Import duty on motorbike accessories

[thailandsgreat]

I ordered a top box and rack from a GiVi retailer. Prices were good in Italy.  But how much duty/customs/tariffs may the Kingdom charge me?

[LS24]

Can't help with your question. Let us know if your package requires customs fees before it is delivered to you. That will assist others in future.

[thailandsgreat]

15 minutes ago, LS24 said:

Can't help with your question. Let us know if your package requires customs fees before it is delivered to you. That will assist others in future.

I have just checked other merchandise in general. There is no free trade with the EU. My general impression/hope is they will not slap me  worse than 30%. If lucky 0-10%

 

All very relative. Amazon cheats on VAT by importing to low VAT countries in Europe and redistributing to other countries within the free market!

Edited December 5, 2023 by thailandsgreat

[eisfeld]

2 hours ago, thailandsgreat said:

I have just checked other merchandise in general. There is no free trade with the EU. My general impression/hope is they will not slap me  worse than 30%. If lucky 0-10%

 

All very relative. Amazon cheats on VAT by importing to low VAT countries in Europe and redistributing to other countries within the free market!

 

That's not how it works. When Amazon imports something they pay no VAT as VAT is charged when selling to an end user. The VAT of the country of the user is then charged.

 

If you want to find the import duty for the motorbike accessories you could use a site like https://customsdutyfree.com/duty-calculator/

[VocalNeal]

Worst case scenario.

 

30% of the landed cost (value of the item plus shipping cost, post, courier) 

Plus 7%

 

Even worse case.

 

Add 200 baht for FedEx handling fee. 

Edited December 6, 2023 by VocalNeal

[papa al]

Why not just buy locally.?

[MartinL]

23 hours ago, VocalNeal said:

Worst case scenario.

 

30% of the landed cost (value of the item plus shipping cost, post, courier) 

Plus 7%

 

Even worse case.

 

Add 200 baht for FedEx handling fee. 

 

Spot on there, VN.

 

I bought a set of shocks from UK last December. The Thai Customs receipt listed Duty as 30%, VAT 7%, DHL fee of 200฿ +VAT.

 

Total add-on costs 41%.

Edited December 7, 2023 by MartinL

[thailandsgreat]

Just the situation right now:

 

Large Italian GiVi retailer Motostorm messed up the order. Promised shipping (via air) before Dec 10, but will now ship in January "after the holidays". I am retired and travel alone and can postpone my trips, but for someone working or dependent on family members or others and needs the Items  before holidays it would have been a problem.

 

Motostorm agree to breach of agreement so I guess I could cancel the order but price difference is so big I stay with the order. I don't know how other retailers do. Few keep all models in stock and depend on GiVi for delivery, I believe. GiVi doesn't seem to even have produced the Monokey adapter plate I ordered and was agreed to be shipped in 5 days!

 

Just an example: Maxia 5 box from Motostorm is 12.000 Baht and from Lazada 30.000 Baht! Lazada goes via GiVi Thai retailer. I asked them on phone and at that time they offerered moderate  MotorExpo discount.

 

So to shop from Italy seems reasonable. Thai friend asked me to check Shad panniers, but same price Lazada and Motostorm. Shad not Italy based.

 

Hotel staff has helped me buy other stuff  via Shopee and Lazada. All good price, good quality and prompt delivery.  But GiVi is exception.  Branded.

 

Too many corporate trolls here to discuss Amazon  😀  but they are real ugly. Amazon imports to low or non VAT countries in Europe and cheats your country of VAT by distribution VAT-free within the common market. Amazon also lobbies/bribes delivery companies to make their own customs inspection. A fee which is added if you import yourself from UK, US, China etc into the EU. Individual import into the EU, outside Amazon, is now impossible!

 

I believe Trump said Amazon makes other postal users pay for their parcels. That is how it works in Europe.

 

Amazon is forcing producers and buyers into their network. Today it is smooth but tomorrow they have monopoly. I suspect Lazada/Shopee is similar.

 

So just waiting for the time being. But so much cheaper from Italy I don't try to cancel order. And GiVi seems good quality.

 

The basic problem is that companies have gone too big, have joined and eradicated competition. It will make no difference to Motostorm if they mess up one order. There is no one else to go to and if it were, it would be owned by the same guys.

[thailandsgreat]

On 12/6/2023 at 5:44 PM, papa al said:

Why not just buy locally.?

