Custom Duty at the airport / Bringing many luggages

[BeerT]

2 hours ago, yogavnture said:

DEPends on the day and agent who is on duty.  they might look at the electronics. 

Thanks. Will definitely pay more attention to my electronics!

[BeerT]

4 hours ago, Rumpelstilskin said:

Have a plain white envelope with 3 100 US Ben franklins inside.  If you are stopped by customs just hand them the envelope -- no problem -- just be prepared in advance.

True true. Will do! Thanks! 

[BeerT]

4 hours ago, BKKTRAVELER said:

The only few times I got stopped by BKK customs were when I was on my Elite visa.

 

They probably thought I was rich and bought my GF brand new luxury bags or watches from abroad. I did not ????

Thanks for the info! 

[BeerT]

5 hours ago, mjakob007 said:

When we relocated late 2020, had 12 cases between 4 passengers. did not get stopped or asked any question. dont know if the covid quarantine situation helped..

 

2 weeks later (once we were out of quarantine,) another 10 boxes arrived by DHL and got assessed for some 30k baht in duties & taxes. duties were assessed based on value declared for insurance. so thats a catch 22

True. I've heard a lot of other pp who got charged for boxes shipped via air express. 

[BeerT]

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I very much doubt anyone on here ever brought more than one can carry on one trolley, but you could probably pay an airport worker to bring another trolley.

I see. Will look into that option. Thanks! 

[BangkokAlan]

I have relocated back to Thailand in the past and regularly bring back 4 huge suitcases with the wife from holidays. No one ask the contents they may only ask you to put on the conveyor to make sure you have no illicit items, and they are generally only on lookout for luxury bags, watches etc. that it's easy to secure tax on. 

[BeerT]

20 minutes ago, BangkokAlan said:

I have relocated back to Thailand in the past and regularly bring back 4 huge suitcases with the wife from holidays. No one ask the contents they may only ask you to put on the conveyor to make sure you have no illicit items, and they are generally only on lookout for luxury bags, watches etc. that it's easy to secure tax on. 

Thanks for the info! 

[NanLaew]

1 hour ago, BeerT said:

That's a very helpful strategy. Thanks a lot! 

We implemented it on our 'mules' coming in from the US with various stuff for the expat buddies here in Thailand. This was after one of them got stopped and assessed great gobs of duty on a box of cigars that were inside a fancy box that Customs included in the duty assessment. We told him to dump the cigar boxes next time as they're only supposed to assess on actual tobacco weight ONLY. He got to keep the cigars but one of the expats was SOL on his long-overdue packets of Dunkin Donuts coffee as Customs insisted they were totally illegal and confiscated both packets.

[TaoNow]

A few years ago, I asked my daughter in the US to purchase and send a designer bag to me (which I planned to present as a gift to someone here in Thailand).

 

My daughter did so, and sent the bag to me in Bangkok by regular mail.

 

However, the postal customs office intercepted it, and I was called in to pay a hefty luxury tax in order to claim the item -- but no fine.

 

Out of curiosity, I asked the official at the postal/customs office how they identify items that are eligible for import tax, given that so many items arrive at Suvannabhumi Airport each day.

 

She said that they conduct a sample of items. 

 

But that didn't seem plausible to me since the probability of this single package being selected was surely extremely small.

 

Now, as one of the above posters reported, it seems they have a way of scanning packages, parcels, and luggage, for imported luxury items.

 

That makes more sense. 

 

So, buyer beware, indeed. 

 

 

[NoDisplayName]

2 hours ago, TaoNow said:

Now, as one of the above posters reported, it seems they have a way of scanning packages, parcels, and luggage, for imported luxury items.

When I mailed packages from China, the clerk told me I should remove any tags with bar codes as the scanners at customs in the receiving country could read them through the packaging.

 

I don't know about that, but we did remove tags and blacked out bar codes to indicate not for sale if the boxes were opened.

[BeerT]

47 minutes ago, NoDisplayName said:

When I mailed packages from China, the clerk told me I should remove any tags with bar codes as the scanners at customs in the receiving country could read them through the packaging.

 

I don't know about that, but we did remove tags and blacked out bar codes to indicate not for sale if the boxes were opened.

Wow. That's a super insightful suggestion. Will definitely do that. Thanks! 

[BeerT]

3 hours ago, TaoNow said:

A few years ago, I asked my daughter in the US to purchase and send a designer bag to me (which I planned to present as a gift to someone here in Thailand).

 

My daughter did so, and sent the bag to me in Bangkok by regular mail.

 

However, the postal customs office intercepted it, and I was called in to pay a hefty luxury tax in order to claim the item -- but no fine.

 

Out of curiosity, I asked the official at the postal/customs office how they identify items that are eligible for import tax, given that so many items arrive at Suvannabhumi Airport each day.

 

She said that they conduct a sample of items. 

 

But that didn't seem plausible to me since the probability of this single package being selected was surely extremely small.

 

Now, as one of the above posters reported, it seems they have a way of scanning packages, parcels, and luggage, for imported luxury items.

 

That makes more sense. 

 

So, buyer beware, indeed. 

 

 

Indeed, indeed! Thanks for the reminder!

[BeerT]

4 hours ago, NanLaew said:

We implemented it on our 'mules' coming in from the US with various stuff for the expat buddies here in Thailand. This was after one of them got stopped and assessed great gobs of duty on a box of cigars that were inside a fancy box that Customs included in the duty assessment. We told him to dump the cigar boxes next time as they're only supposed to assess on actual tobacco weight ONLY. He got to keep the cigars but one of the expats was SOL on his long-overdue packets of Dunkin Donuts coffee as Customs insisted they were totally illegal and confiscated both packets.

Gotcha. Will get the envelope ready just in case. 

[paulbrow]

On 1/16/2023 at 7:04 AM, BeerT said:

Feeling so much more relieved seeing your post. Thanks for the info~! Was wondering if you sought airport assistance to carry those cases? I would assume it's unrealistic to put 11 cases in one cart. Would probably need 3 or even 4 people to carry all those luggages. 

 

(I think the luggage claim area is not open to those who come for airport pickup. So basically from the luggage claim to airport exit, how did you manage to carry everything?)

 

Thanks in advance!

Two people, two carts and a good balancing act!