Letmeteach Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 I will be buying some electronic gear in the near future from America and I would like to ship it to Thailand via FedEx. Are there any hidden costs at customs like import costs? I have seen 20-25% thrown around in other forums. Would this 20-25% be what I actually paid for or the actual going price of the item in Thailand? Also I found this little gem on Thai Visa http://www.thaivisa.com/340.0.html. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 your first mistake is intending to send the package by fedex, you will get shafted by customs, in most cases the amount paid will depend solely on the mood of the customs official and whether he/she had their somtam that morning. If you are not too bothered about insurance etc, send by regular post with a proforma invoice for around US$ 100, you may get away with paying nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Letmeteach Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 your first mistake is intending to send the package by fedex, you will get shafted by customs, in most cases the amount paid will depend solely on the mood of the customs official and whether he/she had their somtam that morning. If you are not too bothered about insurance etc, send by regular post with a proforma invoice for around US$ 100, you may get away with paying nothing. Well I am trying to earn some money on the side. I have found a website where you can purchase brand new items for pennies on the dollar. The catch is that you have to pay 60 cents per bid. I am hoping to catch a few amazing deals and flip it for a profit either in Thailand or in the Philippines. I wouldn't mind to much if I have to pay 20-25% on an ipad that cost me $30. lol What exactly is a proforma invoice? How does it work? oh, btw, thanks for helping me resolve my earlier question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 your first mistake is intending to send the package by fedex, you will get shafted by customs, in most cases the amount paid will depend solely on the mood of the customs official and whether he/she had their somtam that morning. If you are not too bothered about insurance etc, send by regular post with a proforma invoice for around US$ 100, you may get away with paying nothing. Well I am trying to earn some money on the side. I have found a website where you can purchase brand new items for pennies on the dollar. The catch is that you have to pay 60 cents per bid. I am hoping to catch a few amazing deals and flip it for a profit either in Thailand or in the Philippines. I wouldn't mind to much if I have to pay 20-25% on an ipad that cost me $30. lol What exactly is a proforma invoice? How does it work? oh, btw, thanks for helping me resolve my earlier question. Hope you know what you are intending to get involved with is a bit of scam...you will not be getting an I-pad (not a real one, at least) for $30...Further if you brought something like an I-pad in and Customs spring you, you ,may get hit on the Thailand retail price + the import tax A proforma invoice is an estimated invoice sent by the seller in advance of a shipment of goods, therefore the seller, if they are in agreement can understand the value of the goods in order to reduce import tax....some companies will do it others will not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impulse Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) Buying one-offs low and selling high sounds like a great plan unit you figure out that you have to find a new customer each time you come up with a new item. I wish you well, but I don't hold much optimism for your scheme. Too many unknowns and pitfalls. It's very easy to go broke "getting great deals". Edited October 4, 2011 by impulse Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Letmeteach Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 wow, thanks for the heads up. On second thought I doubt that this will be a viable option any time soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Letmeteach Posted October 4, 2011 Author Share Posted October 4, 2011 Buying on-offs low and selling high sounds like a great plan unit you figure out that you have to find a new customer each time you come up with a new item. I wish you well, but I don't hold much optimism for your scheme. Too many unknowns and pitfalls. It's very easy to go broke "getting great deals". Well I started reading the reviews of Qubids and was taken in by their their A- rating from the BBB. The scary thing is I have never fallen for an online scam or anything in my life. Thanks for putting my head in the right place soutpeel. Back to the drawing board again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WilliaminBKK Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 In my mind Quibids is a gambling site, bidding 1 penny costs you .60 cents plus the cost of the item. When they sell an Ipad for $30 they have made $1800 selling the item. 3000 pennies X .60 plus the $30 plus the shipping. Seems like they win in most cases. You can see who is bidding against you and if you pay close attention most if not all of the users are NEW accounts, is it just newly addicted folks or is it reserve bids by ghost bidders. I watched a few bids and walked away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boater Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 oh my, are you on about those website where you can get an iphone for 10 dollars, you wil end up spedning more on bids ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tpiety2 Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 your first mistake is intending to send the package by fedex, you will get shafted by customs, in most cases the amount paid will depend solely on the mood of the customs official and whether he/she had their somtam that morning. If you are not too bothered about insurance etc, send by regular post with a proforma invoice for around US$ 100, you may get away with paying nothing. Thai customs may still exact a heavy toll. I received a box from my daughter via US Post to Thai Post, it was insured for $100 and declared value of 3000 baht, it cost me 1650 baht to pick it up at the Thai PO, Thai customs arbitrarily put the value at 4000 baht. It cost my daughter $111.00 to ship it from the US. The $100 of sundry items (no electronics, nothing expensive) just post and customs cost 5000 baht. