Shipping My Things to Thailand....Yes or No?

[TheTurtle]

My company in the UAE will pay to repatriate my apartment's contents anywhere in the world.

 

I've taken a commuting job in Seoul and I plan to spend one week a month in Thailand.  I will enter on a tourist visa and would like to have a small apartment in BKK until I've finished searching for the place I will settle down and retire.

 

Should I ship my furniture, TV's, kitchen, etc?  I've been told the fees are high (which is not part of my Repat benefit).

 

American, a few years shy of 50.  Won't work in Thailand.

 

Suggestions....

[A1Str8]

It's totally unnecessary to ship those. Sell it and get what you need in Thailand. It's cheaper anyway. 

[BudRight]

It is probably not worth it bring anything you would have to ship, not just because of shipping costs but the famously corrupt Thai customs. 

 

You can rent a pretty decent furnished room daily - it's really not worth it to cook for yourself in Thailand anyway, you'll spend more money than eating out.

Edited January 15, 2017 by BudRight

[Scott]

You may have a problem if you are bringing things into Thailand on a tourist visa.   Tourists do not move household goods.   Many years ago, when I relocated from Hong Kong to Thailand, it cost quite a bit of money to get my stuff out of Customs and I did have to have a the required visa to live in Thailand.  

 

I was employed by an Embassy, so I had some advantage, but it was not easy.   That was years ago, but I would expect that conditions still apply.  

[Caps]

Yes I know its not furniture items but...

I have just brought some of my personal items in to Thailand and I have a tourist visa at the moment.  I used Transglobal in the UK and they in turn used FedEx for the shipment.  It was a one week door to door service and I shipped 110Kg in 4 boxes.  Bike gear, tools, and a Bose System amongst other things.

I shipped in my name and I put my partners as the receiver (thought it would be easier having a Thai contact on the paperwork)......that was my mistake.....I should have left in tin my name for the Tax purposes...However the Ladies at FedEx were great and changed the name on all the paperwork for me, charged me 1450 baht for the admin fee and I had to go to their offices at the Airport to give then a copy of my Visa and Passport.  

They said if I had left my partners name on it then she would have incurred tax....as it happens I paid not tax at all and it sailed through customs.  I did take a bit longer than one week due to my mistake 

[toenail]

Before you buy a condo, rent a room in the same building you think of buying. You will learn a lot about the maintenance, management quality, kind of neighbors, noise level, access to public transportation... etc. Also, don't buy until you get your retirement visa because you cannot enter & exit Thailand continuously on a 30 day tourist stamp. Next, you can buy anything in Thailand now days. Personal items bring them with u in the extra luggage.

[thailand49]

Personally, this is the worse thing to do!  You have no idea what and when is going to happen down the road yet you want to pack up your toys! Sell, what you don't need and store the rest until you get the bigger picture.  I know a few people who did this and would ask and then did the opposite. In the end, they scratch their head why?

Wait and see is the best advice I can give you. Been there done that even if someone else is paying for it.

[Brahmz]

I am using SevenSeas shipping to send my treasures to Thailand. Door to door, all Customs etc. included. Will let you know if they arrive safely.

[i claudius]

We also used seven seas , excellent service from start to finish , used my wifes name , sent to her sisters house in BKK . although when it arrived we got it transfered to Pattaya at a small cost , i was advised to have nothing to do with it , just let the Thai family deal with it , smooth as silk , not one problem .

[Trentham]

I have already posted this a couple of years ago in response to another similar query.

I brought my stuff over from Australia eight years ago. I paid my shipping company in Australia for door to door delivery. When my things arrived here my shipper's agent in Klong Toey said they would not handle it unless I paid 50,000 baht cash, under the table.

I didn't pay it and handled it myself which turned into a nightmare with endless trips to Govt. offices and the Ministry of Culture and three separate trips to the port. Customs at Lat Krabang Inland Container Depot demanded import duty as well which I shouldn't have to pay as it was all personal household goods and I complied with the requirements as per the customs and immigration websites and I showed them printouts but they didn't care.

One day people at the Ministry of Culture wanted to go to the port and see my goods but demanded that I personally pick them up at 9.00 AM and take them there in a taxi. I arrived at the Ministry offices at 9 AM but they didn’t get there until 11 AM. No apology! I then had to wait longer while they all had coffee.

Finally after 5 weeks of all this I was told to go and get my stuff. That final day my paperwork was handed around to 17 different desks at the port office, I had to pay some small handling fees. I was there all day but they didn't get it finished before 4.00 PM so then I was asked to pay 400 baht for staff overtime. When all was complete I was again sent to customs to pay import duty. I tried not to and debated the point endlessly and produced copies of the regulations for them to read. No matter, I had to pay.

