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Apologies for the length of this post!

Please regard this thread as thinking aloud / discussing whether things are feasible / identifying problems and possible solutions rather than any firm proposals or any offer!

But first some background on me, I first went to Thailand about 10 years ago, since then I have spent a total of around 3 ½ years over there, solely on holiday. Like many other people I have thought about relocating to Thailand, but can’t afford to retire and have realised over the years that I do NOT want to work there or even live there 24/7!

For an income I had thought about most of the usual things - being an English Teacher (Not enough money for the work and aggro involved), setting up a business in Thailand, including a bar! (overall the same amount of work and aggro as doing so in the west (although for different reasons), except for less “real” money, albeit with a “better” standard of living – however my standard of living is pretty good, albeit I still have to work for it!). Running some form of export business from Thailand to the West seemed to be the best idea. With costs in Baht at wholesale, and sales in Pounds/ Euros at Retail. (This does still interest me, hence this post! but the slight problem I have is that I do NOT want to live in Thailand 24/7 – crazy man I know! – visit often for sure, but not relocate. Staying in Thailand for extended periods of time has taught me to appreciate the conveniences I previously took for granted and I actually LIKE living in my part of the west! I can make a fair enough living in the West, and I have plenty of scope for doing a lot better from sticking to what I know – especially as I plan to spend a lot less time in Thailand………..cos I am getting married to a Thai lady this year with the intention that she move back to Farangland (NEVER my intention to get married to a Thai woman, but………) and she is not likely to let me visit Thailand alone for extended periods! and to be honest I would not want to do so without her.

Off topic!:-

As per my Board name, I am based in Jersey, Channel Island, UK. (Actually I am a local yokel!). As some of you may be aware Jersey is a small island off the coast of France (9 miles by 5 in size and 90,000 people) and although part of the UK it is constitutionally separate insofar as we have our own government, set our own taxes, and write our own laws – completely independently from the UK government. The precise nature and history of this relationship is somewhat complex as it dates back to the year 1066 (WE won!). However in practice all this just actually means we do not fall under the jurisdiction of Tony Blair as PM (we cannot vote for him), the laws that the Westminster Parliament create do NOT apply to us and taxes that are collected by the Inland Revenue are nothing to do with us. We are also NOT in the EU. We also do not have VAT / TVA, but CAN use the 18 Euro exemption to export items into the EU, free of VAT. There is quite a large “fulfilment industry” in Jersey nowadays with many of the high street brands (TESCO / HMV etc) utilising this loophole.

Given the above it is perhaps unsurprising that we are also a long established Offshore Finance Centre, with many of the worlds major banks and financial services companies represented here. Offshore Finance is probably 80% of our economy, which used to be based on Tourism, Fishing and Farming – and in the “good old days”…..Piracy!) (for the more US centric folk, think Cayman Islands, except with less sun – and more legit!).

Like a lot of other folk in Jersey I started work in the Finance Industry, in my case just over 20 years ago, with the last 7 / 8 years having been on contract moving from Bank to Bank. My CV looks like an A-Z! Formerly my job involved to a large extent in “making problems go away” and often this meant finding out how to do things which a client did not have the time or inclination to do themselves, so I am well used to finding out how to do things and then dealing with strange paperwork and systems. I won’t say what I actually now do for a living, it is not exciting or interesting (no surprise their!), but it has given me a very good overview of how the industry works and an understanding of the problems that clients / customers (Punters!) have when actually dealing in practice with folk who are MEANT to be providing a service and an appreciation of the fact that a lot of how Clients MAKE their money does not “fit” neatly into a “box” that a Bank or Financial Services Company can understand.

Especially nowadays, what a Bank does not understand SCARES them, but even when they “understand” enough not to turn the business away they are expensive, often prohibitively so – mainly by the fact that the folk the customer is dealing with are trying (and often failing) to learn your business and charging you for the privilege of doing so. Then they leave / get promoted (!) and the process starts all over again, at your cost. Nowadays the reason often given for higher costs is “Regulatory”, whereas the reality is more often than not largely “institutional AND individual stupidity”.

Back on Topic!:-

Running some form of export business from Thailand to the West..............although I believe that being in Thailand can be an advantage when dealing with suppliers, being physically IN Thailand I think can also be a disadvantage when it comes to dealing with customers (particularly avoiding the image of being in a "dodgy" location) and sorting out problems in the supply chain, including dealing with the Banks involved. (the recent Paypal thread for example).

No problem is insurmountable, but it mainly boils down to whether something is cost effective. Therefore the reason why I never set up a business in Thailand exporting to the UK/EU is a question of scale. Whilst I may well be able to set up a business in Thailand selling plastic widgets to the UK/EU, if I am only selling 10 a month at £1 each, then no matter how cheap I can buy them it is never going to be profitable to cover the cost and time spent in exporting them, getting the sale and delivering them. Obviously if I thought I had a chance of selling 1 million plastic widgets a month at £1 each I would have thought about giving up the day job!

What I am thinking is therefore to try and address the question of scale and the problem of not being in Thailand by exploring whether it is feasible for me and of any use to others! to offer my services and my location, to folk who are based in Thailand and who are either currently exporting into the EU or are thinking about it.

Basically it would be running / assisting with the EU end of your supply chain, where it is not cost effective to do so for solely your own business – due to it’s small size. Obviously there is no such thing as a free lunch! Each side would have to assess whether things were cost effective, but from my side I would envisage that the business could become viable from economies of scale, whether or not I also set up my own business exporting from Thailand (or elsewhere) into the EU. From your side I would figure that there are already costs and expenses which you incur which you could avoid by dealing with me, plus possibly your time and aggravation and also their may well be tax benefits for you in your business being close to the EU/UK, but not in it. Although my background and location is in the Offshore Finance Industry, this does not prevent me from also dealing with matters outside the island and within the EU.

To a large degree I guess you could look at what I am talking about as being either a bridge into (or a cheaper entry!) into setting up businesses in an “Offshore” location, which would otherwise just be prohibitively expensive for you. Also “just” having someone who can just talk to a Bank face to face and present them with information that they can understand (and knowing what not to confuse them with) can often make a huge difference in practice, even if this is “only” that they leave you alone! Having someone like me who is a known and a verifiable quantity is just a bonus. (Last contract I walked into the Bank and met 4 people I had worked with before, at 3 different Banks. Plus the twin sister of someone I had worked with elsewhere. Plus a guy I went to school with. It an office of 30 people. Small world here!)

Whilst I am thinking of the Import / Export business, basically all ideas welcome where I could be involved, particularly given my location.

However I am also interested in any ideas which could only be done by a Bank or similar – particularly offshore - which would make someone’s life easier / be helpful – As I said, I get around a bit in the Finance Industry and is something I could maybe just fit into the day job!

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