To the Americans, Did you ship boxes ?

[brent c]

I am wondering if those of you from the US ever shipped a few boxes of clothes or whatever when you made the move to Thailand ?

Any advice on shipment to the Thai address would be helpful.

 

( I say that because I prefer not to pick up boxes in port,  too far away from the final destination)

[Nyezhov]

I mailed stuff back, its expensive and the only reason I did that was because I wend my way back and forth, and I dont like wending with a lot of stuff.

[bwpage3]

Research the cost. Completely outrageous.

[cmarshall]

You contact a local mover in your US communitry and supply the specifics.  If they are large enough and experienced enough they will provide a quote including delivery to your address in Thailand.  We shipped over furniture, books, computers, etc.  Cost us about $4000 a few years ago.  The shipment is subject to customs duties assuming you don't have a Thai wife, but I don't think books are taxed.

[Pilotman]

You address this to the Americans, but I doubt it's any different to moving stuff from the UK .  We shipped over a 40 foot container with all our personal items.  It was a door to door service, packed and unpacked, plus arranging customs clearance at the port. We used an International moving agent and total cost circa $5,500 two years ago.   One thing to consider, if you can.  My Thai wife was the importer, not me.  As a returning Thai citizen, she was allowed to import personal items tax free.  Saved us a lot of customs duty.  

[GinBoy2]

I can't comment on shipping from the US to Thailand.

 

But for import tax always ship under the returning citizens name.

 

When we moved from Singapore to Thailand it was in my wifes name

When we moved from Thailand to the United States, it was in my name

Neither times was there any import tax.

 

Now the OP doesn't state if he has a Thai lady in the US, but by the tone of the post I suspect not.

 

Then it becomes a bit of a crapshoot what the crack team at Thai Customs will assess. 

 

It also depends on what volume of stuff you want to ship.

If it was me, I'd pay the excess baggage to the airline and ship as much as you can that way, if it's just clothes etc

[gk10002000]

Don't do it.  Have a yard or garage or moving sale. Take the cash with you.  Thank and kiss that old comfortable couch and reclining chair good bye and make a clean break of things.  Less worries, no import issues, no tax issues, no brown envelope issues, etc.  I haven't moved to Thailand but I have moved all lover the USA many many times and gave up trying to bring stuff with me.  In the long run, much more peace of mind.

[sirineou]

we also looked in to it.

We live in Florida so unlike the posters in the west coast it was more expensive, and it sounded a bit of a hustle to me.

 Our situation might be a litle different than the OP , as we will not be moving to Thailand full time until the end of  2019 when I retire. So every time we come to Thailand until then  we buy some more furniture, and stuff.

 For the money that it would had cost as to ship everything to Thailand, a litle by litle we have bought most of the furniture we need, (all teak).  By now we pretty much have everything we need in Thailand , and we also have our stuff in the US. Now when I come to Thailand in my suitcase I only have things I cant find in Thailand since all the clothes I need are there already.

When we move there full time  I will sell what I don't want. I will subdivide my large two car garage in half, store in there what I need, and lock it up. And we will rent the house, in case we want to come back in a few years if we decide we don't like living in Thailand full time.

Unless you are really attached to your stuff, take my advice, sell it, give it away, store it,  Take the money you saved from shipping and the money you made from sales and have some fun shopping in Thailand. It might cost you a couple of thousands more, but what the heck, you only live once.

 Lots of nice teak furniture here that you can only dream about in the US, If you don't like traditional teak and the likes, Plenty of trendy, or modend stuff.  Most of your electrical will not work here anyway, or you will need transformers .

Start new , Have Fun!!! 

[brent c]

I basically shipped clothes but some others small items that fit in a 12x12x16 box.

  I ended up using the US post since I would not have to go pick up at a port near Bangkok.  The delivery to the door was too enticing.  

I know I risk not getting everything but we will see.

 

I have received two of the five boxes to date.  Two are held in customs (they had a PS4, games and some electronic cord etc..)

I may end up having to pay VAT or something.

 

thanks to all for sharing  your experiences 

 

 

[brent c]

Well,  basically I received the 4 boxes with all the items enclosed.  Two of the four boxes had a small tax from customs (300 for the two boxes) 

Yes postage was expensive for each box but it was far less than using a shipping company since most had minimum charges and I was going nowhere near the weight minimum.   Also... not having to go back to Bangkok to pick up the items was a considerable consideration on the decision.  The expense of travel and hotel would have just been a hassle all the way around.   

Thank you for those who threw in their two cents.