In a case where a retirement visa has *not* yet been acquired, will books shipped as personal property (i.e., not for resale) be subjected to import duties, VAT, and/or other fees?

Probably not.

Up until a couple years ago, it only cost $1 per pound to us the U.S. Postal System "M-Bag" to mail books to Thailand via sea freight. On my occasional U.S. trip, I'd hit the various discount "friends of the library" outlets near my sister's place and pick up a whole bunch of books. They'd show up at the local Thai post office in 6-8 weeks, NEVER had any duty assessed. Most paperback books were about 50 cents and several fit into one pound so a really good deal.

Then the USPS raised the cost way too much so not worth it anymore.

There's a short thread on ThaiVisa on the subject here:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Usps-Discont...on-t116965.html

Oh, yes, no relation to what type of visa or extension you happen to be on, or at least not in the past.

Mac