Firestick or Roku? Amazon or Lazada?

[gamesgplayemail]

10 hours ago, Jeffrey346 said:

Chromecast can only stream from your phone or PC. It has no capability to stream content on it's own.

 

So from where do you stream if not from a PC or phone ?!

 

 

 

[RocketDog]

Bought a Roku stick in USA and registered it there.

 

Brought it to Thailand and found it all but useless. Nearly every channel I clicked was "not available in your country". I suspect this will be true for many users wanting content from their homeland who are using a Thai ISP.

 

Because it only connects via Wi-Fi it must believe you are not in Thailand.

 

I bought a Asus router and installed a new firmware image provided by EXPRESSVPN, my VPN provider of many years.

 

Connected to any of their servers in America and problem solved.

 

Now all my web Wi-Fi traffic goes thru that router with all the advantages of a VPN.

[giddyup]

13 minutes ago, RocketDog said:

Bought a Roku stick in USA and registered it there.

 

Brought it to Thailand and found it all but useless. Nearly every channel I clicked was "not available in your country". I suspect this will be true for many users wanting content from their homeland who are using a Thai ISP.

 

Because it only connects via Wi-Fi it must believe you are not in Thailand.

 

I bought a Asus router and installed a new firmware image provided by EXPRESSVPN, my VPN provider of many years.

 

Connected to any of their servers in America and problem solved.

 

Now all my web Wi-Fi traffic goes thru that router with all the advantages of a VPN.

According to the Roku burb on Amazon, a Roku stick can be taken anywhere in the world when you're traveling and just hook it up to wi-fi,

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 11/19/2019 at 2:32 PM, giddyup said:

Only bought it yesterday, so will see if have a customs problem or not. https://www.amazon.com/

 

There was a post here lately of someone who bought a Fire streaming device from Amazon U.S. and had Amazon Global shipping send it here via UPS... only to have Thai customs seize it for not having the required NBTC import license.

 

My advice to that poster would be the same as I'd give here - Fire devices are great streaming devices and will be on big sale for Black Friday via Amazon next week. But DON'T have them shipped to Thailand via Amazon global shipping. Have someone in the U.S. send it to you via regular USPS postal mail that will get delivered here by Thai Post. Or use a reshipping service that uses USPS or regular airmail. And you'll be fine.

 

But avoid DHL, FedEx and UPS like the plague for this particular kind of package, whether it be a Fire device or Roku, since they're both viewed as the same by Thai Customs.

 

[RocketDog]

Just now, giddyup said:

According to the Roku burb on Amazon, a Roku stick can be taken anywhere in the world when you're traveling and just hook it up to wi-fi,

Very true. As I stated, it worked as advertised and gave me a great channel lineup. Then I tried to activate them and found the truth.

 

What I'm telling you is that the channel lineup you get is based on where you live, which is derived from your IP address which is what your ISP gives you. That is your connection to the web.

 

Your Thai ISP will give you a Thai IP address and the Roku will gleefully restrict what channels are available.

 

I'm not blowing smoke. Roku was a bust for me until I got the router with internal VPN which have me a USA IP address.

 

Go ahead and buy one. Then when you learn the truth you can buy a $150 router and get a VPN subscription.

 

Better yet call Roku support and let them explain country restrictions to you.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 11/19/2019 at 3:36 PM, johng said:

There may be customs problems , to "import the equipment" you're supposed to have a licence !      ????

setop box law 35.PDF 35.44 kB · 2 downloads

 

 

 

The problem with that is, and this is from people who have tried, the NBTC wants details re the device as part of the license application that no retail buyer is going to know or have, or have a way to know or have, prior to receiving the device, such as individual item serial numbers and such. So in effect, they've made it virtually impossible for any retail buyer/importer to comply with their requirement, even if the buyer wanted to!

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

On 11/20/2019 at 6:14 PM, Tayaout said:

What is killing it for Amazon sometimes is the shipping. It's way more expensive if the item is heavy or bulky. 

 

Yes, but personal electronics items like cell phones, tablets, cameras, streaming sticks/boxes usually are pretty light and can be shipped here from the U.S. relatively inexpensively.

 

I buy from Amazon U.S. regularly for all kinds of low-weight things, especially personal electronics. And rare is the day when my total cost via Amazon is more than what I'd pay for the equivalent item here. And a lot of the time, the equivalent item isn't even available directly here, such as with the Fire TV devices.

 

All my stuff goes thru a U.S. reshipping service that receives my Amazon orders and then sends them onward to me here in Thailand. For that service, I'm paying a mailout fee of $2 per package and usually a postage rate of between $8 and $10 U.S. per pound. With small personal electronics items usually running in the 1 to 2 pound range.

