Looking at starting a website for international sales from Thailand

[Shaunkuntep]

My son who has just turned 18 has wanted to start up a Website or Ebay store and sell small items /collectors cards outside of Thailand.

 

I have tried to find info about this and know he will have to pay income tax for this but can anyone point me in the right direction .

 

I have asked a few friends and they say its a grey area but prefer to do this right from the start.

I have contacted a tax advisor but not sure the advice given was 100% correct 

 

My son will probably sell to America/Europe and not in Thailand

Any help would be appreciated

[transam]

Don't spend what "you" can't afford to lose........????

[Shaunkuntep]

I will have to see if there are previous threads about this

Edited September 10, 2023 by Shaunkuntep

[impulse]

Probably not a good time to ask you to post back with whatever info you find, though it may be helpful to some others on here.

 

Assuming you're on Step Zero of the process, I'd suggest you go to the Thai Post with a few typical items that your son expects to sell, and see about the process and the cost by sending them to a family member back home.  Also, see what's required to get their best pricing if he's going to be shipping a lot of parcels.  He may need to be a registered business.  (Or maybe not)  The cost may be prohibitive, or it may not.

 

I wouldn't worry about getting the taxes 100% right at the start.  Sure, reserve some money so you can pay income taxes when required, but don't let that sidetrack you.

 

And if you can, please post back when you do get it figured out.

 

[OneMoreFarang]

1 hour ago, Shaunkuntep said:

sell small items /collectors cards outside of Thailand

I know almost nothing about that.

But as far as I know professionals do this in a way that they have storage locations i.e. in Europe and the USA. If anybody in France or Germany orders, you ship from Europe. You ship i.e. 100 items one time to Europ and then distribute it over there. 

 

I think complete services like that exist. Obviously he can (try to do) every single step from buying, selling, shipping, collecting money, handling returns, etc. But maybe he wants to concentrate (at the beginning) on parts which he thinks he can do best. Maybe buying collectors cards relative cheap in Thailand.

It's a lot of work to do all of that.

 

[Celsius]

Where is your son located?

[Shaunkuntep]

15 minutes ago, Celsius said:

Where is your son located?

In Bangkok .
 

[Shaunkuntep]

31 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

 

Assuming you're on Step Zero of the process, I'd suggest you go to the Thai Post with a few typical items that your son expects to sell, and see about the process and the cost by sending them to a family member back home.  Also, see what's required to get their best pricing if he's going to be shipping a lot of parcels.  He may need to be a registered business.  (Or maybe not)  The cost may be prohibitive, or it may not.

 

I wouldn't worry about getting the taxes 100% right at the start.  Sure, reserve some money so you can pay income taxes when required, but don't let that sidetrack you.

 

And if you can, please post back when you do get it figured out.

 

Yes i am sure he will have to be a registered business as he also has larger items he plans on selling.
Thai post shows all the prices on their website so it can easily be worked out.

just wanting to see how much income tax/vat/ business taxes would need to be payable as the items will be quite highly priced but no idea how it all works as profit wise i do not expect much after all the fees

[Shaunkuntep]

21 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I know almost nothing about that.

But as far as I know professionals do this in a way that they have storage locations i.e. in Europe and the USA. If anybody in France or Germany orders, you ship from Europe. You ship i.e. 100 items one time to Europ and then distribute it over there. 

 

I think complete services like that exist. Obviously he can (try to do) every single step from buying, selling, shipping, collecting money, handling returns, etc. But maybe he wants to concentrate (at the beginning) on parts which he thinks he can do best. Maybe buying collectors cards relative cheap in Thailand.

It's a lot of work to do all of that.

 

Hi yes thought about that but then he would need someone else to sort everything out and also would need to pay to be shipped again.
Also these will not be the same items so this would make it very difficult .

Probably easier when all the items are identical but many will be signed or one off items

[Gottfrid]

I can´t see the problem here. Just let your son start sell over ebay or Amazon. If it shows to work out good, then think about register and all the tax questions. There are many people doing such things, and they would not do it if there was no profit in it, so no need to worry about that.

[Celsius]

17 minutes ago, Shaunkuntep said:

In Bangkok .
 

 

It is very hard to do online business from Thailand. Before you consult a tax advisor, he should start by opening an eBay account and see if this is something that will be a viable business long term.

 

eBay is more unfriendly with Thai sellers these days. Now you have to go through Payoneer and get verified if you want to get paid and to start on eBay they will normally give you 3 to 50 active listings per month until you "prove" yourself which is really nothing.

 

Also from my experience American buyers prefer buying from American sellers due to many issues including higher shipping costs, easier return options and various trust issues. 

