Shipping or Moving Boxes from U.S. to Thailand

[Richard007]

I want to ship 12 boxes of household goods, currently in storage, from Las Vegas, Nevada to Bangkok.  I have started to research companies that can handle this and there are many options including shipping companies, freight forwarders (air or sea), and moving companies, so it is a bit overwhelming to pick a company.

Does anyone have experience shipping or moving boxes from the U.S. to Thailand and can recommend a reputable and reliable company that can handle the entire process from door to door including customs clearance in Thailand?

Please do not suggest that I get rid of this stuff.   I already thought carefully about what I wanted to keep and not keep.  I spent many months selling, donating, recycling, and tossing 95% of my belongings before I put the remaining “keeper” items in storage and started traveling full time.  Now that I am done with the nomadic lifestyle and signed a lease on a condo in Bangkok, it’s time to move these boxes.  I have a healthy budget for this move and I just need a reliable company that can handle this in a way that is stress-free for me. 

[GinBoy2]

Contact AisianTigers

 

I've done it the reverse direction but they deal with shippers in the US and can probably take care of you

 

https://asiantigersgroup.com/

[Equatorial]

When faced with the same issue earlier this year, I opted to bring the boxes with me as check-in luggage. 

 

EvaAir allows 2 pieces of luggage free, plus up to 5 additional pieces per person, at ~USD200 a piece. I used large moving boxes from Home Depot, that are compliant in terms of dimensions. I filled then up to the limit of 50 lbs per box. 14 boxes altogether fit everything I wanted to take with me, at the total cost of USD 2,000. And, it arrived on the same flight as I did, so there was no wait time or having to deal with a shipping company. I mailed them to the final destination from the Post Office at the Suvarnabhumi airport, overnight, for another USD 150 or so. 

[Richard007]

Thanks for your ideas GinBoy2 and Equatorial.

[JimmerJJ]

I haven't used them but I might because I have boxes to ship from a Reno storage to Bangkok that I'm planning for next year.  They're called Send2Thai.  They have a branch in Vegas an 4 other west coast locations. I think you could just drop off your boxes at their branch which I think makes things a lot easier and cheaper than having to meet them at your storage but whatever.  I was looking into other overseas shipping companies also and Schumacher Cargo Logisitics was one I was looking at.  Their own website shows like 5000 4.5 star reviews but then on Yelp and BBB they are only 1.3 or 1.8 so not so good there.  It's tough to risk your stuff without knowing if they have a solid reputation. If you find someplace good (or bad) please post back your experience, I'm searching too but I'm not interested in door to door, I just want to go back rent a truck and drop my boxes off someplace (I think they call it Port-to-Door).

[TerraplaneGuy]

On 7/10/2025 at 8:53 AM, Equatorial said:

When faced with the same issue earlier this year, I opted to bring the boxes with me as check-in luggage. 

 

EvaAir allows 2 pieces of luggage free, plus up to 5 additional pieces per person, at ~USD200 a piece. I used large moving boxes from Home Depot, that are compliant in terms of dimensions. I filled then up to the limit of 50 lbs per box. 14 boxes altogether fit everything I wanted to take with me, at the total cost of USD 2,000. And, it arrived on the same flight as I did, so there was no wait time or having to deal with a shipping company. I mailed them to the final destination from the Post Office at the Suvarnabhumi airport, overnight, for another USD 150 or so. 

What about customs duty?  I understand most kinds of goods are subject to import duty although there's apparently an exemption for personal or used effects up to THB20,000.  Did you have to pay anything at the airport?  I assume it's not easy to just roll 14 boxes past the customs desk that asks if you have anything to declare ... or maybe it is?

[JimmerJJ]

On 7/26/2025 at 3:38 PM, TerraplaneGuy said:

What about customs duty?  I understand most kinds of goods are subject to import duty although there's apparently an exemption for personal or used effects up to THB20,000.  Did you have to pay anything at the airport?  I assume it's not easy to just roll 14 boxes past the customs desk that asks if you have anything to declare ... or maybe it is?

