Help! How Do You Solve Irrational Customs Duty Charges

[akinear]

Can folks shed some light on their experience with shipping private items to Thailand declared as a *gift* and *Used* on the customs form and Thailand's policy of charging or not charging import fees on them?

I am considering using USPS priority international, but some say it has tracking and some say it doesn't - country dependent?

I echo everyone's experience with DHL. I bought a used electronic item off of ebay and my reshipper (not the ebay seller) put *gift* on the customs form and listed it as *used*. (The shipper (in retrospect - a bad practice) used the camera's normal box - which probably made it appear as new and with the lack of English awareness on the customs form made me ripe pickings. I was charge 2k bht extra and the DHL guy played dumb as I pointed the used & gift issue out to him... They do hold you over a barrel, but are very patient as you go to the ATM. With the shipping costs and the 62$ for DHL agent. I may have been able to buy it locally for less assuming not getting stuck in traffic for hours and if they actually carried that model.

Is FEDEX just as bad as DHL?

[Soutpeel]

Is FEDEX just as bad as DHL?

Yes..in addtion to putting "Used" or "gift" on the form, the declared value is important as well, typically I never put more than a vlaue of US$ 50

[h90]

10.000 doesn't sound wrong....

Just rough estimate

400 Pound+estimate 100 Pound shipping=500 Pound= 30.000 Baht (they use different exchange rates)

20 % import tax (Express clearing the highest duty will be used for all items)=7500 Baht

total 37500: 7 % VAT=2625 Baht

Total 10125.

350 British Pounds on personal clothes???? Considering that the clothes are used it must be a lot, as the market value of used underwear and socks is pretty low. Or is it an import of new clothes? That would than, not "your" clothes.

Maybe a clearance fee 500 Baht

10625 Baht

Country of Origin is UK, unless you can provide the government form that it is an export from Thailand.

[h90]

I had one of those disputes when i used Fedex. I had some samples send to me from china, it was basically some metal pieces. Resale worth zero.

The declared value was 10US$, I was stupid for having it shipped with fedex because this signals the customs department that it must be a valuable and time critical delivery.

They like valuable and time critical, it gives them the upper hand.

I basically said, open it up, inspect it, weigh it and you will see that it is only 10US$. It took about a month and they got tired of me i think.

So they just send it to me without having to pay taxes and import duty.

I took away their leverage and then they had to follow the rules, just like anybody else.

.

Lesson learned, only use a courier service when it is really time critical and of great value and you need to be sure that it will be delivered as fast as possible.

In those cases paying import duties and taxes is part of the deal.

For the rest send it with normal mail. China mail, usps etc all work great.

I never had them doubt my invoices. But it seems it depends on your area:

Never any problems with UPS, FEDEX, DHL, TNT when all documents were right (description and tariff number).

Regular post: Too good to be true, 600 Euro shipments just delivered no charge.

EMS: absolute horror....need to go there, wait 3/4 day, get wrong charges or pay under the table, which is still expensive.

Others report it complete different with EMS good. Seems it depends on which customs department is taking care.

[muratremix]

1 year ago I ordered some fat burners (3 bottles of same product) via UPS and it delivered to my door by paying 7% VAT only (I paid while receiving the parcel).

A month ago I tried ordering again, but this time I had to choose fedex because UPS was not an option anymore. It didn't pass the Airport clearance due to the contents (fat burners are not allowed). They told me I can try my luck if I agree to pay around 2000 thb plus and there was no guarantee that I can receive it. I told them "burn it", I lost $100 bucks. Next time I order something, I'll never use fedex.

Its funny, you can buy generic copies of Viagra everywhere, without prescription, but you can't order fat burners from USA.

[4evermaat]

I don't think walking away is quite so simple.

If you do walk away, you may find yourself presented with a bill from DHL for services they rendered and did not get paid for. And if you don't pay that, you may find yourself getting calls from collection people. And if you still don't pay...

Somewhere in the small print, I'm sure they have you agreeing to pay charges related to customs clearance. They hired someone to clear customs for you, whether you like the value you're getting for what they're asking you to pay.