 

Opening your own website will cost a lot of money on advertising as trading cards is something of  a a niche market. 

 

I have been selling online for the past 20 years and 15 years ago I would have recommended Amazon to do this. Now it is almost impossible to get approved as a seller and even more difficult to list the products without getting banned.... especially if you are not located in US and don't have original invoices from a distributor.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Celsius

[Denim]

1 hour ago, Shaunkuntep said:

My son who has just turned 18 has wanted to start up a Website or Ebay store and sell small items /collectors cards outside of Thailand.

There are already online platforms for this. He could try selling on a site like Etsy first just to test the demand before trying to develop his own website.

 

Selling online is all about ' traffic ' , ie , how many prospective buyers you can get to look at what you are trying to sell. No traffic = no sales. It is difficult to compete with the established platforms unless you have a very niche thing that is in demand to sell.

[kwak250]

17 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

It is very hard to do online business from Thailand. Before you consult a tax advisor, he should start by opening an eBay account and see if this is something that will be a viable business long term.

 

eBay is more unfriendly with Thai sellers these days. Now you have to go through Payoneer and get verified if you want to get paid and to start on eBay they will normally give you 3 to 50 active listings per month until you "prove" yourself which is really nothing.

 

Also from my experience American buyers prefer buying from American sellers due to many issues including higher shipping costs, easier return options and various trust issues. 

 

Opening your own website will cost a lot of money on advertising as trading cards is something of  a a niche market. 

 

I have been selling online for the past 20 years and 15 years ago I would have recommended Amazon to do this. Now it is almost impossible to get approved as a seller and even more difficult to list the products without getting banned.... especially if you are not located in US and don't have original invoices from a distributor.

Taxes will be a problem and do you pay Thailand or in America/Europe?

 

 

Edited September 10, 2023 by kwak250

[Denim]

Ebay and Amazon are very cut throat with too much competition. Google Etsy and have a look. I have an online shop there. Free to set up . You only pay 20 cents every time you list an item in your shop plus a small commission on sales. Technically Etsy have rules about what can be sold ( supposed to be things you have had a hand in making yourself ) but people drive rough shod over these at least until they get a warning. Etsy also has a lot of traffic. Views in the millions.

[Adumbration]

This far into the thread an not one mention of the Elephant in the Room.

 

Does your son have Thai nationality?

[TravelerEastWest]

2 hours ago, Shaunkuntep said:

My son who has just turned 18 has wanted to start up a Website or Ebay store and sell small items /collectors cards outside of Thailand.

 

I have tried to find info about this and know he will have to pay income tax for this but can anyone point me in the right direction .

 

I have asked a few friends and they say its a grey area but prefer to do this right from the start.

I have contacted a tax advisor but not sure the advice given was 100% correct 

 

My son will probably sell to America/Europe and not in Thailand

Any help would be appreciated

If you want to die the taxes correctly you need a good Thai CPA - very easy to find but to save money your son can do his own research.

 

If your son thinks this is a good idea start small and simple. You may be best with a simple sole proprietorship (is your son Thai?). Probably around 300 baht to start at your local government office. Then a key point often with small businesses in Thailand you don't need to keep track of expenses as an example you can declare 60% of sales as expenses.

 

In the end if he has a good idea and does his research he will be fine.

[Shaunkuntep]

Hi yes my son was born in Thailand with a Thai Mother and i am from the U.K

 

Probably the best advice is to see how it goes he has already opened a Ebay account and managed to get registered with Payoneer after a few attempts.

He registered on Shopify or wix not sure which one but has problems with getting a thai credit card registered.

I was told if you sell lots of items to other countries you will need to pay tax also but maybe that's only if the bank is in the UK

He has managed to open a UK account when we were there at the start of this year which i was surprised with but probably not a good idea to have money going into a UK bank and then sent to his Kasikorn bank ?

 

 

[kwak250]

I would think if you link a UK bank to sales here in Thailand you would have to pay tax in the UK for any sales but I could be (and probably am) wrong.

 

Best to keep it all in Thailand I would think and it saves and problems if the UK bank wants you to come in and show any documents while your bank is frozen.

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, kwak250 said:

Taxes will be a problem and do you pay Thailand or in America/Europe?

He's a Thai, based in Thailand, potentially operating a Thai business with sales from Thailand and income in Thailand.   What, exactly, makes you think that where he pays tax from will be a problem decision?

[Liverpool Lou]

1 hour ago, Adumbration said:

This far into the thread an not one mention of the Elephant in the Room.

 

Does your son have Thai nationality?

The implication is that he would be.

 

EDIT: in fact, he is.

