Export Thailand To Australia, Germany

[suk53]

Hi,



Hoping you can help us with this... -and apologies in advance if I am asking dummy questions, I am completely new to export/import!-



We (German-Thai couple living in Australia with a long-term 457 "all business allowed" visa) would like to export clothing from Thailand to both Australia and Germany. We are producing the clothing in Thailand (our own label), so far only selling in Thailand.



Basically, what I would like to know is how a "Thailand to Australia/Germany door-to-door export-solution" could look like, especially 1) how to ship the clothing and 2) what forms/legal/pre-arrangements, customs, and fees are required for this type of export/import.



1) Who to ship with? I would think to send in 20kg parcels, but that may change (hopefully upwards ). According the figures I researched a while ago, the cheapest option for shipping is actually with the normal Thai post? Or should I go for a shipping company, say 3PL?



2) What forms (e.g., I was reading about an optional certificate of origin?) do I need? Or do I just need the form that goes with any international parcel?Do I need to register a business for doing import/export (this is for all three sides Thailand, Australian, Germany)? Do I need to pay custom fees? How can I can pay customs fees? And, as some seem to imply, is there an "inofficial" way of doing the export as an alternative to the "official" way? E.g. as marking the parcels as "gift", understating the value, or something of that sort? (I am receiving overseas "gifts" or "no value" abroad ebay purchases all the time...) If I am declaring a value: is that our costs, or the expected retail price? Do I need evidence/invoices to show the costs (and if so, in what language)? Is there an import quota from the Australian side for clothing, or is this covered by the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement? How about Germany?



Even it may not sound like it, but I actually did a extensive search on the web... (the form wont let me post links here) Yet, I am not sure all the information is still current, it is somewhat contradictory. I am rather confused.



Does someone here currently have a similar export/import business, or is otherwise knowledgeable about this? Of course a step-by-step guide for newbies would be fantastic - but any help is much appreciated!



Daniel

[suk53]

Hi!

Nobody here exporting out of Thailand?

Any advice would be most welcome!

Best wishes

[siam2007]

asking Mister GUUUGELL sometimes helps, you would have been able to find about this helpful institution:

http://thailand.ahk.de/en/

[tombkk]

1.) You need a company to export from Thailand. (First step.)

2.) This company needs to be registered as an exporter with Thai customs (second step)

3.) In order to get tax privileges in the destination countires, you need a Certificate of Origin (third step).

4.) There are many companies out there (including mine) that will give you a lot of detailed advice, depending on the exact kind of goods. Google is free though, as mentioned above.

[suk53]

Hi,

Thank you both for the answers!

I tried Google first for quite some hours, but found the results quite confusing (contradicting each other), and/or rather not practical (legal text of trade agreement), and some seem to be outdate... Thaivisa would not let me post the actual links, but I had a couple of posts, including from this forum, that gave contradicting advice. For example, there were posts saying you can just post private to private, while tombkk is saying you better register a company (which seems to be reasonable, now I need to find out how to actually do that...) I will do some more research online and post a summary (and probably more questions) here.

In the meantime, if you are reading that and have and additional advice/experience/ideas/resources on how I can go about the export business — I'd be happy if you share.

Best wishes

[raro]

1.) You need a company to export from Thailand. (First step.)

2.) This company needs to be registered as an exporter with Thai customs (second step)

3.) In order to get tax privileges in the destination countires, you need a Certificate of Origin (third step).

4.) There are many companies out there (including mine) that will give you a lot of detailed advice, depending on the exact kind of goods. Google is free though, as mentioned above.

isn't step 3 mandatory to get it into the EU and step 3a) is the Form A that give you a reduction in import duties?

[tombkk]

1.) You need a company to export from Thailand. (First step.)

2.) This company needs to be registered as an exporter with Thai customs (second step)

3.) In order to get tax privileges in the destination countires, you need a Certificate of Origin (third step).

4.) There are many companies out there (including mine) that will give you a lot of detailed advice, depending on the exact kind of goods. Google is free though, as mentioned above.

isn't step 3 mandatory to get it into the EU and step 3a) is the Form A that give you a reduction in import duties?

Step 3 isn't mandatory any more since sometime last year. I have the new EU regulation somewhere on my office computer. The EU decided that checking the C/O was more work than the odd chance of someone trying to violate the regulation. That said, the officer can - case-by-case - still ask for the C/O for clarification, that's why most of our customers still ask us to apply for it.

