THB35 Customs charge on package from UK.

[5davidhen1]

Today, I retrieved a package by visiting Chaiyaphruek Post Office.

Apparently, if my phone number had been on the package, the postman/woman would have phoned me to agree the fee prior to delivery.

I'm not quibbling about the charge, but I've never had to pay it with previous identical packages. The post office informed me that the fee represented "7%." If my maths is correct, then 100% would equate to THB500, which I think was the gram weight of the package.

Is this fee something new?

 

[worgeordie]

They collect VAT on parcels arriving from overseas now , couple weeks ago I was charged

25 Baht , how did you not know....

 

regards Worgeordie

[Puccini]

@5davidhen1

Could you post a copy of the receipt you got for the 35 Baht?

 

Had the sender of the parcel affixed the obligatory customs label with the description and the value of the contents of the package?

[5davidhen1]

17 hours ago, worgeordie said:

They collect VAT on parcels arriving from overseas now , couple weeks ago I was charged

25 Baht , how did you not know....

 

regards Worgeordie

Because I hadn't heard or read anything about it and the last package I received was over a year ago.

[5davidhen1]

15 hours ago, Puccini said:

@5davidhen1

Could you post a copy of the receipt you got for the 35 Baht?

 

Had the sender of the parcel affixed the obligatory customs label with the description and the value of the contents of the package?

I'm sorry, Puccini, but my hands are too shaky to take a pic which is clear enough to read. It was an A4 sheet of paper --- looks quite genuine with the THB35 clearly stated.

The customs declaration on the package averred that the package contained prescription drugs with a zero value. 

 

[The Fugitive]

8 minutes ago, 5davidhen1 said:

the package contained prescription drugs

Do you have some sort of licence to import medicines?

[5davidhen1]

1 minute ago, The Fugitive said:

Do you have some sort of licence to import medicines?

No, they are for my personal use, and the contents of the package is not what I sought clarification on.

[The Fugitive]

2 minutes ago, 5davidhen1 said:

No, they are for my personal use, and the contents of the package is not what I sought clarification on.

Understood thank you. Maybe this no longer applies? 'Under section 12 of the Drugs Act, B.E. 2510 (1967), no person shall manufacture, sell, import or order into the kingdom any modern drug unless such person receives a license from the licensing authority. Thus, bringing drugs or ordering drugs to be shipped into Thailand by post is not allowed'.

[redwood1]

1 hour ago, The Fugitive said:

Understood thank you. Maybe this no longer applies? 'Under section 12 of the Drugs Act, B.E. 2510 (1967), no person shall manufacture, sell, import or order into the kingdom any modern drug unless such person receives a license from the licensing authority. Thus, bringing drugs or ordering drugs to be shipped into Thailand by post is not allowed'.

 

Its not up to big brother to decide why herbs, or supplements. or vitamins or medication ect.....I can use or not use.....Nope never...

 

I will buy what ever I want.....But I dont think I would say its a medication on the package.....Thats not smart...

[5davidhen1]

42 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

 

Its not up to big brother to decide why herbs, or supplements. or vitamins or medication ect.....I can use or not use.....Nope never...

 

I will buy what ever I want.....But I dont think I would say its a medication on the package.....Thats not smart...

I always ask my daughter to put the truth on the customs declaration. She's sent my drugs to me 3 times now declaring such. Not once has my package been interfered with. 

[Tropicalevo]

49 minutes ago, redwood1 said:

 

Its not up to big brother to decide why herbs, or supplements. or vitamins or medication ect.....I can use or not use.....Nope never...

 

I will buy what ever I want.....But I dont think I would say its a medication on the package.....Thats not smart...

 

What planet are you from?

Big (Thai) Brother can and does decide what you can import.

Up to you if you decide to break the law.

[redwood1]

2 minutes ago, 5davidhen1 said:

I always ask my daughter to put the truth on the customs declaration. She's sent my drugs to me 3 times now declaring such. Not once has my package been interfered with. 

 

Well I am very happy you have had no problems...As it should be...

 

But there have been plenty of threads here of people who had all kinds of customs problems with declared medication....

[scorecard]

2 hours ago, 5davidhen1 said:

I'm sorry, Puccini, but my hands are too shaky to take a pic which is clear enough to read. It was an A4 sheet of paper --- looks quite genuine with the THB35 clearly stated.

The customs declaration on the package averred that the package contained prescription drugs with a zero value. 

 

Keep in mind that the gov't may be pushinsg all gov't agencies to collect some form of fee to offset the costs of operating those agencies. 

