Order on Amazon

[Berty100]

I have never ordered anything on Amazon, because normally they don't ship the item I select to Thailand.

Today I found an item I want, and it will ship to Thailand.

So question is if it will come in under the radar, like with most Ebay or Aliexpress items, or ar you guaranteed to be charged import duties when ordering from Amazon?

[1FinickyOne]

my best guess would be it would depend more on what it was that you ordered... good luck.

[ukrules]

I've found that this depends on who's selling you the item. Not everything you buy through Amazon.com comes from Amazon themselves.

If it's being sold direct from Amazon then all expected duty / VAT will be paid in advance at the time of ordering and held by Amazon. Normally they overcharge a bit to cover various duty scenarios and a partial refund will appear on your card several months later. I've done this several times over the years.

Purchasing direct from Amazon.com (international division or something like that) is by far the easiest way to do it as they handle everything.

If you purchase through one of their partners then the courier used can be important, some are much better at handling shipping than others - they are our customs agent.

So if you choose the cheap post office option you might find that you have no capable customs agent and need to deal direct with customs yourself - don't do this.

I tend to use DHL or FedEx where available as they are very experienced at dealing with customs on behalf of their customers. They charge for this service but that's what you would expect.

[Cheesekraft]

go to check out, you will see "import and customs duty deposit' it wont be more than this. They will pay for you, and you will get a very slow refund for any extra later on.

[Berty100]

I've found that this depends on who's selling you the item. Not everything you buy through Amazon.com comes from Amazon themselves.

If it's being sold direct from Amazon then all expected duty / VAT will be paid in advance at the time of ordering and held by Amazon. Normally they overcharge a bit to cover various duty scenarios and a partial refund will appear on your card several months later. I've done this several times over the years.

Purchasing direct from Amazon.com (international division or something like that) is by far the easiest way to do it as they handle everything.

If you purchase through one of their partners then the courier used can be important, some are much better at handling shipping than others - they are our customs agent.

So if you choose the cheap post office option you might find that you have no capable customs agent and need to deal direct with customs yourself - don't do this.

I tend to use DHL or FedEx where available as they are very experienced at dealing with customs on behalf of their customers. They charge for this service but that's what you would expect.

That is exactly my point, I won't order if it is shipped by DHL or Fedex, because that would guarantee extra costs. When I order from Ebay or Aliexpress it comes in 99% of the cases delivered to my door without any extra charge.

So I tried to find out if I can expect the same when ordering from Amazon. It concerns here small electronic item for 49$

[Berty100]

go to check out, you will see "import and customs duty deposit' it wont be more than this. They will pay for you, and you will get a very slow refund for any extra later on.

There is nothing charged at checkout, and the item comes with free shipping.

I wouldn't order anyway if the charged import duties upfront.

[trd]

go to check out, you will see "import and customs duty deposit' it wont be more than this. They will pay for you, and you will get a very slow refund for any extra later on.

There is nothing charged at checkout, and the item comes with free shipping.

I wouldn't order anyway if the charged import duties upfront.

I don't know what you ordered but some items don't incur import duty. If it's not on your invoice you won't be charged anything. Edited May 10, 2016 by trd

[ukrules]

Well attempting to avoid import duty will potentially cause you problems, better to just 'suck it up' and pay it.

I would much rather order something where it's pre paid and all handled for me by a customs agent, that way I won't ever need to interact with the morons who work for customs.

With no customs agent acting on your behalf (DHL / FedEx) you're on you own and they will clean you out.

[Berty100]

Well attempting to avoid import duty will potentially cause you problems, better to just 'suck it up' and pay it.

I would much rather order something where it's pre paid and all handled for me by a customs agent, that way I won't ever need to interact with the morons who work for customs.

With no customs agent acting on your behalf (DHL / FedEx) you're on you own and they will clean you out.

I'm ordering from Ebay and Aliexpress for many years, and think all by all have paid once or twice import duties, out of at least 100 orders over the years.