 

[sirineou]

3 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

Yes, but personal electronics items like cell phones, tablets, cameras, streaming sticks/boxes usually are pretty light and can be shipped here from the U.S. relatively inexpensively.

 

I buy from Amazon U.S. regularly for all kinds of low-weight things, especially personal electronics. And rare is the day when my total cost via Amazon is more than what I'd pay for the equivalent item here. And a lot of the time, the equivalent item isn't even available directly here, such as with the Fire TV devices.

 

All my stuff goes thru a U.S. reshipping service that receives my Amazon orders and then sends them onward to me here in Thailand. For that service, I'm paying a mailout fee of $2 per package and usually a postage rate of between $8 and $10 U.S. per pound. With small personal electronics items usually running in the 1 to 2 pound range.

 

Why not have Amazon ship them themselves??

I am not being critical. I simply don't know. Is your way better?

I have never ordered from Amazon while in Thailand. I travel back and forth between Thailand and the US often enough to bring whatever I need with me, but come April-May  I am retiring and will be spending longer lengths of time in Thailand.  

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

16 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Why not have Amazon ship them themselves??

I am not being critical. I simply don't know. Is your way better?

I have never ordered from Amazon while in Thailand. I travel back and forth between Thailand and the US often enough to bring whatever I need with me, but come April-May  I am retiring and will be spending longer lengths of time in Thailand.  

 

I don't use Amazon Global shipping and instead use a reshipper because...

--I have access to the entire Amazon online inventory, not just the smaller selection that somehow are approved for international shipping.

--I'm an Amazon Prime U.S. member, so I never have any Amazon shipping charges for domestic shipping.

--I never pay any Thai customs duty for anything I order, because of the customs exemption for individual shipments valued at 1500 baht or under

--I almost never pay any VAT, except for rarer high value items that get VAT'd by ThaiPost.

--my actual postage only rates are as low or lower than Amazon's.

--I never have to worry about being extorted by UPS, FedEx or DHL.

 

But just to be clear, as I said above, I'm generally ordering small low weight things that are easily and inexpensively shipped like personal electronics, health/beauty products and various food/cooking items. I'm not trying to send motorcycle engines or water pumps or air purifiers thru the mail.

 

 

[Thainesss]

30 minutes ago, RocketDog said:

Very true. As I stated, it worked as advertised and gave me a great channel lineup. Then I tried to activate them and found the truth.

 

What I'm telling you is that the channel lineup you get is based on where you live, which is derived from your IP address which is what your ISP gives you. That is your connection to the web.

 

Your Thai ISP will give you a Thai IP address and the Roku will gleefully restrict what channels are available.

 

I'm not blowing smoke. Roku was a bust for me until I got the router with internal VPN which have me a USA IP address.

 

Go ahead and buy one. Then when you learn the truth you can buy a $150 router and get a VPN subscription.

 

Better yet call Roku support and let them explain country restrictions to you.

 

Its pretty well known about all this. Thats why when you read threads like this everyone always mentions VPN's. You can watch Netflix on it but its a paid subscription, like everything else. If im not mistaken Roku is one of the boxes that does not have VPN app support on the device itself. 

 

It really takes alot of reading or wasting money before people workout the best way for them to watch tv. I use a Nivida Shield box that has very good processing power and VPN Apps are available for download on the device itself - no need for a router. 

[Thainesss]

3 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

 

I don't use Amazon Global shipping and instead use a reshipper because...

--I have access to the entire Amazon online inventory, not just the smaller selection that somehow are approved for international shipping.

--I'm an Amazon Prime U.S. member, so I never have any Amazon shipping charges for domestic shipping.

--I never pay any Thai customs duty for anything I order, because of the customs exemption for individual shipments valued at 1500 baht or under

--I almost never pay any VAT, except for rarer high value items that get VAT'd by ThaiPost.

--my actual postage only rates are as low or lower than Amazon's.

--I never have to worry about being extorted by UPS, FedEx or DHL.

 

 

To be fair I have ordered multiple times from amazon and had it delivered here direct and never paid customs nor had any delay. Its not unusual for me to spend $1k at a time. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 minutes ago, Thainesss said:

 

Its pretty well known about all this. Thats why when you read threads like this everyone always mentions VPN's. You can watch Netflix on it but its a paid subscription, like everything else. If im not mistaken Roku is one of the boxes that does not have VPN app support on the device itself. 

 

 

Those are two of the main differences IMHO between Fire devices and Roku devices (and I own and have used both):

 

With Fire devices, you're pretty much free to use and install any app from the Android world, and that includes apps for most of the major VPN services.