 

Or, in other words, why should Joe Public who never has any business whatever with the customs department be paying into taxpayers general funds to operate that agency? 

[Puccini]

18 hours ago, 5davidhen1 said:

I'm sorry, Puccini, but my hands are too shaky to take a pic which is clear enough to read. It was an A4 sheet of paper --- looks quite genuine with the THB35 clearly stated.

The customs declaration on the package averred that the package contained prescription drugs with a zero value. 

 

 

Thank you for this additional information. It helps me to assess your situation better.

 

The conclusion is that you were fortunate to have had to pay only 35 Baht.

 

The details:

1. With the declaration of medicine, customs at many post offices would not have allowed delivery of the package. Perhaps your post office does not have a customs official looking over their shoulders.

 

2. The declared value of the contents must reflect the cost of purchase of the content, not the amount paid by the recipient (in your case zero)

 

3. Packages with a value of not more than 1,500 Baht were, and perhaps still are, exempt from import duty. It appears that no import duty was assessed for your package.

 

4. Quite recently, the Thai government decided to assess the prevailing rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) on every import with a value of 1 Baht or more.

 

5. The zero declared value was obviously false. You can imagine the burden on the individual post offices and the delivery delays if every package had to be referred to customs, which incidentally would probably incur an additional fee for customs inspection. I suspect that a rule was established and perhaps published in the Royal Gazette to the effect that post offices are allowed to assess and collect the VAT directly for packages exempt from customs duty and, where the declared value is zero or suspiciously low, to assess VAT based on specific parameters, eg weight of the package and/or declared category of the contents.

 

[The Fugitive]

4 hours ago, Puccini said:

 

Thank you for this additional information. It helps me to assess your situation better.

 

The conclusion is that you were fortunate to have had to pay only 35 Baht.

 

The details:

1. With the declaration of medicine, customs at many post offices would not have allowed delivery of the package. Perhaps your post office does not have a customs official looking over their shoulders.

 

2. The declared value of the contents must reflect the cost of purchase of the content, not the amount paid by the recipient (in your case zero)

 

3. Packages with a value of not more than 1,500 Baht were, and perhaps still are, exempt from import duty. It appears that no import duty was assessed for your package.

 

4. Quite recently, the Thai government decided to assess the prevailing rate of Value Added Tax (VAT) on every import with a value of 1 Baht or more.

 

5. The zero declared value was obviously false. You can imagine the burden on the individual post offices and the delivery delays if every package had to be referred to customs, which incidentally would probably incur an additional fee for customs inspection. I suspect that a rule was established and perhaps published in the Royal Gazette to the effect that post offices are allowed to assess and collect the VAT directly for packages exempt from customs duty and, where the declared value is zero or suspiciously low, to assess VAT based on specific parameters, eg weight of the package and/or declared category of the contents.

Very helpful thank you. The reason I asked about ; 'Restricted Items' was due to personal experience. My Thai Mrs told me she was going to post a Buddha statue. I advised her that Royal Thai Mail wouldn't accept it. She didn't believe me but soon returned from our Post Office with the parcel. 5davidhen1 obviously needs his medication and if this method works for him I believe he should continue. However, he probably already realises he needs to have a 'plan b' in case, one day, it doesn't.

[5davidhen1]

Thank you to Puccini, and The Fugitive.

I intend to continue allowing my daughter to send me the packages, which amount to 1 or less per annum, with my phone number being appended at the end of my address. 

Regarding a "plan B":

My UK GP  prescriptions are free, my being 73 yrs old.

I can, and have in the past, bought my Simvastatin from local pharmacies, Boots being the cheapest.

My other drug is a steroidal-based nasal drops medication named Betamethasone which I have (so far) been unable to find here. Fascino's told me that they may be able to "order it" but at the time of my enquiry (maybe 3 years or so ago) they suggested quite an expensive price.

At the end of the day, the Betamethasone is not a "life or death drug", and I can always pick up some supplies when returning to the UK for holidays.

[hotandsticky]

11 minutes ago, 5davidhen1 said:

Thank you to Puccini, and The Fugitive.

I intend to continue allowing my daughter to send me the packages, which amount to 1 or less per annum, with my phone number being appended at the end of my address. 

Regarding a "plan B":

My UK GP  prescriptions are free, my being 73 yrs old.

I can, and have in the past, bought my Simvastatin from local pharmacies, Boots being the cheapest.

My other drug is a steroidal-based nasal drops medication named Betamethasone which I have (so far) been unable to find here. Fascino's told me that they may be able to "order it" but at the time of my enquiry (maybe 3 years or so ago) they suggested quite an expensive price.

