hello

something has come up recently which i was curious about.

i want to buy myself and my girlfriend iphones, to buy them here they cost close anywhere from 25k to 35k baht, but i can buy them elsewhere for $200 or less, thus i want to get two iphones mailed into thailand.

this is where i have reached my dilemma, i have lived here for a pretty long time and the people at customs are erratic, i dont want to end up having $400 of phones being stolen from my package.

so does anyone have any experience in this? what to do?

i have some other things which i also need (books, stuffed bears, maybe some good cooking chocolate) and may just have a mixed package sent, but i dont know if the electronic will attract undue attention and lose me the entire box.

so if anyone has had any experience, i would love to hear about it.

thank you

I'm not clear about how you intend to bring in your package, via friend at airport, or through the post. Either way has risks, but in my experience having things posted to you attracts far less attention, especially is its labelled used personal property or similar.

Problem: as you know apart from having a zillion grams of gold on your person, the number 1 status symbol to many Thais is the iphone. But then again I now see many copies around, so maybe its not so cool. I'd risk the post. Good luck.

About 80% of the things I sent insured or Registered, needing a signature, I was called to the Post office to pay some kind of Tax. An amount that was randomly applied by the Post Office. When ever I have sent it regular First Class Mail, no signature no insurance, with a low amount on the customs decloration it has always been delivered to my Door with no problems. I am not sure about this but it seems that if they are sent by registered post the items gets X-rayed. If they are sent regular First Class mail they do not. The reason I say this is when I had some Vitamins and other personal things sent Registered Mail the Post Office told me that there was an import Tax on Vitamins and to pay 500 Baht, the decloration did not say Vitamins only "Personal Items". When they have been sent First Class Air Mail they are always delivered to my door with a 10 Baht delivery charge paid to the mail man. I have also had toys sent for my daughters Birthday by First Class Air Mail and never a problem.

Unlike many people that have posted on here in the past, I have never had a package go missing. So far I am 100% for sent and received packages to and from the US and Canada. I just hope that I have not Jinxed myself by saying this.

Try having a couple of small cheap calculators sent to yourself by First Class Air Mail first. The calculators if X-rayed will look similiar to phones. If they arrive with no problems then send the phones the same way.

Good luck and let us know how things work out.