Did I just make a big mistake by ordering a tablet from China and choosing DHL(customs)?

[wat]

Title says it all really. I found a good deal on a tablet from China, total came to 7k THB shipped. And I had the choice of free standard shipping, or expedited shipping which I believe will be DHL, also for free. Standard shipping was estimated to take much longer so I chose the expedited shipping. I totally forgot though that DHL has a reputation here for charging the full amount of taxes/duty on every single package.

Possibly relevant point: I did not ship it under my (foreign) name, addressed it to a Thai national.

I might still be able to contact the site and get them to change the shipping method. Quick googling resulted in lots of different numbers, 40%, 80% were mentioned which is why I'm making the post. If it's going to be like 500 baht or something, I'm not too concerned. But I don't want to end up paying thousands of baht more than this thing is worth.

The only personal experience I have is a friend who ordered some expensive headphones online, which were worth over $300, and he got hit with around 500 baht. Which is fine, but I suspect that they had no idea how much the headphones were actually worth.

[WaywardWind]

Probably not, although one never knows with DHL.

There is no customs tariff for computer tablets, but they are subject to the 7% VAT:

http://www.dutycalculator.com/popular-import-items/import-duty-and-taxes-for-tablet-pc/

[lostinisaan]

OMG. Why would anybody want to order anything from China? I remember a guy who'd done that and was completely in the rain. Neither did the "good looking phone work nor did he get a replacement.

These days you'll find Advice computer shops all over Thailand, at least one shop in a province. Why don't you go there, make your order, do not worry about DHL, or how to get that thing in?

They can order anything you want and you'll have warranty. If there's something wrong within 7 days just give it back and get a new one.

There's a sticker on all machines and parts where you can check in English if the thingy still has warranty. I was positively surprised when I found out that my Dell laptop battery still had warranty after 11 months. Went to the shop, they ordered a new one and I got a brand new and full functioning battery now with another year of warranty.

I've got a program that can read the battery wear. The former battery came with a 34 % worn out message, the new one shows zero.

Please see: ( comes in English and Thai) https://www.advice.co.th/product

Edited November 19, 2015 by lostinisaan

[wat]

OMG. Why would anybody want to order anything from China? I remember a guy who'd done that and was completely in the rain. Neither did the "good looking phone work nor did he get a replacement.

These days you'll find Advice computer shops all over Thailand, at least one shop in a province. Why don't you go there, make your order, do not worry about DHL, or how to get that thing in?

They can order anything you want and you'll have warranty. If there's something wrong within 7 days just give it back and get a new one.

There's a sticker on all machines and parts where you can check in English if the thingy still has warranty. I was positively surprised when I found out that my Dell laptop battery still had warranty after 11 months. Went to the shop, they ordered a new one and I got a brand new and full functioning battery now with another year of warranty.

I've got a program that can read the battery wear. The former battery came with a 34 % worn out message, the new one shows zero.

Please see: ( comes in English and Thai) https://www.advice.co.th/product

This tablet is a brand new product just starting to ship with some killer specs for the price. And the company that makes it has made similar products that have been well reviewed. It isn't available in Thailand yet, but if it was I probably would have just bought it here. It has a 1 year warranty and I get 45 days to return it so I'm not too worried.

[lostinisaan]

OMG. Why would anybody want to order anything from China? I remember a guy who'd done that and was completely in the rain. Neither did the "good looking phone work nor did he get a replacement.

These days you'll find Advice computer shops all over Thailand, at least one shop in a province. Why don't you go there, make your order, do not worry about DHL, or how to get that thing in?

They can order anything you want and you'll have warranty. If there's something wrong within 7 days just give it back and get a new one.

There's a sticker on all machines and parts where you can check in English if the thingy still has warranty. I was positively surprised when I found out that my Dell laptop battery still had warranty after 11 months. Went to the shop, they ordered a new one and I got a brand new and full functioning battery now with another year of warranty.

I've got a program that can read the battery wear. The former battery came with a 34 % worn out message, the new one shows zero.

Please see: ( comes in English and Thai) https://www.advice.co.th/product

This tablet is a brand new product just starting to ship with some killer specs for the price. And the company that makes it has made similar products that have been well reviewed. It isn't available in Thailand yet, but if it was I probably would have just bought it here. It has a 1 year warranty and I get 45 days to return it so I'm not too worried.

It's like ordering clothes online. Might be too baggy, or just too tight. A brand new product, such as Windows 10, with still a few "ready to fix" issues?

Why not something that already has a great review? I prefer to see with whom I get married. Best f luck with it.

Edited November 19, 2015 by lostinisaan

[Linesy]

OMG. Why would anybody want to order anything from China? I remember a guy who'd done that and was completely in the rain. Neither did the "good looking phone work nor did he get a replacement.

These days you'll find Advice computer shops all over Thailand, at least one shop in a province. Why don't you go there, make your order, do not worry about DHL, or how to get that thing in?

They can order anything you want and you'll have warranty. If there's something wrong within 7 days just give it back and get a new one.

