Hi chaps,

does anyone have experience of shipping  belongings from the UK to Thailand?

I’ve been here in Mukdahan for a month now and need all the heavy stuff that I couldn’t stick in my suitcase, tools and the like  - no furniture, so I only need about two cubic metres. I am hoping that actual weight is not an issue, don’t care how long it takes.

I am guessing that a company sends a box to your address in the UK to be filled, then picks it up - is that how it works? And could anyone recommend a company - the content of my container would not be valuable.

I also remember reading something about needing permission to do this from some Thai department or other, can anyone enlighten this clueless newbie?

What the heck does "tools and stuff" mean. What are these "imports for"?

You need tell thread exactly what your planning. 

I was lucky when I first came here and ran into USA guy....I wanted to bring my Harley over. He did. Quote from him " worst thing I ever did".

Tools and stuff ....good one.

Just personal stuff for bike/car/house maintenance, and some gym equipment to fight the flab - I’m not importing for resale as you seem to be implying, i’ll Give you the benefit of the doubt and assume I wasn’t very clear.

 

 

 

4 hours ago, Mukdahanman said:

i’ll Give you the benefit of the doubt and assume I wasn’t very clear.

sorry i cant help re imports but for sure customs will try to tax you on whatever comes in  dealing with them can be both expensive and painful.

A bit like some Helpful posters on TV, but you seem to have worked that out!

 

 

Thanks Poohy, I was afraid of that, but appreciate the heads up.

What sort of visa are you on?

 

When I imported household goods I had arrived on a non-B and the company was processing the work permit when the goods arrived. If I had received the work permit already then there would have been no import duty to pay but customs wanted Baht 20,000 due to not having the work permit.

 

I could have waited until the work permit was processed but would have had to pay demurrage to customs for storage of the stuff so the costs could have been more than the duty. Fortunately my company paid the duty.

 

No idea how they calculated the amount of duty, I got the impression it was just a number plucked out of the air that could be negotiated.

 

So having a long term visa (retirement?) could be important, you'd maybe want to talk to the customs office first.

On 1/14/2019 at 12:21 PM, LongTimeLurker said:

What sort of visa are you on?

 

When I imported household goods I had arrived on a non-B and the company was processing the work permit when the goods arrived. If I had received the work permit already then there would have been no import duty to pay but customs wanted Baht 20,000 due to not having the work permit.

 

I could have waited until the work permit was processed but would have had to pay demurrage to customs for storage of the stuff so the costs could have been more than the duty. Fortunately my company paid the duty.

 

No idea how they calculated the amount of duty, I got the impression it was just a number plucked out of the air that could be negotiated.

 

So having a long term visa (retirement?) could be important, you'd maybe want to talk to the customs office first.

I’m on a 3 month non ‘o’, soon to be extended by the marriage route. 

To be honest, this customs issue seems a bit of a minefield and I’ve decided to not bother - I’ve discovered Lazada and I’ll build up some bits and pieces from them.

But I sure appreciate your helpful input, best of luck mate.