Shipping Vitamins to Thailand

[Andjones]

Hello All!

 

I have arrived in Thailand and now have a couple of days before I am set free from quarantine. Before leaving from the United States, I shipped several boxes of personal items as I have retired and  moved here to be with my Thai wife. Among those items were a years supply of cranberry tablets (Vitamins) as they seem to be the only thing to relieve my prostate issues. They have that particular box held up at the post office and want me to come and open it? I am assuming they want to inspect the vitamins.

 

I did some research and saw that you needed a license to ship vitamins over. I should have done my research before hand. 

 

What do you think the issue is or what will they do? Maybe it's nothing, but maybe it is. 

 

Thanks!

[clearance]

Highly unlikely that you need any license for personal use.

Personally I order a lot from Japan, never had problems with any vitamins.

[onebir]

If you do have trouble getting supplies, quite a few people here report that sub-1500 baht orders from iherb seem to get in without difficulties/major delays.

[timendres]

13 minutes ago, Andjones said:

What do you think the issue is or what will they do? Maybe it's nothing, but maybe it is. 

 

I have a strong feeling they are going to suggest some sort of donation.

If it is reasonable, pay it, lesson learned.

[lopburi3]

If worst comes to past you can try Shopee or Lazada for local sellers - careful shopping will often find such items for little more than US costs plus shipping and risk of customs.

https://shopee.co.th/search?keyword=cranberry tablets

 

[GinBoy2]

My wife ships stuff all the time to Thailand.

 

Sorry to get personal, but as a menopausal lady she got hooked up to Black Cohosh by her Doctor, and now 'supplies' the stuff to many of her friends of a similar age in Thailand.

 

Never had a problem getting it delivered via USPS/ThaiPost

[Crossy]

52 minutes ago, Andjones said:

Among those items were a years supply of cranberry tablets

 

My bold.

 

I suspect this is going to be the issue, demonstrating that you are not importing the stuff to sell.

[GinBoy2]

18 minutes ago, Crossy said:

 

My bold.

 

I suspect this is going to be the issue, demonstrating that you are not importing the stuff to sell.

You may well be right. When my wife ships 3-4 bottles to friends, it's a one-one transaction, not massive amount's so even to Thai authorities it's clearly for personal use.

 

Plus, and I hate to say this, it's shipping to a Thai, so there is no farang involved, which 'could' result in  a revenue extraction experience!

 

One other piece of advice to the OP and others. Whenever you ship anything into Thailand via mail, when you do the customs declaration from whatever country, when it asks you about the contents, just state 'gifts'. Try to put aside your farang honesty and just do what works!

 

[from the home of CC]

52 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

If worst comes to past you can try Shopee or Lazada for local sellers - careful shopping will often find such items for little more than US costs plus shipping and risk of customs.

https://shopee.co.th/search?keyword=cranberry tablets

 

a friend of mine who stays here (pre covid) 4 months a year had a whack of protein powder/supplement packages mailed to him here from the US (this guy is real serious about his powders, it was was worth close to 15k bt.). The packages were redirected and sent to their food/drug administration and held and then tested, and then them wanting information on why he shipped so much. Since it would involve travelling a few hundred clicks he decided to just forget about it. A month after he returned home (Canada) the Thais shipped the whole package back to him in Canada at no cost to him. The issue was the amount - they suspected he was selling it without paying duty nor having a license. He learned his lesson and he also has a lot more respect to the Thai authorities involved in returning this valuable shipment. Myself, I once had vitamins sent from I herb but they never arrived, and although they refunded my cc it was my first and last time I used this method of purchase.

[jackdd]

1 hour ago, Andjones said:

They have that particular box held up at the post office

If it's indeed at the post office, then you would just have to pay tax for it.

But probably it's not at the post office, but at customs, where they want you to open it and inspect it.

Then they will call a person working for the Thai FDA, who will inspect what you are trying to import.

 

1 hour ago, Andjones said:

Among those items were a years supply of cranberry tablets (Vitamins)

Actually you can't import even a single item of any product, which is made for consumption, which isn't FDA approved.

If it were just one box, they might be nice and might give ignore it, but with a years worth of them it is highly unlikely that you will be allowed to take it home.

Was there other stuff in the same parcel? If you are unlucky they confiscate the whole parcel.

[xylophone]

1 hour ago, Andjones said:

Among those items were a years supply of cranberry tablets (Vitamins) as they seem to be the only thing to relieve my prostate issues

Hopefully you can get your tablets released, even if it is paying a small donation, however if you can't, there is a solution.

