Buying from Amazon and iHerb for Thailand - Do you make all purchases keeping below 1500 Thb including shipping to avoid Import fees?

[JimmyJ]

Thai Customs charges no Import Fees if the total cost of the items plus shipping and tax  is less than 1500 THB, which currently = $41.48 USD.

 

If the items plus shipping are over 1500 THB, Amazon adds an "Import Fee Deposit" which I find in most cases is over 50% of the value of the items.

I have no idea how they are coming up with such insanely high possible Duty fees.

 

I realize they refund uncollected Deposit fees, but it is scary if there is a potential for them to actually collect that high a percentage of cost.

 

Does anyone have a link for the current Import % schedule for Thailand.?

 

I imagine that most fees wouldn't be over 10%.

More than 50% - and for non-electronics items - seems crazy, and I suspect it is Amazon for some reason (mis)calculating these high percentages and not the actual Thai Customs fees.

 

I would think that if an Import Fee has already been deposited, then Customs will certainly look at each of those packages and collect (minimally at least whatever their correct fee is).

 

IHerb charges a flat 4 USD postage if the order is over 40 USD.

But 44 USD is over the 1500 THB no Import Fee limit.

And apparently import of Vitamins is a gray area so I suppose better to keep orders small. (?)

 

Wondering what your experiences have been ordering from either of these companies.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 23, 2022 by JimmyJ

[Havefunme]

Thailand put out about 3 yrs ago custom fees would go up to encourage people to buy in country. Amazon, my guess they do an estimate because I've been reimbursed on fees before a few times about keeping it under 1500 baht never heard of that before 

[CharlieH]

There is a PINNED TOPIC at the top of this forum with FREE customs calculators.

 

Customs charges are rarely consistent like anything else here.

Luck of the draw ! even if below 1500, they may well value it higher, its what happens on the day !

[dj230]

I ordered from iherb and never got hit with fees. Not to say you won’t but I haven’t. 
 

good to know though, maybe I’ll try ordering some stuff to see if I get hit this time. 
 

It was roughly $100-$150 of supplements / toothpaste. Wasn’t anything bulky or odd so maybe they just let it pass through. 

Id assume if you’re importing a tv or something you’re more likely to get charged duties 
 

was 3 bottles of resveratrol and I think vitamin d as well as a few life extensions whitening toothpaste (one of the few with hydrogen peroxide in it) 

 

oddly I thought crest 3d white has hydrogen peroxide in the toothpaste but turns out not to be the case. Makes a huge difference for whitening teeth, if you order from iherb, if you’re interested it’s worth every penny. Which reminds me I need to get some more. Lasts a while compared to other toothpaste, I’d use both crest 3d white + life extensions toothpaste (50/50 mix) and the life extensions would last 2-3x longer than the crest 3d white 

Edited August 23, 2022 by dj230

[Myran]

A while back I imported some nice perfumes for the mrs. through a website that didn't pay for duties and such in advance. Total price incl. shipping was about 18.000 baht, and after the customs got a hold of it, I had to pay an additional 10.000 baht in duties and VAT in ordet to receive the package.

 

So Amazon's 50% probably isn't unreasonable, depending on what products you're trying to bring in.

[redwood1]

First........Take a good long look at Lazada and Shopee the supplement selection its great these days....

 

Then check out ebay......A fair bit of free shipping to be found there...Also check out ETSY  some free shipping there too..

 

Amazon is the worst place to buy in the world for extra charges....

 

Even if you get hit at customs from Iherb it's usually not a crazy amount .... 

[dj230]

7 hours ago, redwood1 said:

First........Take a good long look at Lazada and Shopee the supplement selection its great these days....

 

Then check out ebay......A fair bit of free shipping to be found there...Also check out ETSY  some free shipping there too..

 

Amazon is the worst place to buy in the world for extra charges....

 

Even if you get hit at customs from Iherb it's usually not a crazy amount .... 

how’s the quality of the supplements from Lazada though? 
 

Supplements are not fda regulated because it’s not considered a food or drug so really companies can put literally anything inside the supplement and sell it. Not just small companies, there was a huge scandal with protein powders and nitrogen spiking where companies (big ones, I.e musclepharm) put in cheaper ingredients (vs whey protein) to cause false positives when testing for their protein content to increase profit margins.  

