the States. A cargo like that will be subject to such extreme tariffs that it would not make financial sense to "import" like you said. Not unless you have some official government arrangements. And yes, insurance or no insurance, more than likely half your goods would mysteriously disappear.

 

[Roparadise]

Well, I'm Russian living in the U.S. An iphone5 costs about 10X in Russian then in the States. A cargo like that will be subject to such extreme tariffs that it would not make financial sense to "import" like you said. Not unless you have some official government arrangements. And yes, insurance or no insurance, more than likely half your goods would mysteriously disappear.

The import duty is about 15% I think,so would it apply to the resale value or the actual price of original purchase

 

[Amsterdammer]

Custom's wont confiscate it as long as you pay the import duty on it. Its not illegal to have mail forwarded. And its not illegal to resale a product that you own.

I would say that depends on the laws in the country you live in.

In the Netherlands you would get a fine for fake products when bringing them in yourself though it depends on the quantity. You are allowed to bring 250ml fake perfume yourself but you get a fine for more than that and face criminal charges if you get it mailed to you.
Of course the Apples are not fake, but I am just trying to say it depends on the rules of the country you are in. Russia could for instance see that particular phone as a security risk, just to mention a thing. There must be a reason Apple is not opening stores in Russia right? One would think they would love to sell it themselves in Russia.

 

[Andrew Scherer]

Well, I'm Russian living in the U.S. An iphone5 costs about 10X in Russian then in the States. A cargo like that will be subject to such extreme tariffs that it would not make financial sense to "import" like you said. Not unless you have some official government arrangements. And yes, insurance or no insurance, more than likely half your goods would mysteriously disappear.

thats intersting. is it common for business people to "circumvent" tariffs by making "friends" with customs agents?

 

[logla]

Well, I'm Russian living in the U.S. An iphone5 costs about 10X in Russian then in the States. A cargo like that will be subject to such extreme tariffs that it would not make financial sense to "import" like you said. Not unless you have some official government arrangements. And yes, insurance or no insurance, more than likely half your goods would mysteriously disappear.

An iphone costs a thosand bucks in Russia.