Shipping Household Belongings To Thailand

[NotJoeMama]

Hello,

I am new to this site/forum and would like some advice on shipping companies or experiences regarding getting my household belongings shipped here. We will be moving permanently to Chiang Rai next year and am trying to line things up. We are moving from the US and I'm guessing I can fill part or all of a sea container. Any help/advice/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks !!

[shepsel]

I am in the process of shipping belongings right now. A friend of mine moved items from New York to Chiang Mai by Bekins and he was very satisfied. Also AGS-Four Winds in Bangkok has affiliates all over the globe who will pack and ship your personal belongings.

This coming Thursday, the two companies that I mentioned above are coming over to give me a pre-shipping inventory, and they will forward the list to their associates in Thailand, who in term will give me an quote for door to door service. Door to Door service means that they handle all the paperwork and deliver it to your residence address in Thailand, instead of the port in BKK.

If you need more information, kindly message me.

[arthurwait]

Isn't there an amount of time you have to be here before shipping your stuff over ?

[shepsel]

I was told by the forwarding company that if you have a yearly visa such as work permit, retirement visa, etc. that they will clear the goods without taxes or duty if they are within the allowable limits and not items for resale. I don't know if you can do it on a tourist visa or not, but it is best to contact the company who is going to receive and clear your items for you for a clear answer.

[craigt3365]

It was my understanding that you have to pay import duties, except for returning students. My neighbors shipped furniture bought here to Singapore and then shipped it back 5 years later. Duties had to paid, which they weren't happy about. Maybe these shipping companies bundle the cost of this into their quotes???? Would love to know that.

[Khun Jean]

Do not take anything that agents and shipping companies say for granted. Check and double check.

Start here:

http://www.customs.g...ouseholdeffects

We shipped a full 20ft container and had some hassles with the agent on the Thai side. They wanted 64.000 baht. We told them to get lost.

Did it ourselves and paid 740 baht duty for a 2nd fridge and about 11.000 together for transport and unpacking to our condo in Bangkok. The terminal was UniThai (http://www.unithai.c...ect=1&PageID=77) which i can recommend. Bigger harbours will probably be more on the corrupt side. Unithai has as one of its selling points that no corruption will take place.

This will of course not guarantee that some employees will try it, if that happens just contact the manager and get it resolved.

I 'preempted' our visit by asking for some names and costs before we went there.

Email was promptly answered next day with a breakdown of all costs. And if problems or money was demanded a few names to contact were added.

Edited March 13, 2012 by Khun Jean

[craigt3365]

Do not take anything that agents and shipping companies say for granted. Check and double check.

Start here:

http://www.customs.g...ouseholdeffects

We shipped a full 20ft container and had some hassles with the agent on the Thai side. They wanted 64.000 baht. We told them to get lost.

Did it ourselves and paid 740 baht duty for a 2nd fridge and about 11.000 together for transport and unpacking to our condo in Bangkok. The terminal was UniThai (http://www.unithai.c...ect=1&PageID=77) which i can recommend. Bigger harbours will probably be more on the corrupt side. Unithai has as one of its selling points that no corruption will take place.

This will of course not guarantee that some employees will try it, if that happens just contact the manager and get it resolved.

I 'preempted' our visit by asking for some names and costs before we went there.

Email was promptly answered next day with a breakdown of all costs. And if problems or money was demanded a few names to contact were added.

Great info. Did you do this the first year you moved here? Did you have a work permit? I've heard horror stories! We have some things we'd like to ship, but just nervous about the duties. We've been here several years and I only have a retirement visa.

[attrayant]

I'm going to warn you away from Rama Shipping (based in NY). They initially quoted me $5.50 per cubic meter of container space. I boxed everything and measured carefully, and rounded all fractions up. Based on this unit pricing and my volume measurement, I came to about $2,300 for all of my stuff (a one bedroom condo in DC). The boat took about three months to get here. A few weeks before it arrived, they sent me an invoice for almost $5,000. I almost passed out.

