Customs question concerning already loaded hard drive for a computer being shipped to me by FedEx

[Liverpool Lou]

On 8/28/2022 at 10:41 PM, WaveHunter said:

So do you happen to know the tax rate for hard drives?  I thought computers were exempt from being taxed here in Thailand.  I was going to purchase a computer from the USA last year and was told that from several sources.

They're import duty exempt but not (7%) VAT exempt.

[fdsa]

On 8/28/2022 at 10:41 PM, WaveHunter said:

So do you happen to know the tax rate for hard drives?  I thought computers were exempt from being taxed here in Thailand.  I was going to purchase a computer from the USA last year and was told that from several sources.

 

 

but as I've wrote already - I've had few HDDs imported but was not asked for extra 10%

 

Edited August 30, 2022 by fdsa

[WaveHunter]

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD LOL!!!
Well my idea of having the data sent to me via the cloud won't work.  It seems my client does not have a reliable high speed connection 


But, I've come up with another idea that I think will circumvent any Customs nightmares and high cost of shipping, and would like some feedback.


Since I really only need around 500 gB of the pictures files on the drive, what if I had the client just transfer them to a large flash drive and send that to me by USPS?  


Such a drive cost under what the free allowance is for Customs (1500 THB).  


It would arrive here "duty-free" and even if Customs inspected it, it would appear brand new of course, still in the retail packaging even though ti had been opened, and would include the invoice for the drive.


In all likelihood, wouldn't it just be delivered to my door like any other duty-free purchase?

 

Edited August 31, 2022 by WaveHunter

[chilly07]

On 8/28/2022 at 10:24 PM, fdsa said:

Send by DHL, they are the customs broker themselves so there will not be any issues with import, especially if you clearly state that the equipment is second hand - something like "used computer equipment (hard drives)".

But you will have to pay the import tax - 7% VAT and possibly 10% extra for the "computer equipment", plus 220 baht DHL fee.

 

DHL fee will be closer to 2000 bht as they act as your agent!

Letting DHL act as a customs agent gives them a license to print money!

 

[fdsa]

1 hour ago, WaveHunter said:

It would arrive here "duty-free" and even if Customs inspected it, it would appear brand new of course, still in the retail packaging even though ti had been opened, and would include the invoice for the drive.



bad idea, the chance for it to arrive "duty-free" will be much higher if you do NOT make it appear brand new.

Tell your friend to remove the retail packaging and the invoice.

[degrub]

If you are having them put the files on an external drive, just have a friend upload them to the cloud for you from that drive. 

[xtrnuno41]

2 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD LOL!!!
Well my idea of having the data sent to me via the cloud won't work.  It seems my client does not have a reliable high speed connectio

Where is your client? On the North Pole, Amazone, Sahara?

Or he is still working with a phone modem?

You also know magnetic fields interfere with data on drives?

Maybe you get it and all is lost or corrupted.

Another option, burn it on a CD disk, but wrap it well, it can break.

[blackcab]

A troll post has been removed.

[blackcab]

The easiest solution is to send the media (hard drive or USB drive) via a USPS signed for service.

 

Do not send any retail packaging or the original invoice.

 

Complete the customs documentation with the used value of the goods (USD 30 or less).

 

You will not have any problems with USPS as they partner with Thai Post.

[WaveHunter]

On 8/31/2022 at 2:24 PM, blackcab said:

The easiest solution is to send the media (hard drive or USB drive) via a USPS signed for service.

 

Do not send any retail packaging or the original invoice.

 

Complete the customs documentation with the used value of the goods (USD 30 or less).

 

You will not have any problems with USPS as they partner with Thai Post.

In a completely round-about way, I finally came to the same conclusion (more or less) ????.  I want an invoice in with the drive just so Customs doesn't take liberties and assess it as new with full retail value, so a repair shop is doing a diagnostic test on the drive and including an invoice that shows it was presented to them "for repair".  They are only charging me $10 for this.  

 

I also found out that FedEx is a RIPOFF if you approach them directly for shipping to Thailand.  They quoted me close to $300 USD!  That alone would have allowed Customs to assess a valuation of that amount plus whatever they declared the value of the drive to be.

 

Instead I found a shipping consolidator that will ship for me by FedEx and based on the volume of shipping they do with Fedex, the price was only $50.

 

BUT I want the total value including shipping to be low enough for it to enter duty free (1500 THB), so they said they could ship it by USPS for only $28 USD.

