Importing personal goods (workshop)

[Kidvinie]

Does anyone have any idea on taxes for bringing used personal goods into Thailand. The items would be of my workshop so some small machinery, power tools and hand tools all of which seem extremely expensive to buy in Thailand. Possibly 4 or 5 cubic mt.

 

[Airalee]

I imported some hand tools (can’t speak for power tools) and paid about 20% including the VAT.  The “customs guide” showed a higher amount so who knows if I got lucky or not.  Purchased new so had the receipts of course.  Had to pick them up at the customs office for some and at the post office for others.
 

Still less than the cost of purchasing the same tools here.

 

FWIW...if they think you are fudging values, prepare for a big, complicated, drawn out battle which will probably have you paying more in the end.

[impulse]

One caveat on power tools is that Thailand is at 220V, 50Hz.  If you're coming from the USA or Canada at 110V, 60Hz, your power tools probably won't work so well.

 

Also, I found most tools in Thailand to be pretty reasonably priced from Chinatown and online sources like Lazada and AliExpress.  To be sure, some of them aren't and others are just about impossible to find in Thailand.  But don't fall prey to the vendors who tell you "you'll never find that in Thailand".

 

[Airalee]

38 minutes ago, impulse said:

One caveat on power tools is that Thailand is at 220V, 50Hz.  If you're coming from the USA or Canada at 110V, 60Hz, your power tools probably won't work so well.

 

Also, I found most tools in Thailand to be pretty reasonably priced from Chinatown and online sources like Lazada and AliExpress.  To be sure, some of them aren't and others are just about impossible to find in Thailand.  But don't fall prey to the vendors who tell you "you'll never find that in Thailand".

 

Good advice about power tools.  

 

All my hand tools were leather working tools to help a friend start a business so they literally weren’t available in Thailand as they are all custom made by a small outfit in Korea.  
 

I have no idea what craftsman tools would cost here and I’d probably have a heart attack if I priced the snap-on tools in the mall store that I saw carrying that line.

[sometimewoodworker]

7 hours ago, Kidvinie said:

Does anyone have any idea on taxes for bringing used personal goods into Thailand. The items would be of my workshop so some small machinery, power tools and hand tools all of which seem extremely expensive to buy in Thailand. Possibly 4 or 5 cubic mt.

Do not try to DIY the customs clearance, get an agent.

 

I brought in about 3 cubic metres that was a couple of hundred Kg & including transport to Issarn it was less than 20k, as it was over 14 years ago I don’t remember the exact numbers.

 

If you are travelling often then use your baggage for the most expensive items. I have carried Festool items and never been asked to pay anything even though I have had to show my baggage contents in Thailand at outgoing customs a couple of times.

[Langsuan Man]

It's a <deleted> shoot.  Some pay a lot, some pay little or nothing, it is all up to the Royal Thai Customs Agent that is assigned to your shipment

 

You can go through pages and pages of posts here and you will see that there is no consistency in the process.  And the information at the Thai Customs web site is just a swag, (sophisticated wild ass guess) and is treated as a "guide" by the agent

[Langsuan Man]

You know that Craps is a game and not a prohibited word, and complaining about a English word in an English forum is in no way commenting on moderation, since the process appears to be automatic

 

[sometimewoodworker]

1 hour ago, Langsuan Man said:

It's a <deleted> shoot.  Some pay a lot, some pay little or nothing, it is all up to the Royal Thai Customs Agent that is assigned to your shipment

 

You can go through pages and pages of posts here and you will see that there is no consistency in the process.  And the information at the Thai Customs web site is just a swag, (sophisticated wild ass guess) and is treated as a "guide" by the agent

We did start by trying the DIY approach and visited the customs house, but by employing an agent we paid much much less and got shipping to Issarn included