Border traders are not satisfied with their sales

The long holiday failed to meet the sales expectations of traders in two border cities: Tulcan and Huaquillas. In both places the cross-border shopping basket allows entrepreneurs to import products like cell phones, televisions or appliances without safeguards (tariff surcharges) or duties and sell them without paying taxes.

Jose Tates, who sells items of the cross-border trade basket in Tulcan, said he went “well on the holiday.”

He claimed to have sold three washing machines and a dozen TVs and printers. The first product is part of the new items that sellers can import, and the others have restrictions on nationalization for travelers entering by land.

William Segarra, manager of Comercial Segarra, sales are being reactivated, as Friday he sold ten televisions.

In that store, Ramiro Argotti, of Quito, bought a 40-inch TV for $ 570. He said that the same product in Ipiales (Colombia) costs $ 400, but the nationalization of the device is complicated. Thus, he bought it in Tulcan.

“By the time we sell, we hand the invoice with the required deposit of customs clearance, which is an advantage,” said Segarra.

In retail stores, such as the Popular Shopping Center, which brings together some 450 people, sales did not reach the expected figures.