Santa as a Pirate?

[kailin]

I'll be sending home some Christmas gifts and I am wondering if anyone has experience mailing DVDs from China (especially to the U.S.). Obviously, I am talking about pirated DVDs. Trouble with customs here or in the receiver's country? And, what to write on that pesky customs declaration form?

Cate

[Celso Pin]

maybe:

"DVD back-up copies to be stored outside the country, according to my contingency plan!"

[serial_killer]

should be fine, if u dont send too many at once. i've seen my friend received pirate DVDs from china, a small mail box would do.

[serial_killer]

but im not sure about the consequence if customs found out, probably fines, cuz it seems to me that nobody around me have ever got caught. the chinese customs is not very harsh on that, maybe up to your country, i guess.

[liuzhou]

Here, the local post offices will not allow DVDs or CD into their system at all!

Carrying them out of the country is no problem.

[malinuo]

Ok, let me be the boring guy who says "don't do it". Here it comes: "don't do it".

Even though I think you have a pretty good chance of getting away with it, it is illegal. When in Rome, do as the Romans. When in China, feel free to buy as many pirate DVDs as you want, but don't participate in pro-democracy demonstrations. When in the US, use your right to free speech as much as you like, but don't distribute pirate DVDs.

We have had cases in Europe with foreign tourist who were fined several hundred euro, after they bought fake Gucci bags in the street. Faking products is considered a serious crime.

Besides, I don't know if there may be problems for the recipient if the customs finds the pirated DVDs. I doubt anything serious would happen, but the situation may become a little more awkward than you would like around Christmas.

When I left China I left almost all my DVDs there. I took just a few, mostly Chinese, films with me, which I knew would be close to impossible to find elsehwere.

[phbriggs]

Agree with liuzhou.

It can be difficult posting the DVDs in China if you get a postal officer which follows the book. Best to use a regular sized envelope, write a letter, seal with a DVD and take it to the post office. It is unlikely that they will allow you to send back a small package without inspecting its contents. They usuallly do not allow DVDs to be posted.

[Lu]

Malinuo, daoban DVDs are just as forbidden in China as they are in elsewhere. The fact that you can buy them all over the place doesn't change that.

As to sending DVDs, my experience with sending anything from China is that mail often is opened, especially if the envelope contains more than just a letter. So even if you get to send it it might not arrive. And when you want to send it the post officer will examine your parcel, or at the very least ask you what's in it.

[kailin]

Thanks for all your feedback everyone. Maniluo, you are making my conscience ache a little (but it has the tendency to do that about pirated things once in awhile anyway). The packaging suggestions make sense. As does the point about things possibly being more stringent at Christmas. If I end up going this downlow route, I'll let you know how it turns out.

Cate