Moving Household Goods To Thailand

[Socket]

First off...apologies if this is in the wrong section,I haven't quite mastered the forum navigation process yet.

OK,I am interested in anyone's knowledge of moving household goods from the UK to Thailand,door to door.I've had a couple of quotes done from 1st Move & Simpsons and am looking at a guesstimate of @£1600.00,this is based on @10 cubic meters of a shared container.

All the items would be imported into Thailand in my wifes (thai) name on the basis that it's all used and she has been out of Thailand over 12months,I read somewhere there will be no charges by thai customs if this criteria is met.I know as much as the next man about charges just appearing for no understandable reason and was wondering if anyone has been met with hidden charges when doing it this way,if anyone has done it that is.

The only reason I am even thinking about doing this is because I don't think it is replaceable with like for like quality on the cost of moving it to my destination.....any thoughts???

Any help & guidance would be appreciated as it's a big decision to make and once the ball is rolling there is no point of return,so to speak.I would hate to be called to customs and find they want the same money again before releasing our goods,at which point the economical side of thinking could go out of the window.

Thanks.

[Datsun240Z]

Problems will come when the stuff arrives Thailand, there's always the Tea money and stuff missing. I suggest you go for the air freight.

[LennyW]

We had no problems, nothing missing and no tea money to pay, door to door from UK, claimed under my wifes passport as she had been living in the UK for 4 years, no duty on arrival - so easy!!

When the Santa Fe boys delivered to the door in Thailand they would not even accept a tip just got me to sign thier papers to say they were curteous and had done a good job!

I was about 1300 Pounds for a 10 cube share of a container (7 years ago though), so your prices are thereabouts.

[Livinginexile]

Not sure about goods from the UK but we got some quotes from Australia and they were all way over the top.

We are moving to Thailand in a couple of months and it will work out far cheaper to sell everything here and buy again when we get to Thailand.

If you look in some Thai classified adds you can see some really good bargains for household goods being sold by departing expats.

Do some sums, you may find it a lot cheaper to sell and then buy second hand in Thailand.

[henryalleman]

We had no problems, nothing missing and no tea money to pay, door to door from UK, claimed under my wifes passport as she had been living in the UK for 4 years, no duty on arrival - so easy!!

When the Santa Fe boys delivered to the door in Thailand they would not even accept a tip just got me to sign thier papers to say they were curteous and had done a good job!

I was about 1300 Pounds for a 10 cube share of a container (7 years ago though), so your prices are thereabouts.

I paid 2700 Euro for 1 Cubic meter, from Belgium they packed all in and unpacked in Thailand, no tea money at all. The customs not even opened the crate to check

Last advice don't put any alcoholic beverages in, if they find them it will be a very costly affair.

[Socket]

Thanks for the replies guys....

@ LennyW - So what you did is exactly what I'm planning to do,and I'm glad to see you report that things went smoothly.Do you remember what company you used in the UK???.

@ Livinginexile - Well I'm not sure about ozzie prices,but I am in the dilemma of what is the best option to do.Sell what I have here and replace it with what I can find in Thailand.What concerns me there is the likely hood of finding anything near where I will be based,I fear it's gonna be slim to none on that one.

My furniture is classed as used,but it is in very good condition and cost quite a bit of money when new,but on the UK second hand market things are cheap.So i don't see much coming back from doing that.

I also worry I will not get like for like,and when I also factor in the time and cost of searching for furniture items and going and fetching,I'm sure the price is gonna rocket.

What Thai classifieds are you talking about,got any links?? apart from this site.

@ henryalleman - I hope you got your sums wrong there,€2700 for 1 cubic meter??,on the alcohol,not much chance of that happening.It will be drunk well before then lol

Thanks.