So I finally asked how much?? They told me whatever the percentage is of the value of my things. They asked me what I thought they were worth. So I told them some very small figure and they did not argue. So I paid 2200 baht and it was done.

This is a very much abbreviated story of what happened in total.

I stayed cool calm and smiling all the time but inside I was fuming.

[Mr0Yallow]

A friend of mine shipped a box to me from Calif, it contained my desktop PC, some photo supplies, my HP film scanner and other small items. My friend did not check on insurance offers, the box busted open, all the small items were gone, (likely pilfered) the scanner was destroyed. but the PC was in a durable case and it was undamaged. Moral of the story, be careful how you ship things and always ask about insurance. 

[DSJPC]

DO NOT do it right now, until u are sure u will have a Thailand base for at least 5 years!

[sandemara]

You'd have to consider the tropical,.humid climate here and the consequent damage to any valuables, especially things coming from a dry environment.  Mould on most materials  (even books, elec. gear etc) is a horror. Try to avoid storing anything valuable here.

[khunpa]

I would not do it. Just get some new stuff here. Much cheaper.

[Ahab]

We were going to ship a bunch of stuff, but settled on a bag of basic tools, fishing equipment, family pictures and a couple of boxes of clothes. I checked with seven seas but they would not ship from Hawaii (door to door), we ended up choosing DGX and will be shipping port to port and hiring a local Thai company (recommended by DGX) to handle the customs, and transport from the Port to Buriram. About 300 kg in seven boxes.  Agree with the "just get new stuff" in Thailand comments it has really come along way since I began visiting over 24 years ago.

[TSF]

Before you think about setting up home in Thailand have you sorted out your visa/immigration situation? You plan on making 12 entries a year. You are aware there are limits on the number of entries and visas a tourist can get and you're still too young for a 12-month retirement visa. So what if you're refused entry/another visa to Thailand and all your stuff is there?

[khunPer]

15 hours ago, Scott said:

You may have a problem if you are bringing things into Thailand on a tourist visa.   Tourists do not move household goods.   Many years ago, when I relocated from Hong Kong to Thailand, it cost quite a bit of money to get my stuff out of Customs and I did have to have a the required visa to live in Thailand.  

 

I was employed by an Embassy, so I had some advantage, but it was not easy.   That was years ago, but I would expect that conditions still apply.  

I think Scott said it.

 

I moved my stuff in when retiring on Non-immigrant visa with retirement extension. The only reason to bring stuff in is, that you have some items of sentimental value, including collections; or some stuff you cannot buy/replace locally; or some relative brand new stuff that will costs to much to replace, taking transportation costs and customs expenses into consideration. Presume it will be some kind of combination.

 

When shipping for retirement, it's fairly simple, if you ship only what's allowed – personal items, one of each; sets or number of course for some items or collections – and make a detailed packing list with serial numbers and reasonable value. Little duty and vat will be charged, but not much on private stuff, and count also little "overtime pay" to the custom officers, your shipping agent will arrange that and givet you up-to-date instructions. I paid around 50,000 baht in total for all (freight was c.i.f.), including transportation of a 20-feet container from BKK to Samui, offloading, and return of empty container. I would say that one shall expect some 30,000 baht in costs – some other poster may have better up-to-date experience, mine is some years ago, now – so that's shall be part of the considerations for estimating shipping-cost for household items.

 

You are allowed one (I think, smaller) air-shipment, and one surface-shipment, the latter might be a container. I only used the container option – a 20-feet, not full, but that was safer and cheaper the shipping individual boxes – whilst bringing smaller bits in with my luggage when commuting before final settlement; if you have some kind of frequent-flyer-bonus-card, you may be allowed 30+ kg bagage, which gives you a good option when not travelling with a lot of other stuff.

 

For normal household items, I agree with posters saying, buy new stuff here.

[misterphil]

No

 

What if you ship all your gear here then your refused another tourist visa because your not a tourist. 

 

Back to back tourist visas dont work anymore for people living here. 

 

 

[TheTurtle]

Many thanks for the informative replies...

 

TheTurtle

[starky]

Mate if your traveling here once a month go right up to your 30kg baggage allowance and bring us much personal/ sentimental valued stuff as you can in that way. When I moved full time I ended thinking that I would want all my stuff here and sent @ a shipping container of goods ( close enough to a house full of furniture , electronics etc etc) I used an international moving company who had an "agent" that smoothed everything over for me so I paid fuk all taxes. Long story short I realised after I got it all here it was pretty much a waste of time. Thats only IMO of course.

[fearlesss]

Hey everyone,

 

Rather than posting a new thread I thought I would just ask on this one.

 

I'm trying to ship some car parts to a guy in Thailand about 2 cubic meters worth from Brisbane.    Does anyone know of any companies who would have room in a shipping container to send them back with ?  I've contacted all the main companies that have been mentioned in this post and a few others with no luck so far.

