Will customs let xiaomi through. Customs creates problems when delivering Xiaomi products (Hiaomi, Xiaomi) by mail to Russia from abroad

The distributor of smartphones of the Chinese brand Xiaomi, Smart Orange LLC, now has the full right of the copyright holder in Russia. As a result, the customs makes a mass seizure of parcels with Xiaomi smartphones and accessories and returns them to Chinese sellers. And at the moment, you can buy Redmi and Mi series smartphones in Russia with an impressive markup. We want to tell you how you can replace Xiaomi smartphones with other worthy Chinese smartphones.

Xiaomi phones can be replaced with decent alternative Meizu smartphones. The most important thing is that you do not have to overpay. And you can buy a decent Chinese phone for the same price.

What can replace Redmi 4A?

Smartphone Xiaomi Redmi 4A belongs to the budget series. It has a 5" HD display. Powered by a quad-core Snapdragon 425 processor with Adreno 308 graphics. This is a budget solution, and you should not expect high performance from it. RAM is only 2 GB and 16/32 GB permanent. The smartphone is equipped with a 13 Mpix main camera and a 5 Mpix front camera. Xiaomi Redmi 4A has a 3120 mAh battery and runs on Android 6.0 Marshmallow with MIUI 8.2 interface. You can see the full review.

A good alternative would be the Meizu M5 smartphone. Yes, indeed, many may not like the special corporate design of the company and even the interface. But, it's all trifles.
The M5 smartphone belongs to the budget series and has a plastic body, like Redmi 4A. Meizu M5 has a 5.2 inch HD screen with 2.5D protective. Powered by Mediatek MT6750 octa-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz. Two memory options are available, 2GB + 16GB will cost $103 and 3GB + 32GB will cost $132. 13MP F/2.2 aperture main camera with PDAF, fast auto focus and dual tone LED flash, and 5MP front camera. You can see a full review of the smartphone.

Replacement option for Redmi 3S, 3X, Redmi 4, 4X smartphones

The main advantage, which is also its main drawback, is a huge 6.44-inch display with Full HD resolution, covered with 2.5D glass. Powered by a 6-core Snapdragon 650 processor, 3 GB of RAM and 32/64 GB of permanent memory, a 4850 mAh battery.

Both smartphones have Full HD resolution, Corning Gorilla glass protection, but different displays. The PHAB 2 Plus has a 6.4-inch display with 2.5D curved glass, while the Mi Max has a 6.44-inch display. Lenovo PHAB 2 Plus is powered by an octa-core MediaTek MT8783 processor with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage + microSD card slot up to 256GB. phablet Mi Max runs on a higher quality 6-core Snapdragon 650 chip with 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal memory + a hybrid slot for microSD cards up to 128 GB. The phablet has a dual rear 13MP camera and an 8MP front camera, while the Mi Max has 16MP and 5MP for selfies. The Mi Max has a 4850 mAh battery, while the PHAB 2 Plus has a slightly smaller 4050 mAh battery.

I also want to note that it is another worthy competitor for the Xiaomi Mi Max smartphone. Phablet Nubia Z11 Max has a 6-inch Full HD screen, a 16-megapixel main and 8-megapixel front camera, an 8-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 652 processor, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of internal memory, expandable with microSD cards up to 200 GB. 4000 mAh battery.

Options for replacing flagships Xiaomi Mi 5, Mi 5S, Mi5S Plus, Mi 6

Xiaomi Mi 5 is the first smartphone in the history of Xiaomi devices, which was equipped with a physical front button, instead of the classic three capacitive keys. Smartphones and have very good technical characteristics. I wonder what they can replace?

Russian customs began to stop the smartphones of the Chinese company at the border, bought not from the official supplier.

To bookmarks

Reuters photo

At the end of April, Russian media reported that customs in Moscow, Orenburg and Yekaterinburg began to "wrap" parcels with Xiaomi smartphones. Representatives of the Federal Customs Service inspect the parcels and, if they contain "counterfeit products", return them to the place of departure.

What's happening

On April 23, residents of the Orenburg region, a community on VKontakte. In it, they said that the local customs unpacks parcels with Xiaomi smartphones, citing the fact that they were bought on the “gray” market.

The creators of the community made an announcement on the official website of the Volga Customs Administration, which states that Xiaomi devices were returned to senders on the basis of Article 313 of the Customs Code of the Customs Union and Article 18 of the Universal Postal Convention, which prohibit the import of counterfeit products.

Since March of this year, the Orenburg customs, based on the results of customs control, has returned to senders more than 500 international postal items (IGOs) with electronic devices marked with the Xiaomi trademark.

