Buying On The Internet--Shipped To Thailand

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

My experience also. I just ordered a camera (30k Baht) online from the US and had them send it by USPS Priority Express. It arrived at my office in just a few days and no duties/customs attached to it. Using the other services in the past, the odds are quite high they will get hit, especially FedEX from our experience.

That's been my experience as well... From the U.S., stick to either U.S.P.S. Global Priority or Express Mail.... and avoid Fed-Ex, DHL, etc...

I just had a wifi router shipped from the U.S. this past week via Global Priority... Arrived at my door here delivered by the local mailman in less than a week from its ship date, and I paid 21 baht fee.

There have been other times when USPS Global or Express packages have been held at the Thai Post Office that handles packages for my area...and I'll get a note saying some duty is due.... But even then, for electronics, the duty shouldn't be much more than 7%.

But either way, it's going to be in my experience a far less costly proposition than going thru the express couriers... BTW, it's my understanding, the privates have their own separate customs clearance houses in conjunction with Thai Customs... And that formula seems to usually produce excessively high fees...

Part of that is, the private couriers also tend to charge duty and tax on three different things known as CIF.... the package itself, an insurance surcharge and then the cost of the shipping itself.

Whereas with USPS/Thai Post, if there is a duty, in my experience, it's usually only on the declared value of the package. And I've never seen a "clearance charge" surcharge from ThaiPost.

Edited January 15, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Digitalbanana]

I have had hit and miss with USPS held at Thai post offices to pay extras.. and waste time. With Fedex (who international rates are same as USPS with my US shipping agent) the shipment is always door to door and I only pay 7% on electronics on my suggested declared price. Seems like everyone to their own,

[tebee]

On stuff delivered by courier I've always had to pay 10% duty + 7% Vat and a clearance fee of about 100-200 baht. I recently had some Rit Dyes shipped from the US by USPS - about $25 worth When they were delivered by ThaiPost the postman collected a whole 7 baht off me for the duty - I was so surprised by this amount that I had to go and fetch the wife to confirm that was what he was saying and that it wasn't 70 or 700 baht!

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The official Thai duty rates vary by the type of item being shipped.... from little or nothing up to 40% or more.... In my experience, clothing for example usually gets quite a high duty.... and electronics much less.

When I ship smaller boxes from the U.S. using USPS Global or even regular parcel post, a 7 baht fee charged by Thai Post upon delivery has been common.... The box gets stamped with something like "small package" and then the 7 baht amount.

I LOVE getting those kinds of packages.

Edited January 15, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[p_brownstone]

Just out of curiosity, where can you purchase a Galaxy Nexus for less than 18,600 baht (Thai price minus the vat)? I shopped around before buying mine but wasn't able to find a better price anywhere in the world.

Just out of curiosity.how can one who lives in Thailand get vat refunded?

If you mean Thai VAT, as an individual you cannot claim a refund; however if you buy in the name of a Thai Company the Company can get a refund when the monthly VAT returns are submitted - actually you would normally not get a cash refund - the VAT you paid would be offset against whatever VAT the Company had to pay to the Revenue Department on Sales made in the Company name.

That said, many vendors at Panthip and other places do not charge VAT unless you want a receipt - the VAT is then just added to whatever price you had negotiated.

Patrick

Edit to add : Of course if you are a Tourist you can get a refund when you take the item out of the Country.

Edited January 15, 2012 by p_brownstone