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Authorized distributors have the rights to import genuine items. Importing or selling counterfeit products is against the law, and you are asking for trouble and may go to jail for attempting such. Also, Quito has more than enough mobile shops, too many to count, and the same thing is true for online sellers.

This also isn’t a materialistic society and people will own older phones or the same phone for a long time.

If you can’t succeed in the mobile business in China, you will not succeed here because of reasons I mentioned and also it's a very small and competitive market.

vsimple wrote:

Authorized distributors have the rights to import genuine items. Importing or selling counterfeit products is against the law, and you are asking for trouble and may go to jail for attempting such. Also, Quito has more than enough mobile shops, too many to count, and the same thing is true for online sellers.

This also isn’t a materialistic society and people will own older phones or the same phone for a long time.

If you can’t succeed in the mobile business in China, you will not succeed here because of reasons I mentioned and also it's a very small and competitive market.

I mentioned this in another thread, I am on an email list for information about Ecuador and one of the articles was about how a lot of people actually want the newest electronic items and they will pay top dollar for them.  For example a new iPhone 7 Plus that I can get in the U.S. for like $1,000 someone in Ecuador will buy it for like $1,400 because they are $1,500 from the Apple store.  Same type of things with Samsung Galaxy Edge, iPads, and MacBook Pro laptops. 

Personally I was hoping to find some people in Ecuador wanting some items like these at a discount that I could buy and bring to Ecuador to make enough money to help pay for my trip.  I've found that if I plan well on the flight, I can book one for around $850-$1,000, and then I've found place that can be rented as full furnished beach side apartments for less than $200 a week.  If I stayed 3 weeks, that would be about $1,600 not counting food and stuff.  Heck if what I was told were true, I could make a great deal of that money off a couple phones (I think I read you can bring two), a MacBook Pro, and maybe a couple other things that fit within Ecuador's guidelines.

Any info would be great.  This post in this thread might not get me a lot of answers, would it be against the rules to create a thread about this?

But you are limited to bringing in 2 phones and 2 computers....

Lewdog wrote:

vsimple wrote:

Authorized distributors have the rights to import genuine items. Importing or selling counterfeit products is against the law, and you are asking for trouble and may go to jail for attempting such. Also, Quito has more than enough mobile shops, too many to count, and the same thing is true for online sellers.

This also isn’t a materialistic society and people will own older phones or the same phone for a long time.

If you can’t succeed in the mobile business in China, you will not succeed here because of reasons I mentioned and also it's a very small and competitive market.

I mentioned this in another thread, I am on an email list for information about Ecuador and one of the articles was about how a lot of people actually want the newest electronic items and they will pay top dollar for them.  For example a new iPhone 7 Plus that I can get in the U.S. for like $1,000 someone in Ecuador will buy it for like $1,400 because they are $1,500 from the Apple store.  Same type of things with Samsung Galaxy Edge, iPads, and MacBook Pro laptops. 

Any info would be great.  This post in this thread might not get me a lot of answers, would it be against the rules to create a thread about this?

I suggest you visit Mercado Libre (Ecuador), and you'll understand the reality. The difference in prices for similar Iphones (for example Iphone 7 Plus 128GB) between the Apple Store in the US and some Mercado Libre merchants is $100 at most.

Unfortunately there aren't many short cuts in the developing world, and the way you think, there are a 1000 other people who have already thought of it. It's also no secret that many electronics are smuggled in from Ipiales, Colombia. You have to ask yourself is it worth the trouble, to find a buyer, convince them to send you a deposit (highly unlikely and you can very well be stuck with the phone), arrange a meeting to deliver the phone, and other things that might arise for $100 at most.

And there is the ever present risk of being robbed...

AMDG wrote:

And there is the ever present risk of being robbed...

Yes, that is why you do it in a public place with lots of people around.  Though I believe in being careful about everything I do, I don't live my life scared, I could walk out of my front door and literally get hit by a car, but I don't worry about it.  And before you think that is a joke, I live downtown in a city, and not even a very big one, and in the 5 years that I have lived here, I've had two cars jump the curb and his the brick outer wall of my apartment.  No joke.  Twice in 5 years.  I've also traveled to Bulgaria on a vacation... back in the late 90's.  Not exactly always a safe place for an American.

If I can make $1,000 off of reselling a couple phones and a laptop to help pay for my trip, I think it is worth it.