I am on a extension of stay for the past 3 years.I have stil a property in my homecountry which I rent out and the new tenant want to rent it unfirnished so I have 2 choices.Take all the furniture to the city dump or sell them quickly for next to nothing.

Since it are all quality furnitures,leather couches and antique I thought to have them sent overhere so I can use them in my new house.,

Is there anyway I can import them based on my visa extension or is the import duty not too high on furniture?

I would like to clarify,it is only used wooden and leather furniture no electronics or personal items involved.

You will probably find the cost of actually shipping it over, and the import aspect/hassle with agent etc to handle the paperwork it wont be worth it.....I just put mine in a lock-up storage place, easier and cheaper, then later if necessary I can dispose of it or re-use it for another tenant

Edited May 25, 201115 yr by CharlieH

http://www.customs.go.th/Customs-Eng/HouseholdEffects/HouseholdEffects.jsp?menuNme=HouseHold

http://www.customs.g...nuNme=HouseHold

Thanks for the link Frits,what I understand of it is that retirement visa doesn't qualify for duty free import.So any idea how much the duty on secondhand furniture would be?

I discovered to my cost that buying high quality furniture for the long term is a very bad investment.

I wonder how leather and antique stuff would hold up in the tropical climate here? All my leather shoes rapidly developed fungus and the rubber soles a strange rubber deterioration, rendering them useless in year or two.

Used furniture is worth nothing. Surely just the transport across will cost more than the replacement cost of buying stuff in Thailand? And then all the hassles of import tax and potential damage?

Sell it, dump it, give it away.

http://www.customs.g...nuNme=HouseHold

Thanks for the link Frits,what I understand of it is that retirement visa doesn't qualify for duty free import.So any idea how much the duty on secondhand furniture would be?

Best send them a mail http://www.customs.g...nuNme=ContactUs

To give you an idea of shipping costs : China - Holland for a 20 ft container about 950 US + insurance about 2,5 %

Edited May 26, 201115 yr by FritsSikkink

I discovered to my cost that buying high quality furniture for the long term is a very bad investment.

I wonder how leather and antique stuff would hold up in the tropical climate here? All my leather shoes rapidly developed fungus and the rubber soles a strange rubber deterioration, rendering them useless in year or two.

Used furniture is worth nothing. Surely just the transport across will cost more than the replacement cost of buying stuff in Thailand? And then all the hassles of import tax and potential damage?

Sell it, dump it, give it away.

that neither applies to antique furniture nor to furniture one likes. we shipped virtually all our furniture, including three leather sofa sets, to Thailand. after 6½ years in the Land of Smiles no fungus on the leather, no fungus on my three pairs of "antique" shoes and no fungus on the 697 -give or take a dozen- pairs of shoes and a zillion leather handbags belonging to the Mrs.

I discovered to my cost that buying high quality furniture for the long term is a very bad investment.

I wonder how leather and antique stuff would hold up in the tropical climate here? All my leather shoes rapidly developed fungus and the rubber soles a strange rubber deterioration, rendering them useless in year or two.

Used furniture is worth nothing. Surely just the transport across will cost more than the replacement cost of buying stuff in Thailand? And then all the hassles of import tax and potential damage?

Sell it, dump it, give it away.

that neither applies to antique furniture nor to furniture one likes. we shipped virtually all our furniture, including three leather sofa sets, to Thailand. after 6½ years in the Land of Smiles no fungus on the leather, no fungus on my three pairs of "antique" shoes and no fungus on the 697 -give or take a dozen- pairs of shoes and a zillion leather handbags

Your wifes name isn't Imelda by any chance?

Thanks for the info on the leather sofa's as that is the part I would hate most if I had to lose them,as they cost a fair bit of money even at factory price 20 years ago,but I know I wil get less than Ikea price if I had to sell them now.

Used furniture is worth nothing.

that neither applies to antique furniture nor to furniture one likes. we shipped virtually all our furniture, including three leather sofa sets, to Thailand. after 6½ years in the Land of Smiles no fungus on the leather, no fungus on my three pairs of "antique" shoes and no fungus on the 697 -give or take a dozen- pairs of shoes and a zillion leather handbags belonging to the Mrs.

