Any tips to reduce customs charges ?

[Ks45672]

I have a family member who is a distributer for a popular product in the West.....

I checked the shop's in bkk for the same items and they are 2-3 times more expensive than what he can sell them for..

Its a luxury brand so subject to ridiculous customs charges if they get caught coming in

Is there any way to get a deal from customs on a bulk shipment or will they just Google the Thai price and charge me based on that?

The wife could sell them on Facebook because the brand is popular and there would be no shop rental etc to pay...

[ezzra]

Unless your wife uncle is a high ranking custom official than forget about it, navigating the convoluted, complicated

and seemingly stupid chargers and levies being used by the Thai custom is a daunting task,

and if you find a way, I'd like to bring a second hand Ferrari to Thailand.....

[nidieunimaitre]

When we are in Europe, my wife sends lots of parcels to Thailand, through the post office.

She sells fig trees.

Only once did they charge VAT (on a large registered parcel), with receipt.

Never any import duty.

Never a problem with regulations concerning agricultural produce.

Never anything lost or stolen.

Address of sender and recipient in Thai script.

Small parcels.

Not registered / no tracking.

You could supply the Thai script addresses to the seller in Europe.

[worgeordie]

The company that is selling the product in Thailand,will

most likely have a sole distributorship deal with the

manufacturer,so if you are caught selling the same

product, they would take legal steps to stop you.

If you still want to go ahead,get the product sent

in small parcels by mail,large parcels will draw

attention and will be opened by customs,and once

they are involved,no telling what they will charge

and if value has not been declared properly they

could confiscate to lot.

regards worgeordie

[Ks45672]

The company that is selling the product in Thailand,will

most likely have a sole distributorship deal with the

manufacturer,so if you are caught selling the same

product, they would take legal steps to stop you.

If you still want to go ahead,get the product sent

in small parcels by mail,large parcels will draw

attention and will be opened by customs,and once

they are involved,no telling what they will charge

and if value has not been declared properly they

could confiscate to lot.

regards worgeordie

I don't want to become an official dealer, that's much larger then I had in mind and would never undertake that much hassle in Thai

Customs clearance is a murky area as I've bought shoes which arrived with the price ripped off the box and customs estimated the value at triple the price I paid on ebay. Co. UK and it wasn't easy and took a long time to get a discount to a more reasonable price which was still too high..... But they are a law onto themselves and if they confiscate a few $$$$ of luxury goods it maybe financially unviable to "buy them back"

I could fly over and bring back enough in a suitcase or two to turn over a decent profit but it would be only a matter of time before that got confiscated too and probably even harder to explain at the airport than through the postal service

Its so unpredictable, if I knew I'd pay tax on the USA wholesale price if caught it would be worth it.... But when they can make up the prices at random it seems not worth the hassle ....