Import To Thai / Export From Thai / Weekend Market

[ramramshivaram]

hello,

i need some advice. i lived in thailand from 2001-2003, now i am in europe and got some good businnes idea. main thing is, i can not stand europe anymore, i am 26 now and enough, the last years changed my way. no, not the women thing, but i don' want to do the rat race thing.

cause i don't trust just the stock market to make the money with, i need some other way.

i want to import something (indian handicraft/antiques) from india to thailand, and sell it on internet to oversee customers as well as at a stand at the weekend market. i am german, not married to thai.

my question:

- to open a company i would need a businnes partner to make it legal, and the partner has to own 51 % of the business. american have some special rights. would it be possible to form a company with an american, without any thai in it? or would it even be possible to form a company with a thai without the danger to loose the company to him?

(the thing is: i don't know any trustfully and business minded thai / american to share the company with)

- any special permits / taxes / import regulations to look at? AFAIK there are no import taxes between india and thailand anymore, at least

i saw that in a newspaper?

- any things to think about for the exporting? distribution by website,

sending by airmail (is the 'small package' thing safe, its a good price?) can i declare all as 'gift' or will there be some problem if i appear every day at the post office? any problems for thai to do it?

-weekend market: how expensive is a stand for one month, how easy to get a place there, which salary for thai person selling the things there? which salary for thai selling it on internet when i am in india?

- how official i have to make it? how 'unofficial' could i make it?

- better to make that from malaysia?

thanks a lot

ramramshivaram

[ramramshivaram]

strange, no answers, but i am sure many people make money with this? please help me a little ;-)

[dirtyrider]

Sounds like a good idea! i`m in the same boat, i`m English and think it would be a good idea to sell watches e.t.c on Ebay then send them to the U.S.A and England.

Would you get away with marking things up as gifts? and like ramramshivaram asks would it be o.k to turn up at the post office every day?

There`s a lot of things that would sell well on Ebay from the L.OS

[happymanme]

why not just get a trade account with ups or some one like that no probs then but be aware that your uk and american customers would get charged tax and possible import duty, if you go down the post office route thats ok in bangkok but be advised it takes an age for parcels to leave thailand,14 days from khon kaen to uk......bloody awful

also if you are doing conterfiet goods expect a visit eventually and have every item you own taken from u.

be warned.......

thanks allan

[BKKdreaming]

it always seems so easy....

First as an Ebay buyer I am not sure I would buy from Thailand because of the hassles and added cost to my bid, high shipping and maybe customs problems

Thailand does not have a bad reputation for rip-offs like Indonesia does,

Second how am I to pay you ? Paypal does not work in Thailand , not sure what company does

Third , what are you going to sell ? I have seen stuff at the weekend market that maybe I could sell for double, maybe triple

but not everything will sell , or sell for a profit.

Your ebay fees are going to be high for cheap items (percentage wise) , I owe them $160 from last month

Ebay is a funny game , some weeks its good other weeks dead, hard to run your life that way.

OHH and I would never think about selling bootleg stuff, you will get caught and kicked off Ebay.

[dirtyrider]

it always seems so easy....

First as an Ebay buyer I am not sure I would buy from Thailand because of the hassles and added cost to my bid, high shipping and maybe customs problems

Thailand does not have a bad reputation for rip-offs like Indonesia does,

Second how am I to pay you ? Paypal does not work in Thailand , not sure what company does

Third , what are you going to sell ? I have seen stuff at the weekend market that maybe I could sell for double, maybe triple

but not everything will sell , or sell for a profit.

Your ebay fees are going to be high for cheap items (percentage wise) , I owe them $160 from last month

Ebay is a funny game , some weeks its good other weeks dead, hard to run your life that way.

OHH and I would never think about selling bootleg stuff, you will get caught and kicked off Ebay.

Comments apreciated and noted, you say paypal does not work in Thailand? why cant you just use your old ebay and paypal acount but state on the goods description page that the item is in Asia. Could you not do business as normal but instead of sending from the UK or USA you would be sending from Thailand and on small parcels you could state that they are a gift or sample for order with a value not exeeding £18.

How about sending via EMS or TNT?

As for bootleg gear i agree with you, but how many fake rolex`s do you see people selling on Ebay esp ebay.co.uk? It wouldn`t be hard to get away with sending a watch in the post and marking it as a gift?

There has got to be a way to make a bit of money?

Regards

Dirty.

[BKKdreaming]

here is the paypal info

http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p...closing-outside

Look at paragraph 2.xxi, which is towards the bottom of the page.

Ohh and Paypal also checks your ISP when you check your account,

and if its from an "unauthorized" country will freeze your account

[dirtyrider]

here is the paypal info

http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p...closing-outside

Look at paragraph 2.xxi, which is towards the bottom of the page.

Ohh and Paypal also checks your ISP when you check your account,

and if its from an "unauthorized" country will freeze your account

Thats why i had my account frozen when i got home then Had to send loads of stuff to get it back up, had no probs though when i did send them the info they wanted.