I emailed them back asking for an itemized invoice, not just a piece of paper that says "pay this amount" and has a big number at the bottom. A few days later they sent me a breakdown. Turns out they added an extra $2,000 for the handling from DC to NY (their port of embarkation) and labor charges for additional boxing and plastic-wrapping of some of my larger items. I ended up paying it, but felt like I got screwed at the 'no lube' rate.

The silver lining, if there was one, was that they handled all the receiving paperwork at customs and trucked everything up to my place in Don Mueang and unloaded it all for me. Nothing was lost, damaged or broken.

Now that I've typed all of this out and re-read it, maybe that was actually a reasonable charge... I really don't know. I just wish they hadn't suckered me in by telling me up-front that they can ship all my stuff for $5.50 per cubic meter.

[Langsuan Man]

You are going to pay duty to Customs no matter what some shipper tells you. The only difference is going to be whether or not you pay the "official" price or the 50% cheaper price to the Customs Officer that is assigned to your shipment

What you have to realize that you must act quickly once your shipment has arrived, otherwise storage fees in the "customs " warehouse are going to eat you alive

Despite what you may read about "fees" listed on the Thai Royal Customs web page, you will end up paying what the Customs Official who is assigned to your shipment says the fees are going to be and there is really no appeal.

Unfortunately there are some people here that have imported household goods and gotten off pretty cheaply, yet there are others who have paid a lot of money for the privilege. The best way to limit your exposure is to forgo shipping any electrically operated items, since electronics seem to attract the most interest from Customs and they really can be purchased here in Thailand at a reasonable cost. It goes without say that motor vehicles are a no no period

Once you determine your shipping costs, and the possible high end cost for custom duties, you then must decide if it is worth it or should you just save that money and use it towards purchasing new here in Thailand

[Khun Jean]

You are going to pay duty to Customs no matter what some shipper tells you. The only difference is going to be whether or not you pay the "official" price or the 50% cheaper price to the Customs Officer that is assigned to your shipment

What you have to realize that you must act quickly once your shipment has arrived, otherwise storage fees in the "customs " warehouse are going to eat you alive

Despite what you may read about "fees" listed on the Thai Royal Customs web page, you will end up paying what the Customs Official who is assigned to your shipment says the fees are going to be and there is really no appeal.

Unfortunately there are some people here that have imported household goods and gotten off pretty cheaply, yet there are others who have paid a lot of money for the privilege. The best way to limit your exposure is to forgo shipping any electrically operated items, since electronics seem to attract the most interest from Customs and they really can be purchased here in Thailand at a reasonable cost. It goes without say that motor vehicles are a no no period

Once you determine your shipping costs, and the possible high end cost for custom duties, you then must decide if it is worth it or should you just save that money and use it towards purchasing new here in Thailand

Maybe you should ask why some pay through their noses and others not. There is where the difference lies.

On household goods you pay 0%, storage costs per day are low, duty on electronics only when you have more than one,

Motor vehicles are imported everyday and taxes are known. It is just a calculation and then a choice.

I have included the tariffs from the container terminal. They are very reasonable if not downright cheap!

Tariff' Code 3.pdf

Tariff' Code 4.pdf

Tariff' Code 5.pdf

[Khun Jean]

Do not take anything that agents and shipping companies say for granted. Check and double check.

Start here:

http://www.customs.g...ouseholdeffects

We shipped a full 20ft container and had some hassles with the agent on the Thai side. They wanted 64.000 baht. We told them to get lost.

Did it ourselves and paid 740 baht duty for a 2nd fridge and about 11.000 together for transport and unpacking to our condo in Bangkok. The terminal was UniThai (http://www.unithai.c...ect=1&PageID=77) which i can recommend. Bigger harbours will probably be more on the corrupt side. Unithai has as one of its selling points that no corruption will take place.

This will of course not guarantee that some employees will try it, if that happens just contact the manager and get it resolved.

I 'preempted' our visit by asking for some names and costs before we went there.

Email was promptly answered next day with a breakdown of all costs. And if problems or money was demanded a few names to contact were added.

Great info. Did you do this the first year you moved here? Did you have a work permit? I've heard horror stories! We have some things we'd like to ship, but just nervous about the duties. We've been here several years and I only have a retirement visa.