 

[JimmerJJ]

That exemption expires "Such household effects must be imported to Thailand not later than 1 month before the importers arrive or not later than 6 months from the date the importers arrive. "

Here's the lowdown from Thai Customs on the household goods exemption:  https://www.customs.go.th/cont_strc_simple.php?ini_content=individual_F01_160426_01&ini_menu=menu_individual_submenu_02&lang=en&left_menu=menu_individual_submenu_02_160421_01

[TerraplaneGuy]

11 minutes ago, JimmerJJ said:

That exemption expires "Such household effects must be imported to Thailand not later than 1 month before the importers arrive or not later than 6 months from the date the importers arrive. "

Here's the lowdown from Thai Customs on the household goods exemption:  https://www.customs.go.th/cont_strc_simple.php?ini_content=individual_F01_160426_01&ini_menu=menu_individual_submenu_02&lang=en&left_menu=menu_individual_submenu_02_160421_01

Thanks.  So what about bringing boxes on a commercial flight, do they check at the airport or can you just wheel the stuff out?  Whenever I've arrived at Suvarnabhumi I notice a desk to declare stuff but no procedure actually requiring you to go there and it's been wide open to just exit.  Just wondering about the procedure.

[Equatorial]

On 7/26/2025 at 1:38 AM, TerraplaneGuy said:

What about customs duty?  I understand most kinds of goods are subject to import duty although there's apparently an exemption for personal or used effects up to THB20,000.  Did you have to pay anything at the airport?  I assume it's not easy to just roll 14 boxes past the customs desk that asks if you have anything to declare ... or maybe it is?

 

My wife got two security guards (if you can call them that) who hang out at the luggage area to help us. They pulled all 14 boxes off the conveyor belt and loaded them on three carts, and all four of us went through the "nothing to declare" gate. The officer asked what was in the boxes, my wife said we're moving back to Thailand. They picked two boxes at random and put them through their scanner, and waved us off.

 

That was it. No money changed hands (except 200 Baht that my wife gave to each of our helpers afterwards, for help with the boxes).

 

No idea if this is standard, or we just got lucky. 

[TerraplaneGuy]

12 hours ago, Equatorial said:

 

My wife got two security guards (if you can call them that) who hang out at the luggage area to help us. They pulled all 14 boxes off the conveyor belt and loaded them on three carts, and all four of us went through the "nothing to declare" gate. The officer asked what was in the boxes, my wife said we're moving back to Thailand. They picked two boxes at random and put them through their scanner, and waved us off.

 

That was it. No money changed hands (except 200 Baht that my wife gave to each of our helpers afterwards, for help with the boxes).

 

No idea if this is standard, or we just got lucky. 

Excellent!  Maybe it was luck or they liked your faces 😉   I can see the advantage of having the boxes arrive with you, but did you compare the cost of shipping them separately?   Would it have been cheaper?

[TerraplaneGuy]

On 7/8/2025 at 2:35 PM, Richard007 said:

I want to ship 12 boxes of household goods, currently in storage, from Las Vegas, Nevada to Bangkok.  I have started to research companies that can handle this and there are many options including shipping companies, freight forwarders (air or sea), and moving companies, so it is a bit overwhelming to pick a company.

Does anyone have experience shipping or moving boxes from the U.S. to Thailand and can recommend a reputable and reliable company that can handle the entire process from door to door including customs clearance in Thailand?

...

 

Did you find a good shipper?  Did you have a look at Seven Seas and DHL?  I'm looking at shipping about 10-20 boxes to Bangkok from Canada.  Any info appreciated.

[gamb00ler]

When we moved to CM from Vegas in 2020, we shipped a 20' container of household goods.  We prepared a pretty general inventory.  We ended up paying very little duty on only a stepladder, a box of general tools and a set of golf clubs, items that weren't considered household goods.  Customs never opened our container for inspection.

 

We used International Sea & Air Shipping as the logistics coordinator.  They arranged the container rental, the pickup at our house and delivery to LA port, the spot on the containers ship, the customs clearance and the delivery to our door in CM.  Things went smoothly except the US Post Office misplaced an Express Mail package containing crucial documents.  That forced us to reschedule everything to a week later only 10 days before our initial departure date.

 

The Thai end of the shipment was handled by Boonma that is headquartered in BKK.  Perhaps they can advise you.

 

https://www.boonma.com/

 

or

 

https://internationalmoving.com/

 

 

 

 

[Richard007]

Thanks everyone for these ideas.  I decided to postpone this move to get the lower moving rates during the off‑peak international moving season in late fall and winter.  In a few months, I will get detailed quotes from a number of different movers that handle full-service (i.e. door to door) “less than container load” (LCL) shipments.