Importing personal electronics

[WhiteHatPhil]

Hello!

First I apologise if this is 1) in the wrong forum and 2) has been discussed elsewhere (I did look!)  I am new to the forum. Be gentle with me! :-)

 

I am emigrating to Chiang Mai in January from the UK and was planning to bring some electrical item (a 2014 iMac, two monitors and three Sonos Speakers (all 9 months old)).

 

I am being led to believe by the shipping agents that have quoted me, and other forums, that these items will be inspected and duty & taxes charged - possibly heavily.

 

Does anyone have any recent experience of importing personal goods such as those I've listed? Is it worth the trouble/cost? 

 

Many thanks in advance!

Phil

[theoldgit]

I'll move this to the forum for people coming to Thailand rather than those leaving, you might have better luck.

[WhiteHatPhil]

Ah yes.  I hadn't realised!  Thank you very much.

[kilt]

I have some experience bringing in such items.

First - Are you shipping them or bringing them with you?

If shipping, how are you planning to do that? (fedex, post, container by sea etc...)

Are you emigrating by yourself? (no Thai wife or GF coming with you)

[WhiteHatPhil]

36 minutes ago, kilt said:

I have some experience bringing in such items.

First - Are you shipping them or bringing them with you?

If shipping, how are you planning to do that? (fedex, post, container by sea etc...)

Are you emigrating by yourself? (no Thai wife or GF coming with you)

 

Hi Kilt

I am shipping them, using a company called Seven Seas who state that the container (by sea) will be sealed but may be opened by Thai customs.  The service does include the use of a local broker to get the container through customs...

 

I am emigrating by myself.  The container will be scheduled to arrive sometime after I do.

Edited October 2, 2017 by WhiteHatPhil

[sumrit]

1 hour ago, WhiteHatPhil said:

I am shipping them, using a company called Seven Seas who state that the container (by sea) will be sealed but may be opened by Thai customs.  The service does include the use of a local broker to get the container through customs

 

I and a friend both used Seven Seas a few years ago to bring some personal electronic equipment here, each having about 3-4 tea chest size boxes. My mate was advised by Seven Seas to send his from his UK address to Bangkok's port for his own collection (an Thai agent was arranged by Seven Seas to get his boxes through customs) and he was charged about 10k baht in import duties/tea money.He also had to provide his passport.

 

I was advised by somebody who'd been through this system supply an inventory and to send my boxes 'door to door' to be delivered to my Thai house. An agent was arranged to bring them to my house and I still had to give the agent my passport to enable release from customs but, I didn't have to pay any import duties/tea money.

 

I don't know if this is general practice or just coincidence but I know off three other people who sent their items 'door to door' and they didn't pay import duties.The only people I've heard of that paid import duties are those who chose the 'door to port' option.

 

And when we decided to return to Thailand to live I shipped a container full of household furniture etc. I provided a comprehensive inventory and it appeared that customs used that for their assessment (unless they repacked every item in the container that we had in the UK). I was charged duty on two sets of golf clubs (not household items) a one LED TV (at three I'd taken too many) but @ just over a thousand baht in total for all three items I didn't think the duty was excessive.

[007 RED]

I know that some people will tell you that you can import your personal possessions into Thailand when you retire and not incur, or only incur minimal, customs duty.  I am not in a position to disprove any of those claims, but I can give you a few words of warning based upon the experience of a good friend of mine, and his wife, who retired in the UK and decided to come to live in Thailand about 4 years ago.

 

He wanted to bring most of their household goods and personal possessions to Thailand.  They employed a reputable shipping agent who told them that there would be no problems with import duty as the item were second hand and as they were retiring to Thailand they would be allowed to ship a one-off consignment duty free provided that it was done within a limited period of their arrival in Thailand.

The shipping agent arranged for the items to be packed and an inventory made which included an estimated value of each item.  Total estimated second hand value = £3K.  Their possessions filled a small container.

 

When the container arrived in Thailand the local shipping agent contacted my friend and arranged to meet him at the port to finalise the customs clearance.  When he met the agent he was informed that it may be necessary for some disbursements to be made in order to facilitate prompt release of the container, but he (the agent) would handle the matter.