 

With Roku devices, you're pretty much limited to what Roku gives you and private channels, and basically have no ability to install anything else. And that includes, no ability to install any VPN service on the Roku device itself.

 

In the U.S., I wouldn't see those issues as such big impediments for the Roku devices. But in Thailand, IMHO, those issues are killers for Roku, unless...

--your tech savvy enough to know how to use the VPN alternatives that can work with Roku.

--you don't really care much about U.S. origin content, and are content with the international offerings that you can get with a Roku used here with a Thai ISP address.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

4 minutes ago, Thainesss said:

 

To be fair I have ordered multiple times from amazon and had it delivered here direct and never paid customs nor had any delay. Its not unusual for me to spend $1k at a time. 

 

You're paying Customs duty upfront/in advance as a deposit that's included with your Amazon purchase, assuming you're having them ship the items direct to Thailand.

 

In my case, I'm paying no customs duty to anyone, period.

 

[sirineou]

6 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

--I never pay any Thai customs duty for anything I order, because of the customs exemption for individual shipments valued at 1500 baht or under

Thank you for your whole reply,all good points. I just quoted this part because I have a question concerning the value claimed.

How do you establish the shipment value with Thai customs so that you don't pay duty?

4 minutes ago, Thainesss said:

To be fair I have ordered multiple times from amazon and had it delivered here direct and never paid customs nor had any delay. Its not unusual for me to spend $1k at a time.

Good to know.

I love the convenience of Amazon, not only because I don't have to go out looking for the product, but because I have such a wide selection to choose from. If i want an electric can opener and go to the store, I will probably find two or three choices if I am lucky. On Amazon there are hundreds of choices. 

In the US it is not unusual for as to have a delivery almost every day.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

13 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Thank you for your whole reply,all good points. I just quoted this part because I have a question concerning the value claimed.

How do you establish the shipment value with Thai customs so that you don't pay duty?

Good to know.

I love the convenience of Amazon, not only because I don't have to go out looking for the product, but because I have such a wide selection to choose from. If i want an electric can opener and go to the store, I will probably find two or three choices if I am lucky. On Amazon there are hundreds of choices. 

In the US it is not unusual for as to have a delivery almost every day.

 

With a U.S. reshipping service like Planet Express or Shipito, the customer is responsible for filling out their own customs declaration online, including describing the items and listing a fair valuation. And as I said above, if you know what you're doing, you pretty much can avoid Thai Customs entirely if you keep individual package valuations under $50 or so.

 

I can't speak to how that works with Amazon Global because I've never used them, other than knowing that Amazon determines a Customs amount in advance and includes that as part of your purchase price. And they guarantee you won't be charged anything additional on the Thai end. But you will pay some Customs amount pretty much each and every time on the front end with Amazon.

 

If you order something thru some other online retailer and they send the items to Thailand via private couriers like FedEx and DHL, the courier services have their own customs houses here that process the packages, and make their own determinations of what duty rate to charge and how to value the items, which can at times have no relationship to what your actual purchase price was.

 

They decide what they think it's worth, and good luck challenging them.  And then, they base the duty charged not just on what you paid but instead on the sum of the items' value PLUS an insurance charge PLUS the shipping cost itself, otherwise known as CIF. Which can really get to be a wallet killer in their hands.

\

[sirineou]

2 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

With a U.S. reshipping service like Planet Express or Shipito, the customer is responsible for filling out their own customs declaration online, including describing the items and listing a fair valuation.

You are a treasure trove of good information, You should be proud to know that I have saved more than one of your posts for future reference.

Question: usually when I  receive a package from Amazon there is no invoice in the box.

 When you order something from Amazon I assume you have it shipped directly to your Re-shipper, and they forward it to you. 

How do they know what the value of an item is? and if the value is greater than the 1500 baht exclusion do you pay duty only on the difference? 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

29 minutes ago, sirineou said:

You are a treasure trove of good information, You should be proud to know that I have saved more than one of your posts for future reference.

Question: usually when I  receive a package from Amazon there is no invoice in the box.

 When you order something from Amazon I assume you have it shipped directly to your Re-shipper, and they forward it to you. 

How do they know what the value of an item is? and if the value is greater than the 1500 baht exclusion do you pay duty only on the difference? 

 

My experience with Amazon is a bit different about that.. Usually for my packages these days, I do get a very small, thin sheet of paper that has all the order details and pricing info on it inside the box. It's so small, it's easy to miss it entirely.  At least, that's for items ordered and bought directly from Amazon... I'm not sure about items sent by 3rd party sellers on Amazon, since I'm not buying from them as often.