Never been asked also for it, but also never used DHL or Fedex, and never will use it.

Those one or two times I had to pay import duties, no agent involved, postman had an official note with the price of the duties attached to the package.

Edited May 10, 2016 by Berty100

[Thian]

I always thought that under 50us$ we were free to import what we like. Never had problems. Also i thought we are free to import untill 10.000 baht at Swampy airport but my numbers might be old or wrong.

[Berty100]

Just tried my first order on Amazon, and it immediately became clear that I will NEVER order from a company with dubious sales practices.

The item I wanted to order was 15.57$ and was eligible for free shipping.

Then when I got to the checkout that 15.57$ at once became 46.55$ because 17.48$ of FREE shipping was added and another 13.50$, or almost 100%, in import duties.

No thank you Amazon, a similar product is available from Lazada for 812 Baht all included, and is also shipped from abroad

[siam2007]

Just tried my first order on Amazon, and it immediately became clear that I will NEVER order from a company with dubious sales practices.

The item I wanted to order was 15.57$ and was eligible for free shipping.

Amazon 1.PNG

Then when I got to the checkout that 15.57$ at once became 46.55$ because 17.48$ of FREE shipping was added and another 13.50$, or almost 100%, in import duties.

Amazon 2.PNG

No thank you Amazon, a similar product is available from Lazada for 812 Baht all included, and is also shipped from abroad

Lazada 1.PNG

I would never order ANYTHING on lazada that is "shipped from abroad" (CHINA!)

you don't even have any informations who the seller is, in your case a certain "WELCOMEHOME" enterprise of which you know NOTHING. could be your neighbors poodle. go with REPUTABLE local online shops such as invadeit

[Berty100]

Just tried my first order on Amazon, and it immediately became clear that I will NEVER order from a company with dubious sales practices.

The item I wanted to order was 15.57$ and was eligible for free shipping.

Amazon 1.PNG

Then when I got to the checkout that 15.57$ at once became 46.55$ because 17.48$ of FREE shipping was added and another 13.50$, or almost 100%, in import duties.

Amazon 2.PNG

No thank you Amazon, a similar product is available from Lazada for 812 Baht all included, and is also shipped from abroad

Lazada 1.PNG

I would never order ANYTHING on lazada that is "shipped from abroad" (CHINA!)

you don't even have any informations who the seller is, in your case a certain "WELCOMEHOME" enterprise of which you know NOTHING. could be your neighbors poodle. go with REPUTABLE local online shops such as invadeit

Thanks for your advice, maybe you could also point me to a similar product on the Invadeit site.

[Thian]

Amazon also let's you fill in the creditcard details before you see the total price including all.

Yesterday i wanted to buy a solarpanel for 45$ but when i went to checkout it was 125 including all to Thailand. I could still cancel it but was annoyed they let me fill in the card first.

[HelenGreene]

order it. You will get the product

[ukrules]

It's amazing that some people don't realise that the 'free shipping' only applies if the delivery address is located in the country where Amazon is shipping from and that to send it half way around the world actually costs a lot more and is of course charged to you.

If I use Amazon it's for items which are impossible to find locally and then I pay express shipping along with the full duty and tax which is applied to both the ordered items and the shipping cost.

Ordering from the USA is much cheaper than the UK due to shipping charges being much cheaper from the US, we're talking DHL or FedEx here.

Also, it's quite common for the express shipping around the world to cost more than the goods and you will be taxed on the shipping amount as well.

It's not a rip off, you're paying for a high end service here.

[Berty100]

It's amazing that some people don't realise that the 'free shipping' only applies if the delivery address is located in the country where Amazon is shipping from and that to send it half way around the world actually costs a lot more and is of course charged to you.

If I use Amazon it's for items which are impossible to find locally and then I pay express shipping along with the full duty and tax which is applied to both the ordered items and the shipping cost.

Ordering from the USA is much cheaper than the UK due to shipping charges being much cheaper from the US, we're talking DHL or FedEx here.