The charges sound legitimate to me, though maybe not reasonable. Quite a bit of that money is probably for the hired customs agent to fill out the paperwork on your behalf. That's one reason it's hard to get into the import-export business on a small scale (unless it's so small you can get under the radar).

Chalk it up to tuition, and rather cheap at that. Customs booboos can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.

not true....the receiver may always refuse the package. i did so once to teach fedex a lesson (textbook, educational materials)

"The second best time to plant a tree is today" sent from TV android app (Galaxy Cooper).

Edited September 12, 2012 by 4evermaat

[JSixpack]

Its funny, you can buy generic copies of Viagra everywhere, without prescription, but you can't order fat burners from USA.

Nothing funny about that at all. Apples and oranges.

[12DrinkMore]

1 year ago I ordered some fat burners (3 bottles of same product) via UPS and it delivered to my door by paying 7% VAT only (I paid while receiving the parcel).

A month ago I tried ordering again, but this time I had to choose fedex because UPS was not an option anymore. It didn't pass the Airport clearance due to the contents (fat burners are not allowed). They told me I can try my luck if I agree to pay around 2000 thb plus and there was no guarantee that I can receive it. I told them "burn it", I lost $100 bucks. Next time I order something, I'll never use fedex.

Its funny, you can buy generic copies of Viagra everywhere, without prescription, but you can't order fat burners from USA.

Maybe buy a mountain bike?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I get an envelope of forwarded mail and small goods forwarded each month from the U.S. to me here by the mailing forwarding company I use.

Normally, the 9 x 12 envelope is sent via USPS Global Priority and is delivered here by Thai Post, almost always without any tax or duty on any small non-document items inside.

Today, for reasons unknown to me as yet, I got my monthly envelope sent instead via FedEx International Priority. I had $40 worth of small clothing items inside...and was charged 615 baht (something) by FedEx. I would say duty or tax, but the FedEx guy arrived with my package and absolutely no paperwork detailing how that charge was arrived at, other than the amount being scrawled in pen on the outside of the envelope. I asked for a statement, and he promised to come back tomorrow with one... We'll see if he does.

Meanwhile, for all the fans of Fed-Ex, that works out to approx. a $20 non-postage charge (duty, tax or who knows what) being levied on $40 worth of clothing. That works out to approximately a 50% surcharge above and beyond the postage I paid to have it sent here.

Zero duty with USPS/Thai Post. 50% duty/tax with FedEx. Hurray for FedEx!!

[impulse]

I don't think walking away is quite so simple.

If you do walk away, you may find yourself presented with a bill from DHL for services they rendered and did not get paid for. And if you don't pay that, you may find yourself getting calls from collection people. And if you still don't pay...

Somewhere in the small print, I'm sure they have you agreeing to pay charges related to customs clearance. They hired someone to clear customs for you, whether you like the value you're getting for what they're asking you to pay.

The charges sound legitimate to me, though maybe not reasonable. Quite a bit of that money is probably for the hired customs agent to fill out the paperwork on your behalf. That's one reason it's hard to get into the import-export business on a small scale (unless it's so small you can get under the radar).

Chalk it up to tuition, and rather cheap at that. Customs booboos can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars.

not true....the receiver may always refuse the package. i did so once to teach fedex a lesson (textbook, educational materials)

"The second best time to plant a tree is today" sent from TV android app (Galaxy Cooper).

But he's acting as both sender and receiver...

Only the tiny little fine print on the contract he signed as the sender can tell for sure. It's in the light gray print too light and small to see on the back of the airbill.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

I get an envelope of forwarded mail and small goods forwarded each month from the U.S. to me here by the mailing forwarding company I use.

Normally, the 9 x 12 envelope is sent via USPS Global Priority and is delivered here by Thai Post, almost always without any tax or duty on any small non-document items inside.

Today, for reasons unknown to me as yet, I got my monthly envelope sent instead via FedEx International Priority. I had $40 worth of small clothing items inside...and was charged 615 baht (something) by FedEx. I would say duty or tax, but the FedEx guy arrived with my package and absolutely no paperwork detailing how that charge was arrived at, other than the amount being scrawled in pen on the outside of the envelope. I asked for a statement, and he promised to come back tomorrow with one... We'll see if he does.

