Import Duties For Baby Stroller

[nikster]

Ordered a baby stroller from the USA. It cost $420, $180 shipping with FedEX.

FedEx says it's 9000 bht in duties and taxes, 7900 of that seem to be import duties. I tried to find baby strollers on the long list of customs on the thai customs website but could not find it. There's no category for it. The only thing that has "baby" in it is baby scales (?!).

How much duty would I have to pay for an item that's not on the list? I want to verify that I actually owe that much import duties.... all FedEx gave me is a number.

[nakachalet]

get your THAI family members or friends who is a pleasant negotiator and go to the custom....

negotiate and smile.... Do Not Argue

you might be able to get off with only a third....

good luck

yes, i did it before.... a third for a brand new trading computer around 8k usd.... lol

[hearditallbefore]

Ordered a baby stroller from the USA. It cost $420, $180 shipping with FedEX.

FedEx says it's 9000 bht in duties and taxes, 7900 of that seem to be import duties. I tried to find baby strollers on the long list of customs on the thai customs website but could not find it. There's no category for it. The only thing that has "baby" in it is baby scales (?!).

How much duty would I have to pay for an item that's not on the list? I want to verify that I actually owe that much import duties.... all FedEx gave me is a number.

[/quote

If you don't plan on selling it, google "ATA Carnet" and get one. It's like a passport for anything you want to bring in and keep and then take out as well later, and it's cheap.

[JUDAS]

I could be wrong, and often am, but doesn't a "carnet" only allow temporary import, up to one year maximum?

[PattayaParent]

So including duty you're paying around 30,000 Baht for a baby stroller?

And how much to they cost in Thailand?

[zimba]

Ordered a baby stroller from the USA. It cost $420, $180 shipping with FedEX.

FedEx says it's 9000 bht in duties and taxes, 7900 of that seem to be import duties. I tried to find baby strollers on the long list of customs on the thai customs website but could not find it. There's no category for it. The only thing that has "baby" in it is baby scales (?!).

How much duty would I have to pay for an item that's not on the list? I want to verify that I actually owe that much import duties.... all FedEx gave me is a number.

we sent are personal effects from Malaysia to Thailand with DHL

Thai custom duty, according to DHL 16900THB

G/f rang customs the reply only the fridge was dutiable

DHL then reduced the "duty to 6900THB"

after we paid, never go a receipt from DHL

we got a receipt from Thai customs for 230 THB

DHL also damaged some of the gear, endless emails and phone calls

no answer etc

[rabcbroon]

Why be so wet - just get one form Robinsons or where ever. The baby won't know, so why pay so much just so you can be a nob

[nikster]

Ordered a baby stroller from the USA. It cost $420, $180 shipping with FedEX.

FedEx says it's 9000 bht in duties and taxes, 7900 of that seem to be import duties. I tried to find baby strollers on the long list of customs on the thai customs website but could not find it. There's no category for it. The only thing that has "baby" in it is baby scales (?!).

How much duty would I have to pay for an item that's not on the list? I want to verify that I actually owe that much import duties.... all FedEx gave me is a number.

we sent are personal effects from Malaysia to Thailand with DHL

Thai custom duty, according to DHL 16900THB

G/f rang customs the reply only the fridge was dutiable

DHL then reduced the "duty to 6900THB"

after we paid, never go a receipt from DHL

we got a receipt from Thai customs for 230 THB

DHL also damaged some of the gear, endless emails and phone calls

no answer etc

Thanks for that, I will have the wife call tomorrow.

I have once complained about fishy practices in Thai FedEx so I am going to cc some high ranking FedEx people on it.

The funny thing is that if FedEx either paid under the table fees, or worse split under the table fees with Thai Customs, it would be illegal in the USA. It's illegal for US companies to engage in corruption abroad. So this would be a pretty big deal if it did happen... there could be very expensive consequences for the company. See here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Corrupt_Practices_Act

I am gonna search online but if you have the number you called for customs I would love to have it. Do they have some sort of customer service dept? Thanks!

