House Move

[nellyp]

Hi, I am considering moving back to Thailand with my Thai wife and our 2 kids. I have a house here in the UK which I plan to rent out. Does anybody have any idea how much it would cost to ship the contents of a 2 bed house (all furniture white goods etc) to Thailand. and from BKK on to sisaket. I only want very rough figures But think I could get all I wanted in one of the large fright boxes. I believe if I ship everything in my wife's name then I will not have to pay duty. Any rough ideas will help me decide about renting my property out furnished or unfurnished.

Cheers

Neil

[Soutpeel]

Hi, I am considering moving back to Thailand with my Thai wife and our 2 kids. I have a house here in the UK which I plan to rent out. Does anybody have any idea how much it would cost to ship the contents of a 2 bed house (all furniture white goods etc) to Thailand. and from BKK on to sisaket. I only want very rough figures But think I could get all I wanted in one of the large fright boxes. I believe if I ship everything in my wife's name then I will not have to pay duty. Any rough ideas will help me decide about renting my property out furnished or unfurnished.

Cheers

Neil

Needs to be in the wifes name to not attract import duty.

Seeing as you intend shipping from the UK, you really need to be talking to a UK based shipping company and let them give you a quote, as the question you are asking is like asking how long is a piece string.

[nellyp]

Hi, I am considering moving back to Thailand with my Thai wife and our 2 kids. I have a house here in the UK which I plan to rent out. Does anybody have any idea how much it would cost to ship the contents of a 2 bed house (all furniture white goods etc) to Thailand. and from BKK on to sisaket. I only want very rough figures But think I could get all I wanted in one of the large fright boxes. I believe if I ship everything in my wife's name then I will not have to pay duty. Any rough ideas will help me decide about renting my property out furnished or unfurnished.

Cheers

Neil

Needs to be in the wifes name to not attract import duty.

Seeing as you intend shipping from the UK, you really need to be talking to a UK based shipping company and let them give you a quote, as the question you are asking is like asking how long is a piece string.

Yeah i thought that may be the case. I have had a quote for 11.5 cubic meteres to be sent to Bankok by ship. This includes a corner suit with stool all white goods tv , hi fi, electricals from kitchen, king size and single bed, wardrobe and 2 sets of drawers, all linen and clothes and the kids toys. All of this for £1776.50. This seems a good price to me as the corner unit cost more to buy than that. All I need now is the cost of getting it to sisaket and I'm away. I think that size should fit on a couple of pickups.

[BigWheelMan]

This probably doesn`t exactly equate to the OPs situation, but it may help as a guide.

I had shipped 4 tea cases over from England trying to get them to Chiang Mai, 5 years ago.

I learned from my mistakes and here is the benefit of my experience:

Firstly UK shipping companies will only take stuff as far as the port in Bangkok. If you want to continue on to any other destination within Thailand, you must arrange for the cases to be picked up by another carrier company in Thailand, preferable one based in the destination where you want the goods delivered.

Use a Thai name from the very beginning with the UK company. If you declare the goods in a Farang name, you will be stung for a huge amount of Import tax, to be paid before you can retrieve your goods from the Bangkok port. They will be held for ransom until you pay.

If you bring new electrical items over, you will be charged import tax at a huge percent. Try and bring only one item of each used electrical goods, you will again have to pay import tax on more than one item that the officials think you don't need. If you do try and bring in new electrical items, take off any wrapping and put on old plugs so they appear used.

When you hire your carrier in Thailand to collect the goods from port, don't tell them you have a computer, otherwise they will try and con you for more money. The Thai carrier will not open the cases and have no right to because the cases would have already been cleared by customs in Bangkok.

The UK company charges by cubic space and not weight, but if the cases are considered too heavy, they will refuse to take them. The customs in Bangkok charge import tax by the value of the goods, but mostly waver this tax or charge a minimum for Thai people.

As for packing, wrap drinking glasses and crockery in newspaper. Put fragile items in with your good blankets or clothes so that they are buffered. This way you are not wasting any space on excess padding as your clothes are excellent buffers and will protect your fragile items when the cases are throw about by the carriers, which they will be.

And finally as in my case, the carrier company in Chiang Mai later refused to bring up my cases from a depot in Bangkok until their truck was full, meaning I had to wait until other customers were also bringing their goods up here and the truck was full. My brother in law went down to the depot, saw one of my carrier's trucks ready to depart Bangkok empty after a delivery from Chiang Mai, offered the driver 600 baht to take my gear and it worked.

The cost to ship my 4 wooden tea cases from London to Bangkok was £150 5 years ago, plus 2000 baht for the Thai company and an extra 600 baht to persude them to bring the stuff.

Edited June 10, 2010 by BigWheelMan

[PNGinBKK]

Sounds like you are getting a lot of mixed messages here...

Lets clear a few things up.

Depending on how long your wife has been overseas will depend on her eligibilty to duty free import. Less than a year she will have to pay duty. More than year and it is less likely. Expect "tea money" either way.

Shipping from the UK to Thailand is simple, but don't consider Door to Port, anyone that has tried it will tell you not to bother, and anyone who tries to tell you it is worth doing is only looking out for themselves. The savings you think you will get by only shipping to Lam Chabang (just outside Pattaya) will be eaten away within hours with port storage fees and other handling charges. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

11cbm can be shipped as either:

LCL (Less than Container Load) - Shared container - packing company buys 11cbm from the shipping line and charges accordingly

FCL (Full Container Load) - packing company buys a 20ft container and ships what you have and nothing else.

Groupage - packing company buys a 20ft container and ships what you have plus others to fill the box.

At 11cm groupage will probably be the best option for you if you want to keep costs down - just don't be on a tight deadline to receive everything because they will only ship when they have filled the box.

You need to find a reputable company in the UK and it depends where you are.

North : John Masons (also cover London from Crawley offices)

South West : Robinsons

There are loads of "cheap" on paper companies, just make sure you pick a company with FIDI or OMNI affiliations and you will be protected.

PM if you need more advise.

[PattayaParent]

When you hire your carrier in Thailand to collect the goods from port, don't tell them you have a computer, otherwise they will try and con you for more money. The Thai carrier will not open the cases and have no right to because the cases would have already been cleared by customs in Bangkok.

Anything contained in the shipment must be on the packing list for the shipping company, customs and the receiving company to verify so you won't be able to not declare anything unless you want to risk it being confiscated.

The UK company charges by cubic space and not weight, but if the cases are considered too heavy, they will refuse to take them. The customs in Bangkok charge import tax by the value of the goods, but mostly waver this tax or charge a minimum for Thai people.

The shipping company will charge by 'freight tonne' which is the greater of the volume or the weight.

Edited June 11, 2010 by PattayaParent

[nellyp]

I have only had one quote so far for door to door and that cost £3,000 for i would say £5,000 worth of stuff. I'm still not sure about this though as i'm very worried about customs etc.