Meanwhile, for all the fans of Fed-Ex, that works out to approx. a $20 non-postage charge (duty, tax or who knows what) being levied on $40 worth of clothing. That works out to approximately a 50% surcharge above and beyond the postage I paid to have it sent here.

Zero duty with USPS/Thai Post. 50% duty/tax with FedEx. Hurray for FedEx!!

A different FedEx guy did show up at my doorstep this morning with a FedEx statement in English for yesterday's package along with the matching Thai Customs statement in Thai. Here's the breakdown for how they charged my small $40 clothing items package:

--30% duty on the CIF value

--7% VAT on the CIF value

They calculated the CIF value on my package by taking the $40 declared amount, applying a 31.5801 Thai baht exchange rate, for a cost of 1,263 baht, adding a 1% insurance fee of 12.63 baht, and then a freight charge of 295 baht. So the total dutied and taxed amount (at a total rate of 37%) was 1,570.84 baht., yielding the 614 baht added charge at my doorstep.

In the fineprint of the receipt, it says FedEx applies a standard freight charge of 590 baht per Kg. for shipments from the U.S. And since my package weighed .50 Kgs, they charged me freight of 295 baht. Their comparable amount for packages from Europe is 460 baht per Kg.

[Briggsy]

I can't believe that most posters on this thread think that Fed Ex and DHL are ripping you off. The charges are from the Thai Customs who uses the courier, Fed Ex and DHL as the collector.

So many posters think that the charges stem from the courier. This is totally wrong. The charges come from the Customs. I have worked with the Fed Ex logistics teams. They get so much flack from customers about Customs charges that are nothing to do with them. The charges come from the Customs.

Khun Jean had it spot on in his post #28.

There is so much misinformation on this thread.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Briggsy, I know most of the charges come from Thai Customs, leaving aside the sometimes handling and storage charges the private couriers sometimes add on themselves. And I've never posted anything otherwise...

But the point is, for exactly the same package sent from wherever to Thailand, if you go FedEx or DHL, you will be hit by sometimes heavy customs duty and tax charges, whereas if you use your local mail service and Thai Post, you'll usually pay little or no duty and tax. And save a fortune in the process.

That's not misinformation. That's the facts... And people should understand that...

Now please explain to me why my envelope sent thru FedEx is dutied and taxed at 37% based on the value of the packages plus insurance and a freight charge all combined, whereas exactly the same package sent from abroad and delivered by Thai Post typically will have little or none of those fees???

BTW, the freight and insurance charges that FedEx charges are THEIR charges above and beyond the actual postage rates, and have nothing to do with Thai Customs.

Edited September 15, 2012 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[meatboy]

these theives want you to think its thai customs that are ripping you off,our experiance and others i know who have sent personel items to los now its the agents this end we were scammed for 14,000bht for the wifes clothes and personel goods that she collected over 18years in the uk.nothing new,no electrical items they even wanted to know what size some photo's were,lies about having to use a third party who were licenced to go onto the docks we were told only for us to find out they were the same co. so dont blame thai customs all the time.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Maybe someone with more direct knowledge on this than myself can explain... but here's my sense...

I've gotten the impression over time that packages sent via couriers like DHL and FedEx go thru a separate and different customs process than incoming items destined for ThaiPost delivery. I've always heard about the private carriers having their own Customs houses, whatever that means exactly.

I don't know if the people actually levying the XX% duty and tax rates are employees of the private couriers doing so on behalf of Thai Customs, or whether the private carriers have actual Thai Customs staff assigned (and perhaps reimbursed) just to handle their flow of packages....

Those are all issues about the process. The process I don't know... But the result I and many others here clearly know... Ship thru FedEx and DHL, and you're likely to pay far more in duty and taxes than you'd pay for the identical package being delivered by ThaiPost.

[Briggsy]

There is so much misinformation on this thread.

I have worked with these companies. The charges are 100% Customs charges. Fed Ex and DHL are simply forced by the law and the Customs Department to act as collectors for the Customs Dept.

