dhs raided my store

Hi all

I have a store at a flea market in the middle of the hood where I sell sports apparel and really anything else
i can find cheap..

Well i started ordering jerseys from china and sellin them. and we did this for a while along with selling all our other stuff to. I have a slight shopping addiction lol so over the years ive aquired alot of stuff

So we never told anyone these jerseys were real, even had a sign hangin up stating it and we were sellin em for
35$ so thats a dead giveaway lol

Well a little while back a customer who had bought a couple jerseys from me came back in and flashed me a badge saying "homeland security intelluctual properties division and im shuttin down your store" i said f--- why
he said all the counterfeit jerseys

so the next thing i knew there were 10 federal agents in my store going through every box i had.. they took all my jerseys accept the soccer ones i had wich i told them were knockoffs

they also took a bunch of t-shirts and hats that i bought at places like tj maxx and marshalls on clearance
saying they were fake.. i dont understand how they can leave the soccer that i told them was fake but take stuff i know was real.. and they took my till for the day ..

Now after they finished wreckin my store and takin all my info they had to come to my house and make sure i didnt have a bunch of jerseys or other fake stuff at my house.. so now i have dhs in my home.. not cool

So i did not get arrested or charged just half my store confiscated.. but a couple weeks later i get a letter from us customs and border patrol listing all the stuff they took and the appraised value of it all

in the letter there were 3 options #1 i could fight it and say that they were real and try and get em back in court
#2 i could pay the appraised value (of a ridiculous 250$ a jersey) and get em back that way..
so they will sell them back to me lol but then i still cant sell em cause there knockoffs

#3 choose to do nothing and they will start forfieture proceedings

then at the bottom it says if you choose option #1or 2 then your case will be forwarded to the federal prosecuters office for full review

Just thought atsers would like to see how dhs is protecting us.. 10 federal agents in my store for over an hour over shirts...i really think they have better things to do

but dont you feel safer knowing the chinese shirts are being taken off the streets??

That happened a couple of months ago, to someone I know. The confiscated items were bootlegged by the people who sold them out of China. They also took all his sports inventory he'd ordered from China. Intellectual property rights for the Teams the shirts and hats represented. He was briefly arrested, appeared within hours before a local Judge, signed away any claim to the items, and let go with no fines.

Sorry you had to go through this....now you know the legal aspects of bootlegged merchandise

Des

Moral of the story...don't set up a store selling counterfeit jerseys from China.

DHS has ever right to look into it, who knows what is coming in those packages from China. Sorry bro, sounds like you made a bad move.

reply to post by Destinyone

ty

i feel like if your not lying to anyone and your not stealing from anyone thats an honest buck

reply to post by goou111


Trademark Counterfeiting Act of 1984

If the knockoffs carried any registered trademark, it is against the law. I am glad for you that you did not get jail time or a massive fine.

Just be especially careful from now on.

reply to post by goou111


You were sort of stealing from the sports leagues/teams/brand of jerseys....

I mean I really don't blame you, it's not a huge crime. But you're not getting locked up, right? The teams that own the rights to these designs should protect their product.

Originally posted by PatrickGarrow17
Moral of the story...don't set up a store selling counterfeit jerseys from China.

DHS has ever right to look into it, who knows what is coming in those packages from China. Sorry bro, sounds like you made a bad move.

you think that dhs had the right to take stuff i bought at stores like marshalls?

Welcome to new Nazi America courtesy of DHS.

Btw i see DHS cruisers all over the place now on the Highways and in my small town. More so than local police cruisers.

reply to post by goou111


They had reasonable cause to suspect it was counterfeit...do you have the option of getting those items back without fighting the charges on the jerseys?

reply to post by goou111


Just wanted to post and say that i hope all is going well and that they will be leaving you alone in the future.

Would love to have known of your footy jerseys before the raid, though. Nearly impossible to find Chelsea gear in the states. :-D Can't even find a decent dc united jersey here in the south lol.

My question is, how the hell is the appraisal price that high?! Are they appraising them as signed Rose jerseys lol?

Ah, the government will always find a way to shaft the little guys. I fully support the knock-off market. If Adidas wouldn't charge $90 for a jersey that cost them $1.25 to manufacture in, hang on, lemme grab my Chicago Fire jersey... Oh yeah, China!, then I wouldn't shop at discount outlets or buy knockoffs. I only have a few authentic jerseys, mainly from games I have attended.