Edited September 10, 2023 by Liverpool Lou

[kwak250]

14 minutes ago, Liverpool Lou said:

He's a Thai, based in Thailand, potentially operating a Thai business with sales from Thailand and income in Thailand.   What, exactly, makes you think that where he pays tax from will be a problem decision?

The income would be from sales outside of Thailand and looking at the posts if his son was to have the payments in a UK bank I would have thought that might cause problems .

Having payment sent directly to Thailand from sales would be easier.

Edited September 10, 2023 by kwak250

[Celsius]

3 hours ago, Denim said:

Google Etsy

 

Etsy has fantastic advertising tools that you pay through your nose once the item sells. However, like you say all products are supposed to be "hand made". How strict are they enforcing these rules depends on your luck. If a competitor reports you more than once you will have your account banned forever. 

[Liverpool Lou]

12 hours ago, kwak250 said:

The income would be from sales outside of Thailand and looking at the posts if his son was to have the payments in a UK bank I would have thought that might cause problems .

He's not going to be doing that, though.

[Shaunkuntep]

Many thanks everyone

lots of good advice here

Going to look at the sole proprietorship and also etsy if they accept Thai credit cards to start selling

Many thanks for the suggestions.

 

[kwak250]

1 hour ago, Liverpool Lou said:

He's not going to be doing that, though.

He did mention it though.

 

Calm down .calm down

[Shaunkuntep]

17 hours ago, Denim said:

Ebay and Amazon are very cut throat with too much competition. Google Etsy and have a look. I have an online shop there. Free to set up . You only pay 20 cents every time you list an item in your shop plus a small commission on sales. Technically Etsy have rules about what can be sold ( supposed to be things you have had a hand in making yourself ) but people drive rough shod over these at least until they get a warning. Etsy also has a lot of traffic. Views in the millions.

My son almost finished setting up for Etsy and they do not accept payments from Thailand on the list .
Can i ask how you got around this when opening your Etsy Shop

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015710408?segment=selling

[Denim]

9 minutes ago, Shaunkuntep said:

My son almost finished setting up for Etsy and they do not accept payments from Thailand on the list .
Can i ask how you got around this when opening your Etsy Shop

https://help.etsy.com/hc/en-us/articles/115015710408?segment=selling

Yes. I actually kept my bank accounts in the UK so that although I sell and ship from Thailand the money from sales goes to those accounts.

 

There used to be a lot more foreign sellers in Thailand doing this but covid cleared a lot of them out.

 

I don't  know how your son can get around this problem. Etsy does have a user forum and you could ask there. Might work.

 

None of the big online platforms are perfect. They command the bulk of the traffic but are constantly tightening up the rules to close up any legal loose ends and reduce their own liabilities.  What was once easy ( selling online ) has become more difficult as the amounts of money involved have increased  massively.

 

Good luck with it.

[TravelerEastWest]

17 hours ago, Shaunkuntep said:

Hi yes my son was born in Thailand with a Thai Mother and i am from the U.K

 

Probably the best advice is to see how it goes he has already opened a Ebay account and managed to get registered with Payoneer after a few attempts.

He registered on Shopify or wix not sure which one but has problems with getting a thai credit card registered.

I was told if you sell lots of items to other countries you will need to pay tax also but maybe that's only if the bank is in the UK

He has managed to open a UK account when we were there at the start of this year which i was surprised with but probably not a good idea to have money going into a UK bank and then sent to his Kasikorn bank ?

 

 

Ok good news that he is Thai will be easy to setup legally as a sole proprietorship around 300 baht and five minutes of paperwork and bookkeeping will be easy.

 

Since he will start small he can experiment and learn as he goes along.

 

The paperwork may be boring but it can be done with money or study time his choice...

 

The real challenge is creating a niche business - I wish him the best of luck! I am sure he can do it...

[JayClay]

Unless he is selling things that can't be easily sourced elsewhere, I think he'll have issues successfully selling internationally unfortunately. Other countries have far cheaper shipping costs than Thailand.

[Shaunkuntep]

23 hours ago, Denim said:

Yes. I actually kept my bank accounts in the UK so that although I sell and ship from Thailand the money from sales goes to those accounts.

 

There used to be a lot more foreign sellers in Thailand doing this but covid cleared a lot of them out.

 

I don't  know how your son can get around this problem. Etsy does have a user forum and you could ask there. Might work.

 

None of the big online platforms are perfect. They command the bulk of the traffic but are constantly tightening up the rules to close up any legal loose ends and reduce their own liabilities.  What was once easy ( selling online ) has become more difficult as the amounts of money involved have increased  massively.

 

Good luck with it.

Many thanks for anyone interested Stripe accept payment for Thai residents