I live here from 2001, but not continuously until now. I always have a multi entry 'o' visa. Next year will be the first year i will get a 1 year extension.

The household goods where imported free of charge because my wife is a returning citizen who lived longer than 1 year abroad.

It is just one of the categories, and for foreigners it is best to use the non 'o', or 'b'(work permit) kind of visa to import household goods against the same tariff being 0%. A retirement visa is good. Maybe it is a good idea to use Unithai as the terminal. I used MSC as shipping company through an agent in my own country.

Our container arrived december (2 months after departure) last year and we picked it up first opening day in Januari.

We itemized and documented every box including pictures of what was in it and its weight. Just in case there would be some arguments about the content.

Unfortunately there is a lot of illegal import, think wine and other high taxed articles. Being prepared to answer all questions and backing it up with proof is the best way to make sure you are not overcharged.

Another very important thing is that you need patience. If they are trying to shake you down, bother them each day until they get bored with you. Never offer any money.

If the amounts are small, it still would be corruption but then the fight is not worth it. They look for an easy target. When you go there without any knowledge you will be taken to the cleaners.

Ask yourself, what do you do late at night and the taxi driver asks 400 for a drive that normally is only 70 baht?

You pay it? If yes, please grow a pair because Thailand will eat you alive.

[jaiyenyen]

I moved here around six years ago, on a Non Immigrant 'O' Visa. I shipped over five boxes (Tea chest size) of personal items. CD's, kitchenware, breadmaker, good towels, and just gereral 'stuff'. I got stuffed for 13,000 baht in tax, also, they wouldn't let me inspect the boxes before I paid up. Suprise suprise, when the boxes arrived two had been damaged and a personal DVD player and digital camera were missing. We got the usual Thai response of complete denial.

If your wife is Thai, I suggest you use her name on the documents, it might help.

[wana]

You are going to pay duty to Customs no matter what some shipper tells you. The only difference is going to be whether or not you pay the "official" price or the 50% cheaper price to the Customs Officer that is assigned to your shipment

What you have to realize that you must act quickly once your shipment has arrived, otherwise storage fees in the "customs " warehouse are going to eat you alive

Despite what you may read about "fees" listed on the Thai Royal Customs web page, you will end up paying what the Customs Official who is assigned to your shipment says the fees are going to be and there is really no appeal.

Unfortunately there are some people here that have imported household goods and gotten off pretty cheaply, yet there are others who have paid a lot of money for the privilege. The best way to limit your exposure is to forgo shipping any electrically operated items, since electronics seem to attract the most interest from Customs and they really can be purchased here in Thailand at a reasonable cost. It goes without say that motor vehicles are a no no period

Once you determine your shipping costs, and the possible high end cost for custom duties, you then must decide if it is worth it or should you just save that money and use it towards purchasing new here in Thailand

Maybe you should ask why some pay through their noses and others not. There is where the difference lies.

I have included the tariffs from the container terminal. They are very reasonable if not downright cheap!

thats allright in theory until you get assigned a 'customs officer " who charges triple and refuses to back down

and will hold your stuff to ransom accululating storage fees until you can line with pockets with his chosen amount of silver

or is it gold thesedays ?

i heard thai folks eligable are climbing over one another to get a job in customs and at the interview you are basically told

it costs 100k to get "started " in the business for new applicants

but of course ,you will make that back in a few months and then its al profit from there ...........

[Khun Jean]

In my opinion and experience it is not theory.

When doing something research it and in this case choose a terminal that has a normal customs office. Don't just send it wherever.

There is an ombudsman in Thailand for situation where a government official abuses his position.

I have not used them, only showed once to an official that i was prepared to go through the trouble of getting his ass fired.

The threat worked.

Edited March 19, 2012 by Khun Jean

[shepsel]

I have just gotten two quotes to ship a bare minimum of two cubic metres from Toronto to Chiang Mai. The two prices varried by almost $700 for the same service, so I will get a couple of more quotes.

My advise is to shop around and compare.