Buying A Laptop From Amazon. Wondering If There Will Be Extra Charges If I Get It Sent To Bangkok.

[Aditya]

I was wondering if i bought a notebook from an online source and it needed to be sent through mail here to bangkok will I have to pay charges or anything?

I can't find the notebook here in panthip or fortune so I have to purchase it online.

And from researching laptop prices here, it is usually twice the price of the online item.

I am just a student and the notebook is very expensive already, I don't think I would be able to pay the charges if they are very high.

I remember ordering some clothes from JC penny and it got charged 900bht just for around 5 pieces of clothing. I'm worried that I have to pay an equivalent to that charge on the laptop value.

The notebook costs around $1500.

[metisdead]

Short answer don't do it, buy a comparable laptop here in Thailand.

If you would have looked in the appropriate forum, this has been covered numerous times previously:

[Aditya]

dam_n... but there are no comparable notebooks here in thailand.

And plus, I hate the thai keyboards.

I guess I just have to figure out something else.

Thanks for the help though.

[Aditya]

What about this. I have a friend that is in the army. would they be exempted from all of this customs dealings?

[steve187]

You could ask someone that is traveling over here to bring it for you, as long as they will only be carrying one. It should be declared at the airport, but hardly anyone does.

[sbk]

moving to computer forum

[joealx]

I don't think that Amazon ships computers overseas.

[MunterHunter]

You are likely to get hit for between 25-40% on importing a laptop.

Whats so special about the one that you want that you cant find it in Pantip/Fortune? They have everything from low end to high spec laptops there. The Thai keyboard thing is just the lettering printed on the keys, if you set the regional setting to English (US) it will be an english keyboard anyway.

[Aditya]

I mean the prints on the keyboard are annoying, its too cluttered.

The notebook is the asus g73JW-A1, I have not seen it yet here.

If I buy it here as well I'm worried that the price doubles than the price that is listed online like most laptops are...

I'm planning to get it from somewhere close via family or friends.

Either from Australia, or somewhere closer like Indonesia where I have contacts.

Thanks anyways guys.

but maybe If anyone else has experience in shipping or buying notebooks from online from overseas, please share.

[davidthai]

I have tried to buy a laptop, camera and other items from Amazon ans when i put my delivery address as Thailand they say it is not possible to deliver anything except boos, cd,s and dvd,s when i do order books i get a very good and quick service from them(UK) but the postal charge is about 80% of the price i am ordering , i have just received a book from them (New publication not yet available in Thailand ) the book cost 9.95 sterling pounds and the postage charge was 8.50 sterling pounds

[NanLaew]

This one can be had cheap in Singapore. Make a train/bus trip. I will be down there next week.

IMHO, hold off purchasing a new laptop until Q2 next year. There's major changes in BIOS and hard-drive structuring being rolled out that will render any top-line gaming laptop obsolete very quickly.

[Digitalbanana]

I faced a similar quandary earlier this yr to the o/p, whether to buy in Thailand or US. At the time the laptop wasn't on sale in Thailand and nothing else would do. It think this only really applies to high end or specialized laptops as there is a dearth of overly cheap end products in malls here already albeit at mark up prices. I bought from Amazon in US, through a mail forwarding company as Amazon only ships to US. They used Fedex which applies the standard 7% VAT on your declared value when they delivered it to me in Bangkok as advertised on their web site. The risk is loss or damage in shipment and no international warranty, which I can live with, others may not. Until now I have been happy with my product that has worked flawlessly. It later came on sale, and has since disappeared from shelves, under a Thai release model in the Thai malls at a mark up price of 100% for what I paid for it inc shipping costs.

[damole]

I am also in line for a new high end gaming laptop though 15-16". My machine of choice so far is the MSI GX660 which recently became available over here at JIB and Good Speed (in Chiang Mai).

MSI GX660 at JIB

I also don't like Thai keyboards for the same reason as the OP, on my last laptop I bought here (an Acer) I had the keyboard changed to US on a trip to Singapore.

The problem for me is that in the UK this laptop is available for a slightly higher price but comes with a full HD 1920x1080 screen, 2x500GB hard drives, 6GB RAM and Windows 7.

MSI GX660 at Overclockers

The RAM and extra hard disk can obviously be upgraded but the screen is pretty much fixed. I will be going back to the UK in March for a few weeks and so plan to buy one then although it does seem like a long wait right now.

[nikster]

I faced a similar quandary earlier this yr to the o/p, whether to buy in Thailand or US. At the time the laptop wasn't on sale in Thailand and nothing else would do. It think this only really applies to high end or specialized laptops as there is a dearth of overly cheap end products in malls here already albeit at mark up prices. I bought from Amazon in US, through a mail forwarding company as Amazon only ships to US. They used Fedex which applies the standard 7% VAT on your declared value when they delivered it to me in Bangkok as advertised on their web site. The risk is loss or damage in shipment and no international warranty, which I can live with, others may not. Until now I have been happy with my product that has worked flawlessly. It later came on sale, and has since disappeared from shelves, under a Thai release model in the Thai malls at a mark up price of 100% for what I paid for it inc shipping costs.

Interesting - so you only had to pay 7% VAT on the laptop, and NO import duties, and using FedEx? That's much better than I thought.

I am not sure which laptops are not available here - if you want a high end model you just go to the dealer and have them order it for you. They might mark it up but not by more than the shipping cost I'd think. I guess at this time with the high Baht and the worthless USD it can make sense though...

[Digitalbanana]

I am not sure which laptops are not available here - if you want a high end model you just go to the dealer and have them order it for you. They might mark it up but not by more than the shipping cost I'd think. I guess at this time with the high Baht and the worthless USD it can make sense though...

In my case I bought an HP laptop from Amazon (HP ENVY 17-1011NR currently priced 1499USD) but it was 150 more over 3 months ago. All I had to pay extra was 110USD Fedex shipping thro an agent and 7% Thai VAT on declared value (which can be any reasonable value you want). My total outlay was about 52,000THB converted from USD.

When I asked HP Thailand about this model they put me on hold and never answered me again. Eventually I saw it in shopping malls about 2 months ago briefly for 99,990THB. When I looked on Hong Kong and Singapore web sites the prices were much higher as well, but not as high as Thailand. Considering the thing is made in China I don't know why the Asian prices are so high vs US.

I have no warranty cover here but I can live with that, others may not.