 

There is a particular type of sugar in cranberries which is responsible for relief from prostate/urethral problems, although recent research has debunked the idea that cranberries have an antibacterial effect per se.

 

This sugar is called mannose and actually has an effect which stops bacteria from adhering to the bladder and urethral walls, thereby stopping infections and inflammation etc. 

 

Another sugar of this type is called xylitol and that also has the effect of reducing adhesion of bacteria....."The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) demonstrated that the slides treated with xylitol had a significant reduction in the number of bacilli and the inhibition of microbial adhesion was probably the xylitol's mechanism of action"

 

I know because I have been using it now for about 8 months and it is a godsend – – I use it as part replacement for sugar in my tea and anything else I drink which requires sweetening.

 

It is extremely cheap and I buy by the kilogram online, so if you cannot get your cranberries, this is superb alternative that you could try, and one which you can buy locally for just a few hundred baht.

 

For the record, I've had prostate problems as well as bladder and urethral problems and since taking xylitol on a regular basis, they have all disappeared.

[Andjones]

30 minutes ago, xylophone said:

There is a particular type of sugar in cranberries which is responsible for relief from prostate/urethral problems, although recent research has debunked the idea that cranberries have an antibacterial effect per se.

 

This sugar is called mannose and actually has an effect which stops bacteria from adhering to the bladder and urethral walls, thereby stopping infections and inflammation etc. 

 

Another sugar of this type is called xylitol and that also has the effect of reducing adhesion of bacteria....."The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) demonstrated that the slides treated with xylitol had a significant reduction in the number of bacilli and the inhibition of microbial adhesion was probably the xylitol's mechanism of action"

 

Thank you for the info! I am going to look it up and give it a try!

 

[thailand49]

From the responses, it could end up good or bad?   Several years ago experiment I shipped 3 bottles of vitamin from the States using FedEx to my wife in Thailand. 

 

The value purchased at Costco was $30.00 I placed a copy of the purchased in the box when it got to Thailand it got held up in custom without going through a longer story I used FedEx since I had contacts within the company I had the contact their custom as to why it was being held up for deliver.

 

Someone in Thai custom was holding vitamins basically for ransom wanted another 2000 baht to release which was more than what they were purchased I was told by my contact happens a lot their goal is to have you refused so they can basically keep it for themselves? ????

 

Thereafter, each year I return to the States for a visit I basically buy at Costco $200.00 in various vitamin for the entire family and myself with two check in luggage I spread them throughout the two never ever had a problem (knock on wood) if I do I'm thinking slip the guy a 1000 baht and I still come out ahead.

[bbudd]

Another good source is PipingRock

Order most of my herbs and supplements there and never had a problem

Again all under 1500 B total cost

[DuiDui48]

16 hours ago, clearance said:

Highly unlikely that you need any license for personal use.

Personally I order a lot from Japan, never had problems with any vitamins.

God morning !

Would you share your experience importing from Japan.How you pay,import taxes etc.Maybe even the site your order from.Thank you and have an awsome day...:-)

[marcho]

I get all my vitamins from Vitacost in the USA, been doing it from 10 years. Never had a problem. I really dont think you have anything to worry about, unless you have a large amount.

[matveo]

Worse case scenario, there are loads of Boots shops selling all kind of vitamins under their name for cheap and some reputable australian Blackmores...

Much better than buying stuff over the internet from resellers who could sell you all kinds of fake stuff to make an extra buck.

 

 

 

[lopburi3]

15 minutes ago, matveo said:

Worse case scenario, there are loads of Boots shops selling all kind of vitamins under their name for cheap and some reputable australian Blackmores...

Much better than buying stuff over the internet from resellers who could sell you all kinds of fake stuff to make an extra buck.

 

 

 

Not only are retailers not cheap - online is quite safe if you check sellers history/sales.  

[jackdd]

1 hour ago, matveo said:

Worse case scenario, there are loads of Boots shops selling all kind of vitamins under their name for cheap

I've never seen cheap vitamins in Thailand yet. The ones at Boots are definitely overpriced, they usually cost at least twice as much as in Germany (as probably in most other countries). So I can understand why somebody tries to send them here.

[PDPA2024]

Never had problems when buying supplements from iHerb. Just make sure declared value is less than 1500 THB. Also, use Thailand Post and not FedEx/UPS/etc., because they always go through customs and inspected more thoroughly than regular mail.