 

But yes, re your question, I send my Amazon orders to my reshipper's address, enter my own customs info online into their system, and then they send the box onward. They don't open it or do anything themselves in terms of customs stuff. So to answer your direct question, the re-shipper has no role in declaring or verifying the customs info that I enter for a package. I'm entirely responsible for that.

 

Re your last question, I ALWAYS send my packages thru my re-shippers airmail service or thru one of the various USPS services they offer. I NEVER send anything thru the private courier services like FedEx and DHL. As a result, what I can tell you for higher priced items sent via air mail or USPS, they too get delivered here by Thai Post...

 

And, if the value is high enough to trigger someone's attention in the Thai Post customs world, my experience has been, they'll typically only charge you for a 7% VAT amount for however they've valued the package. I've had that happen with higher value things like laptop computers, cell phones, higher prices shoes, etc etc.

 

If I was instead sending those higher priced items from non-Amazon retailers and they are using FedEx or DHL or UPS for international delivery as is common, the sky's the limit in terms of how much tax and customs duty you might be charged.

 

 

 

[Tayaout]

Why use a reshipper for Amazon? Amazon do deliver to my door via Thai post. 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Just now, Tayaout said:

Why use a reshipper for Amazon? Amazon do deliver to my door via Thai post. 

 

See the explanation below:

 

Considering that I regularly order a lot of smaller packages from Amazon and have them sent here on a recurring basis, and have done so for years, I've certainly saved a SMALL FORTUNE over the years by managing my Amazon purchases and shipping in a way that legally avoids having to pay Thai Customs duty for them.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

 

Can't get Amazon Fire tablets directly from them either for international shipping to Thailand:

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It's an interesting topic, and I was curious to see a bit more about how Amazon Global shipping works, especially regarding the 1500b customs exemption that is supposed to apply here...

 

So, I went shopping on Amazon, and found a set of athletic socks (multiple pairs) that cost about $20, was eligible for shipping to Thailand. And when I priced it, Amazon was just going to charge shipping fees, and there was no separate customs deposit assessed. So perhaps they're recognizing the so-called small package exemption in their own system calculations.

 

But then, I looked to something higher priced, in this case, an $83 Roku Ultra with headphone set priced at $83. When I added that and checked the cost for sending to Thailand, Amazon did add BOTH a shipping fee and a Customs deposit amount, totaling about $32 for a listed 1.45 pound package. But apparently no state sales tax added.

 

So, by my figuring, if I had instead ordered that package to my reshipper, I would have had to pay 8.5% state sales tax on the U.S. end, my shipping cost would have been about the same or a bit more, and I might have also been hit by a VAT charge on the Thai end, sometimes yes, sometimes no, and I probably wouldn't have to pay any customs duty.

 

In the end, it probably would come out pretty close one way or the other.... At least for that particular product. 

 

So what I take away from that is, Amazon's Global shipping program isn't a bad deal in terms of the overall costs alone. But the main downside is going to be, a lot of their inventory is NOT available for direct shipping to Thailand, so if you want it, you gotta go another way.

 

But where you really have to be careful is in ordering online from OTHER retailers who use FedEx and DHL automatically for their international shipping, and who don't have a pre-cleared customs amount, that leaves you and your package vulnerable to the whims of the local customs vultures at FedEx and DHL.

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

OK, I took one last stab at this for tonight on the issue of the 1500b customs exemption.

 

The ONE Amazon Fire device that you can order from Amazon in the U.S. for shipment to Thailand is their Fire Stick basic edition, which is a model specially designed for international markets where Amazon Prime services are not available. It happens to retail for $49.99!

 

In that particular case, when I priced it for shipping, Amazon DID charge both the international shipping fee of $19.98 AND a customs deposit of $11.68, for a total order price of $79.65, but no U.S. state sales tax.

 

So, just exactly when Amazon starts adding a customs duty charge for packages to Thailand seems a bit unclear. But at least, their added costs are offset a bit by apparently not having to pay U.S. state sales tax on items shipped abroad.

 

 

 

PS - However, the NBTC licensing issue still exists for imported streaming devices. So I'd be real curious to know if anyone ever tried ordering and shipping one of these Amazon Fire TV Stick Basic Edition items to Thailand. You clearly wouldn't have to pay any additional customs duty under Amazon's setup. But would the package actually make it thru Customs without getting seized, because it's being handled by the private couriers who are much more strict about such things, and not USPS/Thai Post?

 

[Tayaout]

Sometimes when ordering from Amazon some customs duty get partly refunded later. 