Yes, I agree if you like the furniture then it retains its value for you.

I'm surprised the leather has held up so well, my leather jacket was consigned to the bin years ago due to various forms of fungus that kept growing on it. I could never get the moldy smell out of it. Antique furniture provided you can find a buyer, which might be a tad difficult in Thailand, can retain its value, as long as the particular genre is in demand. But even reasonable quality furniture once it becomes secondhand, is very difficult to sell at anything like a decent price.

All my shoes, admittedly with rubber soles to get some purchase on the freezing streets of Europe, developed a "rubber rot", which resulted in the soles disintegrating into small chunks of rubber. The leather uppers were still OK though, but not worth repairing.

My philosophy on moving to Thailand was to jettison all the baggage of my previous existence and start again, a decision I have never regretted.

1. I'm surprised the leather has held up so well, my leather jacket was consigned to the bin years ago due to various forms of fungus that kept growing on it. I could never get the moldy smell out of it.

2. Antique furniture provided you can find a buyer, which might be a tad difficult in Thailand, can retain its value, as long as the particular genre is in demand.

1. airconditioned home = no mold.

2. why would anybody sell antique furniture that he collected over many years?

there are plenty of posts about importing goods to thailand,ask my wife she lived in uk 20years and collected some nice gear not exspensive to ship it over its when they arrive at the docks at this end the fun starts,sell it what you lose at one end you will gain at the other.

1. I'm surprised the leather has held up so well, my leather jacket was consigned to the bin years ago due to various forms of fungus that kept growing on it. I could never get the moldy smell out of it.

2. Antique furniture provided you can find a buyer, which might be a tad difficult in Thailand, can retain its value, as long as the particular genre is in demand.

1. airconditioned home = no mold.

2. why would anybody sell antique furniture that he collected over many years?

1. I'm acclimatised and fan conditioned Have to do my little bit for the world.

2. why would anybody collect old bits of wood?

(actually I can understand why people collect stuff and kids with the need to be surrounded by it all, I sort of put it down to requiring a sense of security and permanence. I made the decision not to accumulate stuff or kids, but prefer numbers in the Excel spreadsheet and the freedom to upsticks and move around enjoying my impermanent and ultimately futile existence)

1. I'm surprised the leather has held up so well, my leather jacket was consigned to the bin years ago due to various forms of fungus that kept growing on it. I could never get the moldy smell out of it.

2. Antique furniture provided you can find a buyer, which might be a tad difficult in Thailand, can retain its value, as long as the particular genre is in demand.

1. airconditioned home = no mold.

2. why would anybody sell antique furniture that he collected over many years?

1. I'm acclimatised and fan conditioned Have to do my little bit for the world.

2. why would anybody collect old bits of wood?

(actually I can understand why people collect stuff and kids with the need to be surrounded by it all, I sort of put it down to requiring a sense of security and permanence. I made the decision not to accumulate stuff or kids, but prefer numbers in the Excel spreadsheet and the freedom to upsticks and move around enjoying my impermanent and ultimately futile existence)

to each his own... as long as one doesn't blame the other one because of a certain preferred life style (which is one of the favourite pastimes in this forum).

there are plenty of posts about importing goods to thailand,ask my wife she lived in uk 20years and collected some nice gear not exspensive to ship it over its when they arrive at the docks at this end the fun starts,sell it what you lose at one end you will gain at the other.

seven years ago we shipped our belongings in a 40 foot high cube container (60 cubic meters). the container arrived its destination with the lock intact which a neighbour, who supervised the loading in the warehouse, put.

all what it takes is to use a renowned company to do the clearing. that it doesn't pay to ship old socks and worthless junk furniture goes without saying.

sell it what you lose at one end you will gain at the other

yeah right. one spends a fortune over a quarter century collecting antique furniture and works of art, enjoys them and then "sells them at one end and gain...".

next!

there are plenty of posts about importing goods to thailand,ask my wife she lived in uk 20years and collected some nice gear not exspensive to ship it over its when they arrive at the docks at this end the fun starts,sell it what you lose at one end you will gain at the other.

seven years ago we shipped our belongings in a 40 foot high cube container (60 cubic meters). the container arrived its destination with the lock intact which a neighbour, who supervised the loading in the warehouse, put.

all what it takes is to use a renowned company to do the clearing. that it doesn't pay to ship old socks and worthless junk furniture goes without saying.

sell it what you lose at one end you will gain at the other

yeah right. one spends a fortune over a quarter century collecting antique furniture and works of art, enjoys them and then "sells them at one end and gain...".

next!

