3 ms·

There was a period where a Brit could very reliably pay for an extremely nice holiday in Istanbul by making sure they returned with a suitcase or two full of 10

There was a period where a Brit could very reliably pay for an extremely nice holiday in Istanbul by making sure they returned with a suitcase or two full of 100% genuine Levis jeans. The only difference was the price discrimination model.

egeozcan 3y ago
I used to live in Istanbul and I know of tourists donating all their clothes to shelters or just leaving them in their hotel room to make space for all the new cheap clothing they bought. Those were some crazy times. Funny enough, many people from Turkey did the same when they visited the US in 2000s/2010s.
- shagie 3y ago
  For the US/Canada it was the other way around. It wasn't uncommon for people from the neighboring Windsor Canada to go shopping in Detroit with cheap clothes on and return in new clothes with the cheap clothes from the morning discarded / donated. I'm not sure if this has changed much or not (it is much easier to get an image of what a given car's passengers were wearing and compare it 8h later), but back in the 80s this was a viable tactic at dodging the purchase limits/customs declarations. More recently: https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/cbsa-warns-cross-border-shoppers-about-declaring-back-to-school-items-1.6020444 https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/cbsa-warns-cross-border-shoppers-... (I'd be curious if anyone makes a weekend of shopping in Detroit to get the 48h $800 exception limit - https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/declare-eng.html#_s8b https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/declare-eng.html#_... )
qingcharles 3y ago
We'd also take those 99 quid flights to NYC and return with several designer watches. You had to ship the empty boxes and paperwork by FedEx though because if they found them in your luggage they knew what you were up to and busted you for import taxes, duty and VAT.
hef19898 3y ago
Only make sure you pack them in a clearly not-new state, otherwise customs might ask for import duties and VAT. People always forget, that even as private person, import duties and taxes apply. Which has nothing to do with the Nikon example so.

egeozcan 3y ago

I used to live in Istanbul and I know of tourists donating all their clothes to shelters or just leaving them in their hotel room to make space for all the new cheap clothing they bought. Those were some crazy times. Funny enough, many people from Turkey did the same when they visited the US in 2000s/2010s.

shagie 3y ago
For the US/Canada it was the other way around. It wasn't uncommon for people from the neighboring Windsor Canada to go shopping in Detroit with cheap clothes on and return in new clothes with the cheap clothes from the morning discarded / donated. I'm not sure if this has changed much or not (it is much easier to get an image of what a given car's passengers were wearing and compare it 8h later), but back in the 80s this was a viable tactic at dodging the purchase limits/customs declarations. More recently: https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/cbsa-warns-cross-border-shoppers-about-declaring-back-to-school-items-1.6020444 https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/cbsa-warns-cross-border-shoppers-... (I'd be curious if anyone makes a weekend of shopping in Detroit to get the 48h $800 exception limit - https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/declare-eng.html#_s8b https://www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca/travel-voyage/declare-eng.html#_... )

qingcharles 3y ago

We'd also take those 99 quid flights to NYC and return with several designer watches. You had to ship the empty boxes and paperwork by FedEx though because if they found them in your luggage they knew what you were up to and busted you for import taxes, duty and VAT.

hef19898 3y ago

Only make sure you pack them in a clearly not-new state, otherwise customs might ask for import duties and VAT. People always forget, that even as private person, import duties and taxes apply. Which has nothing to do with the Nikon example so.