Shipping A Container Of Household Stuff

[lotus eater]

I am about to have a container of household effects shipped. Shippers quotations of course exclude customs duty - and on the phone they talk about 'tea money' in lieu. However they will not - at least not so far to me - put an approximate figure to this tea money. My stuff is mostly books, a couple of furniture items, and after that very normal stuff and personal junk.

I'd be interested to know the level of tea money people who've shipped a container - say, in the not too distant past - have been hit for. I know amounts can vary wildly and will depend on among other things the clearer's contacts and sheer luck - but having any actual figures will be better than my presently zero info. Just want to foresee/budget my overall costs. (I’m on a O visa – retirement basis - so no work permit/thai wife/etc exemptions).

[Naam]

I'd be interested to know the level of tea money people who've shipped a container - say, in the not too distant past - have been hit for.

use a renowned clearing agent and let them handle everything. saves you a lot of hassle AND money.

do it yourself... weep and whine!

[miltonbentley]

Agree with the above poster - get an agent.

I assume you are shipping to Thailand?

I paid 9,000 baht miscellaneous charges on a container of household effects which I thought very reasonable - especially as the dog cost me 14,000

[chuchok]

The Customs Police are treading very,very carefully at the mo.From what I understand,most things (for the time being) are by the book.Use an agent and don't forget to haggle the buggers.Freight and ancillary charges are just as negotiable as a tangible item.

[lotus eater]

Agree with the above poster - get an agent.

I assume you are shipping to Thailand?

I paid 9,000 baht miscellaneous charges on a container of household effects which I thought very reasonable - especially as the dog cost me 14,000

I'm shipping from France to Thailand. I assume the miscellaneous charges went for the 'tea money'. You had a dog in, or tied to, the container? I assume your shipment was recent. If so this will be the only figure I have so far to keep in mind. Thanks.

What do you mean by 'an agent'? A Bangkok company will be arranging the whole thing for me. They'll subcontract their subagents in France to pack and put the container on a boat to Bangkok; where I expect them to clear it and deliver to my house. (That door to door comprehensive service was what was quoted to me by one big company, but their quote was high and I'm in the process of getting this second quote. And may also get a third from another international moving company - if I have enough time.)

The Customs Police are treading very,very carefully at the mo.From what I understand,most things (for the time being) are by the book.Use an agent and don't forget to haggle the buggers.Freight and ancillary charges are just as negotiable as a tangible item.

Again I assume I am indeed using what you are referring to as 'an agent'. I cannot avoid that anyway since I don't live in Bangkok and want a door to door service for delivery to Chiang Rai. But if customs are going by the book I wonder if that's going to be a lot more expensive for me.

Can you please clarify the meaning and distinction of the words I've underlined?

[miltonbentley]

I'm shipping from France to Thailand. I assume the miscellaneous charges went for the 'tea money'. You had a dog in, or tied to, the container? I assume your shipment was recent. If so this will be the only figure I have so far to keep in mind. Thanks.

What do you mean by 'an agent'? A Bangkok company will be arranging the whole thing for me. They'll subcontract their subagents in France to pack and put the container on a boat to Bangkok; where I expect them to clear it and deliver to my house. (That door to door comprehensive service was what was quoted to me by one big company, but their quote was high and I'm in the process of getting this second quote. And may also get a third from another international moving company - if I have enough time.)

The dog flew (first class judging by the cost) but was for the purposes of comparison.

I used a UK shipping agent shipping door to door. When the consignment arrived in BK the UK agent put me in touch with the Thai agent. I was initially told no duty if I had a non imm B but when the stuff arrived I was told a non imm B wasn't good enough I had to have a work permit. My WP had not yet been issued.

My solicitor wrote a letter and the Thai agent negotiated on my behalf and I was happy with the 9,000 baht which was invoiced by the agent as transfer charges or some such.

[chuchok]

The Customs Police are treading very,very carefully at the mo.From what I understand,most things (for the time being) are by the book.Use an agent and don't forget to haggle the buggers.Freight and ancillary charges are just as negotiable as a tangible item.

Again I assume I am indeed using what you are referring to as 'an agent'. I cannot avoid that anyway since I don't live in Bangkok and want a door to door service for delivery to Chiang Rai. But if customs are going by the book I wonder if that's going to be a lot more expensive for me.

Can you please clarify the meaning and distinction of the words I've underlined?

