Anthony5 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 I have some garden tools that arrived by USPS at Customs the morning of 10 March, and haven't moved since. according to track and trace. Is this normal behavior? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onemorechang Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 (edited) Buying gardening tools from the States . No, not normal behaviour. 4 days at customs, yes about normal. some slow some quick just pot luck. Edited March 14, 2015 by onemorechang 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Asiantravel Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 (edited) Definitely not normal. Just contact UPS because maybe they have some extra requirements that you have to meet or supply additional documents. I purchased a water flosser from overseas and it was held up for several days because in order to meet Food and Drug Administration requirements I had to provide a medical certificate! Edited March 14, 2015 by Asiantravel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mania Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 (edited) If your tracking it & you see the word "Retention" That means it is being held for import taxes/VAT due It also means they will or have sent you a notice that sometimes takes quite awhile to arrive What I do when tracking incoming is watch for "Retention" If I see it that means it is here & I can go to the main post office & pay the fee Just take the tracking number with you Usually a week or so after I have picked it up I receive a notice in the mail I have a package waiting (The one I already picked up) PS: If you want to know roughly what if anything will be owed in taxes etc this site is pretty close to correct whenever I have used it http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/ Edited March 14, 2015 by mania 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
h90 Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Definitely not normal. Just contact UPS because maybe they have some extra requirements that you have to meet or supply additional documents. I purchased a water flosser from overseas and it was held up for several days because in order to meet Food and Drug Administration requirements I had to provide a medical certificate! USPS not UPS USPS is the normal post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony5 Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 (edited) If your tracking it & you see the word "Retention" That means it is being held for import taxes/VAT due It also means they will or have sent you a notice that sometimes takes quite awhile to arrive What I do when tracking incoming is watch for "Retention" If I see it that means it is here & I can go to the main post office & pay the fee Just take the tracking number with you Usually a week or so after I have picked it up I receive a notice in the mail I have a package waiting (The one I already picked up) PS: If you want to know roughly what if anything will be owed in taxes etc this site is pretty close to correct whenever I have used it http://www.dutycalculator.com/new-import-duty-and-tax-calculation/ This is all it shows. March 10, 2015 10:16:42 BANGKOK MAIL CENTER Accept March 10, 2015 11:50:07 BANGKOK MAIL CENTER To Customs Edited March 14, 2015 by Anthony5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arjunadawn Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 Today I just received my notice- my stuff has been in customs since 09 March. So... I receive the same stuff internationally each month and it has never been sent to customs before. I cant do anything about it. BTW, if I ever use yard tools again I will also get them from the states. Worst junk ever, everywhere I have looked here. Every item I have ever bought has broken, within days to weeks of use. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mania Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 well that is normal stuff Anthony albeit very slow. But does not say Retention so all good so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony5 Posted March 14, 2015 Author Share Posted March 14, 2015 Today I just received my notice- my stuff has been in customs since 09 March. So... I receive the same stuff internationally each month and it has never been sent to customs before. I cant do anything about it. BTW, if I ever use yard tools again I will also get them from the states. Worst junk ever, everywhere I have looked here. Every item I have ever bought has broken, within days to weeks of use. It are actually not really garden tools, but rather sprinkler pop ups and MP rotators for the irrigation system. Over here the exact same rotator is 650 Baht, while from the states they are $5.10. Same with the spray heads which are here 185 Baht and in the states $1.30. Shipping with USPS priority including insurance for 95 items was $62. It will all depend what import duty they gonna slap on it, but I doubt it will be 400% Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony5 Posted March 17, 2015 Author Share Posted March 17, 2015 It is now 8 days that it was moved to customs, and still no update on the tracking page. Should I start to worry? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony5 Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 well that is normal stuff Anthony albeit very slow. But does not say Retention so all good so far Called Thailand post today and they told me package was released from Customs yesterday. I asked them how much tax needed to pay and they answered customs didn't inform them about that. This evening the tracking is updated and it doesn't say anything about Retention. Curious if there will be any charges. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whale Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 You will get a bill when its delivered, or will be sent a message to come to the post office to collect and pay, its an offcial bill (yellow or blue in colour) stating how much (if any) customs have assessed it at. The whole process is normal. Just pay the bill. USPS is a great service - -my preferred one for goods from the states. Beware FedEX though, I avoid them like the plague as have had big problems with them and customs assessment. UPS are fine but you always pay customs duty. DHL same as UPS. USPS and most national systems (australia post, royal mail, etc) seem much better at "avoiding" customs duty in most cases IMHO. All of my problems have been with FedEX, theres something amiss between customs and FedEX. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mania Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 (edited) well that is normal stuff Anthony albeit very slow. But does not say Retention so all good so far Called Thailand post today and they told me package was released from Customs yesterday. I asked them how much tax needed to pay and they answered customs didn't inform them about that. This evening the tracking is updated and it doesn't say anything about Retention. Curious if there will be any charges. tracking.JPG I have never had something delivered if it had charges due. Of course if none due it will come straight to residence You have to figure they would not want to carry things to a home & not be sure they would be paid or if your home etc. Hence the retention notice Your picture you show is probably not done yet The final thing you will see will either state "Out For Delivery" or "Retention" Here are two examples of something not requiring retention & one requiring retention/taxes The one you see with retention is one of many I have gone in & paid for. It was faster than waiting for a mailed notice to come so it is good your watching on-line & will get a head start if you see it is retained. Also as you can see "Dispatch" can often just mean moving to next post office in route to final destination. But the good news is it is moving in your direction now Retention occurs not at customs but at final post office So if you ever see "Out For Delivery" you know it is coming to you that day. If you see "Retention" then write your tracking number down & head to the main post office in your area & submit it at the package pickup window Good Luck hope you get your sprinkler heads soon Edited March 19, 2015 by mania 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robblok Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 @mania, Same here never had a package delivered at the door by normal Thai post (not the couriers they come to collect) that I had to pay duty on. If there was duty to be paid I would get a paper with the amount of duty and I had to pay at the post office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony5 Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 @mania, Same here never had a package delivered at the door by normal Thai post (not the couriers they come to collect) that I had to pay duty on. If there was duty to be paid I would get a paper with the amount of duty and I had to pay at the post office. I have had a few packages in the past where for some reason the postman claimed 7 Baht, always exactly 7 Baht, never received a received a written request or receipt for it. I guess the postman took some financial risks on those occasions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony5 Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 Update, looks as if they tried to deliver in the middle of the night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robblok Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 @mania, Same here never had a package delivered at the door by normal Thai post (not the couriers they come to collect) that I had to pay duty on. If there was duty to be paid I would get a paper with the amount of duty and I had to pay at the post office. I have had a few packages in the past where for some reason the postman claimed 7 Baht, always exactly 7 Baht, never received a received a written request or receipt for it. I guess the postman took some financial risks on those occasions I have had that too.. but that is different.. that is not duty. I have no idea why or how and I did not care.. 7 bt does not kill me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anthony5 Posted March 20, 2015 Author Share Posted March 20, 2015 Postman just came around with the documents. As there was no value declared on the shipment documents, customs valued it at 3000 Baht. Import duty was 5% and VAT, for a total of 371 Baht. I think I can live with that, since the goods if bought in Thailand would have cost me about 25.000 Baht more than what I paid for the goods in th US including shipping and import duty. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieH Posted March 20, 2015 Share Posted March 20, 2015 "The parcel mystery" is now over and sorted. CLOSED. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.png.3b3332cc2256ad0edbc2fe9404feeef0.png)
Recommended Posts