 

4 minutes ago, jackdd said:

I've never seen cheap vitamins in Thailand yet. The ones at Boots are definitely overpriced, they usually cost at least twice as much as in Germany (as probably in most other countries). So I can understand why somebody tries to send them here.

There are some good deals on Lazada.

[golfpro47]

I have been Shipping Vitamins and Supplements from the UK for Years and never had a problem,my last Order was for just over 100GBP a little over 4,000baht, no problems as the Order was not shipped complete as I bought off eBay and there were different Retailers involved so each Delivery was under 20GBP,a warning for those who aren’t aware of Shipping costs from the UK dont use Amazon because they stiff you for Postage.

[dddave]

19 hours ago, timendres said:

 

I have a strong feeling they are going to suggest some sort of donation.

If it is reasonable, pay it, lesson learned.

Over the years, I've probably had to to to the PO to open and verify items 20 times and I've never been asked for a backhander.  If it was a rare instance of something with duty due, I just paid it and went on my way.  

[Surelynot]

20 hours ago, Andjones said:

the only thing to relieve my prostate issues

Off topic....have you been prescribed alpha blockers......life saver for me.

 

Two types....one relaxes the bladder neck muscles the other shrinks the prostate by blocking hormone production (is that why I have man boobs?)......just a thought

[mikecha]

You can use Tamsulosin  for your problem can buy in Thailand easy  .

also you can get dried cranberries here also  .

[PattayaKevin]

I had some vitamins in one package they made me go to the thai fda office and get everything approved as long as I paid duty on them. I gave the receipts to customs in which the duty owed was very little then customs still didn't like it and said one item was not allowed. I told them I would surrender the one bottle of vitamins but they said they couldn't and everything would be sent back to the United States.  That was September never got past sri racha post office in 4.5 months.

[Andjones]

4 minutes ago, PattayaKevin said:

I had some vitamins in one package they made me go to the thai fda office and get everything approved as long as I paid duty on them. I gave the receipts to customs in which the duty owed was very little then customs still didn't like it and said one item was not allowed. I told them I would surrender the one bottle of vitamins but they said they couldn't and everything would be sent back to the United States.  That was September never got past sri racha post office in 4.5 months.

My issue may be that I don't have a receipt. At least not for all of it. I bought some on Amazon and some at a local grocery store before I shipped it over here.

[4MyEgo]

4 hours ago, thailand49 said:

I return to the States for a visit I basically buy at Costco $200.00 in various vitamin for the entire family and myself with two check in luggage I spread them throughout the two never ever had a problem (knock on wood) if I do I'm thinking slip the guy a 1000 baht and I still come out ahead.

 

I do as you do, except spread them through more bags (family) and it's usually a years worth of my heart meds and vitamins, but since the pandemic, I am due to run out in a month and they are damn expensive here, suffice to say I will be up for about 1,400 a month for my heart meds, not including vitamins which will be up there as well.

[xylophone]

38 minutes ago, Surelynot said:

Off topic....have you been prescribed alpha blockers......life saver for me.

 

24 minutes ago, mikecha said:

You can use Tamsulosin  for your problem can buy in Thailand easy 

I have tried alpha blockers on a number of occasions when I thought my prostate was playing up, however I just did not like the side effects and having the feeling of blocked sinuses and being tired all day long isn't the way I wanted to spend my retirement here.

 

Luckily the xylitol helps tremendously as does a tablet called Beta Sitosterol (natural) and this I get from iHerb, shipped from the US, using airmail, and have never had anything stopped at all using this method, however using DHL or similar can cause problems.

 

As an aside, the alpha blockers and similar do not shrink the prostate, they simply relax the muscles around it and the bladder, so if a peeing problem is not what you are experiencing they are probably not for you.

[MarleyMarl]

22 hours ago, onebir said:

If you do have trouble getting supplies, quite a few people here report that sub-1500 baht orders from iherb seem to get in without difficulties/major delays.

Interesting, I just ordered about 3,000 THB worth of stuff from iherb, hope it comes without issues, i guess i could expect a 300 thb tax bill? Will still be cheaper than what's available locally.

[xylophone]

12 minutes ago, MarleyMarl said:

Interesting, I just ordered about 3,000 THB worth of stuff from iherb, hope it comes without issues, i guess i could expect a 300 thb tax bill? Will still be cheaper than what's available locally.

You will have the best chance of your package getting through if it is sent via normal airmail.