Import Duty

[nahkit]

Every year my sister sends a few parcels over for Christmas containing gifts for the family and a few 'home comforts' such as biscuits and Walkers crisps (usually around 5 packs). In the past she has always used the normal postal service and the post office has occasionally asked for me to pay customs duty when collecting the parcels but it's only ever been a few hundred baht and they have never asked for any documentation.

 

This year, for some reason, she has used a courier service and this morning I received an email asking me for more details regarding the contents. I replied to them saying they were Christmas presents for personal use and the courier has replied saying that they need shipping documents to clear the food items. If I have the shipping documents in my possession (which I don't) then they will place the goods in a bonded warehouse and I have to go down to Bangkok and clear them myself, otherwise, they will clear it for me and take care of any documents that customs might need.

 

Either option will probably cost more than the few food items are worth so I'm wondering if I can just tell them to keep the foodstuff and ship the rest of the goods?

 

I'll get my daughter to phone the courier when she gets home from work later today but if anyone has had a similar experience I'd be grateful for any pointers. I did a quick search of the forum but the topics all seem to be about importing large amounts of personal effects. 

[CharlieH]

Courier is the dreaded issue. Its clear you didnt select that option but for the benefit of others never use a courier if it can be avoided, it will cost you !!.

 

As for this particular case, you can only roll with it now and try to negotiate.

The chances of "splitting" the content I would think are pretty slim.

[nahkit]

I've already sent my sister an email telling her never to use a courier again!

[fruitman]

She better buys it online from villamarket or so and use your address for delivery. They have loads of imported snacks and all.

[nahkit]

A few days after my original post my daughter spoke to the shipping company and was told that there was no problem and the parcels would be delivered. A few days after that they contacted me and said they wanted 696 baht for the DO documents (no idea what they are) before the parcels could be delivered.

 

My daughter spoke to them again and said we would pay the 696 baht but they now said that the parcels couldn't be delivered due to the airline refusing to release the two parcels. I told her to call the shipper back and ask for the name of the airline and the contact person there that they were dealing with. When she asked for this information they backtracked and said it was a misunderstanding, it was the customs department that was holding the parcels and that we needed to obtain an FDA licence in order to get  them released. I got my daughter to speak to the shippers again, saying that we believed an FDA licence was only necessary for bulk import of goods and didn't apply in this case at which point they offered to handle all the paperwork for us for an unspecified fee. We also told them that if the food was the issue then we were quite happy for them to remove it from the parcels and just forward the rest which they said couldn't be done.

 

At the same time as we were talking to the shippers here in Thailand, my brother-in-law was speaking to the shippers in the UK and they said that as far as they were aware, all necessary paperwork had been included and there was no customs duty to be paid. They apologised for the delay and inconvenience we were experiencing and said they would also contact the shippers in Thailand.

 

A few days later I received an email from the Thai shippers requesting the 696 baht for the DO documents plus a further 10,000 baht to cover the paperwork to obtain release of the parcels from customs.

 

At that point, on the 8th of January, we ceased contact with the Thai shippers and wrote the parcels off as value of the contents was nowhere near 10,000 baht.   

 

On the 26th of January I received a call from a lady who said she was trying to deliver a package to our village address but there was nobody home, my wife spoke with her and told her that we were in Khon Kaen for a few days. The next day a courier van (not marked with the logo of the Thai company we had been dealing with) showed up at our place in Khon Kaen and handed over both of the parcels, no money asked for and the contents were all intact!

 

What made them change their mind and decide that they could now deliver the parcels and didn't need the 696 baht for the documents or the 10,000 baht to do the customs paperwork I have no idea, I'm just glad to have finally received them.

[CharlieH]

Concluded/Case Closed.