The parts are not worth more than $100 her in australia, but they are rare in Thailand

[berybert]

5 minutes ago, fearlesss said:

Hey everyone,

 

Rather than posting a new thread I thought I would just ask on this one.

 

I'm trying to ship some car parts to a guy in Thailand about 2 cubic meters worth from Brisbane.    Does anyone know of any companies who would have room in a shipping container to send them back with ?  I've contacted all the main companies that have been mentioned in this post and a few others with no luck so far.

The parts are not worth more than $100 her in australia, but they are rare in Thailand

Allied Pickford's theY will have depots in Aus and Thailand. No problem sticking in a couple of meters in a 40 foot container.

 

[kowpot]

I used White Swan Relocation Service.

Worst experience of my life.  That's all I can say.

[fearlesss]

7 minutes ago, kowpot said:

I used White Swan Relocation Service.

Worst experience of my life.  That's all I can say.

Yeah from what I have read on this forum and others there is a lot of dodgy stuff going on at the Thailand port,  luckly the stuff Im sending is worthless to anyone other than the buyer

Cheers Berybert I'll contact them

[steven100]

On 17/01/2017 at 1:35 AM, TheTurtle said:

Many thanks for the informative replies...

 

TheTurtle

As many have said here ....

 

Your entering on a Tourist Visa ...  you will have problem with bringing furniture in on that Visa.

 

Why put yourself through hell  for a few items of furniture that you can buy here ...

don't do it  ......

[wildoates]

Use Shopandship out of California, friends have used them they will deliver from warehouse to door. Decent rates

[JimCrane]

I guess the fees issue makes this a legit question

 

but I can't fathom why a grown man in his late forties needs to ask what he should do with his stuff.

 

are you just bored?

[thaibeachlovers]

On 1/16/2017 at 2:03 PM, toenail said:

Before you buy a condo, rent a room in the same building you think of buying. You will learn a lot about the maintenance, management quality, kind of neighbors, noise level, access to public transportation... etc. Also, don't buy until you get your retirement visa because you cannot enter & exit Thailand continuously on a 30 day tourist stamp. Next, you can buy anything in Thailand now days. Personal items bring them with u in the extra luggage.

Many TVF posters like myself say NEVER buy a condo/ house etc. Many threads on the subject so I don't have to go into it here.

Renting is cheap and if an all night karaoke starts up next door one is able to move easily.

[thaibeachlovers]

On 1/16/2017 at 7:08 PM, Trentham said:

I have already posted this a couple of years ago in response to another similar query.

I brought my stuff over from Australia eight years ago. I paid my shipping company in Australia for door to door delivery. When my things arrived here my shipper's agent in Klong Toey said they would not handle it unless I paid 50,000 baht cash, under the table.

I didn't pay it and handled it myself which turned into a nightmare with endless trips to Govt. offices and the Ministry of Culture and three separate trips to the port. Customs at Lat Krabang Inland Container Depot demanded import duty as well which I shouldn't have to pay as it was all personal household goods and I complied with the requirements as per the customs and immigration websites and I showed them printouts but they didn't care.

One day people at the Ministry of Culture wanted to go to the port and see my goods but demanded that I personally pick them up at 9.00 AM and take them there in a taxi. I arrived at the Ministry offices at 9 AM but they didn’t get there until 11 AM. No apology! I then had to wait longer while they all had coffee.

Finally after 5 weeks of all this I was told to go and get my stuff. That final day my paperwork was handed around to 17 different desks at the port office, I had to pay some small handling fees. I was there all day but they didn't get it finished before 4.00 PM so then I was asked to pay 400 baht for staff overtime. When all was complete I was again sent to customs to pay import duty. I tried not to and debated the point endlessly and produced copies of the regulations for them to read. No matter, I had to pay.

So I finally asked how much?? They told me whatever the percentage is of the value of my things. They asked me what I thought they were worth. So I told them some very small figure and they did not argue. So I paid 2200 baht and it was done.

This is a very much abbreviated story of what happened in total.

I stayed cool calm and smiling all the time but inside I was fuming.

No matter how many posts like this are published on TVF there will always be the saffron glasses brigade that claim because it didn't happen to them it doesn't happen at all.

The best rule to use in LOS is to plan for the worst and hope for the best.

It really is cheaper and less stressful to buy whatever is needed than get caught up in the chaos. Most of us have too much junk anyway.

[Brahmz]

On 1/16/2017 at 0:01 PM, Brahmz said:

I am using SevenSeas shipping to send my treasures to Thailand. Door to door, all Customs etc. included. Will let you know if they arrive safely.

Treasures arrived OK, one glass item was broken, rest vgood.