 

The upshot of the story being that my friend was presented with a bill for import duty and VAT by customs amounting to £4001.  The bill comprised:

 

1)  30% import duty = £3.3K, where customs estimated the value of the items (as new) to be £9K plus shipping and insurance costs of £2K making the consignment value = £11K.

 

2)  VAT @ 7% on  consignment value plus import duty (£11K + £3.3K) = £1001.

 

3(  Total payable (import duty plus VAT) = £4001.

 

According to customs he was not entitled to bring his personal possessions into Thailand duty free when he retired here.  He was informed that customs do not work on a second hand value, they only work on as new ‘book’ value of the items.

Apparently the local agent tried to negotiate a disbursement in order to lower the duty payable but he was only able to get it lowered by about £1K.

 

My friend decided to cut his losses and walk away.

 

My friend was subsequently informed by the agent that customs officers receive a percentage bonus of the amount of duty that they collect, so they are reluctant to reduce the duty amount by very much.  He was also informed that if he did not pay the duty the goods would be auctioned off after a month.  My friend enquired if he could attend the auction so that maybe he could recover some of the items at a lower cost.  He was informed that only a few people are ever informed as to when the auctions take place and only those invited can attend.

 

My friend is still battling for compensation from the shipping company, with the help of his then local trading standards office, on the basis of misrepresentation.  Very difficult when it’s one person’s word against another.

 

If you think that is bad, recently there was a lot of news about a large number high value cars which were imported into Thailand apparently having circumvented the 300% import duty.  Imagine having to pay 300% import duty on a £100K Lambo .

 

You may be lucky, but on the other hand you could be in for a shock.  Think carefully.

[impulse]

14 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

He was also informed that if he did not pay the duty the goods would be auctioned off after a month. 

 

On an aside, do they publicize these auctions?  I used to go to the ones in California and they were quite a bit of fun, and I picked up some amazing stuff for pennies on the dollar.

[impulse]

Unless you have a company paying for the relo, the total cost would exceed the value of what you're bringing in by a wide margin.

 

Take the iMac on the plane with you, sell (or gift) the rest and buy replacements here.  You'll be dollars ahead and have brand new stuff.

[meatboy]

op states he is using the services of a shipping agent,who then use's a LOCAL BROOKER who is actually an agent who will screw you for as much as he can.as you have to list every item on the outside of the packages,the agent will know exactly what to hit or miss.

[keeniau96]

Impulse writes very sound advice. Bring the Mac with you aboard plane and most likely no hassle at Thai arport. Check the prices of monitors in Thailand, you will find very good ones at prices close to USA (which are usually less than UK). Same for the speakers. Some very reliable dealers here (and many not so much), I like Invade IT, good support and advice as well as prices.

[Mattd]

The OP doesn't state the reason for moving to Thailand, if it is for work purposes and a work permit, has, or will be issued for at least a 12 month period, then he would be allowed to import one of the items duty free, so long as the work permit and a 12 month extension of stay are in place when the container arrives here for clearance.

Though, as stated by other members, it would be hardly worth it, unless the monitors / speakers are something special.

As per Keeniau96, bring the Mac with you on the flight and check the prices of the rest to buy here, Invade IT, Lazada etc. are good places to start.

[kilt]

The secret lies in the local broker and the list of items.

I was advised not to be too specific in the list, in fact as vague as possible. Sonos items were listed simply as "speakers".

Art was listed as "frames" etc... They also gave me guidelines of what definitely not to list.

The local broker negotiated a "flat rate" to clear customs. About $300 US.

And yes, it was delivered to the port in Bangkok and I had to arrange delivery to my door after that.

[WhiteHatPhil]

On 02/10/2017 at 1:57 PM, sumrit said:

 

I and a friend both used Seven Seas a few years ago to bring some personal electronic equipment here, each having about 3-4 tea chest size boxes. My mate was advised by Seven Seas to send his from his UK address to Bangkok's port for his own collection (an Thai agent was arranged by Seven Seas to get his boxes through customs) and he was charged about 10k baht in import duties/tea money.He also had to provide his passport.

