Customs authorities across China have recently intercepted a significant quantity of smuggled Labubu toys and counterfeit Labubu-themed products, following the buying frenzy.
In Central China's Hubei Province, 144 Pop Mart collectibles printed with the Labubu image were seized by customs at Wuhan Tianhe International Airport, China's General Administration of Customs (GAC) said on its official WeChat account on Tuesday.
They were seized from the baggage of two passengers, who did not declare the goods at customs, GAC said.
The passengers stated that they were bringing the toys for someone else for the purpose of reselling them. The customs authority has confiscated the toys in accordance with regulations.
Customs officers at Shanghai Pudong International Airport have seized 5,961 toys bearing the Pop Mart brand logo and resembling the Labubu series. Upon verification by the rights holder, the above-mentioned toys were confirmed to have infringed the original trademark rights, and have been legally confiscated in accordance with the law, according to the GAC on Friday.
In addition to pirated Labubu toys, a number of counterfeit Labubu peripherals have recently been seized by customs.
During an inspection of a batch of toys and backpacks declared for export, customs officers from Beilun Customs, a subsidiary of Ningbo Customs in East China's Zhejiang Province, discovered that the goods bore the logo of the Labubu toy series. Labubu prints were also found in another batch of exported cushions, according to a release on the customs' official website.
Upon verification with the rights holder, Beijing POP MART, both batches were confirmed to have infringed upon Beijing POP MART's rights, according to the release.
Customs officers also intercepted 26,000 keychains declared for export that bore a striking resemblance to the Labubu series. After identification by the rights holder, these keychains were confirmed as infringing goods.
Additionally, three consecutive batches of exported goods were found to conceal large quantities of undeclared blind boxes, plush toys and other items — all counterfeit Labubu products — violating related trademark rights and copyrights, according to customs.
Early June, the Beilun Customs also seized 2,350 blind boxes, 4,410 plush toys, 9,400 keychains, 495 raincoats and 1,200 combs, all of which featured designs from its currently trending Labubu series, according to a post on the customs' official WeChat account.
As the craze for Labubu intensifies, prices for the mischievous-looking vinyl figure have soared to around 34,000 yuan ($4,730) on some e-commerce platforms, three times the original price, the Global Times has learned.
In addition to strong sales, auctions involving Labubu toys have also seen fierce bidding.
A batch of items confiscated by customs, including 39 Labubu toys, was auctioned on Tuesday via a Chinese asset trading platform, the Xiaoxiang Morning News reported. The auction ran from 11 am Monday to 11 am Tuesday on the platform, with a starting price of 114,608 yuan, the report said.
The toys comprised 39 Labubu toys, including a Thailand-limited edition, with a market price of about 600 yuan each, according to the report.
After 73 rounds of fierce bidding, the batch finally sold for 191,608 yuan, as stated in the report.
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