Bloody hell Naam, that's one hell of a cube! You sure do things in a BIG way....

40*40*40 = 64,000 cubic feet! Or 1,800 cubic meters.

Surely Naam didn't make a mistake in a post???

Presumably there are now at least three families living in the old container?

Bloody hell Naam, that's one hell of a cube! You sure do things in a BIG way....

40*40*40 = 64,000 cubic feet! Or 1,800 cubic meters.

Surely Naam didn't make a mistake in a post???

Presumably there are now at least three families living in the old container?

as i stated a 40 foot high cube container has a contents of 60 cubic meters. the expression "high cube" does not stand for any mathematical function no matter how "high cube" the intake of Chang is on any given weekend.

high cube containers are similar in structure to standard containers, but taller. In contrast to standard containers, which have a maximum height of 2591 mm (8'6"), high cube containers are 2896 mm, or 9'6", tall.

http://www.nordana.com/Equipment/ByName/40_High_Cube.aspx

http://www.containersaleshireandleasing.com/tag/high-cube-container/

http://www.sjonescontainers.co.uk/dimensions.htm

You don't say where you want to ship your furniture from, but I'm looking to return to Thailand in a few months and the cheapest quote I've had to ship a 20 foot container from the UK to Thailand, door to door, is £3200. Does anybody know of a cheaper company?

there are plenty of posts about importing goods to thailand,ask my wife she lived in uk 20years and collected some nice gear not exspensive to ship it over its when they arrive at the docks at this end the fun starts,sell it what you lose at one end you will gain at the other.

seven years ago we shipped our belongings in a 40 foot high cube container (60 cubic meters). the container arrived its destination with the lock intact which a neighbour, who supervised the loading in the warehouse, put.

all what it takes is to use a renowned company to do the clearing. that it doesn't pay to ship old socks and worthless junk furniture goes without saying.

sell it what you lose at one end you will gain at the other

yeah right. one spends a fortune over a quarter century collecting antique furniture and works of art, enjoys them and then "sells them at one end and gain...".

next!

Bloody hell Naam, that's one hell of a cube! You sure do things in a BIG way....

40*40*40 = 64,000 cubic feet! Or 1,800 cubic meters.

Surely Naam didn't make a mistake in a post???

Presumably there are now at least three families living in the old container?

Mmmmh,that would be a hell of a container with a height and width of 40 feet.Quite an issue to transport it over the road I guess.

You don't say where you want to ship your furniture from, but I'm looking to return to Thailand in a few months and the cheapest quote I've had to ship a 20 foot container from the UK to Thailand, door to door, is £3200. Does anybody know of a cheaper company?

I'm not so much concerned about the transportation cost.It is the import duty's and backhanders that worries me and as someone mentioned already,also the degeneration of the furniture in a hot climate like Thailand

I'm not so much concerned about the transportation cost. It is the import duty's and backhanders that worries me and as someone mentioned already,also the degeneration of the furniture in a hot climate like Thailand

as i already mentioned use a renowned clearing agent and you have no problems. import duty is peanuts. if i remember correctly i paid 1,200 dollars for a shipment that was insured for 600k dollars. some big moving companies in Bangkok handle your shipment "door to door" by using an affiliated company in your home country which does the seaworthy packing and loading the container. the BKK company takes over handling when the container arrives in Bangkok.

if you need a recommendation then PM me. as far as i know i can't post website or phone numbers here.

in our case it nearly became an issue. we rented a shop well in advance to store our belongings during the construction period of our home. the shop was located in a residential area which had access only through an arch. but we finally made it but had only 2-3cm space left.