 

I was advised by somebody who'd been through this system supply an inventory and to send my boxes 'door to door' to be delivered to my Thai house. An agent was arranged to bring them to my house and I still had to give the agent my passport to enable release from customs but, I didn't have to pay any import duties/tea money.

 

I don't know if this is general practice or just coincidence but I know off three other people who sent their items 'door to door' and they didn't pay import duties.The only people I've heard of that paid import duties are those who chose the 'door to port' option.

 

And when we decided to return to Thailand to live I shipped a container full of household furniture etc. I provided a comprehensive inventory and it appeared that customs used that for their assessment (unless they repacked every item in the container that we had in the UK). I was charged duty on two sets of golf clubs (not household items) a one LED TV (at three I'd taken too many) but @ just over a thousand baht in total for all three items I didn't think the duty was excessive.

 

I will be going for the door-to-door service. And will keep my fingers crossed. Not very scientific I know!

 

With regards to the other posters, I am retiring to Thailand on my own. My possessions are not many, but the cost of replacing the Mac and the Sonos speakers would be far greater than the import duty/tea money. And as for taking a Mac on the plane...interesting concept but we are not talking about a laptop!  This is a 27 inch iMac, with the accompanying stand, DVD drive, keyboard, mouse etc...Not sure how I would get all that on a plane within my 30Kg allowance AND my suitcase!

 

The monitors are, granted, nothing special so I could leave them behind or sell them, but the Sonos speakers (for a TV/Hifi) and the Bose speakers for the Mac are not cheap to replace....

[JackThompson]

13 minutes ago, WhiteHatPhil said:

 

I will be going for the door-to-door service. And will keep my fingers crossed. Not very scientific I know!

 

With regards to the other posters, I am retiring to Thailand on my own. My possessions are not many, but the cost of replacing the Mac and the Sonos speakers would be far greater than the import duty/tea money. And as for taking a Mac on the plane...interesting concept but we are not talking about a laptop!  This is a 27 inch iMac, with the accompanying stand, DVD drive, keyboard, mouse etc...Not sure how I would get all that on a plane within my 30Kg allowance AND my suitcase!

 

The monitors are, granted, nothing special so I could leave them behind or sell them, but the Sonos speakers (for a TV/Hifi) and the Bose speakers for the Mac are not cheap to replace....

 

I shipped some electronics via US-Priority Mail - not sure what the UK equivalent is.  Tracked all the way here online.  Then went to the district post-office (not the closest one) and paid customs there - on used-value - not new (all was used). 

 

I read that it was better to use standard-mail, vs UPS, due to customs fee-shafting those using Fed-Ex/UPS.  As you don't have but a tiny fraction of a shipping-container, I would suggest at least pricing-this out to compare.

[H508]

From all the posts and stories I've read, it's 100% luck of the draw. I bought a new motorcycle helmet from Italy that shipped directly from the store to a home in Isaan through EMS (Express Mail Service). Custom went through Bangkok - cost of the helmet was 12,000 baht. Cost of the import tax was 4,200 baht. Sadly, it was a Shark helmet made in Thailand that no one in Thailand sells, lol.

Edited October 3, 2017 by H508

[gk10002000]

On 10/2/2017 at 8:57 AM, sumrit said:

 

I and a friend both used Seven Seas a few years ago to bring some personal electronic equipment here, each having about 3-4 tea chest size boxes. My mate was advised by Seven Seas to send his from his UK address to Bangkok's port for his own collection (an Thai agent was arranged by Seven Seas to get his boxes through customs) and he was charged about 10k baht in import duties/tea money.He also had to provide his passport.

 

I was advised by somebody who'd been through this system supply an inventory and to send my boxes 'door to door' to be delivered to my Thai house. An agent was arranged to bring them to my house and I still had to give the agent my passport to enable release from customs but, I didn't have to pay any import duties/tea money.

 

I don't know if this is general practice or just coincidence but I know off three other people who sent their items 'door to door' and they didn't pay import duties.The only people I've heard of that paid import duties are those who chose the 'door to port' option.