Get all prices in writing...down to the last detail.By ancillary charges,I mean the add ons.like a special Documentation fee,processing fee or a Tea money payment etc.

get quotations from three different companies.Check out what they will charge you for the Container to be shipped from BKK to Chiang Rai.By this I mean call a trucking company to get a comparison.Many freight forwarders will just use a trucking company and add on a percentage(Sometimes a LARGE percentage)Keep them honest.By doing this you can negotiate a bit better etc.

[lotus eater]

The Customs Police are treading very,very carefully at the mo.From what I understand,most things (for the time being) are by the book.Use an agent and don't forget to haggle the buggers.Freight and ancillary charges are just as negotiable as a tangible item.

Again I assume I am indeed using what you are referring to as 'an agent'. I cannot avoid that anyway since I don't live in Bangkok and want a door to door service for delivery to Chiang Rai. But if customs are going by the book I wonder if that's going to be a lot more expensive for me.

Can you please clarify the meaning and distinction of the words I've underlined?

Get all prices in writing...down to the last detail.By ancillary charges,I mean the add ons.like a special Documentation fee,processing fee or a Tea money payment etc.

get quotations from three different companies.Check out what they will charge you for the Container to be shipped from BKK to Chiang Rai.By this I mean call a trucking company to get a comparison.Many freight forwarders will just use a trucking company and add on a percentage(Sometimes a LARGE percentage)Keep them honest.By doing this you can negotiate a bit better etc.

Thanks for the tips.

The snag in all this is that nobody will give me a quotation to include the ancillaries/tea money; so I suppose the seemingly most competitive company who gets the business could later negate the bargaining I may have gone through by afterwards simply inflating that ancillaries item.

Secondly there must be an advantage to working with a company that knows the ropes in keeping the customs/tea money to reasonable levels - not one that just pays anything and then bills me that additional amount (with or without a further percentage). Obviously at that stage they have my container, and I have no choice but to pay up.

[anonymouse]

I've had two shipments sent from the Uk to Chiang Mai, both times they contained a 1000 or so books, some dvd's,cd's and kids toys as well a a few British staples like Colmans Mustard!

I didn't pay any tea money or duty on both shipments.

I used a shipping agent in the Uk to get it to the port at Bangkok, then I used Schenker logistics up here in Chiang Mai to organise customs clearance and transportation to my house.

I just gave them the bill of lading and my passport and they did all the red tape.

[Rabbit]

Another cost that you may incure is tax on certain items when clearing them from the port. I found out that because my partner, who is Thai lived with me abroad as a permanent resident in Australia for more than 5 years we did not have to pay tax on certain items. Don't know exactly what tax applies to what and how much, but i do know that we made a fair savings from this info. I am not sure if you have a Thai partner and if the same rules apply for different countries but thought it may be worth you knowing this.

As mentioned in other posts, do not take the first price you are offered for the processing of you shippment on the BKK docks either, bargain and bargain hard with the company in BKK not only for their services but also the services of the company moving your goods from BKK to Chiang Rai.

Here is the eamil address of the Lady that helped my wife and I get our shippment cleared and up to CM, she was most helpful, did everthing over the phone and internet. [email protected] The company I used in Australia organised this company for me from OZ my wife compared the costs with another company in CM and there was little difference.

Charges incurred:

Customs formailty charges 3500THB

Inspector fee 3000 THB

Extention for customs card 500 THB

Service charges 500 THB

Rent 210 THB (not sure what this is for)

Labour and equipment 500 THB

Transport to CM 13000 THB - overnight and only our goods on load

Edited July 16, 2007 by Rabbit

[baabaabobo]

I also sent my stuff from France to Phuket in 4 trunks.

When we went to collect our stuff we were asked for 100, 000 baht "import duty" from customs.

My Thai wife told them to send it all back and we would claim on the insurance and buy new stuff as it was all second hand. This bluff worked and we ended up paying 3000 baht in "tea money"

However without a fiery Thai wife I would agree with previous posters & suggest an agent to ensure door to door. Even then expect to pay something...

[kevc]

About 3 years ago we paid 110 UK pounds for a 2 cubic metre crate to Bangkok and 10,000 baht to get it transfered by road to our village outside Buriram ( import duty and carraige ) had to buy a special documented crate 85 pounds in the UK.

The other interesting thing was when I came with our dog, my wife had already been here 2 weeks and met us at the airport, customs guy said import duty for the dog was 17,000 baht but because he came from Buriram as well he would give it to us for 10,000 baht if we didn't need a reciept............... How nice of him, looked back through the window and they were busy dividing it up.