Customs crackdown at Suvarnabhumi?

[NanLaew]

4 hours ago, Dipterocarp said:

Not my lucky day I guess but observing customs officials at an international airport then taking evasive actions is the fast lane to cavity inspection in most places.

You don't have to walk up and watch what's going on in the green channel. Especially with Bangkok where the green channel is wide open to view. But at Suvarnabhumi, you observe from the carousel or on your way to get a trolley. It is all very easy; no MI6 trade craft needed.

 

The green channels at London airports are a totally different kettle of wombats though! I recall making a fast transit between terminals and one of those limpet-like lurkers in the green corridor detached himself from the wall just before he disappeared into my peripheral vision, "Excuse me sir."

 

Me, whirling around, "What?!"

"Where have you come from today?"

"Saudi bloody Arabia, why?"

"OK sir, thanks, carry on."

 

 

3 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

Guys,

 

I came through in the early morning on a Qatar flight on June 22nd from Doha.

 

I went through the green channel. They were stopping everybody and putting bags through the X-ray scanners.No rhyme or reason, just everybody was stopped and baggage scanned.

Random happenstance. Mid east and Indian flight arrivals do tend to get the third-degree. Sometimes they also get a wild hair about Korean or Hong Kong flights. Just chill, take walk down to the other green channel, change your shoes or whatever you like. It won't raise suspicion unless you're already sweating like a rapist and gone all shifty eyed. Stick out like the proverbial when you do that.

[tryasimight]

12 minutes ago, cornishcarlos said:

 

Batteries go in hand luggage... Tools, carefully bubble wrapped in checked luggage... 

They get through the carry on security check  ok?   I guess you've already answered that. Wish I had known before I forked out for another one in Surin. Ah well...now I have two drills

Edited July 21, 2017 by tryasimight

[maxtwo]

I arrived about two years age with large new suitcase.Just as I got to the carrousel a guy tapped on my case.And on way out i got pulled for X-ray nothing said and waved on.When out side my wife said it was a customs man that tapped my case to show he wanted it looked at.And it was my fault for having to bigger case.

[Grumpy Duck]

19 hours ago, observer90210 said:

Which farang would bring goods into Thailand?

 

It's rather people who leave that have their suitcases full with shopping?

 

Or am I missing a point?

I for one leave bkk to calif with empty suitcases returning with them full of items not available or too costly to buy in the los. I have not been hit up for any duties as of yet. Last run I had a food grinder, food processor, slicer, with several cans of comet clenser, barkeepers friend etc. no questions asked, but the electric items were all obviously in used condition. 

[Grumpy Duck]

6 hours ago, craigt3365 said:

FedEx and DHL are ones to avoid due to this.  But, I just got some stuff from China.  Big box via DHL and no tax!  Yes!

I refuse to use Fed Ex, period even for deliveries I ask what carrier they use, if Fed Ex is the only choice I tell them I will buy elsewhere. I have never had a problem with DHL shipping from Bkk to Calif is like 1/2 the cost, and faster. 

[oporhatch]

I arrived at swampy a couple of days ago and it did look as though they were taking random checks of people in the  green declaration area and x raying their luggage - first time I had seen this.  You actually had to queue to get through the area to leave the airport

 

  

[Wim1954]

18 hours ago, chickenslegs said:

And could you see your body inside ?

[Katia]

On 7/21/2017 at 10:48 AM, misterphil said:

Fedex just charged me 37% on some car parts. 

 

37% on top of the UK invoice. 

I had to shell out about 350 baht one time because a coworker foolishly sent it to me FedEx from another country.  Customs fees!  On useless paperwork!!  I came close to telling FedEx to keep it.

[Techno Viking]

On 21/07/2017 at 10:48 AM, misterphil said:

Fedex just charged me 37% on some car parts. 

 

37% on top of the UK invoice. 

import taxes on car parts is 30%, then add 7% VAT.

 

If you feel hard done by best you educate yourself before importing anything else as in this instance Fedex have done nothing wrong.

[leeroy221]

Any ecigs been stopped recently or taken away?

[Techno Viking]

10 minutes ago, leeroy221 said:

Any ecigs been stopped recently or taken away?

As they are illegal my guess is if they are discovered they will be confiscated and a fine issued.

[impulse]

10 hours ago, oporhatch said:

I arrived at swampy a couple of days ago and it did look as though they were taking random checks of people in the  green declaration area and x raying their luggage - first time I had seen this.  You actually had to queue to get through the area to leave the airport  

 

I'd guess that one out of 5 times I've entered, they're sending pretty much everyone's bags through x-ray in the green channel.  More often than not, they're sending selected people who have lots of luggage, or just look suspicious.  And sometimes, there's nobody even near the x-ray machine.  Luck of the draw.

 

Beyond the x-ray, I've never been singled out for further inspection, or hit with any duties or taxes.  But I'm rarely carrying anything valuable that I didn't have with me when I left.  Laptops (work & personal), camera, tablet, smartphone, etc.  But it adds up if they ever wanted to get stinky.

 

[bra]

For many years I went through the green lane unchallenged with 4 bottles of red wine in my case - illegal I admit. Of course about 5 years ago my case was x-rayed and the rather attractive young customs lady pulled me up, advised me that I was over the alcohol limit, but said I could keep two bottles. So I kept the best two and as she took the other two I asked her what would happen to these. Destroyed was her response but gave me a big smile when I suggested she drink the wine as it was a very high quality gold medal winning drop. So who knows what happened to the wine but I would have enjoyed sharing it with her. My case has never been examined again.