Edited November 1, 2009 by nikster

[ralfbkk]

So including duty you're paying around 30,000 Baht for a baby stroller?

And how much to they cost in Thailand?

Lots of Baby Strollers at Central Lad Prao or Central World. They even have Quiny's and Graco's. Got a Peg Perrigo there, including the Car Seat. Price at Toys r' us in Torrance, CA was US$ 439.00 US$. Price at Central was 17900 THB (512 US$). No shipping, no customs, no que up in line at Customs, no headache phone calls. Got 1 year warranty.

Sometimes, if you calculate ALL (shipping, customs, headaches etc) together, you end up buying cheaper here in Thailand, given the fact that you do some research in advance. My 2 cents ...

[thaihome]

The English version of the Integrated Tariff Database list baby carriages (Heading 87.15) at 30%. If indeed you paid 7,900 baht, it appears you have paid 40% (420 for the stroller+180 shipping =600 x 32 = 19,200 value of stroller). This assumes they have valued the stroller at 19,200. Paying 7,900 at 30% would mean the valued it at 26,333. Your receipt from FedEx should show the valuation as well as the duty paid.

TH

[nikster]

The English version of the Integrated Tariff Database list baby carriages (Heading 87.15) at 30%. If indeed you paid 7,900 baht, it appears you have paid 40% (420 for the stroller+180 shipping =600 x 32 = 19,200 value of stroller). This assumes they have valued the stroller at 19,200. Paying 7,900 at 30% would mean the valued it at 26,333. Your receipt from FedEx should show the valuation as well as the duty paid.

TH

Hi you are correct, but how did you find this? Anyway - very good, I am impressed. I tried to find it but was unable to until I got the FedEx bill...

FedEx sent me the bill with the ID for the tax rate, and indeed, baby strollers, as long as they are not excepted for some reason, are 30%. VAT is applied after that which pushes it close to 40%. And what I also didn't know - and you say above too - is that the shipping costs are dutiable too. I guess the logic (besides the "we take all the money we can"-logic) is that the worth of the goods here includes shipping it over here. (**)

So all in all I have to pay 7998 Baht in duties, and that's just for Thai customs, and no weird things going on. It's the rules! Would i do it again? Probably not.

FedEX had then added fees for "clearance", "overtime" and "VAT" (I guess on clearance and overtime?!) for 2000 additional Baht. I got those removed, not paying that. So they "only" tried to rip me off for 2000 BHT and it was easy to resolve.

Take away points: It's not worth shipping stuff to Thailand. Duties are crazy, and they'll add the shipping costs. I the way stores do it is by importing goods from ASEAN (no duty) or other countries with FTAs. I am actually wondering if I couldn't ship something to Singapore (few import duties) and then from there to Thailand for free?

Packages from FedEx (and other courier services) may be opened more frequently by customs because they have higher shipping costs which would for one thing make for higher duties, and also indicate more expensive goods which also fetch more duties. Postal service has a better chance of sneaking through.

It's true it makes a lot more sense to buy locally, but costs for baby carriages vary wildly. We were looking for a nice double stroller... Mothercare had a single model for 30,000 bht... and back on vacation in Europe I saw everyone running around with Bugaboos which cost EUR 800 and up for the single version, don't think they make a double either. I've never seen a Phil&Ted's in the LOS. Anyway, it was a good deal until Thai customs added 40%, now it's, errr, much less of a good deal

Edited November 3, 2009 by nikster

[nikster]

So including duty you're paying around 30,000 Baht for a baby stroller?

And how much to they cost in Thailand?

Lots of Baby Strollers at Central Lad Prao or Central World. They even have Quiny's and Graco's. Got a Peg Perrigo there, including the Car Seat. Price at Toys r' us in Torrance, CA was US$ 439.00 US$. Price at Central was 17900 THB (512 US$). No shipping, no customs, no que up in line at Customs, no headache phone calls. Got 1 year warranty.

Sometimes, if you calculate ALL (shipping, customs, headaches etc) together, you end up buying cheaper here in Thailand, given the fact that you do some research in advance. My 2 cents ...

In hindsight: YEP!!! You are absolutely right!

