Own used PC sent to Thailand - DHL says customs need passport !?

[loloal]

Hi,

My friend went from France to Samui and wanted me to send his computer there.

We found AirFrance offering such services and thought it would be a safe solution.

Now it happens that AirFrance uses DHL services, wich according to other TVF threads is no good news

Yesterday the DHL tracking showed "Clearance event", we called DHL (Thai) today to know if everything is OK, and they say he should go to BKK customs to show original passport !

Any chance that DHL is wrong about this? Flying to bkk is really not on his timetable now ...

More data :

_ computer in its original 2012 box - not discreet but very strong. Maybe not a good choice because makes it look like a new product ...

_ with the computer : 1 used plastic toy of his son, 1 used pair of jeans, 1 electronic cigarette (another very bad idea I guess - "Hey I really need my computer to arrive without problem, so please put a banned product with it ")

_ In the box I've put a paper sheet with a 50px font text in thai saying "the computer is not new" - but I guess they don't open it and just X-ray ...

_ officially declared on papers : "Personal stuffs" worth 250€, no more detail. At least was THAT a good choice ?

_ I've heard of someone in similar situation who just had to send copy of passport, following a request from DHL, and got his parcel delivered to home 5 days later, no tax. I wonder if sending the passport copy even had any incidence.

May I have your thoughts about this ?

PS : I go to thailand in 2 weeks and offered to bring his computer in my luggages but he refused

[ukrules]

I had a DHL delivery last week, it contained just a few small value items - about 50 pounds in value

There was also a customs event which showed up on the online tracking system.

I first phoned DHL in the UK and they referred to to a 24 hour phone number in Bangkok.

I had to pay some duty/vat of about 20% in total which was expected. I checked the online system the next day and it was released for delivery.

Nobody mentioned anything about requiring a passport or a copy of one.

They did mention me going to a local delivery agent and filling out forms for a bank transfer payment to which I said "I don't want to do go anywhere or do anything, can't you accept a credit card payment over the phone?' The answer was 'yes' and I paid by card and it was delivered the next day.

I've got a UPS one en route from Germany right now. More fun and games no doubt.

So based on my experience I suggest you phone up and tell them you want to pay by credit card over the phone or arrange to go to a local agent to submit any required paperwork. DHL are your customs agent so you should never have to deal with customs directly yourself, at least that's the way I understood it.

[Langsuan Man]

How many times do we have to say it here at Thai Visa ?

Private carriers are Customs Magnets

[JournalistsAreLiars]

Your friend is stupid to deny your offer to carry his computer.

[CharlieH]

As this is about a PC perhaps it may get better responses in the computer forum

MOVED

[ukrules]

How many times do we have to say it here at Thai Visa ?

Private carriers are Customs Magnets

I have no problem paying the correct duty/vat on arrival. All I request from the carrier is that they make it as easy and hassle free as possible for me to do so.

For example a credit card payment over the phone is ideal.

[Suradit69]

How many times do we have to say it here at Thai Visa ?

Private carriers are Customs Magnets

I agree totally. They will definitely get the maximum customs charges and complicate what might have been a simple customs clearance. For most things, if you want the less stressful & cheapest customs experience, use the post office.

Yesterday the DHL tracking showed "Clearance event", we called DHL (Thai) today to know if everything is OK, and they say he should go to BKK customs to show original passport !

Having said that. When I sent a relatively large shipment of used personal and household goods to Thailand in conjunction with staying here full-time, the clearing agent required my passport, not a photocopy, so it may depend on whether it was listed as used personal goods.

Edited November 25, 2014 by Suradit69

[loloal]

Yesterday the DHL tracking showed "Clearance event", we called DHL (Thai) today to know if everything is OK, and they say he should go to BKK customs to show original passport !

Having said that. When I sent a relatively large shipment of used personal and household goods to Thailand in conjunction with staying here full-time, the clearing agent required my passport, not a photocopy, so it may depend on whether it was listed as used personal goods.

I indeed declared everything as "personnal stuff" (I wrote Effets Personnels in french and I don't know how it was translated by AirFrance).

Today DHL called again and said the parcel is supposed to be delivered soon ; no mention of passport this time. Different speaker different information.

Let's wait and see ... what different information we might get tomorrow

[cgphuket]

Its all completely arbatrary. I had a friend send a flower vase he made himself our of ceramics, as a x-mas present. To be honest, I likely wouldn't pay 200 baht in s tore for this, but customs has decided its worth 3000 bath important tax and holding it til I pay. Hope it looks good on their office desk....

[raro]

Been in the shipping business for a while and can assure you that this is the correct procedure.

When goods are imported in a private person's name, the clearing agent needs your original passport. The goods are also subject to import duties and VAT.

This is regardless of your nationality, i.e. also applies to Thais.

[ukrules]

Been in the shipping business for a while and can assure you that this is the correct procedure.

When goods are imported in a private person's name, the clearing agent needs your original passport. The goods are also subject to import duties and VAT.