As an iGuides publication, in addition to Xiaomi, Sony, BlackBerry and Chuwi devices may not pass through the border.

Information about the new requirements of customs officers was confirmed by tech blogger Eldar Murtazin on his Twitter. He advised buyers to "play it safe" and not buy the devices now. And those who have already placed an order - to sue.

Xiaomi position

Back in March 2017, Xiaomi, which will fight hard against the "gray" supply of devices. The official partner of the Chinese company in Russia is RDC Group, the official distributor is Smart Orange.

In fact, only the latter has the right to trade Xiaomi smartphones and transport them across the border. The rest of the companies must coordinate the delivery of goods with it, and if the distributor discovers counterfeit goods, he will be able to return it to the sender through the court.

April 25 in Moscow, the first official presentation of Xiaomi in Russia. The company is entering the Russian market and, according to the senior vice president, intends to "deal with counterfeit goods."

Wang Xiang, Senior Vice President of Xiaomi

Xiaomi presentation in Moscow

Representatives of Xiaomi in the community on VKontakte that the company has banned the transportation of "counterfeit and pirated items" not from the official distributor.

They are based on the provisions of Articles 1515 and 1252 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which govern the protection of the exclusive rights of Xiaomi, in particular, the brand and trademark and responsibility for their illegal use.

Thus, a product imported without the consent of the copyright holder, whose interests in the territory of the Russian Federation is represented by Smart Orange LLC, is counterfeit, since it violates the exclusive rights to the trademark of the copyright holder.

The company understands how much this complicates the purchase process, so they announced their readiness to provide affected customers with exclusive access to the official store and discounts on Xiaomi products.

How legal is it

On April 26, the Federal Customs Service will fight against counterfeit and fake goods in parcels. True, then it was only about child seats. Customs representatives said they intend to check not only goods arriving by transport, but also arriving at postal items.

Customs officers have established effective contact with their Chinese counterparts, which allows them to work together to combat the flow of illegal goods.

Sergey Shklyaev, Head of Trade Restrictions Department of the Federal Customs Service

The FCS has the right to independently verify the authenticity of the goods. To do this, she must conduct an examination, but even if the smartphone is recognized as "gray", she will not be able to return it to the sender without a court decision.

This is stated in the joint plenums of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court.

A material carrier can be recognized as counterfeit only by a court. If necessary, the court has the right to appoint an examination to clarify issues that require special knowledge.

Joint decision of the plenums of the Supreme Court and the Supreme Arbitration Court

However, the Volga customs in its message clarified that it stops the goods not because they are “non-original”, but on the basis of the violation of the exclusive right of the copyright holder.

In this case, the recognition of the goods as counterfeit or real is handled by the copyright holder of the Beijing Xiaomi Technology brand in Russia - Smart Orange. The distributor informed the customs that the goods with the Xiaomi marker delivered to the post offices were found to be counterfeit.

The copyright holder said that the import of these original goods violates his exclusive rights, as a result of which he objects to the import of these goods into the territory of Russia.

Volga Customs Administration

But, as in its decision, the plenum of the Supreme Court, the expert and other competent persons have the right to establish only signs of counterfeiting. The legal assessment of these features is given by the court.

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The recent news, which angered ordinary buyers who are used to other large Chinese stores, is that customs began to confiscate parcels with Xiaomi phones. Yes, these are not rumors, but really true, why is this happening and what to expect next?

As you know, in a short time, the Chinese brand Xiaomi has rapidly gained popularity among Russians and residents of the CIS, for the most part due to the availability and quality of manufactured products, which is not inferior to world brands. Without thinking twice, buyers realized all the benefits and began to order goods from the Xiaomi brand on aliexpress, the trend has become widespread.

Despite the fact that Xiaomi produces a huge line of products, ranging from small things, and, the main demand among buyers still falls on smartphones. One of the official distributors of Xiaomi in Russia, Smart Orange LLC, just recently managed to include the brand in the register of intellectual property objects (TROIS) as the legal representative of the copyright holder. Consequently, from that moment on, mass openings of parcels from China began in order to detect Xiaomi products.

All these activities with a ban on the import of Xiaomi phones are aimed at combating the so-called "gray" phones, at least according to the official version. However, one does not need to have any outstanding abilities to understand that in this way the official representative intends to fight the shadow supply of products, of which he is the legal representative. In this case, the fact that you ordered a Xiaomi phone from China for personal use or a whole batch for commercial purposes is not taken into account, both cases are banned.

