Guys, I know this has been covered before, but I'm even more confused after recent correspondence with SME's Thai distributor. They gave me the price for an SME IV arm, and to my amazement the price was only a little more than the UK price. They told me the import duty on the arm is only 10%. I thought the duty on all hi-fi equipment was 60%!

There may be different tariffs for different categories of HiFi stuff. One cost factor here in Thailand is the compulsory testing of each electrical model. I have been told that this is very expensive for the importer/distributor and is the main reason why not all models are available here.

Stgrhe, very interesting. I never knew that.

I was thinking of having a Oppo BDP-85 Blue Ray player sent over from the States. Any idea how much import duty that would get hit with upon arrival in Thailand, assuming that it was declared at it's true retail price?

I was thinking of having a Oppo BDP-85 Blue Ray player sent over from the States. Any idea how much import duty that would get hit with upon arrival in Thailand, assuming that it was declared at it's true retail price?

The import duty is 60%.

Reference: Content of The Customs Tariff Decree Modify 2007, Document Code 2865, Decree 2550, Section XVI, Chapter 85.

Customs Tariff Codes:

Microphones: 8518.10

Loudspeakers: 8518.21

Headphones: 8518.30

Amplifiers: 8518.50

Sound recording/reproducing equipment: 8519.81

The import duty on all the above types is 60%.

I was thinking of having a Oppo BDP-85 Blue Ray player sent over from the States. Any idea how much import duty that would get hit with upon arrival in Thailand, assuming that it was declared at it's true retail price?

The import duty is 60%.

Reference: Content of The Customs Tariff Decree Modify 2007, Document Code 2865, Decree 2550, Section XVI, Chapter 85.

Customs Tariff Codes:

Microphones: 8518.10

Loudspeakers: 8518.21

Headphones: 8518.30

Amplifiers: 8518.50

Sound recording/reproducing equipment: 8519.81

The import duty on all the above types is 60%.

As far as I know, the applicable import duty rates depend very much on which country you are importing from. For importers, ever since the various FTAs came into force a few years ago, import duty rates have come down to 20, 10, 5 or even 0 per cent -- provided that your suppliers can issue the correct certificate of origin. But then importers still have to deal with "technical barriers", including very costly regulatory compliance and red tape.

I was thinking of having a Oppo BDP-85 Blue Ray player sent over from the States. Any idea how much import duty that would get hit with upon arrival in Thailand, assuming that it was declared at it's true retail price?

The import duty is 60%.

Reference: Content of The Customs Tariff Decree Modify 2007, Document Code 2865, Decree 2550, Section XVI, Chapter 85.

Customs Tariff Codes:

Microphones: 8518.10

Loudspeakers: 8518.21

Headphones: 8518.30

Amplifiers: 8518.50

Sound recording/reproducing equipment: 8519.81

The import duty on all the above types is 60%.

As far as I know, the applicable import duty rates depend very much on which country you are importing from. For importers, ever since the various FTAs came into force a few years ago, import duty rates have come down to 20, 10, 5 or even 0 per cent -- provided that your suppliers can issue the correct certificate of origin. But then importers still have to deal with "technical barriers", including very costly regulatory compliance and red tape.

That's great, but it's not going to be economical for me to hire lawyers to prove that my Oppo Blur Ray player should be taxed at 20, 10, 5 or even 0 percent rather than the 60% that is applied to electronic goods originating from the US.