[Dipterocarp]

You got lucky. Going through the Green channel with 4 bottles of wine is called smuggling. According to previous Thai Visa reports others were fleeced huge fines on threat of jail for a few bottles, similar to the King Power scam. 5 pages of replies and no answer to if there is a personal exemption or not? I think there is a legal exemption of 10,000 baht but actually when money is demanded there is nothing one can do but pay or surrender ones goods.

 

Edited July 23, 2017 by Dipterocarp

[Dipterocarp]

On 7/20/2017 at 10:03 PM, Slip said:

It sounds a bit like the op has been happily smuggling 'high-end' items into the country for years, and is fed up at finally being pulled on it.  Happily he has seen the error of his ways and will "think twice before doing it again."  Score for HM Customs?

Openly carrying an item for personal use of valued well below the 10, 000 baht exemption is NOT smuggling.

[pgrahmm]

Random update......

 

Package sent from Australia (versus shipped UK to US then US to here).....

Shipper declared value of $250.AUS.....

Sent DHL (another shipper was first mentioned)

Package delivered with ฿6890 due.....Or about twice what I thought it would be....

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

2 hours ago, pgrahmm said:

Random update......

 

Package sent from Australia (versus shipped UK to US then US to here).....

Shipper declared value of $250.AUS.....

Sent DHL (another shipper was first mentioned)

Package delivered with ฿6890 due.....Or about twice what I thought it would be....

DHL... DHL.... DHL.....

[Dipterocarp]

This month brought another box, but no Duty or VAT levied.


Sent from my iPhone using Thaivisa Connect

[kkerry]

On 7/21/2017 at 3:00 PM, Prbkk said:

Walnuts for example: most supermarkets only have sugared/salted ones at an outrageous price

 

In Thailand you can find Heritage brand raw walnuts in most Tesco, Big C & Villa supermarkets.
Price has gone up and back down again the last couple of years.
The packet in the photo is about 180 baht.
Not cheap but not outrageously priced either.
 
If you're ever in Singapore,  Mustafa sell 500g and 1KG packs of walnuts, almonds or pistachios for at least 30% lower than the Thai price.
Not quite as nice as the Heritage ones but still okay.

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

The Makro supermarket in BKK on Narithiwas Rd. not far from the Chong Nonsi BTS station has a large display area for Heritage products in the back of the store in the spices section. The dried fruit and nuts items I buy there are usually priced substantially better than the exact same items being offered in the regular supermarkets. The range of Heritage products on offer at Makro there is also broader than in the regular markets.

 

[impulse]

On 7/23/2017 at 4:05 PM, Dipterocarp said:

Openly carrying an item for personal use of valued well below the 10, 000 baht exemption is NOT smuggling.

 

The 10,000 baht exemption is not universal.  There are still classes of good like alcohol and tobacco with limits that may be well below 10K.  And other classes like fresh food and other biological products that aren't allowed in at any value.  And try openly carrying 9,900 baht worth of weed and see what happens.

 

[impulse]

On 7/24/2017 at 10:41 AM, pgrahmm said:

Random update......

 

Package sent from Australia (versus shipped UK to US then US to here).....

Shipper declared value of $250.AUS.....

Sent DHL (another shipper was first mentioned)

Package delivered with ฿6890 due.....Or about twice what I thought it would be....

 

Out of curiosity, how did that 6,890 break out in terms of duty, VAT, and clearance fees?

 

[Dipterocarp]

On 8/12/2017 at 11:14 AM, impulse said:

 

The 10,000 baht exemption is not universal.  There are still classes of good like alcohol and tobacco with limits that may be well below 10K.  And other classes like fresh food and other biological products that aren't allowed in at any value.  And try openly carrying 9,900 baht worth of weed and see what happens.

 

A nonsense post. Every country has specific limits on duty free alcohol and tobacco. No need to mention the obvious prohibition of prohibited items such as weapons, narcotics, and obscene items. 

 

And I found out when I flew in to BKK last week the duty free exemption has been raised to 20,000 baht. Had another box with me, larger than my bag. Fortunately no hassles this time.

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by Dipterocarp

[impulse]

27 minutes ago, Dipterocarp said:

A nonsense post. Every country has specific limits on duty free alcohol and tobacco. No need to mention the obvious prohibition of prohibited items such as weapons, narcotics, and obscene items. 

 

And I found out when I flew in to BKK last week the duty free exemption has been raised to 20,000 baht. Had another box with me, larger than my bag. Fortunately no hassles this time.

 

Your statement that I was responding left out some exclusions that are pretty important- even if they're obvious to most of us tuned in here.

 

"Openly carrying an item for personal use of valued well below the 10, 000 baht exemption is NOT smuggling."

People come to forums like this for advice that's not going to get them into trouble.  Noobs and gap year beginners included.  Leaving out what's obvious to you (or any a seasoned traveler) can be the opposite of helpful to a first time tourist.  Especially in a destination like Thailand that has a reputation for wild parties while actually forbidding mundane stuff like vaping.

 

"Openly carrying an otherwise legal item for personal use of valued well below the 10,000 (20,000?) baht exemption is NOT smuggling."  Those 2 words take out all the ambiguity and potential for a noob to get into hot water for heeding the advice.  Of course, they do take some of the zip out of a snappy retort, and require a few moments of thought while the urge to sling off a one liner is so compelling...