How does customs detect? First of all, special attention is paid to parcels in the customs declaration (CN22) which indicate “cell phone”, “tablet” and other names that we are used to seeing when receiving our smartphones from China. Most of these parcels are subject to opening, and if Xiaomi products are found, a notice is sent to the addressee refusing to import such a parcel.

Of course, it is not possible to identify all the packages in which Xiaomi equipment is located, but the very fact that the situation has gained mass indignation suggests that this issue has affected many.

At the moment, problems with parcels containing Xiaomi smartphones are observed at the Orenburg and Yekaterinburg customs. According to our users, the import of such parcels to Vnukovo and Sheremetyevo is still going on as usual and does not raise any questions.

Of course, after the purchase, you can ask to pack the phone in a box from another manufacturer or write in the declaration what you need, but this does not guarantee delivery, moreover, from the point of view of the law, it is a violation. Someone will be lucky and he will receive his package with a Xiaomi smartphone, but someone will not, and will have to open it demanding a full refund.

An option that would suit everyone is with the delivery of Xiaomi phones from a Russian warehouse at average prices for aliexpress, but unfortunately there are no such cases yet.

After the Russian customs began to confiscate parcels with Xiaomi phones, one of them announced the termination of deliveries of smartphones of this brand to Russia, moreover, a limit is introduced for Russian buyers - the maximum value of a parcel should now not be more than $50.

According to the representative of the store, the limit is temporary and they are doing everything to find the best solution that would suit each of the parties to the conflict. In this case, it is obvious that Smart Orange LLC does not intend to retreat from its position, but only began to fight against the "gray" supplies of Xiaomi phones. It should be assumed that in the event of a resolution of the conflict, the last one, as usual, will be the buyer, on whose shoulders additional financial costs will fall.

One can only hope that other official Russian representatives of major Chinese brands will not pick up the trend and will not start restricting the import of products from brands such as Meizu, Elephone, ZTE, etc.

As you know, all these bans only spur people to "reinvent the wheel", so it is quite possible that soon there will be a tendency to supply Xiaomi smartphones from China in transit through Belarus or Kazakhstan. The first option is, of course, unlikely (in Belarus, the limit is 22 euros / month for parcels from abroad), but the second is quite real. We will monitor the situation and hope for a civilized solution to this issue.

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Russian customs unpacks parcels with Xiaomi smartphones. So the country is trying to deal with gray supplies of Chinese devices. Customs does not approve?

Xiaomi: customs does not give the go-ahead?

The Chinese company Xiaomi is so popular and attractive that people are ready to order them from Chinese online stores on their own. But in addition to the risk of running into an unscrupulous seller, there was an additional risk associated with the refusal of customs to let these devices into Russia. In April of this year, there were several cases when customs refused to let Chinese company smartphones bought in China through. The official wording of the refusal may be different. Firstly, there is a requirement of the official distributor of Xiaomi LLC "Smart Orange" for a trademark, and secondly, devices can be equated with encryption tools and also not allowed into the country. About a thousand people have already faced this problem. Basically, smartphones are not allowed to enter the territory of the Russian Federation through the customs of Yekaterinburg and Orenburg.

No cheap Xiaomi?

The opinions of news resources and analysts regarding this situation are divided. Someone argues that customs requirements are legal and it is illegal to import gray devices when there is an official representative in the country. And someone considers this whole situation a banal collusion and a lobby of distributors. Thus, not only gray suppliers suffer, but also ordinary people who independently bought smartphones in Chinese online stores. In March of this year, all divisions of the Customs Service of the Russian Federation received a notification that the Xiaomi trademark was included in the customs register of intellectual property. The method of checking devices at customs looks interesting. All parcels marked as "cell phone" or "phone" are checked. Boxes with similar marks are opened and checked. If a device with the Xiaomi logo is detected, then the customs officers contact the representative of Smart Orange, who may recognize the device as fake and import into the territory of the Russian Federation will be prohibited.

No exit?

How exactly the situation will be resolved is not yet clear. After all, not only gray retail suffers, but first of all ordinary people who want to buy a good smartphone for little money. Signatures are being collected on the Change.org website for a petition addressed to the Federal Customs Service of Russia and Xiaomi Technology Co Ltd. In the petition, users are calling for the import of Chinese company devices by individuals. However, customs is not obliged to respond to such activities. Another thing is that it is not realistic to process all parcels with smartphones at customs, so someone may not be lucky, but someone will calmly receive their smartphone. But it’s not worth risking buying Xiaomi smartphones in Chinese online stores yet, because it’s not clear whether you will be lucky.