Edited July 10, 2009 by Socket

[zippydedodah]

we are moving to CM in a few weeks and the thai handling agent (goes by ship and then gets trucked up to CM) is asking if the wife (it is all in her name, as a returning Thai) holds any foreign passports....

any idea WHY they would ask this question? and what the implications would be is she reports her USA passport?

thanks

zippy

[Stravaig]

A lot of our stuff - mainly books - has been in storage in the UK for several years. I didn't think we could import it as we're a farang-farang couple both on non-immigrant O visas. Is there any way we can? We would dearly love to have our possessions back again. Any chance of sharing a container or something with anyone else who is also importing their used household possessions?

[slapout]

zippy; We have done this 2 times and the question was never asked, about another passport. Not shippers business so just say no. Make sure your wife is shipper and receiver on boxes and paper work. If memory serves she will have to send her passport to agent in Bangkok to clear shipment when it arrives.

[zippydedodah]

zippy; We have done this 2 times and the question was never asked, about another passport. Not shippers business so just say no. Make sure your wife is shipper and receiver on boxes and paper work. If memory serves she will have to send her passport to agent in Bangkok to clear shipment when it arrives.

thanks for that reply. That was my sense also... it is none of their business. Yes, wife is shipper and receiver on everything, including payment!!! They did ask for copies of all visas in passport, which i provided them with, as it clearly establishes her moving to USA in 2003.... with yearly returns of one month to visit thailand.... so that should satisfy documentation of returning thai national after 5 yr stay abroad.

Wife will leave her passport with sister in BKK and sister will facilitate paperwork. Was there ever any tea money necessary on either of your shipments? Don't know if we should leave her family some $$ too.

zippy

[cathyy]

Not sure about goods from the UK but we got some quotes from Australia and they were all way over the top.

We are moving to Thailand in a couple of months and it will work out far cheaper to sell everything here and buy again when we get to Thailand.

If you look in some Thai classified adds you can see some really good bargains for household goods being sold by departing expats.

Do some sums, you may find it a lot cheaper to sell and then buy second hand in Thailand.

YMMV. I did the math, and brought over about $25,000 of stuff (replacement value) for $5000. I would not have been able to buy like replacements here, as one poster has already pointed out. If you aren't picky about your things replacing here might be a good option.

My husband and I are a farang-farang couple, and we had no trouble on import. Yes, we had to pay some tea money/duty, but it was minimal, and some duty really was likely to be appropriately charged. We had enough sense to engage a moving agent who would take care of all that stuff for us.

[Andyman]

A tip from me.......... if you have anything nice, make a detailed list of everything and make sure you are insured, i had about 1,000 pounds worth of fishing equipment stolen by customs.

[QED]

A quandary indeed.

I moved from the UK 3 years ago, and wanted to bring certain personal stuff which would not have gone in a siutcase. Ended up with 1/2 of a 40ft container and shipped everything, cost about 2,000 pounds with Asian Tigers.

In hindsight I wouldn't have brought most of the stuff I did, for the price of shipping (about 130k baht at the time) I could have replaced all the bulky items - beds, sofas, tv's etc. If I had to do it again I would try and find someone who would ship a small volume - a couple of crates maybe - so I could bring the unreplaceable stuff, and give away or bin the rest.

I ended up paying about 13k bt duty, but I foolishly packed several bottles of wine which accounted for most of that.

[LennyW]

First off...apologies if this is in the wrong section,I haven't quite mastered the forum navigation process yet.

OK,I am interested in anyone's knowledge of moving household goods from the UK to Thailand,door to door.I've had a couple of quotes done from 1st Move & Simpsons and am looking at a guesstimate of @£1600.00,this is based on @10 cubic meters of a shared container.

All the items would be imported into Thailand in my wifes (thai) name on the basis that it's all used and she has been out of Thailand over 12months,I read somewhere there will be no charges by thai customs if this criteria is met.I know as much as the next man about charges just appearing for no understandable reason and was wondering if anyone has been met with hidden charges when doing it this way,if anyone has done it that is.

The only reason I am even thinking about doing this is because I don't think it is replaceable with like for like quality on the cost of moving it to my destination.....any thoughts???

