Apple Hong Kong has updated its returns policy in a move believed to be aimed at reducing cross-border smuggling of new iPhones into the mainland.
Until recently, the Apple Hong Kong returns policy allowed customers to return or exchange products within 14 days of purchase without charge.
But from now on customers trying to return goods will be required to show their receipt – and face a 15 per cent ‘repackaging fee’, for unopened products, or 25 per cent fee for phones already taken out of their box.
The rule applies to any product purchased in Hong Kong – however, customers who buy phones in the mainland will still be allowed free refunds or exchanges.
Apple community forums are reporting that with large volumes of handsets being smuggled across the border into the mainland, some entrepreneurs have been scalping handsets, and taking advantage of the US$125 price difference between Hong Kong – which is tax-free – and the mainland. Chinese Customs officials allow locals to bring back one iPhone per person for personal use, subject to a tax of 15 per cent of the purchase price. Travellers who bring in more than one iPhone without declaring it will be considered smugglers. According to a report published by the Shanghai Daily, Shenzhen Customs seized  some 400 iPhones on the day the new 7 model was launched in Hong Kong. Some travellers taped 20 or 30 phones to their bodies and tried to hide them with baggy clothes.
Apple itself has declined to explain the reasons for the policy change.