Shipping Books To Thailand From Amazon

[thankuverybig]

i'm interested in shipping some books in from amazon to my address in thailand.

ive looked on asia books,but they only have a small selection of the topic i'm interested in.

does anybody have any experience of shipping in books to thailand?

will i likely to be hit with customs duty on new books?

[jingjingna]

I have ordered books through Amazon.com and had no problems. The shipping costs are quite high though. I have never been asked to pay additional custom duties.

Hope this helps!

[OldAsiaHand]

Then you have been lucky.

An Amazon package will go through untouched sometimes, sometimes it will attract absolutely arbitrary duties. I've had more than the value of the whole order demanded twice. It's very much hit or miss as far as customs duties go. On the whole, over the years I'd say I've paid duty on about 20-25% of the packages that I have received from Amazon in the US and the UK.

Don't bother to try and argue that books shouldn't be subject to duty. They are in Thailand. At what rate? Who knows? Things don't work that way here. You're a foreigner. The rate is whatever they feel like at the time.

[thohts]

I've ordered a couple of times from Amazon in the US (shipping to Bangkok), this year, without delay or customs duties.

Now, if you have something else besides book(s) in the package, it will probably attract the attention of customs.

[Thaiquila]

I heard that Bookazine will ship Amazon books for customers for a reduced shipping fee because they get a bulk shipping deal from them.

This is if you order a book from them that they don't normally stock.

Not sure if this "rumor" is really true though.

[thankuverybig]

thanks,for the info.it appears that the books i'm after on amazon are mainly,only available in used condition,anyway.so hopefully i may avoid the duty.probably depends on whether the customs guy got laid or not the night before.

i'll check out bookazine.

[sbk]

Then you have been lucky.

An Amazon package will go through untouched sometimes, sometimes it will attract absolutely arbitrary duties. I've had more than the value of the whole order demanded twice. It's very much hit or miss as far as customs duties go. On the whole, over the years I'd say I've paid duty on about 20-25% of the packages that I have received from Amazon in the US and the UK.

Don't bother to try and argue that books shouldn't be subject to duty. They are in Thailand. At what rate? Who knows? Things don't work that way here. You're a foreigner. The rate is whatever they feel like at the time.

Really? I ship books to myself every year and have never paid customs. I also order from daedalus books every so often and have never paid customs either. But then, there is nothing in the package but books.

[Sheryl]

Thai customs does not apply duty to books and if books are all that is in the package and it is clearly so labelled there should not be any duty. I order books via Amazon all the time and never once had to pay anything.

Now DVDs are a whole other story...sometimes no duty, sometimes small, sometimes huge and no apparent rhyme or reason to it.

[Mobi]

Thai customs does not apply duty to books and if books are all that is in the package and it is clearly so labelled there should not be any duty. I order books via Amazon all the time and never once had to pay anything.

Now DVDs are a whole other story...sometimes no duty, sometimes small, sometimes huge and no apparent rhyme or reason to it.

There is an international convention on books, which I understand Thailand is a signatory to, whereby books can be bought and sold from country to country duty free. This is to encourage the free flow of information throughout the world - particularly to developing countries.

If you look at the prices of imported books in book shops, you will find that the prices are roughly similar to the price back home - sometimes even cheaper., This is becasue there is no duty - just shipping costs, and of course the book shops ship in bulk to keep the costs down.

I know TIT, and anything can happen here with customs, but I think you find that books are the one exception, and if customs try to levy duty, you should be able appeal against it.

More of a problem could be thefts by Thai postal workers - so ship via courier if you want to ensure safe arrival.

[OldAsiaHand]

Thai customs does not apply duty to books and if books are all that is in the package and it is clearly so labelled there should not be any duty. I order books via Amazon all the time and never once had to pay anything.

Now DVDs are a whole other story...sometimes no duty, sometimes small, sometimes huge and no apparent rhyme or reason to it.

On the two occasions when we actually attempted to argue the point, Thai Customs quoted specific duty rates for books and cited the presumably applicable section of the customs regulations to support their point of view. Of course, they were different rates and different citations each time, but what the heck.

Is there really duty on books under Thai law? Who knows. All I can tell you is that Customs twice told me there was and pointed to a specific regulation they were relying on. Naturally, I didn't bother to look the regulation up either time and get it translated, but there it is.

[BKKGuitar]

i'm interested in shipping some books in from amazon to my address in thailand.

ive looked on asia books,but they only have a small selection of the topic i'm interested in.

does anybody have any experience of shipping in books to thailand?

will i likely to be hit with customs duty on new books?

If you mean ordering books that you want, just order them through Kinokuniya. If u have that ISBN or whatever that is, just give it to them and they order it. Of course, whether they ever arrive or not is another story. I ordered three and none arrived...

[Oleg_Rus]

If you mean ordering books that you want, just order them through Kinokuniya. If u have that ISBN or whatever that is, just give it to them and they order it. Of course, whether they ever arrive or not is another story. I ordered three and none arrived...

I ordered from them - they use listed prices, without any discounts, and very funny exchange rate. Also - bloody slow.

[Maestro]

An Amazon package will go through untouched sometimes, sometimes it will attract absolutely arbitrary duties...

Don't bother to try and argue that books shouldn't be subject to duty...The rate is whatever they feel like at the time.

This link explains the customs procedure for postal parcels and how to contest an assessment of duty.

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Maestro

[Maestro]

On the two occasions when we actually attempted to argue the point, Thai Customs quoted specific duty rates for books and cited the presumably applicable section of the customs regulations to support their point of view. Of course, they were different rates and different citations each time, but what the heck.

It is useful if the sender indicates, in the customs declaration label on the parcel, the appropriate code of the “Harmonised Commodity Description and Coding System” – generally referred to as “Harmonised System” or simply “HS” – to which Thailand is a signatory, and Amazon should know how to do this.

The harmonised customs tariff codes can be found here. This is the list for the EU and please note that only the first six digits are part of the Harmonised System and therefore identical for all countries. A book that is a novel, for example, has the harmonised tariff number 4901.99, a dictionary or encyclopaedia 4901.91. For the same number, the applicable duty rate may of course vary from one country to the next, but the description will always be the same. A country can add 2 more digits to create more than one subcategory of goods, with corresponding duty rates, under a harmonised tariff number.

Thai customs officers may try to make the Thai customs tariff book look like a mystery but once you know the correct harmonised tariff number applicable to the item you import you can discuss it with them on their own level.

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Maestro

Edited July 9, 2006 by maestro

[Ulysses G.]

If you look at the prices of imported books in book shops, you will find that the prices are roughly similar to the price back home - sometimes even cheaper., This is becasue there is no duty - just shipping costs, and of course the book shops ship in bulk to keep the costs down.

There ARE duties on large shipments of new and used English books coming into Thailand, and they are quite high (around 35%) , however, an order below something like $150 US dollars is supposed to be tax free. That is why one is not usually taxed for Amazon orders.

The reason that books here are about the same price as at home has more to do with "special" relaionships with customs officials and a spot of TEA, then any kind of treaty.