Shipping

[charley1947]

I got a quote from a shipping company for a 3'x4'x6' approved crate, 700lbs. from a U S dock to Bangkok [CM was not an option]. $200 US to build the box, $1,700 to get it to Bangkok, where I would need an agent to get it through customs and then shipped to CM. Last year I got a quote of $450 U S to ship a similar crate from CM to a U S port. Has anyone got experience with this or any suggestions? 2K is lot for some art and books.

[elektrified]

Don't bother. Seriously, you will end paying more in duty and taxes than it is worth.

[carlosacao]

Correct, customs will hit you hard and on top of that, shipping agents in Thailand are quite tricky and they'll milk you good (they are often in cajuts with customs police, etc and unless all the paperwork is absolutely perfect you'll have to pay big "tea money"). I'm talking from actual experience.

Edited February 19, 2010 by carlosacao

[glegolo]

I got a quote from a shipping company for a 3'x4'x6' approved crate, 700lbs. from a U S dock to Bangkok [CM was not an option]. $200 US to build the box, $1,700 to get it to Bangkok, where I would need an agent to get it through customs and then shipped to CM. Last year I got a quote of $450 U S to ship a similar crate from CM to a U S port. Has anyone got experience with this or any suggestions? 2K is lot for some art and books. --------------------

The difference in seafreight is due to the present balance of cargo-volyme between said destinations/countries. For exemple if there is a big volyme of goods from the US to Thailand, they are in need of empty equipment (containers) in the US. and consequently they do very much to get the equipment there among other things they decreases the freightrates. This is common in all parts of the worls throughtout all times.

regarding your offer for the crate and seafreight, I suggest that you talk to 2 other shipping agents and see what they offer you.

Normally you look in shippingadverts and try to locate companies that have weekly groupagetraffic for Bangkok from you hometown or somewhere else close... If you just choose a company randomly you will most probably end up with one of the more expensier ones.

I shipped a box from Sweden to Bankok all prices were great. I had 150 kos 1,9 m3. The box came to bangkok and I was lucky to find an

agent tehre who helped me fantastic. their name is Dragon (something) wellknown company.. ask the carrier of their phonenumber they will help you with that. Ask for Mr Kim. he was just great.

About charges, yes they can be very very expensive, but tthere is some stuff you can do to reduce it to "normal" levels. If you really are interested, I can share my experience when it comes to arranging good customs duty and also the oncarriage to CM. In that case PM me.....

Glegolo

[zippydedodah]

In August... 2009, we had professionally packed, picked up at home in SFO and delivered and unpacked (and placed exactly where we wanted it) here in CM. We used Stevens International, with local agent Tiger..... service and handling was top notch, not a single thing broken or scratched.... we had some 89 boxes of various sizes, including area rugs, framed pictures, all kitchen stuff that was electronically useable, couple of large screen TVS, 3 computers, blah blah blah... total weight, including custom built wooden crates, was some 2000+ pounds.... cost, delivered and unpacked was around $5000 USD.

without going into whether or not we could have replaced same items for cheaper $$.... the shipping service and cost (to us) seemed excellent and reasonable

[backsoon]

I have been a book-worm and my library is a painstaking result of 50 years of collecting.

Too heavy for luggage, too precious (to me) to abandon. No two books similar. Not one in thai language. All used books. All printed from 1900 to 2000. I was slugged with tax, import duty, etc., after it cost me $1500 to crate and ship to BKK.!!!

Books, as information source, as provider of KNOWLEDGE, are not taxable in countries, which want their society to advace. Period.

[SM7WGP]

Books, as information source, as provider of KNOWLEDGE, are not taxable in countries, which want their society to advance. Period

I wish you welcome to Thailand and Thai Customs they will teach you something els, that do you want your books you pay or they stay in the Customs locker.

[zippydedodah]

I have been a book-worm and my library is a painstaking result of 50 years of collecting.

Too heavy for luggage, too precious (to me) to abandon. No two books similar. Not one in thai language. All used books. All printed from 1900 to 2000. I was slugged with tax, import duty, etc., after it cost me $1500 to crate and ship to BKK.!!!

Books, as information source, as provider of KNOWLEDGE, are not taxable in countries, which want their society to advace. Period.

define "advance" in thai terms.

in cambodia, Pol Pot wanted everyone to advance back to farming... and to a certain extent, same could be said of

Castro....

one man's wife is another man's wh**e

[glegolo]

I have been a book-worm and my library is a painstaking result of 50 years of collecting.

