Moving Stuff To Thailand

[ianf]

Under another heading I asked if people knew about removal companies. I am moving to Thailand complete with all our possessions and we are therefore shipping a 20ft container. I am an avid cyclist and so is my son (aged 9). There will be about 16 bicycles all of which are used by us - training, track bikes and so on. Loads of books, cycling tools, spare wheels, dvds, 500 cds and so on. Has anyone any REAL experience of doing this? My wife is Thai so it will all go under her name and we are not averse to paying some taxation, but we are averse to being ripped off! Neither do we want to lose stuff. Any advice will be welcomed.

[Tagaa]

Google Asian Tigers. They did my crate door to door from the US to Issan. Nothing missing, no boxes even opened by customs.

About customs duty, I am on Retirement Visa & no duty was charged. Duty will depend on what type of visa you are moving here on. You may want to search the Visa Forum for particulars. Also shipping personal effects here in your wife's name could result in duty being charged, depending on if she has been living out of the country or not, & if so for how long, etc.

Suggest you post some more specific information re: you & your wife's circumstances & you will get more specific replies.

[Gerontion]

My wife and I came back to Thailand (from England) last year and, like you, shipped a 20ft container. My wife was a returning post-grad student so in theory we could bring back household contents free of charge but we had a fair amount of stuff so took the precaution of paying an agent to clear everything for us (I think it cost 25,000 baht) and to arrange delivery (which obviously enough cost extra). The agent made it clear to us that paying him meant that there was no possibility of incurring any additional duties so I assume a fair chunk of the fee went to customs officials. When the container turned up it had not been opened since it had been sealed in England so I could have been importing rocket launchers for all customs knew.

[ianf]

My wife and I came back to Thailand (from England) last year and, like you, shipped a 20ft container. My wife was a returning post-grad student so in theory we could bring back household contents free of charge but we had a fair amount of stuff so took the precaution of paying an agent to clear everything for us (I think it cost 25,000 baht) and to arrange delivery (which obviously enough cost extra). The agent made it clear to us that paying him meant that there was no possibility of incurring any additional duties so I assume a fair chunk of the fee went to customs officials. When the container turned up it had not been opened since it had been sealed in England so I could have been importing rocket launchers for all customs knew.

Thanks for this post. I have sent you a message.

Meanwhile our cicrcumstances are: My wife is Thai and has lived here for three years so we are going out on a marriage visa. She has only spent five weeks in Thailand in the last year.

[Mario2008]

As a returning Thai national your wife can import household goods duty free. Where you might have aproblem is with your bikes. The rules say a reasonable amount of each good and 16 bikes is probably a bit much. But a good shipping agent will take care of that.

The rules you can find here: http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/House...nuNme=HouseHold

[pattaya_girl]

When i had quite a few items shipped over here 7 years ago, i was advised not to put anything new into the crates, if it looked new, i had to scratch it and make it look used.

Edited February 11, 2009 by pattaya_girl

[ianf]

When i had quite a few items shipped over here 7 years ago, i was advised not to put anything new into the crates, if it looked new, i had to scratch it and make it look used.

Anyone know of a good shipping agent???????