Any help & guidance would be appreciated as it's a big decision to make and once the ball is rolling there is no point of return,so to speak.I would hate to be called to customs and find they want the same money again before releasing our goods,at which point the economical side of thinking could go out of the window.

Thanks.

Socket, moving from UK this is a very helpful website and will find you a shipper nearest to you.... http://www.bar.co.uk/

[johnefallis]

Problems will come when the stuff arrives Thailand, there's always the Tea money and stuff missing. I suggest you go for the air freight.

<deleted>?

[gk10002000]

A quandary indeed.

I moved from the UK 3 years ago, and wanted to bring certain personal stuff which would not have gone in a siutcase. Ended up with 1/2 of a 40ft container and shipped everything, cost about 2,000 pounds with Asian Tigers.

In hindsight I wouldn't have brought most of the stuff I did, for the price of shipping (about 130k baht at the time) I could have replaced all the bulky items - beds, sofas, tv's etc. If I had to do it again I would try and find someone who would ship a small volume - a couple of crates maybe - so I could bring the unreplaceable stuff, and give away or bin the rest.

I ended up paying about 13k bt duty, but I foolishly packed several bottles of wine which accounted for most of that.

I echo this poster's sentiment. In a similar fashion my parent's moved from Rhode Island down to Florida several years ago. Two vastly different climates. While they moved to Florida, they never lived like they were in Florida. They furnished the home like it was up north, with wall to wall carpeting, etc. The house feels so out of place in Florida. No tile, no shaded porch, no place to sit in the shade outside etc.

My point is, they never lightened their load and accepted the tropical lifestyle. They brought a lot of stuff with them, that could easily be replaced.

I am of the vagabond mentality. And as the years go by like the idea of owning less and less. Except for some actualy treasures, I would not get too attached to belongins if possible. Take a page out of the buddhist mentality. Desire less. After all, you really don't need anything you are probably considering shipping. Eliminate the headaches and just move yourself to Thailand. Leave the rest behind. Have a sale, and pocket the money.

[Socket]

OK.....just to bring this thread to the forefront again......I'm now asking if anyone can PM me with details of decent trustworthy (if they exist) clearing agents in BKK.

I've read alot of threads on here about clearing thru customs and the fact that everyone says to make sure 'you use a reputable company',but noone seems to name any in their post(s).So if you know any then please let me know.

Please don't bother posting or PM'ing with more stories of woe,or 'you don't wanna do that mate,sell your stuff or give it away'.........I've read enough negative posts about this issue and 'I do wanna move my stuff,I'm not gonna give it away or sell it for peanuts'

Please don't take offence as I'm not trying to offend,I just want to talk to people who have the answers I am looking for, as opposed to people who just troll thru threads looking for somewhere to post their negative thoughts,I've already seen too much of that regarding this particular issue.

Many Thanks.

[zippydedodah]

OK.....just to bring this thread to the forefront again......I'm now asking if anyone can PM me with details of decent trustworthy (if they exist) clearing agents in BKK.

I've read alot of threads on here about clearing thru customs and the fact that everyone says to make sure 'you use a reputable company',but noone seems to name any in their post(s).So if you know any then please let me know.

Please don't bother posting or PM'ing with more stories of woe,or 'you don't wanna do that mate,sell your stuff or give it away'.........I've read enough negative posts about this issue and 'I do wanna move my stuff,I'm not gonna give it away or sell it for peanuts'

Please don't take offence as I'm not trying to offend,I just want to talk to people who have the answers I am looking for, as opposed to people who just troll thru threads looking for somewhere to post their negative thoughts,I've already seen too much of that regarding this particular issue.

Many Thanks.

Asian Tiger in BKK... i have read good things about them and we are using them for our shipment in August. There are some very good websites that help you sort thru all the riff raff in the international shipping business and i spent a couple of months research and calling companies (we are leaving from SFO).... in the end, we went with Stevens International from USA and Asian Tiger is their thailand affiliate....

hope this helps...

zippy