There's a sticker on all machines and parts where you can check in English if the thingy still has warranty. I was positively surprised when I found out that my Dell laptop battery still had warranty after 11 months. Went to the shop, they ordered a new one and I got a brand new and full functioning battery now with another year of warranty.

I've got a program that can read the battery wear. The former battery came with a 34 % worn out message, the new one shows zero.

Please see: ( comes in English and Thai) https://www.advice.co.th/product

This tablet is a brand new product just starting to ship with some killer specs for the price. And the company that makes it has made similar products that have been well reviewed. It isn't available in Thailand yet, but if it was I probably would have just bought it here. It has a 1 year warranty and I get 45 days to return it so I'm not too worried.

You will have problems trying to return items with fixed batteries, Thailand Post EMS will probably reject it leaving you to try expensive couriers with no guarantee of acceptance either.

[bubba]

So 45 days to return it? I wonder if they will reimburse the cost of shipping and taxes to deliver, plus the cost of shipping it back. And then, will you actually get a refund from a Chinese company with a new product?

[craigt3365]

My buddy ordered a tablet online from China. Lasted 4 months. Killer specs and all.

[HooHaa]

but more to the point, dhl will likely charge you an arbitrary tax amount before they release your tablet. standard shipping is always the better choice

[Linesy]

Don't buy from outside Thailand is best!

[HooHaa]

Don't buy from outside Thailand is best!

no, it is not the best. there are many products that cannot be purchased in thailand or are available cheaper over the web. I and many others make successful purchases weekly and hve few to no issues as long as we avoid the major couriers who charge customs fees.

[Briggsy]

but more to the point, dhl will likely charge you an arbitrary tax amount before they release your tablet. standard shipping is always the better choice

This old urban myth raises its ugly head again. DHL neither assess the value of the item, nor decide how much tax is due nor profit from the tax collected. DHL have no choice but to act as collection agents for the government. Same for the other couriers. Same as shops and businesses have to collect VAT on behalf ot the government. Same as employers have to collect income tax on behalf of the government.

However, these threads always turn into a series of vitriolic posts bashing the couriers when the amount of tax due is assessed and ultimately received by Customs.

[Linesy]

Don't buy from outside Thailand is best!

no, it is not the best. there are many products that cannot be purchased in thailand or are available cheaper over the web. I and many others make successful purchases weekly and hve few to no issues as long as we avoid the major couriers who charge customs fees.

Up to you, I speak from personal experience, a guarantee means nothing if you can't send it back. This post is specific to a Tablet which normally have fixed batteries. Perhaps I should re- word it don't buy products containing fixed batteries outside Thailand.

[rodroy]

Double headed bad decision!

[craigt3365]

Quick note. Lazada is great with delivery and has great prices. I'm not sure it's worth saving a few Baht to buy online from China what might already be available there????

[Kerryd]

It's not DHL, it's the Customs Brokers that DHL deals with that charge the exorbitant fees.

For example, last December I shipped 2 boxes of personal effects (boots, books, sleeping bag and assorted personal items) when we closed out in Kandahar. I itemized everything, made copies of my passport (with Non-O(A) Visa extension) did all the proper paperwork (shipping stuff to various countries was a part of my regular job at the time so yeah, my paperwork was all in order). The total declared value for everything was about 35,000 baht ($1,000 USD).

I arrived in Thailand. A couple days later one of my boxes was delivered. The next day I received a notice (from a Customs Broker) that my other box was held up in Customs. They wanted to see my passport. I told them that I had included photocopies of it and they told me no, they wanted to see my previous passport to see if it had a Non-O(A) visa in it as well !! <deleted> !!!

Then they told me that the box that had been delivered the day before had to be returned. They honestly wanted me to repack it and send it back to them. They were even going to send a driver to pick it up and I could give the driver my passport (yeah like that was ever going to happen).

Then they told me it would cost 17,000 baht and they could deliver the box in the next week or so !

I got a friend to drive me to to the Free Zone and we found the broker. After a lengthy discussion they told me if I wanted they could contact an "independent" agent who could do the job for a mere 12,000 baht. I knew right then it was a rip off. How could my "customs fees" drop by 5,000 baht "just like that" ?

I agreed to the independent agent and spent the next 8 hours running around the Free Zone with him. At one point I had to pay a 2,000 baht "storage fee" at the bonded warehouse because my box had been there 2 frikken days. We had to go to the DHL office because Customs still wanted to see 2 "pieces" for the shipment.

DHL was great. They realized they'd screwed up by sending me my first box without it going through Customs first. They reimbursed me for the storage fee and helped me with the issue of only having 1 piece of the "2 piece" shipment.

Finally we went to an actual Customs Agent (not a broker) and a couple of pieces of paper later (some with a 1 and a couple zeros on them) the Agent lifts the lid of my second box, sees the boots, shirts, etc, closes the lid and stamps the paperwork and we were finally good to go. She never even looked at the "second" piece of the shipment.