More recently, Xiaomi was unknown to anyone in the global market for portable electronic equipment. Today, it is becoming the leader in sales around the world, not without the help of the CIS countries, which, in fact, are the most frequent buyers of their goods. That is why authorized suppliers of Xiaomi phones began to appear in countries such as the Russian Federation, Belarus, Ukraine and others.

So, in the spring of 2017, Smart Orange (a division of the RDC Group), which officially sells and services Xiaomi smartphones, launched its activities in Russia. It would seem that everything is fine and finally it will be possible to buy a good budget smartphone, bypassing all the difficulties of foreign purchases. But alas, not everything is as good as it seems.

Starting from April 2017, outrage began to appear on various Internet resources about the difficulties of crossing customs control with smartphones purchased by users in Chinese online stores. At the same time, employees of several customs control points (Ekaterinburg and Orenburg) simply withdraw and return, discovering that the package contains a Xiaomi branded phone.

The Federal Customs Service explains all these actions by the fact that it was at the end of March that they received a letter regarding the procedure for importing Xiaomi products, which states that Smart Orange is the only representative of the copyright holder in the Russian Federation from Xiaomi. Actually, she and a number of partners have the right to import Xiaomi products through the line of "portable phones".

Otherwise, the customs of Xiaomi goods is obliged to slow down and return to the seller. Even if we consider that the meaning of the idea is very noble and is to reduce the goods of "basement" production from the so-called gray markets, it is worth noting that the ban also affected officially ordered products from Xiaomi for personal use, and this, of course, caused an uproar.

Give gifts

Opinion of Smart Orange

This company confirmed the information about the application filed with the customs for Xiaomi smartphones, which they sell in the Russian portable electronics market. They are also ready to cooperate with affected users from such "sanctions" by offering discounts on the purchase of any Xiaomi smartphone in their network. After all, it is Smart Orange that can provide high quality products and their further professional service.

Positions of affected consumers

In addition to the fact that most users do not consider ordered smartphones for personal use through online stores as counterfeit goods, they also believe that Smart Orange's statement regarding the inadmissibility of entering these goods into civil circulation is illegal. In Yekaterinburg, a whole community “The Problem with the Orenburg Customs” was even deployed, in which “colleagues in misfortune” could exchange advice on resolving this issue and problematic points regarding the Xiaomi market in Russia.

So, the main reason for what is happening is the cost of imported mobile phones from China. The difference between the price of the same smartphone in an authorized point of the Russian Federation and a Chinese online store will differ by 30-40% on average. Wrapping up and maximum price gouging is the answer to the question about the rapidly growing popularity of Chinese products, which are issued through online stores.

Official suppliers of Chinese electronics and their next steps

Of course, most foreign companies have an intermediary company in the territory of the Russian Federation, but the problem of the "gray" sales market is relevant to any brand. Therefore, there are only two solutions to this question:

1. Establishing a ban on imported goods through unofficial sources (Xiaomi, Sony) and, accordingly, their stop, detention and return to the seller.
2. Providing the most affordable and high-quality service by trusted companies (Meizu).

Thus, choosing one of the options, companies create for themselves a certain status of a tough or loyal and high-quality intermediary with good products in the CIS countries.

Options for safely buying Xiaomi through Chinese online stores

And yet, Chinese online stores, which have established themselves in the world market as reliable sources of high-quality equipment with reasonable prices, do not allow the domestic user to calm down. Why do I have to pay at prices that are sold on the Russian market, if I can buy goods via the Internet?!

Many people ask this question, and the solution is simple - make purchases through online stores. But given the difficult situation with customs and the possibility of stopping to check the goods (detained only in 2 regions) with a further return to the seller, it becomes much more difficult to use the so-called "gray" market. However, there are several options for more or less secure cooperation:

• Ask the seller of such a product to send a smartphone through the Singapore Post, which operates through Vnukovo Airport, where the retention rate is very low. But do not forget about the growing urgency of this issue, which may entail detailed control throughout the country;
• Invite the seller to designate a parcel with a smartphone as a gift, a photo frame, or something like that. The event, although risky, since there is a scanner everywhere, is really working. Just do not indicate abstractly "phone". In this case, it will definitely be opened;
• Try to specify the phone of some other Chinese manufacturer. This is the most realistic option to avoid detention at customs. However, it is worth considering that more than 5% of all parcels are checked in detail by customs control officers, so there is still a risk;
• The easiest option is to purchase a new smartphone at a good discount from Smart Orange and join their fan club.

As a result, we can say that the procedure for buying smartphones in the Chinese Internet market will be relevant in any case. The only thing that intermediary companies like Smart Orange can do is to provide good quality with an appropriate price (without markups of 200-300%) on a popular product.