Amazon shipping to Thailand incredibly fast!

[TallGuyJohninBKK 17,763]

Just by comparison, ordered a couple of pairs of Crocs shoes from Crocs.com in the U.S. lately for my wife and her father. Crocs was having an online sale at the time with good prices, which they often do, unlike the Crocs retail outlets here.

 

Had them sent with a free shipping promo to my Planet Express address, and from there, paid to have PE send the two different packages onward to Thailand using their own Airmail Express method. Both arrived here in 1 week+ delivered by ThaiPost with no VAT or duty charged.

 

The women's pair, which was lighter, cost about $10 to ship all in. The men's pair, which was larger and heavier, cost about $20 to ship all in, including insurance that I opted for for $3 or so because they were a slightly more expensive purchase.

 

In each case, each pair had a declared value under the 1500b small package exemption for Thai customs. And actually, the purchase price for each pair was well under the 1500 baht customs amount.

 

It's weird. Those Crocs shoes are made in Vietnam. But I usually pay about half the price to buy them direct from Crocs in the U.S. vs the prices that Crocs outlets here in Thailand sell them for for the same exact models. And still usually significantly less even after including shipping than the retail cost here.

 

Crazy! And all for shoes that start out in Vietnam!

 

[BritManToo 24,065]

After reading this post I gave Amazon a try.

Selected item for $47, got to the checkout and they added $85 for shipping and import duty ......... no thanks!

[johnjohn2 83]

Its all about what you get. Just browsing I noticed that I could buy a 1tb M.2 drive on Amazon for $100 cheaper than I could here in Thailand. This is with import tax and shipping.

Also with items that cannot be found in Thailand many people are willing to pay an inflated price for some things they want. End of Day BritMan its your choice.. but dont hit on Amazon out right.

Some items are pretty extreme. Others cheaper.

 

[SurfRider 163]

.  
"they added $85 for shipping and import duty ......... no thanks!"
   
WOW!!!  They hit you harder that they hit me.  Mine was a $65 "add-on" to a $49 item.

(estimated actual shipping cost $29). 

Not a bad scam since the buyer has no recourse.
   
Amazon should have a warning telling people something like:
You're leaving the Amazon jungle and going into wild unknown territory fraught with many dangers - tread at your own risk!
 

[vinegarbase 746]

14 minutes ago, SurfRider said:

WOW!!!  They hit you harder that they hit me.  Mine was a $65 "add-on" to a $49 item.

Anything valued over 1500 baht gets hit with duty. It could be worse, it used to be 1000 baht but Alibaba's Jack Ma complained and got them to raise it 500 baht. I'm with you though they are crazy protectionist with their markets here. 

Edited October 14, 2018 by vinegarbase

[SurfRider 163]

.  
"Anything valued over 1500 baht gets hit with duty"
 
Not in my case.  There was no duty listed on the Customs form.  The seller also made it very clear when I requested detail information on the additional charges, that they don't cover any Duties or Taxes - those are the sole responsibility of the buyer.
      
They identified extra charges only as "Endicia Insured", which they didn't explain.  Apparently they insured a $49 item for $150, which means they make out big-time even if the item vanishes in transit - additionally they get to keep their regular profit plus the overcharge to the buyer.   A very well rounded scam - they get their pay-day no matter what happens.
 

[TallGuyJohninBKK 17,763]

I'm not sure why a lot of folks here seem intent on doing things the hard way with Amazon.

 

FWIW, you don't have to be an American citizen to have an account with Planet Express. You can join for free, they have no monthly fees for their basic plan, you'll get a U.S. mail address you can use to receive almost any mail order package, and their shipping rates to Thailand are very reasonable. You only pay online on a package by package basis, when you order something forwarded to Thailand.

 

They accept payment methods of Paypal, Amazon Pay, credit cards and bank wires -- though I've only ever used Paypal or Amazon Pay with them.  Their mailout fee under their basic plan is $2 per package, plus the actual shipping fees, that usually run about $8-$10 a pound up to 4-5 lbs packages.  Optional insurance is also avail for a small added cost. All easy to do and manage online via their website.

 

They promptly answer their customer support emails, and likewise have a U.S. phone number that they'll answer during business hours to assist their customs with any issues or problems. I've sent close to 100 packages with them thus far, and never yet had a single problem.  And I'm not paying Amazon Global $50 or $70 per package for the privilege of having them sent directly to Thailand.

 

[balo 11,603]

18 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Planet Express. You can join for free, they have no monthly fees for their basic plan, you'll get a U.S. mail address you can use to receive almost any mail order package, and their shipping rates to Thailand are very reasonable

Same as Shipito.com. Are there any differences between them at all ? I have a US mail address in California. 

Order anything and free delivery to Shipito in Califirnia, then I pay for the package sent to Thailand. 

