Does anyone have any experience order things internationally?

[JohnSmith]

If I order an electric skateboard from China is it likely to get through customs or am I going to need to pay an unknown amount of import duty first? 

[gummy]

Just now, JohnSmith said:

If I order an electric skateboard from China is it likely to get through customs or am I going to need to pay an unknown amount of import duty first? 

If you order it thro Lazada there will be nothing extra to pay. If you order thro Aliexpress in theory , depending upon the import and value, there may be something to pay, but in my experience never had to yet. Whereas if you order something with DHL then in my opinion they are the worst  for requesting import charges.

[MrStretch]

Gummy has it.

The online shopping places already factor in duty in the price, which is always lower than if you had to do import it individually.

I've found that I'm much more likely to get screwed and pay higher duties using a premium courier like DHL, TNT or FedEx.

[JohnSmith]

Thanks for the info.

I won't get a choice on the shipping company but they're saying it's 70 USD to ship to Thailand so hopefully they've factored in any import duty. I'll message the company and see what they say before ordering.

[Marc26]

I am not in Thailand but I have clients that send me a lot of gifts from US, delivered by the couriers (FedEx,etc) and at times my mail room gets charged the duty

 

So I would definitely confirm with the courier if the duties are already paid

[stuhan]

Same here, LAZ & ALI EX never had a problem, even used ebay once no problem but that was a small item.

[NumbNut]

I ordered some shaving cream straight from the maker's website and didn't pay any duty when my order arrived, about two weeks later from Australia. It wasn't a large order, might be why I didn't pay any duty.

http://trishave.com/

Really recommend this product, best shave I've ever had. Hard to go back to normal shaving cream after using Trishave.

Also, I've never paid any duty on stuff from Lazada either

Edited September 25, 2021 by NumbNut

[gazmo16]

2 hours ago, stuhan said:

Same here, LAZ & ALI EX never had a problem, even used ebay once no problem but that was a small item.

Same experience here with these companies and receiving goods.  AliExpress is by far the slowest to deliver due to customs so I hope you are prepared for a long wait. I am still waiting 14 weeks for a dogs chewy ball despite them showing 5-7 days delivery.

In order of preference when I compare all and shop it would be Lazada, shoppe, Ebay  (taxes maybe charged) and then AliExpress. Check out all of them as the prices can be wildly different for the same item. Also don't forget you can actually buy many items  in Thailand to avoid potential taxes being added. 

[gummy]

Just now, gazmo16 said:

Same experience here with these companies and receiving goods.  AliExpress is by far the slowest to deliver due to customs so I hope you are prepared for a long wait. I am still waiting 14 weeks for a dogs chewy ball despite them showing 5-7 days delivery.

In order of preference when I compare all and shop it would be Lazada, shoppe, Ebay  (taxes maybe charged) and then AliExpress. Check out all of them as the prices can be wildly different for the same item. Also don't forget you can actually buy many items  in Thailand to avoid potential taxes being added. 

you said "Also don't forget you can actually buy many items  in Thailand to avoid potential taxes being added."   

So I have to ask why did you order a dogs chewy ball from Aliexpress then when Tesco Lotus, Big C and many other stores sell them here in Thailand ? Just wondering

[kerryd]

I've ordered a lot of stuff from Lazada, AliExpress and Amazon (and a few other places) over the years.

Most of the time, AliExpress uses Caino for their transport to Thailand. I have paid duties on shipments from Ali many times. Sometimes I have had to go to the Post Office sometimes and sometimes I have had to go the Customs Office in Laem Chabang.

Amazon factors estimated Customs Charges into your bill when you go to check out. I've often received a small refund when the actual customs charges turned out to be less than they had calculated.

I've had stuff shipped from other places that used DHL/FedEx or USPS and always get charged extra fees because they all use a "3rd party Customs Broker" to process their paperwork. As a result, you always get charged the full Customs duties as well as the additional "handling" fees.

(They wear the uniform of the shipping company, i.e. DHL, but I'm told they don't actually work for DHL. The last time I dealt with them they wanted 15,000 baht for a box of personal clothing and effects I'd shipped when my last contract in Afghanistan ended. I balked at paying for stuff I could have brought in through the airport for free, as well as the cost. I was told if I used a "private" broker, they could get it done for 10,000 baht. I did that and watched as he did the paperwork. I think he paid about 3,500 in actual duties, including a few "red notes" to speed the paperwork up. The rest went into his pocket. So you can imagine what the "proper" Customs Brokers are making.)

I once ordered (from Ali) a "knock off" (cheap imitation) windshield for the Harley as it was way cheaper than ordering an original from the US. I think it was 3,000 baht.
When it arrived I had to go the Post Office in Bang Lamung to collect it as they wanted 300 baht in Customs fees.

A couple years ago I ordered a set of LED lights (1 headlight and 2 fog lights) for the motorcycle (also from AliExpress).
Cost was $75 US but the shipper wrote $8.00 on the declaration. 
I had to go to the Customs Office in Laem Chabang to get the package. They wanted me to open it. I did and then I had to show them (on my phone) the actual order as they were going to assign an arbitrary cost to the headlight and to the (2) fog lights, as though they were separate items instead of a set.

Then they asked how much the shipping was and when I showed then that the shipping was free - they marked it as being 900 baht and 300 baht for "insurance" ! (It's actually in their regulations that if there is no shipping/insurance fee noted, they can add an "estimated" cost.)