I see it like this, buy a $20 jersey made in china with your teams name on it, or spend $90 for a jersey that was made in china with your teams name on it. I don't see the difference, the jobs are being outsourced either way. Now if they started making apparel for our teams here in the states, I might pay the mark-up, but from where I sit, the only difference between a knock-off and authentic is the hologram sticker you will be removing before you wear it the first time.

reply to post by goou111


Wow! Tale of caution, for sure.

I sell at craft fairs mostly, and they make us sign paperwork stating all our merchandise is handmade. But there are always sellers who are selling stuff made in China and passing it off as handmade, for way cheaper than we artisians can possible charge. So I understand the problems.

I do buy a lot of stuff from China. It's way cheaper than any in the states and usually comes with free shipping too! Fortunately for me, I only buy blanks that I either paint or decorate.

But it's tough out there and this probably couldn't have come at worse time for you. From one entrepreneur to another, I feel for you. Hope you're able to get back up before too long! Best wishes.

Originally posted by goou111
you think that dhs had the right to take stuff i bought at stores like marshalls?

I think unfortunatly that the kind of stuff that happens in raids. They will take a lot of stuff that could possibly be what they're looking for, and will often err on the side of "better take it just in case".

Lesson learnt: Dont have anything that they might want to take (such as a stackload of fake merchandise).

reply to post by PatrickGarrow17


i do agree somewhat but if im tellin em thats not a real nike jersey i get it from china then whats the problem?

why is it legal for anyone to buy them from china but once they get here you cant sell em?

they need to just shut it down at customs and not let em in the country

but then there would be no need for an intelluctual properties division

reply to post by PatrickGarrow17


no im just screwed there lol

NFL. NBA, DHS

Don't mess with acronyms.
They got each others back.

Originally posted by windword
reply to post by goou111

 

Wow! Tale of caution, for sure.

I sell at craft fairs mostly, and they make us sign paperwork stating all our merchandise is handmade. But there are always sellers who are selling stuff made in China and passing it off as handmade, for way cheaper we artisians can possible charge. So I understand the problems.

I do buy a lot of stuff from China. It's way cheaper than any in the states and usually comes with free shipping too! Fortunately for me, I only buy blanks that a either paint or decorate.

But it's tough out there and this probably couldn't have come at worse time for you. From one entrepreneur to another, I feel for you. Hope you're able to get back up before too long! Best wishes.

edit on 8-12-2012 by windword because: (no reason given)

your right couldnt have been at a worse time for me lol..

but ill just find other things to sell.. im open to any ideas

pfffth.. tell dhs get stuffed since when does counterfiet goods have anything to do with homeland security ? you were honest and had sign letting people know they were knockoffs.. sounds more like corrupt officials trying to make extra pocket money before the holidays...

Originally posted by goou111

Originally posted by windword
reply to post by goou111

 

Wow! Tale of caution, for sure.

I sell at craft fairs mostly, and they make us sign paperwork stating all our merchandise is handmade. But there are always sellers who are selling stuff made in China and passing it off as handmade, for way cheaper we artisians can possible charge. So I understand the problems.

I do buy a lot of stuff from China. It's way cheaper than any in the states and usually comes with free shipping too! Fortunately for me, I only buy blanks that a either paint or decorate.

But it's tough out there and this probably couldn't have come at worse time for you. From one entrepreneur to another, I feel for you. Hope you're able to get back up before too long! Best wishes.

edit on 8-12-2012 by windword because: (no reason given)

your right couldnt have been at a worse time for me lol..

but ill just find other things to sell.. im open to any ideas

You are in the hood right? Tobacco smoking accessories. Cheap to buy in bulk, over a 100% mark-up margin, and word will travel fast if the products are good and the price is right. People break pipes, give them as gifts, etc. Have to sell items you can expect repeat customers for :-D

reply to post by YouAreLiedTo


ty man
if your interested i can give you a good site that will get you your jerseys or shoes or whatever
and you wont get ripped off

and its legal to buy em

reply to post by YouAreLiedTo


you are right about that the market im in allready has 3 smoke shops and they frikin kill it

but they wont allow anyone else to open another one there. sigh