Items Sent From Uk By Courier, Mail Etc

[astromash]

A friend in the UK is going to be sending me a small item for my computer – value about £100.

What service do you recommend? Registered airmail, Fedex etc?

Might I have to pay import tax? Can I avoid this?

(Someone told me it seems anything of value sent via Fedex gets import tax slapped on it by the Thai authorities.)

Thanks for any help.

am

[Crossy]

From the UK, 'International Signed For' (not sure if you can still get International Registered) with relevant insurance and a correctly filled customs declaration with 'gift of no commercial value' clealy stated. Describe the contents as 'used computer parts'. Don't over-insure, the customs chaps seem to use the insurance value as their basis for charging.

You won't always avoid the duty, but seems to work most of the time for us

Avoid FedEx or any other courier, you are guaranteed to get stung

[mikethevigoman]

A friend in the UK is going to be sending me a small item for my computer – value about £100.

What service do you recommend? Registered airmail, Fedex etc?

Might I have to pay import tax? Can I avoid this?

(Someone told me it seems anything of value sent via Fedex gets import tax slapped on it by the Thai authorities.)

Thanks for any help.

am

Send my normal air mail with signature required,declare it as electrical component,30 US value ,gift, in as small a box as you can, should pay nothing, as the other reply said DO NOT use a major courier,,

[Digger]

I once contemplated starting a thread about my experiences with international shipments and they reflect exactly the sentiment of other posters.

The WORST are people like Fedex and UPS. Not only do they apply the duty to the goods, they charge it on the postal element as well. A recent example I had was a delivery of clothing for my girlfriend from Victoria Secrets.com - they sent it UPS or Fed ex I forget now and the clothing order was about US$130 + about $40 to ship it. Total rip off bill from the shipper was for about 4,500baht which included a ludicrously high service charge and an import duty on the $40 to ship the goods.

I have had loads of goods shipped US Postal service who link to Thai postal service and if they are stopped (which is not common), the bill normally ends up at approx: 10% of the value - I think they just assume, the bigger the box = more duty and then guess something.

Interestingly enough, I have 2 addresses in Thailand, 1 in Bangkok and 1 in Chonburi. In Bangkok, nothing gets stopped (and I have had some pretty big boxes) and EVeRYTHING gets stopped and duty applied in Chonburi.

Most recent example, was a $500 goods sent to me via the regular airmail post service from the UK - about size of a shoe box and it arrived 4 days later with NO duty applied.

So just to reconfirm, NEVER use International couriers, they seem to focus on this as another BIG income stream on shipments. I actually emailed Victoria Secrets and par for the course, they could not care less - shame really as my Girlfriend loves looking through the sale brochures I seem to get delivered every other month and would have ordered loads more if only they shipped US Postal Service, but they dont care and just refer you back to "your responsible for any import taxes"

[jackspratt]

The WORST are people like Fedex and UPS. Not only do they apply the duty to the goods, they charge it on the postal element as well.

Thailand (along with many other countries) assesses customs duty on a CIF basis ie cost + insurance + freight (which includes international postage). So it appears they have done things by the book in applying duty to the postal element.

[mikethevigoman]

The WORST are people like Fedex and UPS. Not only do they apply the duty to the goods, they charge it on the postal element as well.

Thailand (along with many other countries) assesses customs duty on a CIF basis ie cost + insurance + freight (which includes international postage). So it appears they have done things by the book in applying duty to the postal element.

Really ? i had a set of wheels sent from the states, value $400. shipping $380, taxes etc 14000 baht and prior to import i was quoted 15 per cent, im considering going back to school !

[mikethevigoman]

I once contemplated starting a thread about my experiences with international shipments and they reflect exactly the sentiment of other posters.

The WORST are people like Fedex and UPS. Not only do they apply the duty to the goods, they charge it on the postal element as well. A recent example I had was a delivery of clothing for my girlfriend from Victoria Secrets.com - they sent it UPS or Fed ex I forget now and the clothing order was about US$130 + about $40 to ship it. Total rip off bill from the shipper was for about 4,500baht which included a ludicrously high service charge and an import duty on the $40 to ship the goods.

I have had loads of goods shipped US Postal service who link to Thai postal service and if they are stopped (which is not common), the bill normally ends up at approx: 10% of the value - I think they just assume, the bigger the box = more duty and then guess something.

Interestingly enough, I have 2 addresses in Thailand, 1 in Bangkok and 1 in Chonburi. In Bangkok, nothing gets stopped (and I have had some pretty big boxes) and EVeRYTHING gets stopped and duty applied in Chonburi.

Most recent example, was a $500 goods sent to me via the regular airmail post service from the UK - about size of a shoe box and it arrived 4 days later with NO duty applied.

So just to reconfirm, NEVER use International couriers, they seem to focus on this as another BIG income stream on shipments. I actually emailed Victoria Secrets and par for the course, they could not care less - shame really as my Girlfriend loves looking through the sale brochures I seem to get delivered every other month and would have ordered loads more if only they shipped US Postal Service, but they dont care and just refer you back to "your responsible for any import taxes"

Totally agree, this is absolutly true, i imported a set of wheels,the DHL woman, ( when i kicked up at the crazy charges ) said to me " why do you want to import wheels, ? there are plenty in thailand, !..the wheels arrived in thailand from CA in 3 days, took 10 days to sort out the charges and again this is true ,they rang my wife and asked what the wheels were for and was it manual or auto ! ,.Best avoid sending anything to Thailand, I am honestly of the opinion that the major courier cos are hand in hand with the customs,.