[Jeffrey346]

12 hours ago, gamesgplayemail said:

 

So from where do you stream if not from a PC or phone ?!

 

 

 

TV Box, Firestick Roku 

[Jeffrey346]

9 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

OK, I took one last stab at this for tonight on the issue of the 1500b customs exemption.

 

The ONE Amazon Fire device that you can order from Amazon in the U.S. for shipment to Thailand is their Fire Stick basic edition, which is a model specially designed for international markets where Amazon Prime services are not available. It happens to retail for $49.99!

 

In that particular case, when I priced it for shipping, Amazon DID charge both the international shipping fee of $19.98 AND a customs deposit of $11.68, for a total order price of $79.65, but no U.S. state sales tax.

 

So, just exactly when Amazon starts adding a customs duty charge for packages to Thailand seems a bit unclear. But at least, their added costs are offset a bit by apparently not having to pay U.S. state sales tax on items shipped abroad.

 

 

 

PS - However, the NBTC licensing issue still exists for imported streaming devices. So I'd be real curious to know if anyone ever tried ordering and shipping one of these Amazon Fire TV Stick Basic Edition items to Thailand. You clearly wouldn't have to pay any additional customs duty under Amazon's setup. But would the package actually make it thru Customs without getting seized, because it's being handled by the private couriers who are much more strict about such things, and not USPS/Thai Post?

 

I have ordered 4 TV Boxes from Amazon and one from eBay Global Program.

The Amazon TV boxes went through Customs without a hitch. The eBay Box was flagged by customs and returned to the sender. eBay did provide a full refund.

[johng]

13 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

higher prices shoes,

 

 

I got hammered on shoes  30% ????  tax !

 

 

 

[RocketDog]

14 hours ago, Thainesss said:

 

Its pretty well known about all this. Thats why when you read threads like this everyone always mentions VPN's. You can watch Netflix on it but its a paid subscription, like everything else. If im not mistaken Roku is one of the boxes that does not have VPN app support on the device itself. 

 

It really takes alot of reading or wasting money before people workout the best way for them to watch tv. I use a Nivida Shield box that has very good processing power and VPN Apps are available for download on the device itself - no need for a router. 

Yes, lots of talk about VPN but not specifically regarding streaming on sticks. If the stick accesses the web only via Wi-Fi, no ethernet connection, then you must have a router with VPN built in.

 

Sure, the big streaming services like Netflix that have buttons on the Roku remote probably deliver as advertised; I don't use them so don't know. Clearly most of the free movie channel like tubi and crackle, film rise, etc definitely do not work with a standard Thai ISP router.

 

I also like that all my Wi-Fi devices used at home now have VPN without it actually being installed on each device.

 

Good tip on Nivida. I'll check it out too for TV. Are you actually referring to Nvidia?

 

Thanks

 

[giddyup]

1 hour ago, RocketDog said:

Yes, lots of talk about VPN but not specifically regarding streaming on sticks. If the stick accesses the web only via Wi-Fi, no ethernet connection, then you must have a router with VPN built in.

 

Sure, the big streaming services like Netflix that have buttons on the Roku remote probably deliver as advertised; I don't use them so don't know. Clearly most of the free movie channel like tubi and crackle, film rise, etc definitely do not work with a standard Thai ISP router.

 

I also like that all my Wi-Fi devices used at home now have VPN without it actually being installed on each device.

 

Good tip on Nivida. I'll check it out too for TV. Are you actually referring to Nvidia?

 

Thanks

 

What I need to know is, has anyone imported a Roku from Amazon, and did all the loaded free apps work, like Crackle etc? Otherwise I don't see the point of buying one (as I have) if can only get paid subscription channels like Netflix. Amazon should publish  disclaimer if that's the case.

[gamesgplayemail]

I still don't understand why roku and not chromecast or android tv box as they all do the same thing ?

 

is roku famous ?

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

5 hours ago, giddyup said:

What I need to know is, has anyone imported a Roku from Amazon, and did all the loaded free apps work, like Crackle etc? Otherwise I don't see the point of buying one (as I have) if can only get paid subscription channels like Netflix. Amazon should publish  disclaimer if that's the case.

 

It's going to depend on the individual channel and specific service at hand... If the app/service is available outside the U.S., then it ought to work fine with a Roku connected to a Thai ISP address... But if it's a U.S. only service, then when you try to open the channel and/or log-in, it's probably going to fail.

 

Just because a Roku device sold in the U.S. may come with some pre-loaded channels doesn't necessarily mean those same channels are going to work if you try to use the device outside the U.S. (with a non U.S. IP address).