Shipping Into Thailand

[The Dan Sai Kid]

I'm planning to move back to LOS at the end of the year - has anybody experience of shipping stuff under their wife's name? Can you really take in stuff like TVs and Stereos free of duty? She is eligible for the duty free import.

[mbkudu]

I'm planning to move back to LOS at the end of the year - has anybody experience of shipping stuff under their wife's name?  Can you really take in stuff like TVs and Stereos free of duty?  She is eligible for the duty free import.

There's really no point; especially with electronic goods. The power in Thailand (220 I think) is different than most western countries and Japan where it is usually 110. Electronic goods are cheap in Thailand as well. Just sell everything you have except items of sentimental value, and then re-buy it in Thailand. I travel light; I leave the sofa, tv and microwave behind.

[Thaicoon]

Grant,

Me doing the same next year, shipping a 20 footer, as far as i know you can only have one shipment, duty free for your wife, that is if she is moving back from the UK, i would not bother about TVs as most of them do not work in Thailand, other electrical goods are so cheap in Thailand so why bother, sell em in the Uk, and buy new.

A mate of mine did this a couple of years ago, in his wifes name, he went to the docks the thais, inspected his container, then gave him a bill for 50,000 baht, tax for a washing machine, he should of let his Mrs go, maybe they saw a ferrang and thought lets sting him, you know the score.

[The Dan Sai Kid]

FYI, for some obscure reason electrical appliances in the UK are the same voltage as Thai ones - it's just that most of our stuff were wedding pressies and almost brand new - it seems such a waste.

There's some smaller stuff that would be pretty expensive to buy in LOS. Smaller kitchen appliances, eg. espresso machine, food processor, etc. THe customs website seems to say they can be imported free of duty - but what I'm hearing seems to contradict that.

Edited June 4, 2005 by Grant

[North]

If you are moving from UK to Thailand and your tv / vcr are not multisystem, they will not work in Thailand receiving thai tv.

In my opinion, there is no doubt you can make this one time duty free import, but maybe it is important to select a good agent to manage the transport.

One of my friends did make such a transport from Denmark some 18 months ago.

His transport was arranged by DFDS Transport, I don´t know, if they operate in UK, but here is a link:

h**p://www.dfdstransport.com/cm1.asp?d=1

North

[The Dan Sai Kid]

I can see the advantages of having a TV in Thailand that is incapable of showing those bloody awful soap operas! We'll be able to use it for watching UBC and DVDs - it'll come in handy for that surely.

We'll be using Shoreporters, they have a very good rep in Scotland.

Edited June 4, 2005 by Grant

[North]

I can see the advantages of having a TV in Thailand that is incapable of showing those bloody awful soap operas!  We'll be able to use it for watching UBC and DVDs - it'll come in handy for that surely.

We'll be using Shoreporters, they have a very good rep in Scotland.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, you can actually watch those soap operas in Thailand, at least if they are transmitted on UHF, but there will be no sound !

What is UBC ?

North

[The Dan Sai Kid]

UBC is the satellite TV provider in Thailand - no sound would only improve the soaps!

[daleyboy]

If you are moving from UK to Thailand and your tv / vcr are not multisystem, they will not work in Thailand receiving thai tv.

In my opinion, there is no doubt you can make this one time duty free import, but maybe it is important to select a good agent to manage the transport.

One of my friends did make such a transport from Denmark some 18 months ago.

His transport was arranged by DFDS Transport, I  don´t know, if they operate in UK, but here is a link:

h**p://www.dfdstransport.com/cm1.asp?d=1

North 

We have dfds in the uk so if your friend had good experiences with them then they sound like the people to use

[lingling]

I'm planning to move back to LOS at the end of the year - has anybody experience of shipping stuff under their wife's name?  Can you really take in stuff like TVs and Stereos free of duty?  She is eligible for the duty free import.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Yup, we did 7 months ago. Sent a 20' container packed with stuff. Customs fees was something like 1500 baht and Thai customs were very helpful. My wife went to Lat Krabang and did all the customs clearance etc herself. Do not worry about TH customs. Worry about the shipping companies/cargo agents/customs brokers that will try their best to rip you off.

In our case, the container line's local agent (Vanguard) stalled us by refusing to follow their instructions from the container line (DCL). The instructions were to express release the D/O, B/L etc upon arrival. To incur extra fees for the delay (which I assume they are getting a percentage of), they simply refused to hand over the documents to us until I contacted the head office of their US mother company. They sent a couple of emails and suddenly the crooks at Vanguard had no problems releasing the documents.

My recommendations are:

1) DO NOT use a customs broker etc in Thailand to clear it for you. Before ending up doing it ourselves, we contacted 10-15 of them (anywhere between small companies and large well known ones such as Schenker). They all turned out to be crooks; asked for anywhere between THB10k-THB40k for "customs bribes" etc. In the end, we realized that Thai customs did not want any bribes nor did they even accept a tip that my wife handed over to them as thanks for helping her with all the paperwork. These so called customs bribes were just pocket money for the customs brokers (they all made clear that this needed to be paid cash with no receipt etc).

2) Do not believe any bogus explanations from whatever companies you need to deal with locally in order to get the docs needed to get the shipment released at the container yard/for customs clearance. Go there in person and give them an ultimatum on day 1. If they try to stall you, contact the shipping company at the origin, the container line or their parent company and let them know what is going on.

3) Secure the contents very well (ropes etc inside the container). These things shake around a bit...

[dutch]

I just finished this all in January.

My wife took our belongings as " a returning Thai" back to Thailand.

There is a rule about how many days (and the total number of visits) she is allowed to be in Thailand during the last year (or 1 1/2 year,I am not sure).If more thatn a certain number of days,the rule for returning thai will not apply.

We brought in a 40 ft container and let it handle (door to door) by a moving company. We never saw any customs officer or any other officials.

We brought ALL our stuff,because that's out life.

If you sell this at home you hardly will get any money for that and the emotional value is may be big.

Good luck with your move