[ramramshivaram]

i had to send them a lot of stuff when i accessed it from thailand, now i am verified, so should be without any problems in the future when access from thailand? the rest i am running on my normal bank account in europe.

any tips to the questions above, post office, etc.? cost of stand at weekend market?

[BKKdreaming]

Just wondering if you logged into Paypal after you gave the extra info.

Did you log in from a computer in Thailand or one at your home ?

Still not sure if they allow logging in from computers/ISPs in Thailand,

at least how I read their rules.

PS....I first found out about this problem on usenet group rec.travel

[ramramshivaram]

i reactivated my account from germany, they wanted a copy of my id-card/passport, bank account slips and credit card slips, as well as a official document with my adress in germany on it. now it works again.

the question is: its verified, what happens if i use it from thailand again? i have to verify it again? what about using a european proxy (like the anonymus ones) ?

[BKKdreaming]

as I read the Paypal rules you are not allowed to check your account from Thailand.

what about using a european proxy (like the anonymus ones) ?.......would "probably" work,

better if its a little known proxy so Paypal would not have a record of its ISP number.

I really do not know , I will NOT check mine while in BKK,

if I need to get to it I will email my brother and have him check it.

[theviking]

Hi.

I am a guy from norway, just got back from thailand trying out the oppurtunitys of selling through internet auctions from thailand.

I might say it went pretty good.

I had a monthly income from my work around 50-75000 baht.

Its hard work, and i didnt take weekends off, but i guess with normal working days, you're income will be around 50.

To the issue about paypal.....you can operate through you're bank account in u.k. ... sell from u.k. and say that you're shipping time will be around 10 days.

There are quite cheep to send parcels from thailand.

My packages was from 200- 800 baht.. depends on the weight...and there will be no custom as long as you retail sell.... but not start to wholesale...it will be expencive to you're costumer.

I hope yhis will help you, and encourage you to give it a try

[Micke]

F.Y.I.

http://www.nopaypal.com

//Mike

[dirtyrider]

Hi.

I am a guy from norway, just got back from thailand trying out the oppurtunitys of selling through internet auctions from thailand.

I might say it went pretty good.

I had a monthly income from my work around 50-75000 baht.

Its hard work, and i didnt take weekends off, but i guess with normal working days, you're income will be around 50.

To the issue about paypal.....you can operate through you're bank account in u.k. ... sell from u.k. and say that you're shipping time will be around 10 days.

There are quite cheep to send parcels from thailand.

My packages was from 200- 800 baht.. depends on the weight...and there will be no custom as long as you retail sell.... but not start to wholesale...it will be expencive to you're costumer.

I hope yhis will help you, and encourage you to give it a try

Thanks for the encouragement Viking What kind of thngs sold well for you? did you ever have any probs with customs?

[theviking]

Hi.

I sent around 200 packages in 1 1/2 month, and i never had problem with the custom.

But you have to send it as small package, and as a gift....look up on the custom regulations to the country you are shipping it to.

And you should send every package registered, cuz you then can trace the package if disappeared.

It will cost you 20 baht extra each package, but its worth it

You should have somebody to speak thai for you at the post office as the most clerks are not good at talk english(either am i, hehe).

You can allso send the package via EMS, its fast, but EXPENSIVE. around 500baht/kg.

You can have all the prices in the post office.

I hope this was helpful.

Wish you luck

[tech]

It would definitely be cheaper if you know what you want to sell. Stock up on it and does a container shipment. You can always share. Some shipping company allows that.

And on top of that, you can do up a bogus invoice with a fake amount for custom declaration but dont over do it. Give a realistic figure.

Some items in weekend market can really sell. I suggest that you approach them and get some rates from them. Get some exclusive deal that you will market it for them and in return, you get a very good deal from the vendor.

[Crash999]

- to open a company i would need a businnes partner to make it legal, and the partner has to own 51 % of the business. american have some special rights. would it be possible to form a company with an american, without any thai in it? or would it even be possible to form a company with a thai without the danger to loose the company to him?

(the thing is: i don't know any trustfully and business minded thai / american to share the company with)

Hi Ramramshivaram,

Yes it's possible to form a company with an American that wouldn't have a Thai in it, but it really isn't necessary. Using a good legal firm you can create a corporate structure whereby the shares held by the Thai majority are essentially worthless. A good law firm will even provide the Thais for you, so you don't have to lean on your girlfriend, maid, and whoever.

My company exports Indian products directly to the US and Europe- good items are home textile products, metal decorative items (candleholders, xmas ornaments, photo frames, etc), and some handicrafts.

Not sure if the Thai free trade agreement with India is fully bilateral and/or what restrictions are in place.

Good luck!

Crash999

[redbyte]

I am about to start on a website to sell my selected items from the Thai market back to the West and need a bit of advice from anyone who may have exported larger items than those spoken about so far.

They range from sofa's to outdoor pagodas all hand made and if requested designed to order. Has anyone sent things of this size and are there any shipping companies to recommend?

Another thing I could do with a bit of advice on is opening a bank account in Hong Kong, I already have the Thai account but would feel a lot safer with a HSBC account in Hong Kong far away from the prying eyes of the Thai/English taxman. I'd hate to stock up my account with fresh notes just to have it frozen for tax evasion.

