Buying a laptop from the USA using shipito.com

[Barnabe]

shipito.com has a service where they provide you with a US address, my plan is to use that to order a customised Lenovo laptop that I cannot buy in Thailand.

 

Even with the shipito + shipping charges it's way cheaper than buying here. The problem is of course customs. I read online that excise duty is not charged on laptop imports, only VAT. This seems to be confirmed by the calculations on this website:

https://www.easyship.com/duties-and-taxes-calculator/thailand?value=1500&category=computers_laptops&currency=USD&origin=usa

 

Is this true? Does anyone have experience of this? I don't want to order one and then get slapped with an arbitrary free from Thai customs. DHL will be handling the interaction so at least I don't have to deal with them directly, which is a nightmare by itself.

 

Edited September 13, 2020 by Barnabe

[J Town]

Years ago I had a scuba dive computer shipped. Had them make it look like a gift. Customs still charged me a hefty import tax. I'd suggest you proceed with caution and figure a tax into the equation.

[paulbj2]

Yes, I bought a Raspberry Pi from Europe and got royally whacked by the Thai customs - if I recall correctly, they hit me with a 1000 Baht in import duty. 

[onebir]

Do they also charge a lot of duty on stuff from Lazada/Aliexpress?

[pgrahmm]

It's a gamble.....Not a computer but I bought a tent from Aus...It and the accessories I bought came out to a little over $400....

I told them to value it at $200 & for it not to be shipped DHL or Fedex.....

They did use DHL and I got smacked almost $200.....Another time I received a softball bat worth $200 from the US and sent priority mail.....That was $60/2000B collected at the post office....

A few other small things sailed through - but over the last 4 years 90% of the prime stuff disappeared, tracking number or not.....

[Mavideol]

46 minutes ago, onebir said:

Do they also charge a lot of duty on stuff from Lazada/Aliexpress?

no, these are considered local,  "Chinese/Thai" agreement, free of import duty

[thedemon]

I have imported many notebooks from the US through Shipito. Used both Fedex and DHL.

 

There is only 7% VAT to pay, no duty. The 7% is applied to the CIF value so will include the Shipito charges. Apart from that there is a small customs clearance fee. From memory that is THB200-300.

 

In case anyone else is reading this, the above applies only to new notebooks. If you're planning on importing a used machine, don't use a courier as there is a high risk it will be seized under the fairly recent electronic waste import ban. Shipping via post will likely be ok.

[Barnabe]

17 minutes ago, thedemon said:

I have imported many notebooks from the US through Shipito. Used both Fedex and DHL.

 

There is only 7% VAT to pay, no duty. The 7% is applied to the CIF value so will include the Shipito charges. Apart from that there is a small customs clearance fee. From memory that is THB200-300.

 

In case anyone else is reading this, the above applies only to new notebooks. If you're planning on importing a used machine, don't use a courier as there is a high risk it will be seized under the fairly recent electronic waste import ban. Shipping via post will likely be ok.

 

Thanks! Which Shipito shipping method did you use? DHL?

[thedemon]

47 minutes ago, Barnabe said:

 

Thanks! Which Shipito shipping method did you use? DHL?

 

I have used both DHL and Fedex. Both work ok.

[Barnabe]

18 minutes ago, thedemon said:

 

I have used both DHL and Fedex. Both work ok.

Sorry, one final question - did you use any additional services from shipito, like let them fill in the customs form, or just their standard receive and ship service?

 

I just want to make sure I do everything as you did to ensure I do not have to pay additional tax.

[thedemon]

2 minutes ago, Barnabe said:

Sorry, one final question - did you use any additional services from shipito, like let them fill in the customs form, or just their standard receive and ship service?

 

I just want to make sure I do everything as you did to ensure I do not have to pay additional tax.

 

I was always consolidating multiple items so used their repacking service. I always filled in the invoice myself. It's very easy.

 

I used to always select China as the country of origin on the invoice. Probably doesn't make any difference though. In the description field I would write "Notebook Computer"

[impulse]

2 hours ago, Mavideol said:

no, these are considered local,  "Chinese/Thai" agreement, free of import duty

 

Depends on the article.  I paid import duties on some higher ticket items from China through AliExpress, while others sailed through.  There is a free trade agreement, but it's not universal.  It's by HTS code.

 

[Peterw42]

12 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Depends on the article.  I paid import duties on some higher ticket items from China through AliExpress, while others sailed through.  There is a free trade agreement, but it's not universal.  It's by HTS code.