Not only do you run the risk of getting “fake” or useless supplements but even worse if it’s tainted or contains heavy metals. 3rd party testing sites have found many supplements containing heavy metals like cadmium, mercury, and other chemicals/metals that weren’t supposed to be in the supplements, because it’s not regulated these things slip by. Other risks are getting mis-dosed supplements, some vitamins are extremely toxic when taken in large amounts (mainly fat soluble). 
 

just my 2 cents from being in the fitness industry. 

Edited August 24, 2022 by dj230

[JimmyJ]

Just checked 2 supplements vs. iHerb and Lazada.

 

iHerb is charging 9.10 USD Postage, Lazada 1.30.

 

But the items were more expensive at Laz., and the iHerb Grand Total is 2.63 less than Laz.

 

Laz. would get here in a few days, iHerb stating 36 - 48 days.

 

I'm hoping iHerb is just covering themself and it will hopefully arrive in about 10 days...(but I'm prepared to wait).

Edited August 24, 2022 by JimmyJ

[JimmyJ]

9 hours ago, redwood1 said:

 

Then check out ebay......A fair bit of free shipping to be found there...Also check out ETSY  some free shipping there too..

eBay - Free shipping USA to Thailand?

 

[JimmyJ]

2 hours ago, dj230 said:

how’s the quality of the supplements from Lazada though? 
 

Supplements are not fda regulated because it’s not considered a food or drug so really companies can put literally anything inside the supplement and sell it. Not just small companies, there was a huge scandal with protein powders and nitrogen spiking where companies (big ones, I.e musclepharm) put in cheaper ingredients (vs whey protein) to cause false positives when testing for their protein content to increase profit margins.  

Not only do you run the risk of getting “fake” or useless supplements but even worse if it’s tainted or contains heavy metals. 3rd party testing sites have found many supplements containing heavy metals like cadmium, mercury, and other chemicals/metals that weren’t supposed to be in the supplements, because it’s not regulated these things slip by. Other risks are getting mis-dosed supplements, some vitamins are extremely toxic when taken in large amounts (mainly fat soluble). 
 

just my 2 cents from being in the fitness industry. 

I'm assuming Lazada sellers are not keeping their stock in air conditioned storage.

 

But is iHerb?

 

[redwood1]

10 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

eBay - Free shipping USA to Thailand?

 

Yes.....I said some free shipping on ebay to Thailand....Not all....

India seems to have quite a bit of free shipping, but again not all.. 

[redwood1]

11 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

Just checked 2 supplements vs. iHerb and Lazada.

 

iHerb is charging 9.10 USD Postage, Lazada 1.30.

 

But the items were more expensive at Laz., and the iHerb Grand Total is 2.63 less than Laz.

 

Laz. would get here in a few days, iHerb stating 36 - 48 days.

 

I'm hoping iHerb is just covering themself and it will hopefully arrive in about 10 days...(but I'm prepared to wait).

Did you check on Shopee?

[Boomer6969]

21 hours ago, redwood1 said:

Amazon is the worst place to buy in the world for extra charges....

Amazon can be handy, but I have been boomboomed when I bought some useless Arlo cams, which I couldn't return because of the batteries. Net loss of over 25k, my bad though.

[JimmyJ]

On 8/25/2022 at 5:58 AM, redwood1 said:

Did you check on Shopee?

Yes, but I doubt I will check that site ever again (shopee.co.th).

 

Vitamins/nutritional supplements don't seem to be their thing.

 

Did not have anything from the brand I am buying that is fully stocked on iHerb and Lazada.

Did not have the 2 fairly common items from any brand.

 

Then I checked for Vitamin C out of curiosity,  they

had 5 or 7 choices including a Korean company and only 1 that I'd had heard of before.

 

Not worth bothering with.

Edited August 26, 2022 by JimmyJ

[JimmyJ]

"Did not have anything from the brand I am buying that is fully stocked on iHerb and Lazada."

 

Went back to Lazada just now, 1 of the 2 items I'm buying is no longer offered by anyone.

