Hi guys,

Firstly, I'm not an SME but I hope I've posted this in the right forum, my apologies if not.

I'm toying with the idea of buying some used studio gear from Japan, but there's a few things I'm not sure about.

I know its around 40% on new music equipment, but is there any duty to be paid on used music/electronic equipment? If so, how is it calculated? Would Thai Customs have to assess the value of the item?

Is there any advantage to importing used equipment from an Asean nation rather than, for example, the US? If so, by how much would it be cheaper?

Does the original country of manufacture have any bearing on import duty from an ASEAN nation? For example, would a Japanese item and an American item both imported from Japan incur the same charges?

Finally, is there anything the shipper and I need to be aware of? Are there any steps we can take to reduce the scope for being ripped off?

Many thanks for any input.

The import duties on used and new equipment is in most cases the same. The customs officer would indeed tell you the value of the goods. You need brand, purchase date and purchase price and they have a formula to calculate the depreciation on it.

For duty-free ASEAN imports you need a certificate of origin (C/O). This C/O must show that the product is MANUFACTURED in an ASEAN country. So importing an American-made product from Malaysia would not benefit from any ASEAN FTAs.

What sort of audio gear are you thinking about?

If its high tech music gear (synths etc) they are not so cheap from there...... however, If you find some bargains on that, nord leads, tb303's etc, PLEASE!!! let me know!