Shipping from Thailand to the USA?

[bucknaway]

Anyone ever buy anything and had it shipped from Thailand to the USA?

I like the wood wall art that often comes in 3 parts. I like the art that is about 3' x 4' as well as some other things that I have come across in Thailand. I often considered buying other things but have ruled out the purchases because of it's size or the difficulty in getting it back to the USA.

[adman5000]

Yes. I bought a bunch of custom made clothes - two suits, three sports jackets, 10 shirts, and 6 pants (each of the suits came with 2 pairs of pants). The guy made me a deal I could not refuse. I still have some shirts unopened in the packs. I haven't had to buy dress clothes since. It was sent FEDEX.

[bucknaway]

Was the shipping included in the deal?

[adman5000]

Bucky, it was extra. As I recall it was about $100. It was probably 5 years ago or so. The cost was still less than buying suitcases and having excess baggage charges plus the trouble of carting extra suitcases.

You may want to check with your airline for estimated costs for a given weight and sized item.

[bucknaway]

Maybe what I need to do is get an estimate on Shipping.

I think it may be cheaper to ship from Thailand than it is to ship from the USA to Thailand.

I know I use to send a box to my friend in Pattaya and the postage was so much that I would hold the box until I filled it with things to send him to make it worth the cost of delivery.

[christianpfc]

No (never had anything shipped anywhere from Thailand, took everything in my luggage).

At Chatuchak Weekend market, there are several stalls that specialize in shipping. You can buy your stuff at Chatuchak, go to the stall and they will handle everything for you. I enquired about prices for shipping to Germany, it was not cheap. Postcards from Thailand to Germany are sent at Thai prices, but if you want to ship goods, you have to pay European prices.

[ceejay]

Bucknaway - you are staying in Chiang Mai for a few days I believe? For the type of wood carving you describe, you could visit Ban Tawai wood carving village:
http://www.ban-tawai.com/index.php
You get a very full range of stuff there, everything from basic tourist tat to high end furniture. A lot of the wooden knicknacks you see on sale in tourist markets throughout Thailand are sourced wholsesale from Ban Tawai.
Some of the shops may be able to arrange shipping for you. Otherwise, the website has a page of contacts:
http://www.ban-tawai.com/shop.php?cid=39
Ban Tawai is around 20km from central CM so you'll need to arrange transport to get there.

[pong]

this is general and not specific for USA-there may be additional strings attached by that customs.
there are 3 ways to send:
1.ordinary mail, max 5 or 10 kg-varies per country to. Older gentlemen may recall that you could choose between sea/air, but thats history. Its now between immediate and ''when place available in plane''-mostly takes 2-3 weeks then. This is always the cheapest rates. You can be 125% sure it will be hit by customs if qualifying for that. Can choose between home/office delivery or collect at postoffice (may not be in all country). Some times its even cheaper to send f.e. 8 kgs as 3+5 kgs separate parcels-if possible with the stuff sent. LOwer rates for books/printed matter.
2.via the airline, at their FREIGHT office at airport, some airlines also have special deals for FF-customers-again without direct speed-when space available, often only when you also use that airline on that route. For most too unknown and too much hassle-must also collect at destinationairport.
3.most of you-and certainly USAers, will by now only know of those expeditors like DHL, TNT etc.-they have offices in most Thai touristy areas. Price is per filled cardboard box, max maybe applied (25-30 kgs) and varies with delivery on airport, at their offcie or your place and how fast. MOstly by far the most expensive way. They will also add handling if customs wants to search and not warn you about that.

[Yraen]

Shipping costs could be the least of your concerns.

I don't know the specifics of USA quarantine regulations; yet in Australia that is the department that would be "crawling up your leg" if you import 'vegetable matter'. Wood carvings often conceal uninvited guests, ants, wood borers, etc. So you could be facing the cost of fumigating the carvings or of their destruction should they be infested.

My suggestion is that you should enquire of US border security about quarantine in relation to your intended purchases. It may be possible to get these treatment services in Thailand and a certificate of treatment in accordance with US law.