Buying and shipping to Thailand from Amazon.com

[Pagey]

Has anyone any experience of buying goods from Amazon.com and had shipped to Thailand ?

Can it be done ?

I am looking at buying a reasonably expensive Tag watch and Amazon.com have a good deal on the model I require.

Any advice appreciated.

Pagey.

[hhfarang]

I think Amazon ships internationally but only on some items. They are among the few who may ship to Thailand. I've found that almost everything I want to order online will not ship to Thailand (even if they ship to other international locations). I've also found that even most places that will ship to Thailand will not accept a credit card with a Thai billing address. Most want you to pay using PayPal or similar. When (twice) I actually have found places in the U.S. that would take my card and ship to me, I paid double the price of the item after shipping and duty was included.

[PeteC]

I'm interested in people's experiences as well. Here's a link to Amazon's international shipping guideline page. Pete

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/ ... eId=596184

[Lung Per]

I buy books regularly from Amazon.com. They reach me about 10 days later. Always pay by non-Thai credit card.
Recently I purchased a relatively expensive musical instrument on Ebay which was sent to me from Texas. Had to pay customs duty to the post office which I believe was set arbitrarily by the desk clerk. Feared a tariff of 40% but paid much less. Books enter free of duty.

[tonymaroni]

I buy books regularly from Amazon.com. They reach me about 10 days later. Always pay by non-Thai credit card.
Recently I purchased a relatively expensive musical instrument on Ebay which was sent to me from Texas. Had to pay customs duty to the post office which I believe was set arbitrarily by the desk clerk. Feared a tariff of 40% but paid much less. Books enter free of duty.

That is good to know.

Anybody ever find someone willing to ship Vitamins to Thailand?

Tony

[Pagey]

So how will I know if I have to pay duty/tax on a watch ?

If is addressed to my condo in HH how will customs know ?

I looked at the link Pete sent but nothing seems to be clear.

[hhfarang]

It seems to be hit and miss. I've had packages I bought over the internet delivered to my home as well as packages sent from friends in the U.S. Sometimes I've had to pay duty on both and sometimes neither. I think it's like walking through customs at the airport. You are either lucky and they wave you through or you're unlucky and they search your bags.

The two worst examples is a shirt I purchased online from Brooks Brothers and two rubber mats I had a friend buy for me in California and send to me. In both cases the shipping and duty more than doubled the price of the items. Best cases; I've ordered several medications over the internet that are not available in Thailand. One was prescription only in the U.S. (except over the internet of course), and the other was a common over-the-counter drug in the U.S. Both arrived at my door with no duty charged. I also bought an (new) MP3 player off Ebay and it came with no duty.

Also, even though I believe there is a formula using value, I think customs charges whatever duty they feel like as the mats I had sent by a friend cost $25 in the U.S. and the duty was 1200baht (over $30 at the time).

[littlebird]

I have bought from both Amazon and Ebay and had successful shipments to here. The customs duty seems to depend on the declared value of the goods. On one occasion I was charged a hefty postage by Ebay (via Paypal) but most of this was credited back to my Paypal account about a month later.
Must confess though I am going off ebay nowadays as most of the item bought as a new products seem to be no cheaper or sometimes more expensive than elsewhere

[Pagey]

OK, after re reading the shipping/customs policy it seems Amazon estimate how much the receiving country will charge and add it to your bill before you check out.

So I went through the process of buying and they estimate a whopping GBP 780+ or USD 1200+ for the Tag watch I wanted.

Incidentally the watch is reduced from around 4,600 USD to 3,075 USD on .com but is 3,300 GBP on .co.uk and in Siam BKK in a watch expo on Wednesday was priced around 175,000 Baht discounted to 134,000.

So if you want to estimate customs duty/tax you can go through the process of buying until the final bill which will estimate how much you need to pay.

[littlebird]

At those rates it might be cheaper to fly to another country to buy, wear it on your wrist when you return

[moja]

I would suggest a visit to Singapore - they have very good prices for watches there and you can get the tax back at the airport. If you are interested I can give you the name of a shop that has excellent discounts on Tag Watches.

[T.I.G.R.]

I've had little luck with Amazon except for books, where they do a great job.

I've received shipments of non-prescription herbal drugs from Wholeearth.com for several years now without a problem.

Everything else is hit and miss. Ebay drives me crazy as some will ship and some won't. There is an international Postal Express service the Post office in Thailand and the U.S. are tied to. Great results both sending and receiving parcels. I have yet to figure out the duty charges so whatever they are I just cough it up.....usually I'm so happy to get what I've ordered I could care less about how much it is (yes, it's normally golf related).

I've been looking for a beard/goatee trimmer for months.....so bought one in America in May, then promptly ruined it the other day by plugging it into 220 instead of 120. Now I'm trying to find someone who will ship.......maybe Ebay.

HOWEVER.......I'm having problems with TOT this week; what the heck is going on with them?? Just tested my speeds and download is 4019 kpbs Upload 188 Kpbs....hmmm, how does that relate to the five gigabite I'm paying for???????????????

[ALXDXB]

I use myus to ship all my gear to Dubai, mainly apple stuff, when we move to Thailand, I will be using them to forward everything. They give you an address in the US and then once you have enough stuff or just want it quickly they will use discounted rates to DHL it to you. They will not adjust the airwaybills too much but they are experts in forwarding. I'm not related to them in any way, they just give me an excellent service for things that are either inaccessible in Dubai or much cheaper. Luckily there is an online Apple Store in Thailand, and according to some other forums the duty is included on the shipping, this remains to be seen.

[Pagey]

Moja : My gf has a few friends in Singapore so I will have them look in the shop if you can give me the name or website or phone number. Thanks.

TIGR, I would have thought a beard trimmer is available in HH/Thailand ? What about a hairdresser supply shop ? They should have quality brand.

[T.I.G.R.]

Pagey -

Remember where we are.....Thai men don't grow beards..........not sure why.

At any rate there isn't a beard trimmer to be found anywhere in the land of smiles. I'm having one shipped over so should be trimmed up shortly!