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Could this be the reason? After I read this news article i started to got worried. I got impression counterfeit item regulations could REALLY get strict now?

The whole article is interesting read: U.S. tightening intellectual property enforcement .:. newkerala.com Online News - United States 132327

U.S. tightening intellectual property enforcement

Washington, June 23 : As part of the Obama Administration's launch of the first-ever Joint Strategic Plan on Intellectual Property Enforcement, Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday emphasized the Department of Justice's ongoing commitment to protecting U.S. intellectual property as central to America's economic prosperity and public safety.

This isn't news. I read their overview and they are mainly focusing on online piracy and counterfeit drugs.

If I were running the movie studios, I would form a group of big players to buy Netflix and expand the online streaming capabilities. If they make their product widely available at a reasonable price, piracy would disappear.

A new release could be $4, and the older stuff could be $1. Maybe they could have a package for movie fanatics like 50 movies a month for $40 or something. I think that most people wouldn't mind paying a reasonable price to watch what they want when they want to watch it. And making new releases available at a premium, maybe $8 or so for home viewing would do more to shut down the Pirate Bay than a thousand court orders ever could.

Online delivery makes sense. And if they don't offer it then the Pirate Bay will. The days of DVD's are definitely numbered.

It will take awhile. Old business models die hard. But at the end of the day, the studios could end up maing more money than ever before and all but eliminate piracy at the same time. Not to mention, they would have more control.

The deisgner stuff will always be ⊗⊗⊗⊗d, though. Any time you have a product that costs $50 to make and sells for $1,200, it is too tempting a target. But these brands shouldn't be so worried that people are buying ⊗⊗⊗⊗ versions of their products. They should worry when people STOP.

So you think counterfeited designer items like designer handbags (particularly Louis Vuitton, Hermes) are NOT really the target of this tighter regulation? They are French companies btw, not American.

No they are not.

The Obama Administrations Copyright Czar Victoria Espinel, although under Pressure from the BSA, MPAA, and RIAA has Indicated a willingness to ONLY suggest ammending Laws dealing with Filesharing, she has stated that the bulk of her efforts are directed at Products that can actually Hurt or even Kill People.

I think that online filesharing is at the top of the MPAA's hit list. I'm sure they don't like counterfeits either, but I would imagine they lose FAR MORE money when people download the new releases and share them.

Box sets of TV shows are favored by counterfeiters moreso than individual movies, but that has to be a relatively small market for Hollywood. Not that they LIKE the practice, I'm sure, but they have to prioritize as well.

I wrote about this on numerous other threads on here over the last few months as i said my old neighbor is a customs agent ...and tipped me off that they are under pressure and facing threat of enormous lawsuits over the amount of items that are getting through, it snot about the Obama laws it is about just taking more packages on the vero stuff ...they will not be able to stop it all but the more peep keep losing the more they will give up .

So if a guy is getting 1 or 2 small packages a week are they going to get on some sort of watch list?
What is the best advice?
I only have access to 2 addresses right now.
My home address I received 2 packages last month and am expecting 2 more in the next week or so. Should the next order go to the alternate address?

And you are in the Philippines, not the USA btw. Make sure the flag stays like that.:boink:

Same concern here. :help:

There's a saying, never cr*p in your own nest. :ranger:

Regardless of what items are purchased, it is better to have a commercial address not associated with the home. In the USA, use can be made of DBA, post box. There are options around. Costs are part of doing ecommerce :pop2:

I'm assuming if you're talking a PO box you're talking a Mailbox store or similar vs one at an actual USPS station.
Also, does the box you rent have to be big enough to actually hold the package?
There is one of those shipping places not far from my house that would work out great and I could go there every day to check.
Because of the Patriot Act is it impossible to get a USPS PO Box using stealth info?

@GreenBean

Is it safe posting infos here, like describing your shipments i.e. what VERO items you're ordering, from what country, what courier you use, how many times you order a month, and what strategies you use.. Do customs and VERO do not lurk here to spy get information like that? :spy: then your strategy got busted :tears::shhh:

That is why I try to give details, but not get specific which is they way everyone should treat the discussions here.
Like almost everything else in life, you never know who might be listening.

No Doubt that Customs is facing some Pressures. I Sincerely Doubt that Any Corporation can Bring a Lawsuit against the Federal Goverment in reguards to this.

U.S. Customs and Border patrol's PRIMARY Mission is to Prevent Illeagal Aliens and CONTROLLED Substances from crossing into the U.S.

The Responsibility of controlling the Flow of Counterfeit Merchandise primarily Lies with the Affected Intellectual Properity rights Owner, U.S. Customs Does indeed Assist, and is Indeed on the Front Lines of this Battle, But is in no way a Culpable party, or one that can be Held responsible.

As far as I Know,U.S. Customs in not required, neither by Doctrine or By Law to protect Private Intellectual Property rights.. I can be Mistaken, but I honestly do not believe so.

I agree. I don't think that a lawsuit against the government could be filed in this case, and if it could, it probably wouldn't go very far.

Type "seized by customs" into Google and you will see clusters of posts each year. They have a week or two where they crack down on this suff, then it goes back to normal.

Why? Because even if their technology gets better, the fact remains that they do not have (and are not likely to get) enough personnel to open and inspect every single package that comes in. They have to prioritize. And my guess is their focus will be on items that pose a safety hazard, such as ⊗⊗⊗⊗ drugs, airplane parts, etc.

As a cigar smoker I have always been aware of the situation of customs and Cuban cigars.
These are seized because the revenue they bring in helps to fund a hostile government, whereas for the moment trade is open with China and whereas we aren't exactly allies the relationship is definitely better than with Cuba

Question. Can some people give feedback on this information I gather online.

Why do i read in several replica designer handbags supplier sites in China they claim 99% of their customers worldwide don't experience custom seizement of their bags? Particularly regarding U.S. customs- both the replica suppliers and many of the American customers state their packages never get open as too many packages arriving in customs everyday. They also pay no tax at all. Shipping courier is EMS, item declared as "gift". Small box packing.

They say it's 1% chance your box to get opened.. it's very unlikely your box to get opened

But then in this forum, i read people worrying about their package to get opened and seized, it's like the risk is high, seems like the U.S. customs is strict and open a lot of packages esp. coming from China?

What really? I'm moving to U.S. so im concerned about this.

Thanks.

I have two guesses.
1) the suppliers are not being upfront, but rather trying to give potential buyers a false sense of security
2) the people here are obviously buying them to sell and as a result buying in larger quantities which results in larger packages which results in a higher risk of being inspected

Same guesses here. But leaning more on the big boxes as the problem. Suppliers and customers stated order small quantity for small box.

I have a friend in the U.S. who works for FedEx i asked him how often packages get opened.. and he told me too many packages arriving each day that customs don't have time to check on a lot of packages and open. Most small packages get thru easily.

But still..

I am still paranoid. :boink:

I never ever want to get into trouble.. i'm worried if my package got seized i may get reported to authorities or the designer company?!

The 1% chance is still scaring the sh!t outta me.

I want assurance of no trouble, i don't want to take risk.

Perhaps i'll use commercial address not home address like suggested by GreenBean.

U.S.A here i come =} (I just hope i never get into trouble LOL)

I would be interested to know what your friend knows a "small" package to be???
weight and dimensions

Right, i'm gonna ask him that and more info on customs and shipments too. But we seldomly get to chat as different timezone.