Shipping personal items from UK to Thailand

[RandolphGB]

Hello, I have a few boxes of personal items to send from the UK to Thailand. 

 

Can anybody recommend a decent service for this? What are the import costs on the Thai side?

 

 

[DrJack54]

This comes up in general topics. 

 

Here some threads....

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/1224301-import-taxes-relocating-on-non-imm-o-visa-ship-household-items-to-thailand/

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/639198-shipping-household-items-to-thailand-how-much-duty-did-you-pay/

 

https://aseannow.com/topic/988245-importing-personal-effects-to-thailand-where-is-the-line-for-personal-vs-business/ 

 

EDIT: Sorry OP just noticed you are talking about FEW personal items.

In that case fly with them as check in luggage.

Think you can pay for a Lot of extra kg

Edited March 16, 2023 by DrJack54

[3STTW]

The best way to do this is create an itemised packing list, along with the value of each item, and send it by courier. If you just pack everything up and describe them as 'household' or 'personal' effects, it will all be stuck in customs for ages. There's also a good chance that some items will get 'lost'.

 

The choice of courier is up to you but bear in mind that the cost of shipping is taxable too, so this can have a big impact on your import costs. DHL and FedEx are super-reliable but they're also very expensive. Avoid UPS at all costs.

 

I just had a pleasant surprise using TNT, not only were they very cheap, they told me in advance what day the package would arrive, transit time 7 days. All this with full international tracking to boot. In my case, the package was 50x50x20cm, 8kg and the shipping cost was GBP38.00!

 

Thailand applies duty in varying amounts depending on the classification of each item, this data is clearly described on the Thai Customs website - hence the advantage of creating a packing list; this will allow the courier to do much of the paperwork in advance and the package will spend less than 24hrs in customs.

 

VAT is charged on all items, including the shipping cost at 7%.

[problemfarang]

i think all up to what kind of personal things you are talking about.

i mean do you mean your PC? cats? dogs? 

or the whole things in your house?!

[RandolphGB]

Cheaper and easier just to stuff it all in suitcases and if necessary pay for the extra allowance. 

Edited March 17, 2023 by RandolphGB

[oldcpu]

Dependent on what you ship - this can be a hassle to get through Thai customs.

 

My Thai wife and I moved from Germany to Thailand about 4 years ago.  We shipped many personal items (books, gifts given to us over the years (china wear and stuff), many winter clothes (which we wanted to keep for downhill skiing vacation on future travels),  and some electronics (computers, old car GPS, etc ... ).  We also came with fully packed suitcases, but one can't fit decades of personal belongings in the two suit cases we each took on the flight to Thailand.

 

Getting our personal effects out of Germany was difficult, as it took a long time to get an export licence. A detailed list was needed with an estimate of the net worth of the items.  If the net worth declared is too large, then it greatly complicates the paperwork to leave Germany.  We went through a big run around here (I won't spam forum with the details) ...  Of course the UK could (and likely is) entirely different.

 

Then at customs in Thailand, our agent was given a rough time by Thai customs to bring the stuff in.  Customs initially wanted to charge a high import tax on the computers.  When we noted the newest computer was 5-years old, and the second computer 10 years old, the agent was told by customs that Thailand does not allow one to ship junk into the country of Thailand !!

 

When customs saw the car GPS they claimed shipping such was a security risk for Thailand.  ... Say what ??   Every modern phone has a GPS !!

 

Anyway, .. to make a long story short, after appropriate tea money was paid to customs,  the goods made it through customs also with some nominal additional customs fee.  

 

My view - If at all possible - try to discard most your UK things, and plan to buy new things in Thailand and don't ship much to the country.   Of course this is easier said than done, especially when it comes to personal effects to which one has fond memories.

 

Edited March 17, 2023 by oldcpu

[RandolphGB]

On 3/17/2023 at 3:16 PM, oldcpu said:

Dependent on what you ship - this can be a hassle to get through Thai customs.

 

My Thai wife and I moved from Germany to Thailand about 4 years ago.  We shipped many personal items (books, gifts given to us over the years (china wear and stuff), many winter clothes (which we wanted to keep for downhill skiing vacation on future travels),  and some electronics (computers, old car GPS, etc ... ).  We also came with fully packed suitcases, but one can't fit decades of personal belongings in the two suit cases we each took on the flight to Thailand.

 

Getting our personal effects out of Germany was difficult, as it took a long time to get an export licence. A detailed list was needed with an estimate of the net worth of the items.  If the net worth declared is too large, then it greatly complicates the paperwork to leave Germany.  We went through a big run around here (I won't spam forum with the details) ...  Of course the UK could (and likely is) entirely different.

 

Then at customs in Thailand, our agent was given a rough time by Thai customs to bring the stuff in.  Customs initially wanted to charge a high import tax on the computers.  When we noted the newest computer was 5-years old, and the second computer 10 years old, the agent was told by customs that Thailand does not allow one to ship junk into the country of Thailand !!

 

When customs saw the car GPS they claimed shipping such was a security risk for Thailand.  ... Say what ??   Every modern phone has a GPS !!

 

Anyway, .. to make a long story short, after appropriate tea money was paid to customs,  the goods made it through customs also with some nominal additional customs fee.  

 

My view - If at all possible - try to discard most your UK things, and plan to buy new things in Thailand and don't ship much to the country.   Of course this is easier said than done, especially when it comes to personal effects to which one has fond memories.

 

Very interesting experience. Clearly it's better to avoid shipping items into Thailand, not least because of the corrupt customs officials.