At the end of the day, the Betamethasone is not a "life or death drug", and I can always pick up some supplies when returning to the UK for holidays.

 

 

Do you not have to be UK resident to receive free NHS prescriptions?

[KhunBENQ]

On 11/23/2024 at 2:49 PM, worgeordie said:

They collect VAT on parcels arriving from overseas now

Yes rules have changed. And didn't they also want to charge for values less than 1500 Baht?

 

I regularly order supplements from iHerb. They have stopped using postal packages but go through Flash Express which handles the import. Stuff delivered to the door without any extra payments.

Yesterday (24th) package from the US arrived, ordered on the 20th! 

Free delivery for > 40 USD.

Disadvantage: only three items per shipment.

[KhunBENQ]

 

[5davidhen1]

8 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

 

 

Do you not have to be UK resident to receive free NHS prescriptions?

As far as the authorities are concerned, I am "on holiday" and reside permanently with my daughter.

Indeed, if I needed major, (expensive) but not urgent care, I would return home --- I have after all, been paying into "the system" for my entire life.

For various reasons discussed on this forum, pensions being one of them, I am of the opinion that UK authorities should only be told what they absolutely need to know --- Why should my state pension not receive the annual uprating received by UK nationals who have chosen to remain in the UK --- and who are continuing to be a far greater burden on resources than expats???   

[KhunBENQ]

Deleted 

 

[The Fugitive]

17 minutes ago, hotandsticky said:

Do you not have to be UK resident to receive free NHS prescriptions?

The rule is 'lived in UK during the previous six months'. If returning to UK upon a 'permanent basis' you are entitled to NHS services immediately. However, the only time I have been asked that question was by the check-in machine when checking-in for an outpatients appointment at my local NHS hospital.

[hotandsticky]

2 hours ago, 5davidhen1 said:

As far as the authorities are concerned, I am "on holiday" and reside permanently with my daughter.

Indeed, if I needed major, (expensive) but not urgent care, I would return home --- I have after all, been paying into "the system" for my entire life.

For various reasons discussed on this forum, pensions being one of them, I am of the opinion that UK authorities should only be told what they absolutely need to know --- Why should my state pension not receive the annual uprating received by UK nationals who have chosen to remain in the UK --- and who are continuing to be a far greater burden on resources than expats???   

 

 

I don't disagree with what you are doing - I share your philosophy about having "paid in".

 

Nevertheless, I just wanted to confirm that free NHS prescriptions would not normally be available to someone living in Thailand for 184+ days. 

[hotandsticky]

1 hour ago, The Fugitive said:

The rule is 'lived in UK during the previous six months'. If returning to UK upon a 'permanent basis' you are entitled to NHS services immediately. However, the only time I have been asked that question was by the check-in machine when checking-in for an outpatients appointment at my local NHS hospital.

 

 

I had the same when I returned for a hernia op.

 

 

My point (if indeed there was one) was regarding the 'legal' position with free NHS prescriptions.

[huyuli]

For medication received last week. Chaiyapreuk PO.

[Kerryd]

This has been in effect for a couple months now. I think it came into effect on 1 July actually.

It was a big news item (here and in other media) that Thailand was going to start charging duties on shipments "under 1,500 baht" in declared value.

They said it was to "protect" Thai businesses that were being hurt by all the cheap imports coming into Thailand through (orders made on Lazada, Shopee, AliExpress, etc), mainly from China (where the vendors on those sites get most of their stock from).

I thought it was hilarious when they announced it because they made it sound like, if you ordered something worth 1,495 baht they'd charge Duties on it but it you ordered something valued at 1,505 baht, no Duties would be charged.

I've been getting packages from eBay and AliExpress and from my mail forwarding company in the USA that have had "Duties" added to them.
3 packages were delivered and I paid the driver (and was given a paper copy of the Fee summary) and once I had to go to the Chaiyapruek Post Office (I think because that one was over 100 baht in fees or something).

And of course, NOTHING will change and the extra fees will have NO effect, good or bad, on "Thai businesses" - because most of the stuff being ordered through those sites is all made in China anyways, regardless of who is ordering/selling it.

And the vendors on Lazada are (mostly) Thais and Thai companies - but THEY aren't the ones paying the extra duties so it's not having any effect on their businesses.

[Kerryd]

Also note - in Thailand, Customs determines Duties and Tariffs on the "CIF" value of a shipment.
Cost (declared value of the shipment)
Insurance (regardless if the shipment was insured or not)
Freight (the shipping costs to get the order to Thailand)

The total of those 3 is the "CIF value" that they then apply the applicable Duties/tariffs to.