 

Eureka!!!  The repair shop invoice is only $10 since all he is going to do is make a snapshot of the main directory, just to be sure I have the correct disk, and that added to shipping will be under the duty-free limit, so it should be delivered to my door without the dreaded Thai Customs pirates getting their hands on it!

 

Amazing that yu have to go through such acrobatics for such a simple thing as to get your work sent to you!  If it were the other way around and I was shipping TO the US, it would just go through duty free with no hassles at all.

 

[WaveHunter]

On 8/31/2022 at 2:10 PM, xtrnuno41 said:

Where is your client? On the North Pole, Amazone, Sahara?

Or he is still working with a phone modem?

You also know magnetic fields interfere with data on drives?

Maybe you get it and all is lost or corrupted.

Another option, burn it on a CD disk, but wrap it well, it can break.

Thanks for the relpy.

 

Regarding your first sentence, very funny, but many locations in the US still have very slow internet connections.  In my case, the client holding my disk is in the state of Maine, and said it would be impossible to transfer that much data to the cloud without encountering timesouts, and then being forced to re start the entire upload all over from scratch.

 

The point you make about possible data corruption while in transit seems remote since I know business laptops are shipped all the time...but it's a fair question so I will look into just to be sure, and thanks for mentioning it...better to be safe than sorry ????

 

Regarding your last point...nobody uses CD's anymore; my MacBook Pro doesn't even have a slot for them, and can you imagine how many CD's it would take to burn 4tB of data?  More than the weight and bulk of the hard drive, I imagine!

Edited September 2, 2022 by WaveHunter

[blackcab]

Your main issue is using FedEx. There are many many topics on the forum about the carriers and their assessment of duty, and the answer is always use USPS.

 

You really don't have to get every item you send valued. Instead you state the value on the customs declaration form that is attached to the outside of the packaging. Small boxes with a declared value of USD30 or less are almost always automatically passed through the inspection.

[KannikaP]

32 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

Thanks for the relpy.

 

Regarding your first sentence, very funny, but many locations in the US still have very slow internet connections.  In my case, the client holding my disk is in the state of Maine, and said it would be impossible to transfer that much data to the cloud without encountering timesouts, and then being forced to re start the entire upload all over from scratch.

 

The point you make about possible data corruption while in transit seems remote since I know business laptops are shipped all the time...but it's a fair question so I will look into just to be sure, and thanks for mentioning it...better to be safe than sorry ????

 

Regarding your last point...nobody uses CD's anymore; my MacBook Pro doesn't even have a slot for them, and can you imagine how many CD's it would take to burn 4tB of data?  More than the weight and bulk of the hard drive, I imagine!

Good job you're not in Japan where they still use Floppy Disks and Fax machines. The new Tech Minister has now said they must be phased out.

You said earlier that you only needed 500GB of the data, not 4TB

[xtrnuno41]

2 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

Thanks for the relpy.

 

Regarding your first sentence, very funny, but many locations in the US still have very slow internet connections.  In my case, the client holding my disk is in the state of Maine, and said it would be impossible to transfer that much data to the cloud without encountering timesouts, and then being forced to re start the entire upload all over from scratch.

 

The point you make about possible data corruption while in transit seems remote since I know business laptops are shipped all the time...but it's a fair question so I will look into just to be sure, and thanks for mentioning it...better to be safe than sorry ????

 

Regarding your last point...nobody uses CD's anymore; my MacBook Pro doesn't even have a slot for them, and can you imagine how many CD's it would take to burn 4tB of data?  More than the weight and bulk of the hard drive, I imagine!

You said 500 Gb. Yes , you will need some, but possibility.

You can also use a M-disc. It is said it can keep data for over a 1000 years without loss of data. They are up to 100 Gb, then it only takes 5.

Yes then you have to buy an external device to make it and read it, as nowadays it is not so populair anymore.

But this M-disc would be very handy for saving your photo's or whatever you want to save, a 1000 years. 

[WaveHunter]

4 hours ago, blackcab said:

Your main issue is using FedEx. There are many many topics on the forum about the carriers and their assessment of duty, and the answer is always use USPS.

 

You really don't have to get every item you send valued. Instead you state the value on the customs declaration form that is attached to the outside of the packaging. Small boxes with a declared value of USD30 or less are almost always automatically passed through the inspection.

It would be so nice if it worked as you say but I had a recent package arrive from Japan that was indeed under the 1500 baht allowance and even included the store's invoice inside the box.  However, Customs seized it, placed an arbitrary value on the contents which was ten times the stated value.  What's more, the items were obviously worth what the store invoice stated, and any moron would have known that.

