Buying high-end leather bags? Check the price tag carefully

The raid came after some customers complained against the store for selling its high-end leather shoes, bags and wallets at arbitrary prices

Next time you walk into a multinational retail outlet to buy high-end designer or luxury items, carefully check the price tag. The price tag of an item could actually be a fraud by a store.

Meanwhile, a source said the LMD would conduct a series of raids on such multinational retail stores and verify if they were complying with price declaration rules. (FILE)

Such a fraud was busted by the legal metrology department (LMD) during a raid at a renowned Italian multinational luxury leather goods retail outlet in Lower Parel on Wednesday. Officials seized articles worth Rs 1 crore from the store.

The raid came after some customers complained  against the store for selling its high-end leather shoes, bags and wallets at arbitrary prices.

Amitabh Gupta, director of LMD, said a decoy customer sent to the store for a reality check. “All items in the store came with expensive price tags, which is common for such outlets,” Gupta said, adding that the lowest retail price for a pair of shoes was Rs 30,000. The customer selected a pair of shoes priced at Rs 4.18 lakh. He asked the store to show the price declared to the customs during imports.

“Price declaration is a must on every packaged commodity, along with the month and year of import (in case of overseas brands). The declaration is made to protect the customer from arbitrary pricing. Those requirements were found incomplete in the articles sold in the store,” Gupta said.

When the store officials could not furnish valid reasons for the price charged for articles, the department seized the displayed articles and registered a case against the store under Rule 6 (1) of the Packed Commodity Rules of the Legal Metrology Act.

Gupta said the total price of the seized articles was more than Rs 1 crore, of which a sample of goods worth around 5 lakh has been taken into possession for verification with the customs department. “One is free to put any retail price on the imported items, but only after notifying the customs department about the import price. We are going to check with the customs about price declaration,” Gupta added.

Meanwhile, a source said the LMD would conduct a series of raids on such multinational retail stores and verify if they were complying with price declaration rules.