 

 

 

[TallGuyJohninBKK 17,763]

6 minutes ago, balo said:

Same as Shipito.com. Are there any differences between them at all ? I have a US mail address in California. 

Order anything and free delivery to Shipito in Califirnia, then I pay for the package sent to Thailand.

 

When I ceased using Shipito a year or so back, their rates were generally a bit higher than Planet Express. I've heard they've adjusted their prices somewhat in the meantime, but haven't tested that.

 

The guy running Planet Express is a former Shipito manager, so he well knows the competition. I like PE because they have more personalized customer service. I can call them and talk to specific people by name if I have questions or any issues, which is rare. Shipito IME got to be pretty impersonal and trying to get one on one answers was difficult, except thru their online chat, which often referred issues elsewhere.

 

[JimmyJ 1,770]

On 7/9/2018 at 5:17 AM, LomSak27 said:

It pays not to burn all your bridges, but that also means quid pro quo on your part. I just purchased some items on amazon - should arrive on July 12  (in US) according to their latest update. They will then be repackaged and sent to me with a "happy birthday" note on the package.

 I do not ship expensive items but so far they have always went direct and no duty charged..

There is no duty charged on birthday presents?

Edited September 23 by JimmyJ

[Nyezhov 9,803]

Damn I should take orders when I go back to the states and fill up a suitcase

[JimmyJ 1,770]

50 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Damn I should take orders when I go back to the states and fill up a suitcase

You'll be on your way to becoming a Digital Gonad!

[LomSak27 3,688]

On 9/23/2019 at 9:08 AM, JimmyJ said:

There is no duty charged on birthday presents?

No, sorry if I gave that impression. I just have them packed like that. Put a dumb misleading comment like Happy Birthday on the package. I have never had the post office, or whoever, try and gouge me for “duty” or whatever they call it. You go with what works, and if it works you keep going with it.

 

That said:

 

The most valuable was a Kindle paperwhite, a replacement blue tooth speaker and from amazon direct, a housing for my camera for underwater pictures. No duty was ever assessed although everything but the camera housing was repackaged.

 

Lastly, I will likely be ordering some things form a chinese shipper next year ... I cannot have those repackaged so we will see how that runs.

 

They're cheap, so nothing I will be bothered about if they do not make it. Aloha

Edited September 24 by LomSak27

[4evermaat 1,028]

Well, this was an interesting thread.  

 

It looks like you must consider a few things before using such an option like AmazonGlobal:

 

1) is there a comparable item available locally, including minimum acceptable quality?

2) Is the total cost (including shipping and customs estimate) still make using amazon + amazon int'l expedited shipping worthwhile?   Or should I deliver to address local to amazon's "free shipping" first, then use a forwarding service?

3) higher ticket item that a warranty claim or spare part might be necessary (that could not be later sourced locally)?

 

In my test case, I think I made out pretty well

 

 

As buying direct from the seller's website off amazon was about the same price as on amazon.com with shipping + customs estimate (thank you amazon for pressuring vendors to increase their off-amazon site similar listings).  But the non-amazon shipping would be more generic, especially international.   Amazon seems to be using air expedited shipping relationships with fedex/ups/dhl to the destination country.  Then passed off to a local carrier (Kerry, Thai Post, etc) for the final delivery.

 

An almost 2nd test case was ordering a laptop.  I could not get the same exact specs here.  And there was a ton of video reviews and coverage on this laptop as it was budget laptop but maxed out specs for its price $315 (with upgrade options i could do locally).   With the shipping/customs estimate, it would be $378.  Still not too bad when compared with local options.

 

 

But I realized that Ryzen 5 (quad core) would have been much better in the long run vs Ryzen 3.   But amazon didn't have a similar Ryzen 5 version. 

 

 

In fact, it was a LazMall flash sale that ultimately had me buy a more expensive local option (worked out to $493 USD at local exchange rate).  The universe told me "stop spending too much time researching this thing and make a choice already"  Just arrived earlier this morning actually.  Everything I wanted.  And Advice has a killer promotion yesterday on 1TB 2.5" SSD

 

 

 

For certain items, when you included the shipping/customs estimate, it was about the same or slightly less/more expensive in Thailand.   So then just get it here.

 

But things like quality, piece of mind, etc make amazon.com option viable in some cases.   You can't just shop on price alone in these situations.   It's just another option that should be spot-checked.  It may or may not work for a particular use-case.  Just click on "buy now" (with 1-click buying turned off) to view the estimates for a single item. Or add multiple items to the cart, and then select what you want within the cart and get estimates that way.

[HandsomeTallFarang 12]

How much is the shipping cost?

 

also I still can’t figure out how to write the address of condo. Lol.

 

im afraid whatever I order will never arrive because I can’t figure out how to write my address.