 

I had to document the actual value by taking snapshots of the store's online catalog, and send in a special form asking for re-assessment, which took over 30 days to be acted upon by Customs, and even then they charged me a special fee for re-assesment, which meant I had to take a 30 minute taxi ride back to the only post office in the area that handles Customs to pay my 150 THB fee, instead of just having the package delivered to my door, as should have been done in the first place.

 

THIS KIND OF NONSENSE is why I am loathe to deal with Customs.  I have lived in different countries and Thailand is without question the worst when it comes to how Customs treats customers.

[Muzzique]

Seems a really dated stupid option. You can simply buy a hard drive and down load the data over a VPN. 

 

The idea of posting a Hard Drive defeats the concept of modern day working.

 

Using snail mail to send data is like rowing a boat to travel to China. 

 

Just create an image of the 4tb drive and then restore the image on the new drive.

 

Same as you would if your HD died and you needed to restore a backup image onto a fresh piece of hardware.

 

Dropbox will even give you a free trial so it would cost you nothing.

 

Edited September 2, 2022 by Muzzique

[Muzzique]

4 hours ago, KannikaP said:

Regarding your first sentence, very funny, but many locations in the US still have very slow internet connections.  In my case, the client holding my disk is in the state of Maine, and said it would be impossible to transfer that much data to the cloud without encountering timesouts, and then being forced to re start the entire upload all over from scratch.

No data bandwidth in Maine? Come on.!!! Timeouts? Restart from scratch? This is 2022 not 2012.

[lopburi3]

29 minutes ago, Muzzique said:

No data bandwidth in Maine? Come on.!!! Timeouts? Restart from scratch? This is 2022 not 2012.

You do understand Maine is just about the end of the world?  That is real wilderness away from the coast.  The USA itself is about 13 in world internet speed but only about 44% have fiber optic access so many are still at very low speeds.  YouTubers spend hours uploading short videos and many places have no service at all.  USA is a rather large country.  And Maine is great for lobster - but not much else.

Edited September 2, 2022 by lopburi3

[WaveHunter]

On 9/2/2022 at 7:21 PM, Muzzique said:

Seems a really dated stupid option. You can simply buy a hard drive and down load the data over a VPN. 

 

The idea of posting a Hard Drive defeats the concept of modern day working.

 

Using snail mail to send data is like rowing a boat to travel to China. 

 

Just create an image of the 4tb drive and then restore the image on the new drive.

 

Same as you would if your HD died and you needed to restore a backup image onto a fresh piece of hardware.

 

Dropbox will even give you a free trial so it would cost you nothing.

Seems like a very uninformed (and rude) viewpoint from you (since you seem to want to be personal about this).  There's a great deal of difference between the theoretical concept of moving 4tB of data to the cloud, and actually being able to do it practically.

 

My 4tB hard drive is in the hands of a professional IT person in Maine with the fastest possible connection speed available to his company.  If there was a way to practically move it to the cloud, he would have, but he informed me that he could NOT move 4tB into a cloud server without timeout issues, and repeated attempt starting from scratch.

 

Personally I have a very fast and robust internet connection here in Thailand as well as the latest Mac with an M1 chip and have experienced the same issue he described.

 

Here is my typical download / upload speed and reliability numbers:

 

If you've ever actually tried to move over 1tB of data to the cloud, it is one of the most frustrating experiences to start the upload before you go to bed at night and then wake up to see that the connection timed out at some point during the upload or your computer froze from trying to buffer data, of whatever, and then have to start all over from scratch oly to have the same thign happen again.

 

So, with all due respect, I think you are talking through your hat.  I'm sure it can be done with enough patience and diligence, but it is just not practical.

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by WaveHunter

[WaveHunter]

On 9/2/2022 at 8:13 PM, lopburi3 said:

You do understand Maine is just about the end of the world?  That is real wilderness away from the coast.  The USA itself is about 13 in world internet speed but only about 44% have fiber optic access so many are still at very low speeds.  YouTubers spend hours uploading short videos and many places have no service at all.  USA is a rather large country.  And Maine is great for lobster - but not much else.

LOL!  Yes, the lobster is excellent in Maine, and cheap too ????. Maine is not as backward as you infer, but yeah, Fiber optics is not an option in that part of Maine.  If it were, then maybe moving 4tB to the cloud might be an option, but on a regular connection, it's just not practical, and as I told the other poster who referred to sending the drive via FedEx as stupid and unnecessary since this is 2022 and not 2012, he really does not have a good grasp on reality, and instead is watching too many ads for DropBox and other cloud services.