Also, it's quite common for the express shipping around the world to cost more than the goods and you will be taxed on the shipping amount as well.

It's not a rip off, you're paying for a high end service here.

No free shipping is not only for shipping within the US, because from the time you just view the item they already know it has to be shipped to Banglamung - Thailand.

It is when you check out, and only at the very last step, that you get informed that you need to order more books to get the free shipping.I forgot the amount but it's something like $50 of books on top of my surge protector.. If I order something from Ebay or any other e-commerce site, and it says free shipping in the listing, that mean the item will ship for free at the check out as well.

And do you think it's normal that on a $15.90 item there will be $13.70 import duties?

Yes it is a rip off, and I don't see anything high end in shipping a surge protector by USPS, and you are clearly their fanboy.

[ukrules]

It's amazing that some people don't realise that the 'free shipping' only applies if the delivery address is located in the country where Amazon is shipping from and that to send it half way around the world actually costs a lot more and is of course charged to you.

If I use Amazon it's for items which are impossible to find locally and then I pay express shipping along with the full duty and tax which is applied to both the ordered items and the shipping cost.

Ordering from the USA is much cheaper than the UK due to shipping charges being much cheaper from the US, we're talking DHL or FedEx here.

Also, it's quite common for the express shipping around the world to cost more than the goods and you will be taxed on the shipping amount as well.

It's not a rip off, you're paying for a high end service here.

No free shipping is not only for shipping within the US, because from the time you just view the item they already know it has to be shipped to Banglamung - Thailand.

It is when you check out, and only at the very last step, that you get informed that you need to order more books to get the free shipping.I forgot the amount but it's something like $50 of books on top of my surge protector.. If I order something from Ebay or any other e-commerce site, and it says free shipping in the listing, that mean the item will ship for free at the check out as well.

And do you think it's normal that on a $15.90 item there will be $13.70 import duties?

Yes it is a rip off, and I don't see anything high end in shipping a surge protector by USPS, and you are clearly their fanboy.

Duty is calculated on the cost of the item PLUS the shipping cost. So if you send it by $100 FedEx express service you will pay full duty and VAT on $115.90.

There is no such thing as free shipping.

Fanboy ? LOL, I guess that makes you a retard when it comes to matters of international trade but you have a lot to learn.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The unfortunate thing about Amazon's international shipping is, in most instances, Amazon itself as a seller tends to use DHL or FedEx as their international shippers -- which pretty much guarantees almost anything you order is going to be charged Thai customs duty and tax.

There are international reshippers people can use with Amazon in the U.S. that eliminates all that. Buy online from Amazon, get free shipping to your reshipper address in the U.S. if you're an Amazon prime customer, and then pay a much smaller shipping price to Thailand and typically no Thai customs or duty on the Thai end -- assuming the value is under $50 or so.

It takes some effort and expense to arrange for international reshipping in terms of the first-time setup. But if you're a regular shopper/shipper, it's going to be worthwhile in the long run. It's not worthwhile for a one-time only purchase.

[Thian]

I like Ebay much better, at least they let me pay with paypal.

Also i don't understand why i have to pay 10 pound tax to import something small from the UK to Mainland Europe.

But even within Europe it's not easy to use amazon.de. I would think they ship to all EU country's but they don't. It seems there are still borders in Europe, especially online.

[Berty100]

It's amazing that some people don't realise that the 'free shipping' only applies if the delivery address is located in the country where Amazon is shipping from and that to send it half way around the world actually costs a lot more and is of course charged to you.

If I use Amazon it's for items which are impossible to find locally and then I pay express shipping along with the full duty and tax which is applied to both the ordered items and the shipping cost.

Ordering from the USA is much cheaper than the UK due to shipping charges being much cheaper from the US, we're talking DHL or FedEx here.

Also, it's quite common for the express shipping around the world to cost more than the goods and you will be taxed on the shipping amount as well.