The way they calculate the duties is they add the value of the item itself to the shipping cost and insurance cost. That is the "CIF" value (cost/insurance/freight).
Then they calculate the duties on that total, which I think is total horse**** as that means they are charging Customs fees for the shipping and insurance cost !! (But that is exactly how they are supposed to do it according to the law.)

I think I ended up paying about 1,500 baht to get my lights that only cost me about 2,500 baht at the time. 

(Of course I could have just said no and had them ship the parcel back to China and wait however long before getting a refund or not getting it. And then still having to order the lights again anyways.)

If you can find the item on Ali - copy the first few words of the item title or description and then search for that on Lazada.
Many (maybe "most") vendors on Lazada don't actually have stock of any of the things they show in their "store" but instead simply take your order and order it from from Ali themselves. When it arrives they stick a new shipping label on it (sometimes) and forward it to you.

It takes a bit longer, but usually there's no hassle with Customs fees.

I often search for an item on Lazada and then go look on Ali and find the same thing with almost exactly the same name/description/photos. Then I check the cost to see which method would be cheaper.

And visa-versa. I'll search for something on Ali, then when I find it, I'll copy the title or the first few (English) words of the description and do a search on Lazada as the vendors often just "copy/paste" entries from Ali into their Lazada store.

[gazmo16]

6 hours ago, gummy said:

you said "Also don't forget you can actually buy many items  in Thailand to avoid potential taxes being added."   

So I have to ask why did you order a dogs chewy ball from Aliexpress then when Tesco Lotus, Big C and many other stores sell them here in Thailand ? Just wondering

I was ordering some other bits and it was a spur of the moment buy . It's one of those you put the treats inside and I wanted the largest size made,  but you're right I should have ignored the price and bought elsewhere. 

AliExpress sometimes has stuff the others don't but lately I've found Lazada is alot cheaper for identical products shown on shoppe. Electrical goods and car related products Lazada wins hands down with its supply and free returns if Flash delivery was involved. 

 

Edited September 25, 2021 by gazmo16
added content

[gummy]

15 minutes ago, gazmo16 said:

I was ordering some other bits and it was a spur of the moment buy but you're right I should have ignored the price and bought elsewhere. 

AliExpress sometimes has stuff the others don't but lately I've found Lazada is alot cheaper for identical products shown on shoppe. Electrical goods and car related products Lazada wins hands down with its supply and free returns if Flash delivery was involved. 

2 years ago I thought Kerry were the top of the tree for Thailand  but you just mentioned Flash there and it seems that they have become the top dog here now, well from my experience anyway.

[gazmo16]

I've found both Kerry and Flash do a pretty good delivery and return service. I think Lazada seem to favour both over the others as they at least keep you updated and I always get a pre-delivery call which is handy. AliExpress just use the cheapest service and although the item may leave their shop/depot in a day of ordering that the only time it will move fast it seems. 

[kerryd]

Actually, the vendor will almost immediately mark and order as "packed" or "shipped" to make it appear they are on the ball and that any delays are the delivery company's fault, not the vendors. Meanwhile, they are ordering the item from Ali (or another warehouse/factory). (Sneaky buggars.)

(Note on the vendor's "store" where it shows their stats and you see that their "ship on time" stat is almost always 90-100%. 
I think the vendors get some advantage if their stats are high as they are really keen on getting good reviews from their customers so their numbers are higher.)

I track all my orders (where possible) and after awhile you can tell what  is happening. Like when an order has been marked "shipped" but when you actually look up the shipping number (on the courier's website) it can't find it.
That's because the vendor has "reserved" the number so that Lazada (or Ali) thinks they've already processed the order, but it hasn't been registered in the courier's system (which happens when they actually scan the shipping label into their system).

Then a couple days, or a week or so later, the number suddenly appears in their system indicating the item has been picked up by the courier (or dropped at one of their offices) and they've scanned the number into their system.

I had a pair of sneakers (running shoes) I ordered from Ali marked as shipped for almost 2 weeks (from a vendor that supposedly had over 200 pair of that size/colour in stock). When I checked the shipper's website though, it couldn't find the number.

Eventually (over 2 weeks later) the number was in the system, just before the order would have been automatically cancelled. 
After that, I was seeing the item as having been packed, handed over to the "delivery partner", arriving at Customs, returning to the warehouse, arriving at Customs, returning to the warehouse again. This went on for a month.

Then, on shipper's website, it showed the delivery being cancelled at vendor's request. Meanwhile, on Ali, the vendor was claiming the order was being delayed by Customs.

I had to wait until the order was 3 months overdue until I could claim a refund and even then I had a problem as the vendor was claiming they'd shipped the item.

Luckily I had screen shots from the courier's website saying the shipment had been cancelled at vendor's request and got my refund.

I've apparently bookmarked over 20 courier websites now from having tracked various orders over the years.

I had to laugh once. I ordered some Thai "Fisherman's Pants" from Amazon. Found out they were made in Chiang Mai. 
Do you think they would ship them from Chiang Mai to Pattaya though ? 

Nope. The shipment was "fulfilled by Amazon" and sent from one of their warehouses in the US.
(That was back before I knew about Lazada. Later on, on Lazada, I found the same vendor and ordered a couple more pair of pants which, this time, were shipped directly from Chiang Mai.)