 

Edited September 18, 2022 by WaveHunter

[lopburi3]

12 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

LOL!  Yes, the lobster is excellent in Maine, and cheap too ????. Maine is not as backward as you infer, but yeah, Fiber optics is not an option in that part of Maine.  If it were, then maybe moving 4tB to the cloud might be an option, but on a regular connection, it's just not practical, and as I told the other poster who referred to sending the drive via FedEx as stupid and unnecessary since this is 2022 and not 2012, he really does not have a good grasp on reality, and instead is watching too many ads for DropBox and other cloud services.

 

Actually have not been in Maine for many years (we had summer cottage on Parker Pond in Casco and lived in NH) so expect much more developed.  We also enjoyed the beaches and old mansion hotels along the coast - but inland it was very much the backwoods 50-60 years ago.  But the lobster made up for it.  

[FritsSikkink]

21 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

My 4tB hard drive is in the hands of a professional IT person in Maine with the fastest possible connection speed available to his company.  If there was a way to practically move it to the cloud, he would have, but he informed me that he could NOT move 4tB into a cloud server without timeout issues, and repeated attempt starting from scratch.

 

 

Your IT person, isn't as smart as he wants you to believe. You can upload the different files in parts or even file by file. When you have an lousy connection only an idiot would try to do the whole bunch in 1 go.

[Muzzique]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

Your IT person, isn't as smart as he wants you to believe. You can upload the different files in parts or even file by file. When you have an lousy connection only an idiot would try to do the whole bunch in 1 go.

Totally agree. I would seek out another IT specialist who knows what they are doing. Uploading 4tb in a single go always risks failure. No one in their right mind would try it.

There's nothing personal here. There are services out there that do this all the time.  We regularly back up all a users device images, Mobile, desktop, laptop etc to single storage location and these backups start at around 4tb.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Muzzique

[fdsa]

23 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

My 4tB hard drive is in the hands of a professional IT person in Maine with the fastest possible connection speed available to his company.  If there was a way to practically move it to the cloud, he would have, but he informed me that he could NOT move 4tB into a cloud server without timeout issues, and repeated attempt starting from scratch.

then he is not a professional, because any IT professional knows how to append data to partially uploaded file.

[WaveHunter]

On 9/19/2022 at 12:30 PM, Muzzique said:

Totally agree. I would seek out another IT specialist who knows what they are doing. Uploading 4tb in a single go always risks failure. No one in their right mind would try it.

There's nothing personal here. There are services out there that do this all the time.  We regularly back up all a users device images, Mobile, desktop, laptop etc to single storage location and these backups start at around 4tb.

Listen guys, I know a lot of you like to take a simple question and turn it into an unending debate That goes completely off-topic.

 

if you will recall, this thread was a question about customs, not computer IT. 

 

The simple fact is that sending the hard drive by FedEx it’s going to be a much simpler solution than trying to upload it into a cloud.
 

FYI the computer technician I’m working with is VERY qualified much more so than me or any of you. He does not want to upload it to the cloud! I’m not going to waste my time or his debating his decision.

 

So, consider this discussion closed, and thanks to those of you who provided helpful comments.

Edited September 20, 2022 by WaveHunter

[WaveHunter]

On 9/18/2022 at 1:54 PM, lopburi3 said:

Actually have not been in Maine for many years (we had summer cottage on Parker Pond in Casco and lived in NH) so expect much more developed.  We also enjoyed the beaches and old mansion hotels along the coast - but inland it was very much the backwoods 50-60 years ago.  But the lobster made up for it.  

It's actually one of the best places on earth to live if you feel the need to get back to basic human values.  The relatively slow speed of internet connections is not a big concern to me, even though I am a photographer working with very large files that I need to upload to clients. 

 

The connection has always been robust enough for my needs, except in this instance where I thought a 4tB hard drive could be moved into the cloud without issues. 

 

No big deal; my package forwarding shipper in the US has a good deal with FedEx and is only charging me $28 USD to ship it.  The computer IT guy is giving me an invoice in the amount of $0 USD for inspection-only, which means that the combined value is under 1500 THB, so most likely it will avoid the dreaded Custom inspection.   

[WaveHunter]

On 9/19/2022 at 12:30 PM, Muzzique said:

Totally agree. I would seek out another IT specialist who knows what they are doing. Uploading 4tb in a single go always risks failure. No one in their right mind would try it.