 

Isnt a free trade agreement only on business to business transactions, not personal imports ?

[Susco]

12 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

Depends on the article.  I paid import duties on some higher ticket items from China through AliExpress, while others sailed through.  There is a free trade agreement, but it's not universal.  It's by HTS code.

 

Free trade agreements don't apply to your average shipment from Aliexpress.

 

For free trade your seller has to be registered and have the right documents for the right goods.

 

Drop shippers sitting in a 20sqm flat, like they are on Aliexpress, have never heard about free trade agreements

 

 

[Susco]

4 hours ago, J Town said:

Years ago I had a scuba dive computer shipped. Had them make it look like a gift. Customs still charged me a hefty import tax. I'd suggest you proceed with caution and figure a tax into the equation.

Taxes also apply to the value of a gift.

 

Even if you can 100% prove you got it for free, import duties will be levied on the value + shipping + insurance

[Sheryl]

I have had huge problems with Shipitto and they will, among other things, arbitrarily decide something is "prohibited" to ship to Thailand when in fact it is not. They seem to especially do this for things subject to significant customs duty. So be forewarned.

 

When they did this to me, they also initially refused to ship to a US address, insisting instead that the item had to be returned to sender or destroyed (!).

 

I had to file a complaint with the BBB to resolve it.

 

I would certainly not want to risk a computer with them.

 

 

[impulse]

19 minutes ago, Susco said:

Free trade agreements don't apply to your average shipment from Aliexpress.

 

For free trade your seller has to be registered and have the right documents for the right goods.

 

Drop shippers sitting in a 20sqm flat, like they are on Aliexpress, have never heard about free trade agreements

 

No, but customs officials looking at the category of goods on the invoice know all about them.  And they're the ones that let some of my AliExpress goodies in at zero duty, while charging significant (though not punitive) import duties on others.  It's all done by HTS code, whether the vendor lists it or the customs agent has to match it up by the description on the invoice.

 

The customs agent looks at the HTS code, the country of origin, and simply matches that up with his database of import duty rates for that HTS code and country. 

 

Edited September 13, 2020 by impulse

[Susco]

3 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

No, but customs officials looking at the category of goods on the invoice know all about them.  And they're the ones that let some of my AliExpress goodies in at zero duty, while charging significant (though not punitive) import duties on others.  It's all done by HTS code, whether the vendor lists it or the customs agent has to match it up by the description on the invoice.

 

Below 1500 Baht of value is duty free in Thailand, above that you get charged on the full value, but doesn't mean that a 2000 Baht value package will never get in under the radar

[impulse]

3 minutes ago, Susco said:

Below 1500 Baht of value is duty free in Thailand, above that you get charged on the full value, but doesn't mean that a 2000 Baht value package will never get in under the radar

 

That's an entirely different discussion, and has nothing to do with free trade agreements. 

 

But I've paid Thai import duties on items that were valued less than 1500 baht.  In those cases, I don't claim to know what rule they fell under, or whether I was being duped.  I just know that I paid.  But that was rare.

 

[Barnabe]

22 minutes ago, Sheryl said:

I have had huge problems with Shipitto and they will, among other things, arbitrarily decide something is "prohibited" to ship to Thailand when in fact it is not. They seem to especially do this for things subject to significant customs duty. So be forewarned.

 

When they did this to me, they also initially refused to ship to a US address, insisting instead that the item had to be returned to sender or destroyed (!).

 

I had to file a complaint with the BBB to resolve it.

 

I would certainly not want to risk a computer with them.

 

 

 

Thanks Sheryl, I'll email them before I order to confirm.

[Susco]

5 minutes ago, impulse said:

 

That's an entirely different discussion, and has nothing to do with free trade agreements. 

 

But I've paid Thai import duties on items that were valued less than 1500 baht.  In those cases, I don't claim to know what rule they fell under, or whether I was being duped.  I just know that I paid.  But that was rare.

 

Free trade agreements is not what this thread is all about, it's just something off topic that you brought up, and I said already that free trade agreements only apply to registered companies with the correct documents, not your Aliexpress drop shipper.

 

It will need documents like certificate of origin, FTA registration number of both sending and receiving company , HS classification code and a few more.

 

You think any AE drop shipper sending some goods to a retiree in Thailand will qualify for this?

 

Don't bother, this silly discussion has ended for me.

 

You win