Shipping Gift from US - import duty?

[RCer]

I have family in the US that want to send me something for Christmas. It is not cheap. If they send me a gift, will I have to pay the import duty?

[Big Boy]

Luck of the draw in my experience. Sometimes your gift will be held hostage, and only released when the ransom is paid, but most times it will arrive without problem. If they set a ransom, they'll let you know, and you decide if its worth paying.

[Nereus]

Have a look here: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=27915&p=357897&hil ... ty#p357897

or search "customs duty".

As previously discussed with you, it seems that China is exempt, but the rest of the World a "crap shoot"!

[RCer]

Have a look here: viewtopic.php?f=10&t=27915&p=357897&hil ... ty#p357897

or search "customs duty".

As previously discussed with you, it seems that China is exempt, but the rest of the World a "crap shoot"!

Thanks. I misunderstood your previous comment.

[Farang]

China is not exempt from The Great Random Thai Customs Lottery. I ordered a couple of novelty phones and had to pay duty nearly as much as the original bill was.

Further: I ordered a tablet from USA through ebay that was sold before in Thailand, but no longer so. UPS Thailand managed (again) to mess it absolutely totally up. According their very confused, poorly written explanations/instructions I would have had to go to Prachuap Khirikhan Customs to make a great deal of various and sundry Declarations, Attestations, Confessions and such and no less than The Declaration Of Conformity and other such menacing-sounding stuff. This all was due to UPS Thailand incompetence and not Thai Customs.

I negotiated with UPS Thailand, but with equal success I might have negotiated with a slightly retarded brick wall. In the end I complained to ebay and they promptly refunded all my expenses.

So, if you order from USA use anything but UPS. And if you order from China, they just might feel like slapping you a bit.

[brianks]

Yes, a friends experience with UPS was a nightmare disaster also mirroring what Farang's experience. Same product was sent via other services and no problems. Don't send via UPS.

Best to have is classified as an inexpensive product with very low value. If they put actual value on product then customs will have a field day with it. Do your homework as RCer indicates and should help considerably. If you know the classification and duty for the product it will help if Customs tries to scam you. My friend did and emailed the main office in Bangkok after Customs in Prechaub tried to scam him and they called back and had to eat crow with the correct charge. I had to refuse a shipment from the US once because they wanted to charge me full amount of package insurance for a product sent to and from US for repair only. Good Luck.

[Nereus]

China is not exempt from The Great Random Thai Customs Lottery.

Not the US, but China does have a free trade agreement with Thailand. I have bought a few small things from China and never had to pay any duty.
But, like everything else, if some Customs "officer" decides he is the adjudicator rather than the law, then you will get hit up regardless of where the item comes from.

http://www.customs.go.th/wps/wcm/connec ... aseanchina