import duties????

[jetdoc]

When I retired almost 2 years ago and re-located to Thailand, I brought a total of 5 foot lockers and one large box. All were within the limits for checked baggage. At the time I was coming to LOS about 6 or 7 times a year so 3 separate trips were needed. Total cost, zip! If I had it to do again I would bring much less and some things would be different.

[laphanphon]

did the same thing, made at least 6 trips in months from states. used to work for airlines, so exceeded limits all the time till the bkk/udon leg on thai, which were very gentle. actually but some things on expedite tags (lost luggage forwarding tags), some made it to udon, some just to bkk, which i would pick up if in bkk. would send expedites on earlier flights. even sent 2 large/heavy stereo speakers over, made it undamaged. untax and free shipping except for the occasion thai air excess bags. the only time i had question was when bringing music cd collection over. have to pay duty, not personal. dude, look at these boxes. old scratched, some broke. for me and wife. 'oh, you have thai wife, no problem', go figure. another time ful of household junk and my favorite shampoo and conditioner had extra in house. chickie says to much for personal use, maybe you should take some and i won't have so much, so she grabbed a shampoo, and of course i gave her a conditioner, need both. one advantage of working for airlines, plus the r/t airfare was only 200 bucks, first class. man, can that turn you into a snob after 15 yrs. to the point of, honey, shall we go on vacation today, or wait till tomorrow, first is not open today, and that was for short hops. wouldn't dream of coming over to thai in economy.

those return flights sucked after leaving airlines, economy for 24 hrs. thank god for valiums.

[polehawk]

Our shipment of household effects left Miami by ship on 9/22 and arrived in Bangkok on 10/27 (we think). We shipped nine boxes (1 pallet) of used clothes, shoes, books, picture albums, kitchen items, CDs, DVDs, etc. in wife's (dual citizen of Thailand and USA) name but no antiques, booze or weapons. We're going through an agent in Bangkok and received a quote of 15,000 baht to clear customs and delivery to our door in Udon. Agent's quote said import duty/tax and storage charges weren't included so, from reading about the experiences of a few, we're expecting to pay something extra. Might still require a trip to Bangkok to present wife's passport, ID card and other documents to transport agent.

Well, our 9 boxes of personal effects finally were delivered to us in Udon last night. We were assessed an additional 4,000 baht for "import taxes" and 1,000 Baht for storage at the Bangkok dock warehouse. It required a trip to Bangkok agent's office to make payment and turn over wife's Thai passport but trips to Bangkok are always enjoyable to me so no big deal plus had to take care of other business there anyway.

Only in Thailand. The truck driver (from Bangkok) called us at 2 am to tell us he was "lost in Udon" and had been going round and round the three circles. My wife found out they were now close to Big C so had him wait until we got there and we could shepherd him to our house. Found out that 3 am is a nice time to drive around town. No motorcycles or tuk-tuks to deal with. Streets were deserted and the drive was an enjoyable one. Driver and his wife unloaded all of the boxes from the truck onto our front porch so we tipped them a couple hundred baht. We had planned on bro-in-law and nephews helping since we expected stuff to be delivered in daytime like any normal transport company would do. Anyway, beer for relatives would have cost a lot more than the tip so a baht saved.....

Kinda pricey getting our goods shipped here but we finally got OUR stuff.

[billyboy]

Hmmm,sounds like visa runs for cars.

Bought mine in Laos and had someone float it across the river at night.Been stopped a hundred times but no cop ever checks vehicle id plates.Nong Khai is full of cars from Laos at one third the price you pay here.My local garage sorts out the tax and 700 Baht insurance for a fee.

do you have paperwork and is it right hand drive very intresting as i am looking for pick up prerunner/highlander what kind of money are we talking 87/88
cheers billyboy

[nkstan]

A few years back,my daughter sent a Bank debit card and 2 tax related papers to me in Nong Khai using an express company.It was a flat small pouch envelope and i had to pay 800+ baht custom fees before they would give me the envelope!

[Texpat]

To Thais, "fair price" often means the maximum you're willing to pay.
Transportation costs, payroll, warehousing, insurance, et al, have less to do with the total fee than the depth of the customer's pockets.

It's disgusting.

Ahhhh paradise.

[jackspratt]

There is a strong suggestion about (including ThaiVisa) that the major courier/express companies (DHL,TNT etc) are in cahoots with Customs when it comes to extra charges, and thus many people will not use them.

[Prenders88]

I've shipped four tea chests and two book boxs to Thailand from the UK.
They are on their way. One thing the shipping company told me is not to take any electrical items as the Thai customs will tax them heavily, even if they are second hand.

[maaka]

all I need is my Harley, rifle and music. I came in with a big flash ghetto blaster last time, and no one said anything about electrical items..in fact no one has ever said anything to me when entering the Kingdom, never checked my bags, just stamped my passport and given a grunt...last time I walked in with afew rounds of ammunition in my pocket, which I had forgotten to sort out of my loose change, I am amongst other things a professional hunter /wildlife ranger, and having them in my pocket is normal......however when I go Aussie, or back home, a little red flag pops up everytime on the custom officers computer and I am whisked away for a three hour grilling, and threatened with the rubber finger..

I like the idea of the barge thingy, sounds handy, maybe I will bring the Hog over via Nam, licence it in Laos and barge her over..