The best advice for importing your own: Don't do it. Unless you happen to come in on a plane anyways then you can bring whatever you like.

Edited November 2, 2009 by nikster

[thaihome]

... And what I also didn't know - and you say above too - is that the shipping costs are dutiable too. I guess the logic (besides the "we take all the money we can"-logic) is that the worth of the goods here includes shipping it over here. (**)

..

I am actually wondering if I couldn't ship something to Singapore (few import duties) and then from there to Thailand for free?

...

As discussed many times here, adding freight and VAT to the value of an item for duty calculation is standard practice worldwide.

I don’t think Singapore is all that more cheaper. I brought a golf club into Singapore a few years ago and paid over 20% duty on it.

TH

[nikster]

... And what I also didn't know - and you say above too - is that the shipping costs are dutiable too. I guess the logic (besides the "we take all the money we can"-logic) is that the worth of the goods here includes shipping it over here. (**)

..

I am actually wondering if I couldn't ship something to Singapore (few import duties) and then from there to Thailand for free?

...

As discussed many times here, adding freight and VAT to the value of an item for duty calculation is standard practice worldwide.

I don’t think Singapore is all that more cheaper. I brought a golf club into Singapore a few years ago and paid over 20% duty on it.

TH

If you don't mind me asking, how did you find the heading on baby strollers in the first place?

I had looked before. Searching the description with the term "baby" yielded no results. Searching the site with Google found baby scales, but not the strollers.

How did you know it's heading 87.15? I was eventually able to look it up after FedEx gave me the duty code 87150000 - entered into ID field and found it right away. Is there a list of goods and headings somewhere?

[samran]

... And what I also didn't know - and you say above too - is that the shipping costs are dutiable too. I guess the logic (besides the "we take all the money we can"-logic) is that the worth of the goods here includes shipping it over here. (**)

..

I am actually wondering if I couldn't ship something to Singapore (few import duties) and then from there to Thailand for free?

...

As discussed many times here, adding freight and VAT to the value of an item for duty calculation is standard practice worldwide.

I don’t think Singapore is all that more cheaper. I brought a golf club into Singapore a few years ago and paid over 20% duty on it.

TH

Singapore isn't too much cheaper these days. On a 4 hour stop over there I nipped out to buy a Maclaren Stroller at Mothercare on orchard rd which I had reserved via email and found I only got it for about 1000 baht cheaper than I could have got it for at Central! Avoided tax by taking it out of the box and wheeling it back to the airport (sans baby!) and checked it in for the flight back. Rolled it past customs in BKK (again sans baby) with no hassel.

Ah well, live and learn I guess!

[nikster]

Ah well, live and learn I guess!

Amen to that! Live and learn indeed. This stroller would have cost $450 in the USA, until it got here it was at about $850.

Then again, if I lived on San Francisco, I'd pay $3000 / month for rent. Nothing's perfect

If any of you sees a phil&ted's in Thailand, please don't tell me.

BTW the stroller is nice - it's a tricycle model with big wheels, yet not heavy, and has an add-one for the second baby (which is why we wanted this model) which is very clever. See here http://www.philandteds.com/sport_index.htm

The only drawback so far is that it doesn't fold very small, but given the size of the wheels that was always unlikely. We already have a teeny-tiny Combi which weighs only 4KG and folds Japanese origami style. But we wanted some decent wheels, and room for 2.

[thaihome]

If you don't mind me asking, how did you find the heading on baby strollers in the first place?

I had looked before. Searching the description with the term "baby" yielded no results. Searching the site with Google found baby scales, but not the strollers.

How did you know it's heading 87.15? I was eventually able to look it up after FedEx gave me the duty code 87150000 - entered into ID field and found it right away. Is there a list of goods and headings somewhere?

I went to "Search for Import Tarif" on the my link. Typed in "baby" in the Alphabetical section and hit search.

TH

[Phuket Stan]

I bought a top end Quiney at Siam Paragon 2 years ago....cost B19000....used it less than 20 times....most Thai streets are not built for strolling and showing ....will sell for B10000