Advice needed: shipping personal items

[Nedrapter]

I would like to ship some personal equipment (a monitor, a microphone, 1-2 hard drives (with data) a headset some cables and minor electronic peripherals of a desktop pc). I've read many horror stories about Thai customs... They are all used and total value is less than $600 (THB 2200). Country of origin is Greece. Some would say to buy new ones, but I would prefer my own if the cost is not extravagant, because they are parts that I can't easily find here (either because they are old or brands not popular here).

What would be the best way to bring them in?

[Thalueng]

On 5/20/2024 at 8:56 AM, Nedrapter said:

I would like to ship some personal equipment (a monitor, a microphone, 1-2 hard drives (with data) a headset some cables and minor electronic peripherals of a desktop pc). I've read many horror stories about Thai customs... They are all used and total value is less than $600 (THB 2200). Country of origin is Greece. Some would say to buy new ones, but I would prefer my own if the cost is not extravagant, because they are parts that I can't easily find here (either because they are old or brands not popular here).

What would be the best way to bring them in?

Option 1: travel to Greece and bring it yourself. Pack it in bags rather than boxes to reduce the likelyhood of being inspected.

Option 2: if you live here and have never relocated your household you can do this now and probably do not pay any customs duties. Make sure all items are properly listed, for example 1 computer rather than 2 hard drives, as you are allowed to relocate one item each kind without duty.

Option 3: have it sent item by item and declare each item's value below 30 USD.

[Soondae]

I have a friend that had numerous personal items such as kitchen and some computer related that he sent them from South Korea to his girlfriend (Thai National) and there was no issue what so ever on importation. I believe it was all sent via postal. He had the contents translated to Thai on the customs declaration form as that might have made a difference?? At any rate no duty or delivery issues.

 

I have recently replaced my PC with a Mini and components hand carried with no issue at all, so that is a good option if you can wait until your next visit home.

 

Oh, I believe if you import within 6 months of your arrival there is no duty on household goods, I did that as well, my goods came from Cyprus. I hadn't even had my Non-O visa yet on arrival but my goods were handled by a professional shipping company.

Edited May 21 by Soondae
Household goods arrival

[khunPer]

If me, I would forget the monitor – easy replacement for modest cost – and travel myself to bring the remaining stuff as luggage; I've brought several PC's in that way. Data can even be copied to small travel disks, instead of larger hard drives, which also have a limited lifetime, so needs to be replaced at certain time, typically after 5 years use. It's easy to buy new fast and large SSD here, a 2TB Samsung QVO costs less the 3,000 baht. The PC might be replaceable – apart from a keyboard might be special due to foreign language keys – you can find second hand cleaned, good condition win7-PCs from major IT-equipment-sellers on Lazada for around 1,000 baht, if you don't want to buy new stuff. The microphone might be the most "valuable" part, if it's a non easy replacing model.

[Nedrapter]

On 5/21/2024 at 4:03 PM, khunPer said:

If me, I would forget the monitor – easy replacement for modest cost – and travel myself to bring the remaining stuff as luggage; I've brought several PC's in that way. Data can even be copied to small travel disks, instead of larger hard drives, which also have a limited lifetime, so needs to be replaced at certain time, typically after 5 years use. It's easy to buy new fast and large SSD here, a 2TB Samsung QVO costs less the 3,000 baht. The PC might be replaceable – apart from a keyboard might be special due to foreign language keys – you can find second hand cleaned, good condition win7-PCs from major IT-equipment-sellers on Lazada for around 1,000 baht, if you don't want to buy new stuff. The microphone might be the most "valuable" part, if it's a non easy replacing model.

I've been searching on Lazada, Fortune Town and other malls for replacements and couldn't find ones that suited me for similar prices, that's why I'm thinking of taking the extra customs cost.

[khunPer]

5 hours ago, Nedrapter said:

I've been searching on Lazada, Fortune Town and other malls for replacements and couldn't find ones that suited me for similar prices, that's why I'm thinking of taking the extra customs cost.

You should also try some of the IT-retailers' online sites, like Banana and JIB.

[Nedrapter]

On 5/28/2024 at 3:11 PM, khunPer said:

You should also try some of the IT-retailers' online sites, like Banana and JIB.

Because many of these are older models or not brought in this part of the world, I had no luck finding them.

[Nedrapter]

On 5/21/2024 at 2:23 PM, Soondae said:

I have a friend that had numerous personal items such as kitchen and some computer related that he sent them from South Korea to his girlfriend (Thai National) and there was no issue what so ever on importation. I believe it was all sent via postal. He had the contents translated to Thai on the customs declaration form as that might have made a difference?? At any rate no duty or delivery issues.

 

I have recently replaced my PC with a Mini and components hand carried with no issue at all, so that is a good option if you can wait until your next visit home.

 

Oh, I believe if you import within 6 months of your arrival there is no duty on household goods, I did that as well, my goods came from Cyprus. I hadn't even had my Non-O visa yet on arrival but my goods were handled by a professional shipping company.

I will probably try that. Do you happen to know how the declaration form looks like? I couldn't find it on https://www.customs.go.th

[Soondae]

You use the customs form from the country of origin. And then have it translated to Thai.

[patman30]

On 5/20/2024 at 8:56 AM, Nedrapter said:

I would like to ship some personal equipment (a monitor, a microphone, 1-2 hard drives (with data) a headset some cables and minor electronic peripherals of a desktop pc). I've read many horror stories about Thai customs... They are all used and total value is less than $600 (THB 2200). Country of origin is Greece. Some would say to buy new ones, but I would prefer my own if the cost is not extravagant, because they are parts that I can't easily find here (either because they are old or brands not popular here).

What would be the best way to bring them in?

in a suitcase with a friend when they visit.
otherwise expect to be taxed on the items NEW value
$600 is 22,000 baht not 2,200
the stuff you mention it simply does not seem worth the hassle or expense
any data on hard drives can be downloaded directly if you get someone to connect the drives
try https://toffeeshare.com/

what are the items you cannot find here?
as mic, monitor and HDDs are available everywhere and those are all you specifically mentioned
and those are what do not seem worth the hassle
if you do ship, be sure to include an invoice for every item

Edited June 1 by patman30