 

And when we decided to return to Thailand to live I shipped a container full of household furniture etc. I provided a comprehensive inventory and it appeared that customs used that for their assessment (unless they repacked every item in the container that we had in the UK). I was charged duty on two sets of golf clubs (not household items) a one LED TV (at three I'd taken too many) but @ just over a thousand baht in total for all three items I didn't think the duty was excessive.

1 K baht?  You definitely were not held hostage.

[oldwelshman]

On ‎03‎/‎10‎/‎2017 at 4:14 AM, 007 RED said:

I know that some people will tell you that you can import your personal possessions into Thailand when you retire and not incur, or only incur minimal, customs duty.  I am not in a position to disprove any of those claims, but I can give you a few words of warning based upon the experience of a good friend of mine, and his wife, who retired in the UK and decided to come to live in Thailand about 4 years ago.

 

He wanted to bring most of their household goods and personal possessions to Thailand.  They employed a reputable shipping agent who told them that there would be no problems with import duty as the item were second hand and as they were retiring to Thailand they would be allowed to ship a one-off consignment duty free provided that it was done within a limited period of their arrival in Thailand.

The shipping agent arranged for the items to be packed and an inventory made which included an estimated value of each item.  Total estimated second hand value = £3K.  Their possessions filled a small container.

 

When the container arrived in Thailand the local shipping agent contacted my friend and arranged to meet him at the port to finalise the customs clearance.  When he met the agent he was informed that it may be necessary for some disbursements to be made in order to facilitate prompt release of the container, but he (the agent) would handle the matter.

 

The upshot of the story being that my friend was presented with a bill for import duty and VAT by customs amounting to £4001.  The bill comprised:

 

1)  30% import duty = £3.3K, where customs estimated the value of the items (as new) to be £9K plus shipping and insurance costs of £2K making the consignment value = £11K.

 

2)  VAT @ 7% on  consignment value plus import duty (£11K + £3.3K) = £1001.

 

3(  Total payable (import duty plus VAT) = £4001.

 

According to customs he was not entitled to bring his personal possessions into Thailand duty free when he retired here.  He was informed that customs do not work on a second hand value, they only work on as new ‘book’ value of the items.

Apparently the local agent tried to negotiate a disbursement in order to lower the duty payable but he was only able to get it lowered by about £1K.

 

My friend decided to cut his losses and walk away.

 

My friend was subsequently informed by the agent that customs officers receive a percentage bonus of the amount of duty that they collect, so they are reluctant to reduce the duty amount by very much.  He was also informed that if he did not pay the duty the goods would be auctioned off after a month.  My friend enquired if he could attend the auction so that maybe he could recover some of the items at a lower cost.  He was informed that only a few people are ever informed as to when the auctions take place and only those invited can attend.

 

My friend is still battling for compensation from the shipping company, with the help of his then local trading standards office, on the basis of misrepresentation.  Very difficult when it’s one person’s word against another.

 

If you think that is bad, recently there was a lot of news about a large number high value cars which were imported into Thailand apparently having circumvented the 300% import duty.  Imagine having to pay 300% import duty on a £100K Lambo .

 

You may be lucky, but on the other hand you could be in for a shock.  Think carefully.

The following info can also be found on the ministry of affiars site, though it is a few pages down. Your friend was ripped off for sure. The MAF site also says what can be shipped. All second hand used items, no new items, have to be from house hold use, ie not 6 TV's etc.

http://www.legal-thailand.com/moving-to-thailand-household-goods.html

 

[007 RED]

1 hour ago, oldwelshman said:

The following info can also be found on the ministry of affiars site, though it is a few pages down. Your friend was ripped off for sure. The MAF site also says what can be shipped. All second hand used items, no new items, have to be from house hold use, ie not 6 TV's etc.

http://www.legal-thailand.com/moving-to-thailand-household-goods.html

 

I would agree with you on the point that my friends were ripped off, but that is water long passed under the bridge and lessons learned.

 

Regarding the link that you provided… it is from a private law firm and not MFA… it is also 4 years old so could be way beyond its sell by date.