There's nothing personal here. There are services out there that do this all the time.  We regularly back up all a users device images, Mobile, desktop, laptop etc to single storage location and these backups start at around 4tb.

Sorry if I came off negatively to your comments.  I'm sure you are correct that it can be done without a lot of hassles but that depends on your location.  The computer IT guy I am dealing with is a stone-cold and well-credentialed professional with a lot of experience...but he is located in a part of Maine that does not have super-fast fiber or anything approaching that.  He simply said he did not want to attempt it because it would be problematic and time-consuming to try, and rather than argue with him, I accepted what he said and moved on.

 

The only reason I even posted this thread was because FedEx quoted me a ridiculous price on shipping which was sure to lead to a Customs inspection and I've had nightmares with Thai Customs in the past and wasn't looking for a repeat performance.  My problem was solved when my freight forward said he could ship the drive for only $28 USD.  It meant that the total value of the shipment was under the duty free amount of 1500THB so in all liklihood it will simply be delivered to my door withut the dreaded Custom dudes getting their hands on it.

[lopburi3]

6 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

It's actually one of the best places on earth to live if you feel the need to get back to basic human values.  The relatively slow speed of internet connections is not a big concern to me, even though I am a photographer working with very large files that I need to upload to clients. 

 

The connection has always been robust enough for my needs, except in this instance where I thought a 4tB hard drive could be moved into the cloud without issues. 

 

No big deal; my package forwarding shipper in the US has a good deal with FedEx and is only charging me $28 USD to ship it.  The computer IT guy is giving me an invoice in the amount of $0 USD for inspection-only, which means that the combined value is under 1500 THB, so most likely it will avoid the dreaded Custom inspection.   

Good luck - my experience with shippers makes me avoid at any cost and as this is not something you can afford to let them keep would make me very anxious.  My last shipment of a medical item was reported to me as being held for special customs clearance a week before it even arrived in Thailand (was bouncing in Europe due Covid) and when actually arrived would have cost me more than double price paid to have company take care of import if there were no issues (they wanted a packing list in Thai to even start).  But suspect you will be fine - many people use such providers without issues.

 

As for Maine being basic values - our camp was taken by government in late 60's by eminent domain laws to widen road (actually a turnout on road for tourists to view pond) at a fraction of our cost. 

[WaveHunter]

On 9/19/2022 at 12:54 PM, fdsa said:

then he is not a professional, because any IT professional knows how to append data to partially uploaded file.

Just so you understand...he did not say it could not be done.  He said he did not want the frustration and wasted time of doing it since internet connection in that part of Maine are slow and cumbersome.  I wasn't about to argue with. him, and just moved on for another solution which I found.

[WaveHunter]

17 minutes ago, lopburi3 said:

Good luck - my experience with shippers makes me avoid at any cost and as this is not something you can afford to let them keep would make me very anxious.  My last shipment of a medical item was reported to me as being held for special customs clearance a week before it even arrived in Thailand (was bouncing in Europe due Covid) and when actually arrived would have cost me more than double price paid to have company take care of import if there were no issues (they wanted a packing list in Thai to even start).  But suspect you will be fine - many people use such providers without issues.

 

As for Maine being basic values - our camp was taken by government in late 60's by eminent domain laws to widen road (actually a turnout on road for tourists to view pond) at a fraction of our cost. 

You know, my knee-jerk reaction to Customs getting their hands on my hard drive and me not getting it back without paying ransom for it were ill-founded.  It i simply one of four back-up drives, so no worries if something bad happens to the drive. 

 

My experience with Customs has also been very upsetting.  They once set an arbitrary value on a package coming to me from Japan that should have been delivered duty-free to my door, but they valued it at 10 times the value of what the enclosed invoice listed! 

 

I had to make photocopies of the store's website to show each product with it's listed price to get them to release the package, and then it took over a month for them to release it, and then the had the nerve to charge me an inspection fee, which meant I had to drive one hour to the only post office that handled packages with payable customs!

 

That was just one of several other Customs fiascos I had to deal with here in the "Magic" KIngdom!

 

The way the drive is being shipped now, has a declared value of under 1500 THB so in all likelihood, it will never get in the dreaded hands of the ransom bandits (I hope). 

 

Just the price of living here I guess,  Customs agents and policemen who both seem to create their own little retirement nest-eggs with such nonsense.

Edited September 20, 2022 by WaveHunter