It's not a rip off, you're paying for a high end service here.

No free shipping is not only for shipping within the US, because from the time you just view the item they already know it has to be shipped to Banglamung - Thailand.

It is when you check out, and only at the very last step, that you get informed that you need to order more books to get the free shipping.I forgot the amount but it's something like $50 of books on top of my surge protector.. If I order something from Ebay or any other e-commerce site, and it says free shipping in the listing, that mean the item will ship for free at the check out as well.

And do you think it's normal that on a $15.90 item there will be $13.70 import duties?

Yes it is a rip off, and I don't see anything high end in shipping a surge protector by USPS, and you are clearly their fanboy.

Duty is calculated on the cost of the item PLUS the shipping cost. So if you send it by $100 FedEx express service you will pay full duty and VAT on $115.90.

There is no such thing as free shipping.

Fanboy ? LOL, I guess that makes you a retard when it comes to matters of international trade but you have a lot to learn.

Before calling me a retard again, have a look in the mirror, if you don't get it by that time take a look at the screen shot in post #11.

Item $15.57 + shipping $17.48 = Total before tax $33.05

Import duties $13.50

That is 40% import duties and VAT on a surge protector.

And you want to claim it's still no rip off

Edited May 24, 2016 by Berty100

[bubba1]

The unfortunate thing about Amazon's international shipping is, in most instances, Amazon itself as a seller tends to use DHL or FedEx as their international shippers -- which pretty much guarantees almost anything you order is going to be charged Thai customs duty and tax.

There are international reshippers people can use with Amazon in the U.S. that eliminates all that. Buy online from Amazon, get free shipping to your reshipper address in the U.S. if you're an Amazon prime customer, and then pay a much smaller shipping price to Thailand and typically no Thai customs or duty on the Thai end -- assuming the value is under $50 or so.

It takes some effort and expense to arrange for international reshipping in terms of the first-time setup. But if you're a regular shopper/shipper, it's going to be worthwhile in the long run. It's not worthwhile for a one-time only purchase.

So do you think it's OK to cheat on taxes and/or import duties?

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

It's not "cheating" by any means.

The fact is, packages delivered by Thai Post locally, especially the under $50 value ones, don't get the same Thai customs attention that FedEx and DHL handled packages do. That's a solely Thai government decision/implementation -- nothing to do with the recipient "cheating."

The better and proper question would be: why would anyone needlessly want to pay extra money for customs and tax on packages when they don't need to simply by choosing a different delivery method, and in fact, delivery by a Thai government agency instead of a private courier?

Edited May 24, 2016 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[Thian]

It's not "cheating" by any means.

The fact is, packages delivered by Thai Post locally, especially the under $50 value ones, don't get the same Thai customs attention that FedEx and DHL handled packages do. That's a solely Thai government decision/implementation -- nothing to do with the recipient "cheating."

The better and proper question would be: why would anyone needlessly want to pay extra money for customs and tax on packages when they don't need to simply by choosing a different delivery method, and in fact, delivery by a Thai government agency instead of a private courier?

When i order something from amazon.de i can choose where i want it to be delivered.

If i choose Thailand the importtax will be added but also for products under the 50us$. Mayb.e they book the importtax back later but i don't understand why they charge it because the item is under 50$ which should be free of importtax.

[bubba1]

It's not "cheating" by any means.

The fact is, packages delivered by Thai Post locally, especially the under $50 value ones, don't get the same Thai customs attention that FedEx and DHL handled packages do. That's a solely Thai government decision/implementation -- nothing to do with the recipient "cheating."

The better and proper question would be: why would anyone needlessly want to pay extra money for customs and tax on packages when they don't need to simply by choosing a different delivery method, and in fact, delivery by a Thai government agency instead of a private courier?

Sorry but you are stealing from the Thai government and its people.

There are clear customs rates and duties per commodity code. They should be paid else you are breaking the law and smuggling products.

[Thian]

It's not "cheating" by any means.