And I found out (the "hard" way) that even if your order has no insurance and "free shipping" - Customs is allowed to "estimate" what those values "might" have been, then add them to the declared value of the order and then assign the Duties/Tariffs.

I had a (minor) discussion about that once at the Customs House in Laem Chabang with an order I received from AliExpress that was "free shipping". I even showed them the "invoice" on the AliExpress site for the order where it said "free shipping".
Didn't matter.
They basically just added some small percentage of the value of the item I'd ordered as a "shipping" fee and a smaller percentage as the "estimated" insurance and then applied the Duties to the total. (I think it added about 300 baht to the "CIF" value on a shipment valued at just over 2600 baht.)

And then they charged me a 40% Duties and Tariffs fee (the scheduled amount for "new motorcycle parts").

I went through that a couple times with them. (I now know the route to the Laem Chabang Customs House quite well in fact.)
Usually it's only when it's a large item (like leather saddlebags for a motorcycle) or has a "higher" declared value.

Smaller items (and cheaper ones) used to either go to the Chaiyapruek post office - or slip through without any additional fees at all. I had it worked out a couple years ago. It seemed that packages worth less that $75 US sailed right through. Packages valued at $75-150 would get hit with additional fees about half the time and packages valued at over $150 would always have additional fees imposed.

(Unlike what the courier companies like FedEx, UPS and DHL do, where they charge the FULL, maximum amount on any shipment, regardless of value - and then add their own handling fees on top because they know even if you refuse the shipment - you STILL have to pay the Customs duties - and then the courier company can "destroy" - or keep - your package. You've already paid for it and the shipping and they don't have to return it to sender - especially not at their expense - so they are "supposed" to destroy the package(s) that get refused.)

I looked that up a couple months ago when FedEx was jerking me around on a package they had in Bangkok. After a week of dicking around I was ready to tell them to stuff the package and I looked into what would happen if I refused to accept it.
Basically, you'd end up still having to pay the Duties, and no refund on the shipping, and it wouldn't go back to the sender so you'd lose the package as well (and couldn't claim it as "lost" in shipping) so you'd end up with nothing.

And the courier companies KNOW that, which is how they get away with it.

With that FedEx shipment, I spent almost 2 weeks jumping through hoops before they finally delivered it and I ended up paying nearly 3,200 baht in extra fees and charges for a shipment valued at 3,600 baht. (I kept the paperwork.)

And of that 3,200 - only 746 was actual Customs Duties !!

And frakken FedEx made me "register" with Customs and send them a copy of my "registration card" - and THEN charged ME an additional 1,400 baht to "amend the waybill" because on the shipping label it had my first and last name - but on the "registration card" it had my first, middle and last name !!

So yeah, avoid using courier companies if at all possible. Order smaller amounts if need be or have someone ship stuff through the regular postal system.

Otherwise you could get shafted by the courier companies.


 

[AAArdvark]

I don't  mind the fees so much, it is the customs PO can be very far away. 

I recently ordered some pharmaceuticals from the UK and delivered from India. There was no fee listed with the notice. I made the one and half hour trip only to find that it was a holiday. I contacted the seller and they imediately reshiped. That one was received with no issues. 

[john donson]

On 11/24/2024 at 9:48 AM, redwood1 said:

 

Its not up to big brother to decide why herbs, or supplements. or vitamins or medication ect.....I can use or not use.....Nope never...

 

I will buy what ever I want.....But I dont think I would say its a medication on the package.....Thats not smart...

 

iherb did it for anything europe... some herbs could be delivered to TH but not EU...

 

big pharma

[fittobethaied]

On 11/24/2024 at 9:48 AM, redwood1 said:

 

Its not up to big brother to decide why herbs, or supplements. or vitamins or medication ect.....I can use or not use.....Nope never...

 

I will buy what ever I want.....But I dont think I would say its a medication on the package.....Thats not smart...

Careful with your rebellious attitude, Redwood! I was recently called to Customs in Nong Khai and was scolded for importing personal use meds from India for the 2nd time to treat my Leukemia. I was sent up the road to the Thai FDA to apply for an import license, and there I was threatened with confiscation of my meds and a 50,000 Baht fine and 5 years imprisonment if I attempted to import again. They denied my license since that drug is available for purchase in Thailand, although at an outrageous price. They will keep track of your name and import activity in their computers, so there's nowhere to hide.