Yes, it is well known that if you post the same things to Thailand via 1) the normal postal system or 2) an international courier such as DHL, the first will often incur zero duty and the second will be hit with a large amount of duty. This is because Customs target couriered items. They know there is a much higher probability of value and time constraints. And the Customs routinely overestimate the value of the items to a) try it on, they believe all importers are liars and cheats and c) they are a very corrupt dept with targets to meet to boot.

The couriers are not in cahoots with Customs as many people believe here.

The couriers are not getting a cut as many people believe here.

The money goes fully to the Customs Dept.

Fed Ex, DHL etc are not ripping you off. These couriers are fully at the mercy of Thai Customs. I don't know how plainly I can put this but people will believe what they want to believe.

[Naam]

A few days ago I arranged for two bags to be couriered here from London Heathrow to avoid the hefty overweight charges. Contents were mostly my personal clothes, as stated on the documentation, amounting to £350 value..

two mistakes for starters!

-you did not use the airlines "unaccompanied baggage" system, cost is a fraction of excess baggage. there are also private companies which handle "excess baggage" much cheaper than a courier service.

-you put a "value" on your personal clothes instead of declaring "personal items without commercial value."

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

There is so much misinformation on this thread.

I have worked with these companies. The charges are 100% Customs charges. Fed Ex and DHL are simply forced by the law and the Customs Department to act as collectors for the Customs Dept.

Yes, it is well known that if you post the same things to Thailand via 1) the normal postal system or 2) an international courier such as DHL, the first will often incur zero duty and the second will be hit with a large amount of duty. This is because Customs target couriered items. They know there is a much higher probability of value and time constraints. And the Customs routinely overestimate the value of the items to a) try it on, they believe all importers are liars and cheats and c) they are a very corrupt dept with targets to meet to boot.

The couriers are not in cahoots with Customs as many people believe here.

The couriers are not getting a cut as many people believe here.

The money goes fully to the Customs Dept.

Fed Ex, DHL etc are not ripping you off. These couriers are fully at the mercy of Thai Customs. I don't know how plainly I can put this but people will believe what they want to believe.

Much of what you say above may well be true and I won't disagree...

But not "100%" of the charges are coming from Customs. As I noted in my post above, FedEx charges a 1% insurance rate and a flat fee "freight" charge, and neither of those have anything to do with Thai Customs. Although those courier-added charges DO get added into the total value amount that is ultimately dutied and taxed.

So the courier is just helping further inflate what already will be excessive charges by adding in their own I and F amounts -- neither of which are charged when packages go thru Thai Post.

[WhiteCadillac]

As said in this thread. NEVER EVER send anythign though FedEx / DHL / UPS courier. Use EMS if you have to.

Avoiding luggage charging and paying FedEx + the customs scam is more expensive than paying outright luggage charges.

[Spoonman]

I purchased some work boots from the USA and they were sent via USPS, I got slugged 80%. cnuts.

[Sandman77]

So from Europe and Germany feed ex and ups are no option the charge 4 or 5 time higher price then dhl!

I also awaiting a dhl parcel!

Why can the dhl man bring the parcel, can charge any fees more, when the sender allready paid the shipping coasts !?

When I import from Asia to eu small item, mark like a gift no problem!

But when comes from USA or Japan around 30 procent technology tax charged all together to the normal tax nearly 50 procent!

Happy dealing..

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[Sandman77]

Forgot to ask , how high are the import duty for electronic in Thailand?

How many procent?

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[isawasnake]

Forgot to ask , how high are the import duty for electronic in Thailand?

How many procent?

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I don't think there is any set number. You could pay anywhere from 10 to 50%. It is a total nightmare, which is what they want. They want you to buy here essentially, and it is in fact effective of course. It is much much easier, even cheaper, to just buy what you want here. If you have a friend coming over or something like that, it may be a different story of course. The other thing perhaps people don't think about, if you can hold off on certain things, a plane ticket could say half pay for itself if you load up on a few things. I guess technically you are supposed to declare and pay import duties when carrying on a plane as well, but it is easier to get around if you don't bring something obviously new and in the box.

[isawasnake]

I can't believe that most posters on this thread think that Fed Ex and DHL are ripping you off. The charges are from the Thai Customs who uses the courier, Fed Ex and DHL as the collector.