 

If you go to the Customs website, which gives a wealth of information regarding duty on importing goods you will find a page which does provide information on importing used/secondhand household effects.

http://en.customs.go.th/content.php?ini_content=individuals_151007_02&lang=en&left_menu=menu_individuals_151007_02

If you read the section headed REQUIREMENTS FOR CHANGING RESIDENCE it specifies who qualifies for duty free import of such goods.  Unfortunately it does not make mention of those who are moving to Thailand for retirement purposes.  Most of wish that it did.

[oldwelshman]

6 hours ago, 007 RED said:

I would agree with you on the point that my friends were ripped off, but that is water long passed under the bridge and lessons learned.

 

Regarding the link that you provided… it is from a private law firm and not MFA… it is also 4 years old so could be way beyond its sell by date.

 

If you go to the Customs website, which gives a wealth of information regarding duty on importing goods you will find a page which does provide information on importing used/secondhand household effects.

http://en.customs.go.th/content.php?ini_content=individuals_151007_02&lang=en&left_menu=menu_individuals_151007_02

If you read the section headed REQUIREMENTS FOR CHANGING RESIDENCE it specifies who qualifies for duty free import of such goods.  Unfortunately it does not make mention of those who are moving to Thailand for retirement purposes.  Most of wish that it did.

Unless I am mistaken it includes spouse visa and over 50 non immigrant?

[ubonjoe]

5 hours ago, oldwelshman said:

Unless I am mistaken it includes spouse visa and over 50 non immigrant?

There is no exemption for being on a visa or extension of stay based upon retirement. That was eliminated several years ago. You would have to be working to get the exemption now.

If married to a Thai they can do the shipment and claim the exemption.

 

[007 RED]

47 minutes ago, ubonjoe said:

There is no exemption for being on a visa or extension of stay based upon retirement. That was eliminated several years ago. You would have to be working to get the exemption now.

If married to a Thai they can do the shipment and claim the exemption.

 

Joe… Just to clarify the situation regarding a Thai spouse claiming the exemption…. The Thai spouse can only claim the duty free exemption on second hand household goods shipped back to Thailand if they have been working or studying abroad for a period of at least 1 year.  The exemption cannot be claimed if they are a tourist or visiting relatives.

[ubonjoe]

7 minutes ago, 007 RED said:

Joe… Just to clarify the situation regarding a Thai spouse claiming the exemption…. The Thai spouse can only claim the duty free exemption on second hand household goods shipped back to Thailand if they have been working or studying abroad for a period of at least 1 year.  The exemption cannot be claimed if they are a tourist or visiting relatives.

I would assume in most cases the spouse would be on a long stay visa of some kind or have residency that would also be allowed.

[juice777]

When I came here I striped down my PC and put it all in boxes. And then put it in a massive bag along with a ps4. When I got here just bought a new case for 500THB. Can't you do something similar with a I mac. And just buy a new monitor when you get here. I had a quote on how much to ship my TV here and it was ridiculous so I sold it and bought a new one when I got here worked out a lot cheaper.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

[DrPhibes]

We brought laptops, desktop, game consols, hand held game units, 20in display, about 100 Xbox games, Lego robotics kit, all in our check-in luggage in '16. All showed up and no duty charges.  Worth a trip back home?

[manarak]

1 minute ago, DrPhibes said:

We brought laptops, desktop, game consols, hand held game units, 20in display, about 100 Xbox games, Lego robotics kit, all in our check-in luggage in '16. All showed up and no duty charges.  Worth a trip back home?

I can only second the advice to bring the items as luggage.

I have brought in computers, 28" monitors and a large printer that weighs 30Kg.

No problems at all at customs, though my heart sank when they stopped me and asked to put the big box in the X-Ray. They helped me, scanned it and then put it back onto my trolley "welcome to Thailand sir". okay.

[WhiteHatPhil]

On 08/10/2017 at 2:38 PM, juice777 said:

When I came here I striped down my PC and put it all in boxes. And then put it in a massive bag along with a ps4. When I got here just bought a new case for 500THB. Can't you do something similar with a I mac. And just buy a new monitor when you get here. I had a quote on how much to ship my TV here and it was ridiculous so I sold it and bought a new one when I got here worked out a lot cheaper.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 

Erm....no! ?