What should I bring on my trip to Brazil to make a little extra spending cash?

October 10, 2006 6:08 PM

What should I bring on my trip to Brazil to make a little extra spending cash?

After a friend and I had booked our flights to Rio, another buddy said that he had heard ipods, laptops and other electronics were way more expensive than in the US.

I was wondering how I could use this to my advantage in order to have a few $$ on our adventures in paradise. I also heard that Diesel jeans are way expensive down there as well.

I was wondering what to bring, and who to sell it to? (shop owners, middlemen, etc)

Any advice would be welcome.

--Adam

posted by weiler63 to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Any of the above.

iPods especially are extremely hot in Brazil. US price is less than half, IIRC.

I have a Brazilian father-in-law and a Brazilian exchange student, so I do have a bit of experience on this one. Every time the former visits, he spends a lot of time in electronics stores.
posted by Invoke at 6:20 PM on October 10, 2006

Lighters. Everywhere around the globe -- lighters.
posted by thinkpiece at 6:46 PM on October 10, 2006

Women love makeup, cosmetics have huge markup, and the package is small .
posted by hortense at 7:02 PM on October 10, 2006

wax
posted by baker dave at 1:04 AM on October 11, 2006

Have you looked into the legality of selling items in Brazil?
posted by lukemeister at 7:28 AM on October 11, 2006

Good point, lukemeister. Brazilian customs officials are notoriously heavy handed with foreigners (especially Americans) bringing a suspicious amount of electronic and other high ticket items into the country. If you get stopped (and the likelihood of getting stopped in Rio is high) and your bags searched, you could face at the very least an unpleasantly spent day in the airport. At the worst, you could have your goods confiscated. Somewhere in the middle, you could end up paying the agent for the 'pleasure' of bring your merchandise into the country.
I go back and forth to Brazil frequently, and have done so for over a decade. Customs has grown increasingly rigid as the years pass. What I may have dared five years ago, I wouldn't dare now. Personally, I wouldn't risk it.
posted by msali at 8:30 AM on October 11, 2006

to second lukemeister/msali...I thought that this type of thing was illegal in any country that you could visit?
posted by mmascolino at 8:49 AM on October 11, 2006