So many posters think that the charges stem from the courier. This is totally wrong. The charges come from the Customs. I have worked with the Fed Ex logistics teams. They get so much flack from customers about Customs charges that are nothing to do with them. The charges come from the Customs.

Khun Jean had it spot on in his post #28.

There is so much misinformation on this thread.

But, if DHL receives a request for 1000 baht for an item that should technically hold a 500 baht import duty, do they fight it? I am not saying that it is their duty to do so, but I think this issue is more clouded. It seems there is a lot of wiggle room in there for some foul play. The problem stems from ridiculous inconsistencies of the Thai charges, but that doesn't mean a DHL employee can't partake. In general though, I am in agreeance; DHL is not at fault, and the "problem" here lies in people not doing their homework.

[Sandman77]

In other words this could also mean, dhl also don't care when someone market like a gift? Used or not?

What is the website where I can see a overview how high is the importtax ,maybe it's also a big matter where the gods coming from!

The only problem I see, if someone set no value on the declare gods or to low, or nothing like for clothes, then The Clearing begin!

It seems The make no different Beteen New and used goods, for used goods value should be mostly 50 prozent of The New Price !

Also in my homecountry dhl has a very Bad customer Service when there is a Transport damage, The answer waiting Time was 2 Month and then Payed me back nothing!

I think same here?

Is the value of parcel aitomaticly the same amount then the insurance itself?

How high is insurance on dhl?

Did all the subcompanys working for dhl have a lower price , then dhl itself!

When you have a company , I think getting money after a transport damage back should not be any problem!

But normal people are always the 2.best , no matter where you stay in the world!

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[tomjerry]

I had 2 laptops value $250 each couriered from Oregon to Vancouver . duty and shipping was $200 about 30% I think I will stay here!

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[tebee]

I fairly regularly have orders delivered from Europe to Thailand by UPS - they are usually about 200-400$ value and I always seem to get charged 10% import duty + 7 %vat with small customs clearance fee, from memory 265 baht. They are plastic parts, described as such My wife thinks this is a lot but I'm OK with it - I would have paid 20% vat if I'd had them delivered to Europe itself.

Only time (so far) I've had a bad customs/post experience was with Thai post. I order padded envelopes from the UK or US , they are cheaper and lighter than the Thai ones - it's only 6 grams an envelope, but it mounts up. I got a bag of 100 clearly marked as value £10 on the declaration and sent by normal unregistered post and got charged 1,500 baht duty on it + a 400 bath fee from Thai post ! Had I realized what it was I would just have told them to forget about it and ordered some more, but I was expecting a Chinese tablet at the time and thought it was that. And we had to go chasing round 3 Thai post offices to find were the parcel was. All the other orders have come without duty though.

The Chinese tablet arrived without any duty being collected, but it wouldn't fit in the letter box, so they just chucked it over the garden wall ! Still worked though.

Tom

[Tywais]

Harmonized Thai Tariff Schedule.pdf

[justcruisin]

In my case ALWAYS charged for erroneous charges and ambit claims. They know if we need the item now we have to pay through the nose, bl##dy sharks in a feeding frenzy, have used TNT, Fedex, EMS post.

Example27.5.2012 TNT. 1 small box, 5Kg (5047 Bht). Tax 2606 Bht. Over 50% Tax.The same result for another 5 Boxes in the last few months, always close to 50% payable on delivery.

Restoring a classic car in Thai is not a viable proposition. get slugged pretty bad with parts from only Aus and G.B

Have paid over 20,000 Bht for

VAT

Storage

Customs fee for import,

Customs duty tax

Formality charge

Terminal fee

Delivery order fee

There is a real need to have some cohesion between different departments and stop this ruthless gouging.Normally if a parcel is received by the Post there is no tax if the address is in Thai script.

Som Num Na

Edited December 16, 2012 by justcruisin

[Sandman77]

Just check my dhl tracking number !

Parcel dhl come from Germany , and the information online says , it has been forwarded to the Thailand post..

Not talk about any import duty!

How this can happen ,? Was thinking dhl deliver directly no maybe I can also drive 20 km to the next avalible postoffice!

Btw what are the ups rates in Thailand did the pick up everywhere ?

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