Ordering Suppplements From Abroad

[lovenim]

I have tried to order vitamins like high-strength D3 and K2 and other herbal supplements such Milk thistl and Dandelion root from an online US suppplier.

Total cost about 5400 baht incl postage... now customs want 4500 baht on top, and there is also a "clearing company" involved that requires 2000 baht, and there is already a 2500 baht detention/storage fee because FedEx failed to contact me for a week to tell me the order had arrived and how to proceed now that they cannot clear it.......... I have decided not to pay and "abandon" the shipment. I would have paid the 4500 baht customs want (which is a whopping 100% already) because the order would still be ok in terms of price. But the remaining cost is not something I had bargained for and I believe it to be the fault of the vitamin seller and/or fedex for using a courier resp. for acccepting a shipment that they must know cannot be cleared locally later... pplus for not gettng in touch with me iin a timely fashion, making it all too expensive. So now I will cancel the payment with my credit card company and let seller and courier fight it out between themselves.

Anyway, first of all I wonder what my rights are in this case.

Second, i would like to know if anyone has successfully ordered to Thailand from any US or NZ based online vitamin vendor? by "successfully" I guess i mean bypassing customs... I read elsewhere that the trick is to have it sent in small packages and without declared value and with handwritten adddresses and sent as a "gift" ... if anyone knows of vendors that will be happy to do this, by all means please let me know.

Thank you

[crazydrummerpauly]

Hi - in Thailand, i have had 2 shipments of supplements from an online company called BIOVEA.

Their shipping is Free for my orders, and i have never had any customs hassle or indeed any hassle

of any kind whatsoever. Have a look at their website ? I hasten to add i have absolutely no connection

with the company apart from being a long-term customer - i used them before i left the UK as well.

I recommend them 100% - but they might not stock the precise kind of supplements you require - that

would be the only negative.

[NaiharnGym]

hi we carry USA supplements, inside Thailand, so all duties have been paid. We have a few that you mentioned above. Please let me know if you have any questions.

http://www.phukethealthshop.com

[lovenim]

@NaiharnGym... you do not really have what i am looking for. Your D/K is not high-stength, and it comes with calcium, which is a no-no for me. I ordered quit a few other things not on your list. Also, apart from sheer non-availability, a key reason for ordering from abroad has been PRICE! With your prices, to get even just remotely close what I am looking for, i would end up paying almost what customs were about to charge me.

I got lucky, however. Seems FedEx are making a brilliant exception for me this time because they know they messed things up. I will have to pay no storage charge, they will exceptionally handle clearing on my behalf, and all other fees are also magically reduced to 2500THB now. WEIRD but wonderful. I did shout abuse at FedEx first though and accused them of being unprofessional and asked for the customs officer's name and number so I could just bring them tea money... suddenly it was all different!

@crazydrummerpauly: thanks for the tip, I will look into them for the future as this special clearance from FedEx is a one-off as they see they made a mistake. They do not normally clear meds/supplements for folks. Which makes me wonder why they would ship to here in the first place.

[Sheryl]

Have to say i have found FedEx to be the absolutely worst when it comes to getting anything cleared through customs, and many others have reported the same.

I could tell several horror stories (which in my case did not end in a waiver of storage fees altho should have!) but will refrain as my BP has been acting up lately and recalling these traumas (and I do mean traumas) would not be in my best interests.

Actually the best option is normal air mail.

[crazydrummerpauly]

Have to say i have found FedEx to be the absolutely worst when it comes to getting anything cleared through customs, and many others have reported the same.

I could tell several horror stories (which in my case did not end in a waiver of storage fees altho should have!) but will refrain as my BP has been acting up lately and recalling these traumas (and I do mean traumas) would not be in my best interests.

Actually the best option is normal air mail.

Completely agree with that - i just place an order with Biovea online, and it arrives at the Thai address via normal post

in a plain brown package - no hassles as yet. Better still, for orders of £29 or more, ( $45 ?) it's free shipping ! - but

i apologise if that is untrue for packages to Thailand ( though i don't think it is ).