Moving Household Items From Oz To Thailand

[sezzo]

My family and I are moving back to Ubon Ratchathani in Dec and would like to bring some used household items with us. I have packed them in the standard "tea chest" size boxes and expect to move about 15 of these boxes. I have calculated that 15 boxes would be approx 2 cu metres. I have contact a company in Sydney for movement by ship to BKK and asked for quotes up to Ubon. We havent received this quote yet but when talking to the person there they suggested it would be easier for us to collect the boxes ourselves in BKK.

Has anybody else done this type of move from Australia and would like to share some of their experiences and maybe some recommendations.

Thanks in advance,

Carl

PS. Mods, if this is posted in the wrong forum could you point me in the right direction

[Mario2008]

If your wife is Thai, have the items send underr her name so no duties on household items are necesarry.

Not many persons do it themselves, but that also depends on the situation. If there are a lot of items on which to pay duties it might be wiser to use an agent, as they know how to negotiate a deal with customs. So far have seen only one report by a memebr that said his experience in doing it himself where very pleasent, with good help from customs in filling out the paperwork.

[palexxxx]

If there are a lot of items on which to pay duties it might be wiser to use an agent, as they know how to negotiate a deal with customs.

If the items are 'used' then there would be no duty to pay, isn't this correct?

[KamnanT]

If the items are 'used' then there would be no duty to pay, isn't this correct?

Not true. Imported items, new or used, are subject to duty and VAT at their purchase value or current value, whichever is greater.. But if a Thai citizen who has been living overseas for at least 12 months returns to Thailand, he/she is permitted to bring in a reasonable quantity of household effects duty free. Foreigners moving to Thailand to take up long term residence (e.g. employment or retirement) are similarly permitted to bring in household effects, but as Mario2008 suggests, putting it all in a Thai spouse's name might be easier if he/she has been living outside Thailand for at least 12 months.

As to what is considered a "reasonable quantity", that's for the OP and Thai Customs to agree. Having a Thai customs broker working on his behalf could help in this respect. If all items are clearly used and of a household nature, I wouldn't expect too much trouble. Certain items (such as vehicles, tobacco and alcohol) are not considered household effects, so the OP should leave his 500 bottle collection of Penfold's Grange Hermitage in Oz.

Interestingly, most radio transmitters are prohibited unless specifically approved by the Thai government. I had a cordless phone set confiscated from my household effects by Customs when I arrived in 2001. It was a nice Sony one, too...I bet the Customs agent is still using it.

Edited September 21, 2011 by KamnanT

[palexxxx]

When I returned from England to Australia I used this mob >> http://www.ossworldw...s.com/index.php who were quite good.

They've been around for a while and they ship all over the world.

Peter.

Edited September 21, 2011 by palexxxx

[lumphini07]

hi u just moved from uk to bkk, and i used seven seas, ( sevenseasworldwide.com/) they were brilliant, first of all i made a mistake thinking the air option was cheap because i got confused with a minimum weight so i ended up calling them and changing it over to ship just a few days before i was due to fly out, they emailed me a new paperwork pack and i posted (snail mail ) it back to them and they were so helpful.

i only sent tools and books and dvds and not much else, and by the time the ship arrived i had already been in bkk 9 weeks and on my non-imm,, and they didnt charge me any duty at all.....

first thing i would say is always , always choose door to door, you always have a better chance of getting away with duty i did research on this and theres alot of people from these forums say the same.

way befroe the stuff arrived i had a good idea i wasnt going to pay duty on the dvds and books and if the hand tools deffinatly looked well used then not on them either, my wife dug me out the customs official web page that lists everything n the world almost litterally lol, and what percentage to pay duty on it or if no duty at all

if your wife cant find this info i can get the link for you just let me know..

good luck

[sezzo]

Thanks guys for the good advice. The more I look into it the more expensive it is getting. Wifey is now going to cull some of the stuff out of the boxes to cut down on the price. We will get there though.

Thanks again