 

Lazada does not compare to iHerb's stock.

Edited August 26, 2022 by JimmyJ

[redwood1]

2 hours ago, JimmyJ said:

Yes, but I doubt I will check that site ever again (shopee.co.th).

 

Vitamins/nutritional supplements don't seem to be their thing.

 

Did not have anything from the brand I am buying that is fully stocked on iHerb and Lazada.

Did not have the 2 fairly common items from any brand.

 

Then I checked for Vitamin C out of curiosity,  they

had 5 or 7 choices including a Korean company and only 1 that I'd had heard of before.

 

Not worth bothering with.

Shopee is better for some supplements....And Lazada is better for others......They are both worth checking out...

[macleans]

I've always bought from iherb, paying around 1,400 to 1,600 baht for each order (not including shipping fee) and never had any issues with import taxes. I've also noticed that iherb doesn't include shipping fee in their custom declaration on the  side of a box.

 

As for buying supplements locally, Shopee has a much larger selection of supplements compared to Lazada, and they are generally cheaper on Shopee too.

Edited August 26, 2022 by macleans

[JimmyJ]

 

Me - "If the items plus shipping are over 1500 THB, Amazon adds an "Import Fee Deposit" which I find in most cases is over 50% of the value of the items.

I have no idea how they are coming up with such insanely high possible Duty fees.

 

I realize they refund uncollected Deposit fees, but it is scary if there is a potential for them to actually collect that high a percentage of cost.

 

Does anyone have a link for the current Import % schedule for Thailand.?

 

I imagine that most fees wouldn't be over 10%.

More than 50% - and for non-electronics items - seems crazy, and I suspect it is Amazon for some reason (mis)calculating these high percentages and not the actual Thai Customs fees."

 

 

 

Amazon is (in most cases) no longer collecting Import Fee Deposits.

But I did recently have them collected on 1 item - a Bathroom Scale.

(They no longer collect the Import Deposit for thus item).

 

So - The scale listed at Amazon for 17.99 USD.

The receipt says I had a $3.00 Coupon - I think this was an Amazon Prime member discount on this item.

So I effectively paid $14.99 for the Scale.

 

They collected an $18.06 Import Fee Deposit - More than their list price of the item itself.

 

A few weeks after delivery, I got a refund of $3.31.

 

So Thailand collected 81.60% VAT and Import Fee  (based on the item's pre-discounted price) which makes no sense and cannot really be that high.

 

I've ordered a number of items recently from eBay, Amazon, and iHerb.

I made each order under 1500 THB for the cost of the item(s) plus shipping.

Did not get charged any Import Fees/VAT by Thai Customs.

 

I could have saved a lot of postage fees by combining more items per shipment, and saved more on one off discounts likewise by putting more items on the order.

 

But seeing this insane Import/VAT fee percentage, I'm happy with the way I did it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 15, 2022 by JimmyJ

[patman30]

import taxes are what they are, especially for what TH deems as "luxury items"
i expect amazon has them roughly correct 99.9% of the time
however it is unkown if amazon also sneeks in some admin fee with that

i have ordered items individually to avoid import taxes (deposit)
as it worked out $15 cheaper in total
as individually there was no import fee,
but combined, the total was over 1500 baht so import fee on all items
so answer to your question is YES

however most of the time i use amazon the item is above 1500 baht anyway
thankfully amazon shows you the import fees before you checkout
so no nasty surprises

Edited October 15, 2022 by patman30

[JimmyJ]

PS - Shipping & Handling was $18.55, so if the Import/VAT was based on the item's list price PLUS the S&H, the Import/Vat was 40.18%.

[JimmyJ]

NOTE - The item at $17.99 list price plus 18.55 S&H was less than 1500 THB so there should NOT have been any charges for Import.

 

Just double checked - Amazon showing it at 23.99 list price, currently reduced to 18.99.

 

So 23.99 + 18.55 S&H = 42.54.

Taking it over 1500 TBH.

 

Based on that - 

I paid 34.51% Import/VAT.

Not at all as high as I was calculating.

Forgot that I got it at a discounted price per Amazon.

Edited October 15, 2022 by JimmyJ