This is regardless of your nationality, i.e. also applies to Thais.

Maybe there's a certain threshold in value before this identification process kicks in ?

Last week I paid duty and vat on a small import from the UK via DHL over the phone and just today I called UPS about another one coming from Austria which arrived in Bangkok today, they said I need to pay about 600 Baht which I can pay to the driver when he delivers the package.

Edit: If you order anything from Amazon.com they take care of the whole import duty process by charging you for it up front, often they charge more than the amount it will be and refund the difference later. It could be months later, like 6 months.

Edited November 26, 2014 by ukrules

[raro]

Might be that there is some threshold. Anything shipped by regular mail or ems usually also slips through the system. Consider yourself lucky in such a case.

[mike324]

Its all completely arbatrary. I had a friend send a flower vase he made himself our of ceramics, as a x-mas present. To be honest, I likely wouldn't pay 200 baht in s tore for this, but customs has decided its worth 3000 bath important tax and holding it til I pay. Hope it looks good on their office desk....

Back in the 90s where corporate gift giving was big, we got a baccarat crystal vase from a customer, had to pay over 8000 baht in taxes for it.

Even had the wrong value written down on a sample we received, it should have been $5 but sender wrote $500, had to pay through the nose for something that was worthless.

Also had a goods that we shipped out that was returned to us for fixing, we had to pay import taxes on that even though it was originally made in and exported from Thailand.

[Chicog]

I once had a large donation of toys for Phuket schoolkids on the anniversary of the tsunami, and when it landed there they wanted Bt300,000 in duty.

A few very polite faxes later, to the Thailand MFA from a foreign government, and that all went out of the window.

I ended up paying a Bt800 "Processing Fee" and they were all stood outside to greet me when I went to collect.

Could not have been more helpful, although I'm sure I heard spitting noises when my back was turned.

[loloal]

OP here.

New DHL tracking status is "Shipment held - Available upon receipt of payment"

DHL called and said : Delivery tomorrow at home ; 2800 THB will be asked, at home.

If this is true this is pretty good news and I consider ourself lucky

declared value 250 € shipping cost 270 € total 520 € = around 21000 THB

2800 is 13% of 21000 (and without the maths about VAT etc ! )

Let's pray tomorrow doesn't come with a massive change about this

[ukrules]

Let's pray tomorrow doesn't come with a massive change about this

You will be ok, as I outlined in my examples above this is a standard procedure. I will be making a 600 Baht payment to the driver when my UPS shipment from Austria arrives in a couple of days.

If you insisted you could have paid with a credit card over the phone like I did with DHL about a week ago.

[dddave]

While not the issue here people should be aware that there are laws in Thailand restricting the importation of used computer and other IT equipment.

A number of years ago, when baggage weight limits were much more liberal, I brought three used desktop units from the USA to donate to my local Moo Ban school.

Thai Customs pointed out the restrictions and told me that there were paperwork requirements that should have been completed in advance. Fortunately, I had the phone number of the school headmaster and they called him and had a long chat. Turned out the Customs Inspector was also from Udon Thani where the computers were going.

I was eventually allowed to pass through with the computers. No money was asked for.

[mike324]

OP here.

New DHL tracking status is "Shipment held - Available upon receipt of payment"

DHL called and said : Delivery tomorrow at home ; 2800 THB will be asked, at home.

If this is true this is pretty good news and I consider ourself lucky

declared value 250 € shipping cost 270 € total 520 € = around 21000 THB

2800 is 13% of 21000 (and without the maths about VAT etc ! )

Let's pray tomorrow doesn't come with a massive change about this

Shipping costs 270 euro! some people have too much money to blow, I bet thats 1/2 or 1/3 the cost of the laptop! Your friend could have bought a new laptop here for 270 euro!

[ukrules]

My UPS delivery from Austria arrived today, the delivery guy phoned me when he was outside the gate and I went and paid him the approximately 600 Baht duty/vat fee.

No problems.

I might add that although my delivery was a personal delivery in my own name and not a company name it came from a company and had an invoice attached to it with a clear and true value on it.

[loloal]

Finally delivered today after a funny daily serie of "we cannot deliver because your phone number is wrong" while the phone number is right and had already been asked like 10 times. Same circus several days in a row.

This confirms @ukrules good practice to ask to pay taxes by credit card on the phone, which is probably a more successful way to unlock the situation quickly.

For information DHL even found a way to call the OWNER of the house where my friend is living and where he got it delivered. Like, they wanted to be sure that the Farang wasn't using someone's adress ?

The funny part is, they called the owner AFTER the delivery, not aware it was already delivered.

DHL Thai seems to have a quite unreliable data management ...

The box had some unexpected holes but nothing broken inside.

PS : someone was intrigued about the fact we paid 270€ to send a computer. Actually this is a 'all in one' 27" PC with many softwares and settings on it, buying and setting up everything again in Thailand would have been a pain in the /deleted/ worth the cost. But I understand your surprise.