So I ended up paying 12,000 baht for a shipment worth (barely) double that, but the actual Customs fees were only about 2,000 from what I can decipher on the official paperwork. The P.O. factor was that if I'd just carried those boxes through the airport with me instead of being lazy and shipping them (the company was paying for the shipping), I probably wouldn't have even been stopped at Customs and even if they had checked my stuff, as soon as they saw the boots, books, shirts, socks, etc, they'd have waived me through with me having to pay anything.

In 2010 I had also shipped a box of assorted stuff through DHL and also ended up with an issue. In that case I ended up paying 21,000 baht on a shipment valued at about $1,200 US (36,000 baht) and 3 weeks after my box had arrived in Bangkok it was finally delivered. Again, it was the Broker that were responsible for the excess fees, not DHL.

Edited November 20, 2015 by Kerryd

[HooHaa]

fine, put it any way you want, but can you deny that you are much more likely to be levied tax when using a major courier.

no, you can not.

[menzies233]

I buy many things online from China and Hong Kong, generally they come with free shipping and never really had a problem in that you generally get what you pay for. I have never been charged duty / tax etc. as most companies mark the item as "Gift". The only time I ever had to cough up was a parcel from Vietnam that was covered in Vietnamese stamps, but the Thai post said it was 3 Baht short.

[nithisa78]

just pay up.

[recom273]

I think you will likely to be hit with import tax from customs.

I looked around for a tank bag for my bike for months, I couldn't find anything suitable and ordered one from Italy, the bag was quality European gear and I payed a further 2500b in tax.

It's only money :s I couldn't even get close with anything here, so that's what it cost.

Maybe don't worry and realize that the tablet cost you 10k, like you say - has better specs than you will find here, and with DHL you will have it within 3 days or something.

[Dan5]

My experience over many years and over 100 shipments is that you almost always pay customs duties with DHL, UPD etc. And very high duties taxes etc. sometimes more than 100%. Seems to me outrageous. But with EMS almost never paying any customs duties. The shipments generally go right through without getting checked by customs. Unless I'm in a hurry, I always use EMS.

[judax]

Here some advice. Don't buy in Thailand or China if you have a chance to buy in Europe. The prices are about the same but in Europe you get by law 2 years warranty on electronics like Cell Phones, Tablets etc

For a Samsung Tablet at Central Festival the warranty differed from shop to shop from 4 month to 1 year max.

[Sakeopete]

I buy through e-bay all the time from China most are free shipping. I haven't paid customs anything so far thought shipping takes a few weeks.

[Dan5]

My experience over many years and over 100 shipments is that you almost always pay customs duties with DHL, UPD etc. And very high duties taxes etc. sometimes more than 100%. Seems to me outrageous. But with EMS almost never paying any customs duties. The shipments generally go right through without getting checked by customs. Unless I'm in a hurry, I always use EMS.

I remember one DHL shipment where customs charged me in addition to import and VAT taxes over $100 for storage and handling fees for a package that weighed less than a pound. After that I started using EMS.

[samsensam]

assuming you did some basic internet research on the seller and they have received positive feedback you should be fine

i bought a camera from digitalrev in hk. checked them out they seemed fine and indeed were. very prompt and product exactly as advertised.

[mcfish]

I ordered a piece of junk tablet from China. Total crap but you get what you pay for, it died in a week so I sent it back and a month later it return having never left the country because thai post won't send a lithium battery in the mail. I now have a Samsung 10.1 galaxy and love it

Sent from my SC-01D using Tapatalk

[Gutterboy]

All the couriers are crooks.

They may blame it on the customs, but I'm sure the truth is they're all working together to scam as much money out of us as possible. Sadly once it's in their hands you'll never get it delivered without paying extortionate fees. What's really stupid is that most of us would be happy to pay a fair rate of tax, but not the greedy, arbitrary rates that they just seem to pull out of their arse depending on how they're feeling that day. The result is we all get burned once and then never, ever use them again - so they would probably make more money in the long term if only they were reasonable about it. (But of course it's futile to expect that sort of mature behaviour in this part of the world)!

EMS all the way!

[bubba]

If you are going to use an air courier, from my experience go with Fedex. Much more reliable and responsive service in Thailand. Having also used DHL, it seemed that when customs duties were assessed on a Fedex shipment, the duties and tax may have been the same as DHL for a similar shipment, but DHL always had much higher broker and documentation charges. Also, every single DHL shipment we received apart from documents had tax and fees assessed. Many small sized, low value shipments we received were passed free.

If you are going to use an air courier to ship something to Thailand, I would definitely go with Fedex over DHL.

[misterphil]

Youll get stung for customs tax.

Youll be pissed off with the tablet.

You could of bought a second hand iPad for the same money.

[mcfish]

Youll get stung for customs tax.

Youll be pissed off with the tablet.

You could of bought a second hand iPad for the same money.

yep and when it breaks , and it will break..you cant send it back for warranty unless its by land with a 2 month journey