Too heavy for luggage, too precious (to me) to abandon. No two books similar. Not one in thai language. All used books. All printed from 1900 to 2000. I was slugged with tax, import duty, etc., after it cost me $1500 to crate and ship to BKK.!!!

Books, as information source, as provider of KNOWLEDGE, are not taxable in countries, which want their society to advace. Period.

--------------------------------

This is WHY you non-proffessional people should listen to others. You pay dearly for your belongings, sad... You must be more open and more energic when it comes to comparing services. There is 4 different components in shipping from door to door. 1) precarriage to port 2) seafreight 3) arrivel fees //customs duty+VAT 4) oncarriage.

You can use one company for the precarriage part. One for the seafreight and one for the arrivel+PCC-part if you like. But again compare. prices can vary from month to month so there is no defintiv company to stick to at all times.

Glegolo

[zippydedodah]

i agree with the breakdown of 4 components.... and in fact, was convinced that i would be able to save $$ by finding the "best and cheapest" company for each component.

well, for me personally, it was not worth the effort.... way too many variables, companies and pricing schemes. There are online rating services for "full service" companies and that is where i ended up.... one stop shopping saved me a lot of aggro, but MIGHT have cost me a few $$.... at the end of the day, with all the pressures of making an international move (on our own, not paid for by some company relocation)... i went for the easiest and best recommended

zippy

[Jula]

I would like to offer import customs clearance service. 285 USD included VAT7% for service charge only not include import duty and VAT of import duty.

285 USD for Import Customs clearance, Handling charge, Truck from BKK port - truck company, Truck from Bangkok to Chiangmai.

Your stuff 3x4x6' is around 2 CBM

If you would like to check export charge from US to BKK port.

(Export customs clearance, sea freight and handling charge)

Please let me know sea port at US.

If you would like to check truck charge from your home to US port

please let me know your address.

If you interesting pls contact me via email.

To check import duty and vat please go to website

customsclinic.org

Importing Used / Secondhand Household Efffects

Best regards,

Jula - Sales representative

Tel. +66 089 636 2058

email [email protected]

Importing_Used___Secondhand_Household_Efffects.pdf

[glegolo]

I would like to offer import customs clearance service. 285 USD included VAT7% for service charge only not include import duty and VAT of import duty.

285 USD for Import Customs clearance, Handling charge, Truck from BKK port - truck company, Truck from Bangkok to Chiangmai.

Your stuff 3x4x6' is around 2 CBM

If you would like to check export charge from US to BKK port.

(Export customs clearance, sea freight and handling charge)

Please let me know sea port at US.

If you would like to check truck charge from your home to US port

please let me know your address.

If you interesting pls contact me via email.To check import duty and vat please go to website

customsclinic.org

Importing Used / Secondhand Household Efffects

Best regards,

Jula - Sales representative

Tel. +66 089 636 2058

email [email protected]

------------------------------------------------

If interested in my opinion as being a proffessional in shipping business. I find this offer to be quite fair actually. But to pay USD 1.700:- from your home to Bangkok. looks little bit too much. But this depends on where in the US, your home is. Seafreight for 2 m3 from port US to Bangkok should be something like USD. 500:-, and that is absolutely maximum.

So that leaves you with USD. 1.200:- covering building of a box, transport from your home to port US. Isn´t that a little too much really?? I woodenbox 2 m3 built for you, maximum USD. 450:- (and that is NOT cheap at all)- That leavesd you with a precarriage charge of USD. 750:- from your home to the port in USA. Look into these different charges and if you feel they are OK, so do it by all means.

Glegolo

[NancyL]

When we moved here in Nov 2008 we sent non-breakable items like books via the United States Postal Service using their flat rate global priority mail boxes. It costs about $50 for whatever you can cram into one of their standard boxes, which are 6-in x 6-in x 12-in. All came thru in good shape and we weren't charged any duty. The postage costs covered everything, door-to-door. In retrospect, I miss some of the kitchen items I left in the U.S. and wished I'd mailed more stuff because it worked out so well.

We did ship fragile stuff, our china and crystal, using a company that specializes in shipping art, antiques, etc. Total weight just under 100 kilos for several boxes strapped onto one pallet. It was pretty expensive, but everything was insured, tracked all along the way and sent to the CM airport. We had many problems getting it out of customs at the CM airport. We definitely could have bought everything new here for less money, but these are items that have been in the family for a long time.

My recommendation would be to mail anything you're comfortable with mailing.