The normal import duties in the EU for many kinds of clothing are 12%. If you get a C/O Form A (which is a special kind of C/O proving that the goods contain at least 40% local contents, and the factory must be approved for it), the import duty reduces to 8% in many cases.

[suk53]

Thank you for sharing. I am still researching on how to best go about the export business, it is quite difficult doing that remotely (as I am not living in Thailand at the moment). But I really determined to understand the process.

As Tom says, some Thai friends recommending registering an export company—in this case I would also got for the Certificate of Origin. However, there is not option of doing this online, so I would need to go to Bangkok for doing this...

In contrast, there is also this part of my Thai friends (and forum postings here and elsewhere) suggesting to just sending things as a private person, so to have less hassle. I am expecting to ship about 3 x 20 kg parcels per months. Is sending privately a realistic options?

What is difficult to find out, what actual paper work is required. What kind of forms do I need to fill out sending from Thailand to have it going through customs in Germany and Australia? Will this be different if I use the Thai Post vs. a shipping company? (can I "outsource" the paperwork to a shipping company"?)

Best wishes

p.s. Tom: I might come back to you for future products (we will be working on the next one after this launch). This time, I want to go it all by myself, simply to understand the process and to see which agent/outside services are worth paying for. As I understand, you can do company registration in Thailand? Do you also do export/shipping? If you have a website/portfolio please sent.

[tombkk]

If you want to import or export without actually coming to Thailand, why don't you use an agent?

Also, if you import in order to re-export the goods, you can do that free of import duties and taxes by using a Free Zone.

PM has been sent.

[suk53]

We will be both in Thailand in regular intervals, so can do things on the ground.

Re-export? No, it is more straight forward "produced in Thailand > sold abroad" type of export (unless there are some re-import-tricks that would help me getting down my cost...?)

Tom: I am going to email you regarding services/portfolio.

[pgs]

Daniel,

I can't help with the German side, although I imagine it will be reasonably similar to the Australian requirements - and probably change as often.

20kg boxes may not be worth the trouble/expense of freight forwarders.

Using any of the 'big' couriers: UPS/DHL/TNT, they will tend to the import paperwork, pay the customs duty & add a fee for doing it. These might take a week or so from pickup to delivery.

UPS can be a pain, as a lot of our suburbs & towns that have a shared postcode don't exist in their system. You have to use whatever town they have listed & add the correct address in the delivery notes. Otherwise, I've had no problem with them.

Using the post is also OK for 20kg & under - it might take 4 - 8 weeks to be delivered. You have a 98% chance the parcel will be checked, so I REALLY wouldn't be trying the 'gift' option - Customs are known to issue nice fines for that. It is far better for you just to pay the import taxes & add it to the price. The PO will send you a letter to download a form from the Customs website. The form is nicely hidden, have fun finding it. Filling it in is more fun as YOU get the pleasure of deciding which category and sub catgory the goods come under. Get it wrong & risk being fined. Send the form (post/email/fax) back to the PO, who will send you the payment advice. The PO is then paid to a Westpac account & the goods are release a few days later.

The PO will & do hold parcels. I had one held for 6 weeks for no reason - just would not send the letter. Customs blamed the PO, PO blamed Customs. Threat of a call to the ombudsman at the 6th week resulted in forced action. They will also let some orders slip through with being taxed. The upside to that is you'll miss the customs duty - the GST you'll still pay when you sell it or do your BAS.

Thailand has a 'special' tax status depending what you're importing. The tax rate varies with each item, but seems to hover between 2% & 5%.

Most of the info you need you wil find on ato.gov.au - but don't bother calling for advice, they will just tell you to find an accountant.

There is another group that you will gain an enormous amount of info from (I hide in that forum also) - I will PM you the details.

Have fun & try to stay on the right side of the tax laws.

You would also find it far cheaper to send Thai > DE & Thai > AU than Thai > AU > DE. You're just adding a layer of costs & a lot of otherwise unnecessary paperwork.

Edited March 4, 2012 by pgs

[aquaholiclanta]

Australia has specific labelling laws for garments also - country of origin, what is made from, care instructions (if clothing) and some more i cant remember.