Shipment of books from USA to Thailand

[303player]

Hello,

I wrote a book last year which is finally getting published. The publisher (in the USA) offered to send 20 free copies to me. As I am traveling in Asia until spring '15 and will frequently be in Chiang Mai, it makes most sense for him to send the books to Chiang Mai.

My question: Will there be complications with import duty or other taxes for such a shipment? I am not planning to sell the books or promote them in Thailand, they are mainly gifts for friends in Thailand and other ASEAN countries. If this is a hassle, I will pick up the books when I am back.

If anyone has experience with a similar case, I appreciate any insight.

Thanks!

[Suradit69]

I've never had books attract customs duty either in small quantities from Amazon or when, some time ago I had a large quantity of books sent from the US in M-bags like those shown below (minus the kittens).

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Edited November 14, 2014 by Suradit69

[303player]

Thanks, good to know! I read somewhere that books were "priviledged goods," but assumed this only held true when a university of government imported them.

[Mapguy]

OP,

This is really not a difficult matter, but you are asking the question in the wrong place.

It is simple to access Thai customs procedures on the internet, and they are quite clear. They are very straight-forward and commonly accessed. Better yet, if you have difficulty with this, get an agent at the shipping source who knows the regulations and have the agent arrange the shipment. TV Chiangmai is really not a good place to ask a question like this one; actually about the last plac to ask such a question, so ...

"NBFD." This is my own personal forum acronym. If you can interpret it and care to share your version, then PM me!

Cheers!

Edited November 14, 2014 by Mapguy

[303player]

Yes, got it. Thanks!

[NancyL]

Congratulations on getting your book published!

When in doubt, I've found that shipping via U.S. Postal Service attracts less attention from Thai Customs than does shipping via FedEx/UPS/DHL. USPS has a service they call Global Priority Mail and flat rate boxes that are really great for shipping books and other heavy stuff. The weight of the shipment doesn't matter -- you can ship anything you want for a flat rate, just so it fits into the box. That's how we shipped our book collection when we moved here -- a herd of USPS Global Priority Mail Boxes. Easier and cheaper than shipping DHL/FedEx/UPS. We did ship other items via DHL because of the need to insure, trace, etc and we had a big headache with customs.

Edited November 15, 2014 by NancyL

[FolkGuitar]

Congratulations on getting your book published!

When in doubt, I've found that shipping via U.S. Postal Service attracts less attention from Thai Customs than does shipping via FedEx/UPS/DHL.

That's because when you ship via these carriers, they don't go through 'regular' Thai Customs. The carriers have their OWN Customs clearing facilities, in accordance with the Thai government, and collect import duties on virtually everything and anything that has a stated value over a certain amount (I 'think' that value is 1,000 baht, but I don't have proof of this.) They also collect storage if they have to keep it overnight, or over the weekend should it arrive on a Friday, and because they are keeping it in their facility, insist on insuring it against damage and theft... for which they charge you as well!

USPS is the very best option!

[303player]

Excellent advice, thanks y'all!

[hml367]

In the last year or so I have found the Thai Post to charge customs on anything with a value over 1000 THB. I used to get shipments from Japan worth approximately 500 USD free of any customs or taxes. Like I said, this has changed in about the last year.

I have always had to pay customs and taxes with shipments from UPS and FedEx in the past. I can't recall anything from DHL. However, the customs and taxes in the last year or so (I don;t know why this timing seems to coincide with the change at ThaiPost) have been much more reasonable, sometimes none. Thailand has an agreement with certain countries on customs, which is noted on their web site as MapGuy has alluded to. I believe the agreement is referred to as GATT.

I would also check on the weight allowable to be shipped with US Postal Service. I think in the past I was not able to use them because of a weight restriction. The USPS web site is undergoing some changes when I looked at it today.

I have also had registered/signature requested peices gone lost with US Postal service after being tracked by the Thai Post system to a point in the US... just stopped being tracked once reaching a facility in the US after passing through international facilities. This, of course, is going in the opposite direction to which you would be using.

EDIT: By the way, ThaiPost also has their own Customs clearance area like the shipping companies FedEx, UPS, etc.

Edited November 15, 2014 by hml367

[NancyL]

Here's the USPS website: https://www.usps.com/ship/priority-mail-express-international-flat-rate.htm?

Looks like a 20 lb limit to their global priority mail flat rate box, so depending on the size of the OP's book, the publisher may have to do two shipments.

I agree, there could be issues with tracing and insurance -- for high value shipments I'd use DHL/FedEx but after all these are newly published books and if lost, the OP could always just buy copies of his own book, couldn't he? Surely the publisher would give him the wholesale rate.

Incidentally, we've never had anything lost when shipping this way.

[303player]

Great, thanks for this advice.

What I learned from this post is to avoid carriers like UPS, DHL and Fedex.

I am hoping to use the M-bag for this shipment and keep the CIF below 1,000 BHT: https://www.usps.com/ship/airmail-mbags.htm

Edited November 16, 2014 by 303player