The reason was the price difference. (I also expected a big Italian retailer to supply some special GIVi equipment more easily.) Earlier hotel staff has helped me buy general stuff from Lazada and Shopee with very good result regarding quality, price and delivery.

 

But for these branded Items, price was high using that method. Here is an example. Local mail order charges 33 k Baht but the biggest Italian GiVi retailer charges 12 k Baht.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was in contact with the local Thai retailer that offered a moderate discount during Motoexpo and also at new year.

 

But with such big difference in price I went with the big Italian outlet. But so far problems. I ordered Dec 5, all Items were in stock and would be shipped immediately. But when I contacted them on Dec 18 the order had not shipped. They waited for one item that would arrive on Dec 22. But it didn't arrive and a substitute was offered. I also made an addition to the order on Dec 28. Those two Items should arrive promptly from GiVi but still waiting for those.

 

Considering the difference in price it ought to pay off buying from Italy (big retailer, air shipping; at worst it ought to add 5% VAT and 30% customs on the price, I believe) but considerable, unexpected delays so far. The last delay caused by "GiVi not getting up to speed after Christmas".

 

And I don't know how Lazada would have played out. One delay was due to "GiVi manufacturing". Basically I was hoping that the large Italian retailer would deal efficiently with GiVi and keep good stock.

 

Edited January 10 by thailandsgreat

[digbeth]

The Givi distributor in Thailand got most of their boxes from the Malaysian factories, usually the smaller models, those will be cheaper than Europe.

 

The bigger European models like the V58 I've seen in Thai shops at around 30-35,000 which seem in line with prices on Lazada and Shopee, these importers/distributor ship them in on container so their cost is likely lower than yours, they probably have lots of markup due to being a big ticket item that wouldn't sell as often, but are you willing to gamble you can bring it in by having shops in Europe send it and pray you won't get taxed to hell? 

 

Remember, the tax+Vat is calculated after the cost of the freight/courier service, so if they ship it to you using expensive company that'll be reflected in the final price

For accurate price there's importer like https://thai.webike.net/ that knows how much customs take and will have price that reflect that and their cut, they don't have the exact model but you can compare with other parts or models to the European based shop and see how much you could be expected to pay

[thailandsgreat]

Like Kawasaki bikes. Below 1000cc are made in Rayong and above 1000cc imported from Japan. Also reflected in price.

 

 

Mostly I wanted to deal with the largest GiVi retailer, they also ship by air. I assume few dealers keep specialized Items in stock so I wanted to deal with a retailer close to the source. But ordering from Italy has had delays. I hope VAT and customs will not go worse than 5+30% and with some luck less. But we’ll see.

 

Like I wrote I dislike Amazon since it dodges VAT by importing to low VAT-countries in Europe and also lets other postal clients pay for their packages (Like Trump said) by doing their own customs clearance, avoiding that postal fee.

 

Amazon is very convenient but it is costly for EU-citizens now to import outside Amazon (higher VAT and customs clearance fee). Amazon creates a monopoly. I fear Lazada and Shopee may develop into the same. So looking at political trends I will probably not get away without paying due fees, once the package is shipped.

 

Admittedly Amazon, Lazada and Shopee are very convenient now. "But there is no free lunch." They are establishing monopolies which will probably make individual import difficult later. (Like from UK, US and China into the EU, already.)

 

British mail weakened in some scandal now, I believe? Welcome to private mail, it has not been good in my country.

Edited January 10 by thailandsgreat

[thailandsgreat]

The packages arrived today. I haven't had time to look through all. I just give a quick report here. I added what I had paid for the stuff and delivery and set towards the fees I had to pay in Thailand.

 

Fees came to 13% on what I had paid for merchandise and delivery. I needed some special stuff not on webpage, brought from GiVi and slight delays occurred after holidays. But when things got going after holidays my impression is the system worked very quickly with UPS air delivery at reasonable rate.

 

So my conclusion is that I wouldn't hesitate to buy mail order again from large European retailer (US probably same) and prepare for a moderate fee to Thai authorities. But no guarantee how it goes, of course.

Edited January 15 by thailandsgreat

[thailandsgreat]

A sprocket and a chain was 8.5 k Baht including freight from Europe. 30% duty and 7% VAT added up to 3.5 k Baht.

 

Duty based on item cost and freight cost.

VAT based on item, freight and duty.

Also 200 B duty handling+VAT

 

But that is OK. If I buy more expensive engine/chassis/details stuff I will first check how customs classifies it, though.

 

Edited February 5 by thailandsgreat