And does anyone have any tips on internet advertising, I have been looking at Overture and it looks pretty good but would like anyone elses view who may have had experience with it. Any other suggestions taken...

Best

Redbyte

[enda_001]

And does anyone have any tips on internet advertising, I have been looking at Overture and it looks pretty good but would like anyone elses view who may have had experience with it. Any other suggestions taken...

Hi redbyte,

Try Google Adwords to advertise on Google search result page and its network. You will only pay whenever someone click on your text ads (pay per click / PPC).

This service is similar to Overture but has easier, simpler system and IMHO broader audiens. You can target your market by country and by languange.

Your ad can be be up in 10 minutes time, all you need to have is a website and credit card.

Speaking of receiving payment here in Thailand has anybody try to receive payment via Western Union as an alternative to Paypal?

[quiggs]

I would love to know how VIKING specifically marketed this material

[theviking]

hi guys...

in guyss you are all guys....

remember.....you are not selling ou're products...you are selling you're pic's.

if you remember this, you all are a bit further on the road......

On to my ad.........

hehehe...thats my secret na....

you can earn a fortune if u want ja......

just mail me......i tell you right away.

no scam.

promise

best regards

viking

[theviking]

Generally.......

the visa topic is not up here.....check, or search another topic.

in common...not give up you're tries.......

it will work...in the end....if you got costumers:)

[redbyte]

Viking,

I am a graphic designer so I understand what you say about te pictures selling the product. But do you or anyone else have any experience with sending large products the size of say garden furniture or beds?

I could do with talking to someone with exp on shipping large products and also anyone with exp with taking goods from Cambodia to Thaland. I speak Khmer and Thai and have a lot of sources in Phnom Penh I would like to use.

Also any large wholesale suppliers of home decorative items up at Mo Chit would be nice...

Rebyte

[BKKdreaming]

Are you trying to sell these large items on EBAY ?

I think that would be very hard because you could not really quote true shipping cost.

and the cost of shipping could be higher than the item cost.

Better to stick with items that can be shipped by post or UPS/fed-EX

I would think the shipping a full container of furniture might work but lots of others are doing the same thing.

[theviking]

Hi.

I never tried to ship so large items myself, but i had some friends did before.

The only way to do it, is actually to ship a full container.

You will be paying for each m3, but a regullary 40 feet container will cost you 80-100K (baht) to ship to u.s or europe.

There are a lot of shipping agencys, but the best way to do it, is to contact a shipping company from the country you wish to ship it to.

Then they will ship it on their return, and thats regullary cheaper.

Remember to ALLWAYS make an insurance on the container, as the company's insurance not allways will cover all you're goods.

I hope this was helpful.

[ChiangMaiThai]

OHH and I would never think about selling bootleg stuff, you will get caught and kicked off Ebay.

I looked at the software up for auction now. Some of it has go to be bootleg. What's the penalty for selling bootleg software? Ebay says that multiple infractions may result in your account being suspended. Hardly seems like they are concerned.

As far as PayPal, open an account in a country where it works tied to a bank account there. Use yoru ATM card in LOS to access it. Pretty simple...

I would say that duty and shipping costs are the main thing, but not insurmountable.

[ChiangMaiThai]

I am about to start on a website to sell my selected items from the Thai market back to the West and need a bit of advice from anyone who may have exported larger items than those spoken about so far.

They range from sofa's to outdoor pagodas all hand made and if requested designed to order. Has anyone sent things of this size and are there any shipping companies to recommend?

Another thing I could do with a bit of advice on is opening a bank account in Hong Kong, I already have the Thai account but would feel a lot safer with a HSBC account in Hong Kong far away from the prying eyes of the Thai/English taxman. I'd hate to stock up my account with fresh notes just to have it frozen for tax evasion.

And does anyone have any tips on internet advertising, I have been looking at Overture and it looks pretty good but would like anyone elses view who may have had experience with it. Any other suggestions taken...

Best

Redbyte

Remember that containers may get very hot, cold, humid and dry. Consider whether you need a climate controled container or whether you just need to pack things with care. I know people who have sent a container of mulberry tree paper boxes to the US. When they arrived they were all damp and moldy due to the weather fluctuations. Won't do that again.

[BKKdreaming]

......As far as PayPal, open an account in a country where it works tied to a bank account there. Use

yoru ATM card in LOS to access it. Pretty simple.........

Paypal logs which ISP you log in on, so you need to log in from a paypal "legal" country

there are all kinds of ways to make money illegally selling bootleg stuff,

but when the shit hits the fan are you ready for the problems?

sorry not me....

[redbyte]

Thanks for the tip of climate control ChaingMaiThai, dont really see myself dealing in bootleg, too much hastle and there are a wealth of other things to market other than the odd DVD or Armani t-shirt.

Sure, it is possible and a lot of people are making a lot of money from said activities and yes, I have thought strongly about doing it myself, but! As I live in LOS and dont want the anti-counterfeit squad of goons after my arse, I have decided against that line of work

Redbyte