The fact is, packages delivered by Thai Post locally, especially the under $50 value ones, don't get the same Thai customs attention that FedEx and DHL handled packages do. That's a solely Thai government decision/implementation -- nothing to do with the recipient "cheating."

The better and proper question would be: why would anyone needlessly want to pay extra money for customs and tax on packages when they don't need to simply by choosing a different delivery method, and in fact, delivery by a Thai government agency instead of a private courier?

Sorry but you are stealing from the Thai government and its people.

There are clear customs rates and duties per commodity code. They should be paid else you are breaking the law and smuggling products.

The King power shop is also stealing from the thai government and thai people. They sell taxfree to arriving passengers in BKK, i have not seen that anywhere else on the world.

[bubba1]

It's not "cheating" by any means.

The fact is, packages delivered by Thai Post locally, especially the under $50 value ones, don't get the same Thai customs attention that FedEx and DHL handled packages do. That's a solely Thai government decision/implementation -- nothing to do with the recipient "cheating."

The better and proper question would be: why would anyone needlessly want to pay extra money for customs and tax on packages when they don't need to simply by choosing a different delivery method, and in fact, delivery by a Thai government agency instead of a private courier?

Sorry but you are stealing from the Thai government and its people.

There are clear customs rates and duties per commodity code. They should be paid else you are breaking the law and smuggling products.

The King power shop is also stealing from the thai government and thai people. They sell taxfree to arriving passengers in BKK, i have not seen that anywhere else on the world.

You must not travel much.. duty free on arrival is also available in Taiwan, hong kong,the Philippines and Singapore to mention a few

[Thian]

It's not "cheating" by any means.

The fact is, packages delivered by Thai Post locally, especially the under $50 value ones, don't get the same Thai customs attention that FedEx and DHL handled packages do. That's a solely Thai government decision/implementation -- nothing to do with the recipient "cheating."

The better and proper question would be: why would anyone needlessly want to pay extra money for customs and tax on packages when they don't need to simply by choosing a different delivery method, and in fact, delivery by a Thai government agency instead of a private courier?

Sorry but you are stealing from the Thai government and its people.

There are clear customs rates and duties per commodity code. They should be paid else you are breaking the law and smuggling products.

The King power shop is also stealing from the thai government and thai people. They sell taxfree to arriving passengers in BKK, i have not seen that anywhere else on the world.

You must not travel much.. duty free on arrival is also available in Taiwan, hong kong,the Philippines and Singapore to mention a few

I didn't know that but it's also possible to do so in Europe i just read. But only if you fly into a Schengen country from another Schengen country.

Man al those rules, when i finally know them they are allready changed twice.

[CanInBKK]

The unfortunate thing about Amazon's international shipping is, in most instances, Amazon itself as a seller tends to use DHL or FedEx as their international shippers -- which pretty much guarantees almost anything you order is going to be charged Thai customs duty and tax.

There are international reshippers people can use with Amazon in the U.S. that eliminates all that. Buy online from Amazon, get free shipping to your reshipper address in the U.S. if you're an Amazon prime customer, and then pay a much smaller shipping price to Thailand and typically no Thai customs or duty on the Thai end -- assuming the value is under $50 or so.

It takes some effort and expense to arrange for international reshipping in terms of the first-time setup. But if you're a regular shopper/shipper, it's going to be worthwhile in the long run. It's not worthwhile for a one-time only purchase.

This practice of using re-shippers has worked for me in the past but it seems that certain retailers are starting to crack down on this practice due to pressure from the manufacturers. I remember ordering something that was a US only item and my order was eventually rejected saying that my destination address was a re-shipper which was against the manufacturers rules.

[Bantex]

It's amazing that some people don't realise that the 'free shipping' only applies if the delivery address is located in the country where Amazon is shipping from and that to send it half way around the world actually costs a lot more and is of course charged to you.

I regularly order from Amazon to my UK address and have received free shipping even though the item was sent from Germany, China or USA.