Airport Duty-Free

[cblunt]

Would anyone know about how much a bottle of Champagne such as Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial would cost on arrival at Suvarnabhumi Airport? Is there are reasonable selection of Champagne there?

 

I'm flying tomorrow evening and not sure whether it would be better to buy it in Manila before I leave.

 

Also, if you buy on arrival in Bangkok is there still a limit on how much you can take into the country?

 

 

[wpcoe]

"No more than 1 liter of wine or spirits"

source

[mtls2005]

2,190 THB for 75 cl

 

DP is 5,950 also 75 cl

 

DF limit is 1 liter of alcohol per person.

 

There are King Power DF shops adjacent to the ramp up to arriving immigration, and smaller shops within the baggage claim area.

[cblunt]

Thanks for that.

 

I actually ended up buying a couple of bottles in Manila before I left. That was just as well as even duty-paid in a supermarket there it was about 20% cheaper than the duty-free shops in Suvarnabhumi.

 

[mtls2005]

Some things at DF here are more expensive; that champers is usually on sale in the U.S. for $35 (1,200 THB) and in shops here for ~ 4,000 THB, while other stuff - especially when you move up in price - is a lot less. Especially when you factor in getting 1 L for 25% less than the price for 70 cl (single malts).

 

Duty-free is just that, fee of duty. Unfortunately, Thailand has a ton of other ad valorem taxes, tariffs, fees and surcharges which can contribute to higher DF prices.

[The manic]

I often buy DF whisky in many places and have not found it to be consistently cheaper than ordinary supermarkets. However, sometimes the range of choice is more exotic. I rarely bother with F2F these days.

[cblunt]

6 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Some things at DF here are more expensive; that champers is usually on sale in the U.S. for $35 (1,200 THB) and in shops here for ~ 4,000 THB, while other stuff - especially when you move up in price - is a lot less. Especially when you factor in getting 1 L for 25% less than the price for 70 cl (single malts).

 

Duty-free is just that, fee of duty. Unfortunately, Thailand has a ton of other ad valorem taxes, tariffs, fees and surcharges which can contribute to higher DF prices.

 

I checked the prices at TOPS supermarket here in Ko Samui and a bottle of Moët & Chandon Brut Imperial is 4,299 Baht. That's US$130!!! Totally outrageous.

 

[wpcoe]

Another thing about many duty free shops is that duties (taxes) might not be applied, but the profit amount for the shop can be raised to almost match what the duty would have been.

 

e.g. The tax burden in Thailand on most imported spirits is approximately 400 percent.  When was the last time you saw a bottle of imported spirits at a King Power store for 1/5 the price of the retail stores in town?

[observer90210]

The issue has been raised very often and the conclusion was that with an exception for tobacco (depending on where you live) , duty free is not worth any more and absolutely not worth in Thailand. As a friendly poster pointed out once, even tobacco in 7/11 costs (for the moment) less then at Suvarnabhumi, but the taste is not quite the same.

 

Even my favorite Gentleman Jack Whisky sells for substantially less at the local supermarkets in France then in any duty free outlet, should it be in Dubai or Thailand. Quite a surprise as the French taxman is known to be a terror talliban for one's wallet!

 

 

Edited September 12, 2017 by observer90210

[mtls2005]

On 9/12/2017 at 6:48 PM, wpcoe said:

When was the last time you saw a bottle of imported spirits at a King Power store for 1/5 the price of the retail stores in town?

 

Not sure where you pulled the "1/5" figure from, but for single malts in the 2,000 - 4,000 baht range, prices at King Power Duty Free on arrival at BKK are ~ 60% of the retail prices in shops in Bangkok. The price is lower, and you are getting 1L at the airport, vs. 700 mL in town.

 

For me, it is quite a bit cheaper in the U.S., even at a straight-up retail store, than duty-free but I can only get 750 mL, and I have to pack it in my checked bags - where breakage can be a factor. When I can find what I want in a 1 L size I usually do that, but if not, I grab something on arrival.

[wpcoe]

On 9/12/2017 at 6:48 PM, wpcoe said:

The tax burden in Thailand on most imported spirits is approximately 400 percent.  When was the last time you saw a bottle of imported spirits at a King Power store for 1/5 the price of the retail stores in town?

 

4 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

Not sure where you pulled the "1/5" figure from, but for single malts in the 2,000 - 4,000 baht range, prices at King Power Duty Free on arrival at BKK are ~ 60% of the retail prices in shops in Bangkok. The price is lower, and you are getting 1L at the airport, vs. 700 mL in town.

 

My math may be faulty?

 

- A 400% tariff on B100 would be B400 making the price B500 on the shelf in town.

- Without the 400% tariff the price would be B100 on the shelf at the airport.

- An airport price of B100 would be 1/5 of the B500 price in town.

 

If a bottle sold in town for B2000 and at the airport for  B1200 (60% of B2000), they have added a very nice extra profit.  The base price of that B2000 bottle before a 400% tariff would be B400.  By selling it at B1200,  they would be making B800 more profit than what the store in town is making.  Hard to compare 1000ml vs 700ml directly, but the airport duty-free shop is still making boat loads of profit more than the in-town store.

 

Sorry for the mathematics "word problem," but didn't know how else to explain how I got the "1/5" figure.

[cblunt]

I guess you would also need to factor in the very high rental prices that the airport authorities charge retailers there. Much higher than they would normally pay in town I believe.

[mtls2005]

18 hours ago, wpcoe said:

Hard to compare 1000ml vs 700ml directly,

 

Not really, simple division gives you a baht/mL price for each which makes for an easy comparison.

 

King Power Duty Free: single malt brand A: 1,950 THB/1 L = 1.95 THB/mL

In town store: single malt brand A: 2,200 THB/700 mL = 3.14 THB/mL

 

So the savings is significant. These are actual figures from a few weeks ago.

 

That said, I can get the same brand of single malt in the U.S. (750 mL) for 1.81 THB/mL list, and 1.33 THB/mL on sale.