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soutpeel Posted October 4, 2011 Share Posted October 4, 2011 your first mistake is intending to send the package by fedex, you will get shafted by customs, in most cases the amount paid will depend solely on the mood of the customs official and whether he/she had their somtam that morning. If you are not too bothered about insurance etc, send by regular post with a proforma invoice for around US$ 100, you may get away with paying nothing. Thai customs may still exact a heavy toll. I received a box from my daughter via US Post to Thai Post, it was insured for $100 and declared value of 3000 baht, it cost me 1650 baht to pick it up at the Thai PO, Thai customs arbitrarily put the value at 4000 baht. It cost my daughter $111.00 to ship it from the US. The $100 of sundry items (no electronics, nothing expensive) just post and customs cost 5000 baht. I am led to believe $100 value is the "cut off point" so putting a number something less than $100 is the way I have always done it and at least 8 times out of 10 it has come through with no tax payable. I havent said you will get something in with no taxes payable, said you might, going with DHL or FEDEX you WILL pay tax Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p_brownstone Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 your first mistake is intending to send the package by fedex, you will get shafted by customs, in most cases the amount paid will depend solely on the mood of the customs official and whether he/she had their somtam that morning. If you are not too bothered about insurance etc, send by regular post with a proforma invoice for around US$ 100, you may get away with paying nothing. Thai customs may still exact a heavy toll. I received a box from my daughter via US Post to Thai Post, it was insured for $100 and declared value of 3000 baht, it cost me 1650 baht to pick it up at the Thai PO, Thai customs arbitrarily put the value at 4000 baht. It cost my daughter $111.00 to ship it from the US. The $100 of sundry items (no electronics, nothing expensive) just post and customs cost 5000 baht. If you are assessed for Import Duty it is payable on the C.I.F. value of the Shipment - that is: the declared value of the goods, plus the Insurance Premium plus the cost of shipping, so based loosely on the above and depending on the Exchange Rate used the total on which Duty was assesed is around Baht 6,320.- - so the rate of Duty was around 25% - I am not sure what the actual rate should have been for the Parts involved of course. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bangkok101 Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 DO NOT USE FED-EX! You WILL get shafted on customs and duties...it happened to me in a big way!! Use USPS, hands down you will have a seamless experience with no customs inspections, duties, hassles, corruption payments, etc! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gennisis Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 DO NOT USE FED-EX! You WILL get shafted on customs and duties...it happened to me in a big way!! Use USPS, hands down you will have a seamless experience with no customs inspections, duties, hassles, corruption payments, etc! Well. I'm glad you had good service from UPS...afraid I hav'nt. They ,for some unknown reason,held on to my parcel for 4 days after it arrived in Bangkok,then tried to 'con' me into paying 2,600 baht for storage! They also tried to get me to pay 1,200 baht for 'customs inspection'. Since the duty would normaly be 400 baht I told them where they could stick their charges. They sent an email everyday reminding me that the storage charges increased everyday. They still are after 10 days. I told my UK supplier to cancel the shipment They were happy to do this and refund me the value of the goods...but not the shpping charges. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crossy Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 DO NOT USE FED-EX! You WILL get shafted on customs and duties...it happened to me in a big way!! Use USPS, hands down you will have a seamless experience with no customs inspections, duties, hassles, corruption payments, etc! Well. I'm glad you had good service from UPS...afraid I hav'nt. They ,for some unknown reason,held on to my parcel for 4 days after it arrived in Bangkok,then tried to 'con' me into paying 2,600 baht for storage! They also tried to get me to pay 1,200 baht for 'customs inspection'. Since the duty would normaly be 400 baht I told them where they could stick their charges. They sent an email everyday reminding me that the storage charges increased everyday. They still are after 10 days. I told my UK supplier to cancel the shipment They were happy to do this and refund me the value of the goods...but not the shpping charges. Bangkok101 used USPS (United States Postal Service) not UPS the courier. All the couriers apart from maybe EMS (who operate more like the regular mail service) seem to have the same issues, hold on to your stuff, charge full rate for duties and then ask for 'storage'. From the UK use Royal Mail International Signed-For or the Parcel Force equivalent if it's a bigger item (will be delivered by EMS). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gk10002000 Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 oh my, are you on about those website where you can get an iphone for 10 dollars, you wil end up spedning more on bids ! It is more like the other poster said. The company/site makes money by the multiple bidders. Sure you only bid 5 cents or something, but the site collects that from a few thousand bidders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ralphlsasser Posted October 5, 2011 Share Posted October 5, 2011 your first mistake is intending to send the package by fedex, you will get shafted by customs, in most cases the amount paid will depend solely on the mood of the customs official and whether he/she had their somtam that morning. If you are not too bothered about insurance etc, send by regular post with a proforma invoice for around US$ 100, you may get away with paying nothing. Thai customs may still exact a heavy toll. I received a box from my daughter via US Post to Thai Post, it was insured for $100 and declared value of 3000 baht, it cost me 1650 baht to pick it up at the Thai PO, Thai customs arbitrarily put the value at 4000 baht. It cost my daughter $111.00 to ship it from the US. The $100 of sundry items (no electronics, nothing expensive) just post and customs cost 5000 baht. I wear a phrostetic leg. My doctor sent me a spare from America via pre-paid Fed-ex and customs charged me $458.00 USD import duties. I have a friend that regularly sends me things I request via the post office and some are heavy. I've never had to pay anything to the post office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
p_brownstone Posted October 6, 2011 Share Posted October 6, 2011 The point is that ALL Courier Companies will simply pass on to you, the Customer, whatever Import Duties etc. the Thai Customs Department charges them. The Courier Companies have no incentive at all to dispute the amount (or the actual Tariff Rate used) - they gain nothing and just waste the time of their own Staff. If you use USPS or similar, and the Customs Departments catches the shipment and decides to impose Duty you will have to go to your local Thai Post Office to pay the levy and collect your shipment. If at that point you feel the Duty is too high you can in fact dispute it yourself and the matter will be sent back to the Customs Department for review. Patrick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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