Trip to Thailand

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Be careful of bringing your kit into Thailand. I know of two people that got turned over by customs for import duty when they did. Always take it through in your luggage never unaccompanied.

I have brought close to 200lbs (2 checked and 1 carryone bag) of dive gear to thailand over the last 5 years averaging 2-3 trips per year and never been pulled for inspection. My stays have been a combination of 30 day on arrival and 60 day tourist visas. Maybe there was another reason they were nabbed for inspection.

John
 
John,

Both of them sent it by freight to save money on the excess baggage charges - Thai customs then wanted to charge them import duty @ 40%. Both settled on way less than that but still considerable sums for nothing :(
 
That's the difference Apecks, if you send it, customs want their tea money, if you bring it in as personal luggage, you should be fine.
 
John,

Both of them sent it by freight to save money on the excess baggage charges - Thai customs then wanted to charge them import duty @ 40%. Both settled on way less than that but still considerable sums for nothing :(

That is a completely absurd way to treat tourists, from the authorities of a country that wants to 'promote' tourism.
Constant acts such as this from a 'tourist friendly' country never cease to amaze me.
Was this equipment new or hat it been used previously?

I must add for reference of others I had a similar instance a few years ago when I flew with Air France to the carribean, I had my dive equipment and my luggage all in a large dive bag that was within my weight allowance, and was charged €50 each way on the flight for checking in dive equipment? On my return I wrote to the airline and protested about this, and they sent me an extract from their terms and conditions that actually stated this act was their standard procedure.
So if you ever fly Air France best to disguise the fact you are carrying dive equipment, or better still go with another Airline.
 
The sad thing about one of the guys was that he bought some of the equipment on a previous trip to thailand and had invoices from thailand for it stating that he had already paid tax - they would not conceed at first but after a few trips up bangkok he got a reduction. The rest of the kit (full tech kit) was bought in the UK as it was cheaper to buy it there than thailand (on paper).
 
The sad thing about one of the guys was that he bought some of the equipment on a previous trip to thailand and had invoices from thailand for it stating that he had already paid tax - they would not conceed at first but after a few trips up bangkok he got a reduction. The rest of the kit (full tech kit) was bought in the UK as it was cheaper to buy it there than thailand (on paper).

I have never heard anything so stupid.

And why do we now keep hearing 'mai mee farrang', if the authorities continue to treat tourists in this manner I think we will hear this cry all the more.
 
I am not saying there are not deals there OR that you will be overcharged in Thailand. Just that a claim of "sale" or 60% off is meaningless if one cannot determine the final price.

Although I haven't heard back from you I still would like to give you some price samples of new scuba gear that is currently on sale in some shops in Phuket.

Atomic T1 titanium Regulator (first and second stage) : 30.500 Baht (was 59.000)

Atomic B1 Regulator (first and second stage) : 13.765 Baht (was 27000)

Mares Airtrim BCD : 15.180 Baht (was 31000)

Mares Ariel Dragon Fly BCD : 11.700 Baht (was 23000)

Dacor HUB complete (BCD + regulator complete) : 36.735 Baht (was 61000)

Aladin Air Z : 17.999 Baht (was 45800)

:pirate2:
 
Although I haven't heard back from you I still would like to give you some price samples of new scuba gear that is currently on sale in some shops in Phuket.

Atomic T1 titanium Regulator (first and second stage) : 30.500 Baht (was 59.000)

Atomic B1 Regulator (first and second stage) : 13.765 Baht (was 27000)

Mares Airtrim BCD : 15.180 Baht (was 31000)

Mares Ariel Dragon Fly BCD : 11.700 Baht (was 23000)

Dacor HUB complete (BCD + regulator complete) : 36.735 Baht (was 61000)

Aladin Air Z : 17.999 Baht (was 45800)

:pirate2:


Most of these deals look excellent, most are around half the original price. Must have been charging too much in the first place.
 
Although I haven't heard back from you I still would like to give you some price samples of new scuba gear that is currently on sale in some shops in Phuket.

Atomic T1 titanium Regulator (first and second stage) : 30.500 Baht (was 59.000)

Atomic B1 Regulator (first and second stage) : 13.765 Baht (was 27000)

Mares Airtrim BCD : 15.180 Baht (was 31000)

Mares Ariel Dragon Fly BCD : 11.700 Baht (was 23000)

Dacor HUB complete (BCD + regulator complete) : 36.735 Baht (was 61000)

Aladin Air Z : 17.999 Baht (was 45800)

:pirate2:

Most of these deals look excellent, most are around half the original price. Must have been charging too much in the first place.


In many cases, these products were overpricd to begin with when compared with my local market (which I know is not always an apples to apples comparison but for me it always will be).

- The Mares Airtrim BCD WAS $908 USD.....available in the US for $650 USD. So the sale price is QUITE good but the regular pricing was rape IMO.
- Aladin Air Z (I only see this availble as AIR/NITROX and assume it does not have the transmitter in your price)......WAS $1342 USD....available in the US for $500 USD or $600 USD with transmitter. SO in this case, the sale pricing does not blow any skirts up.
- I am not familiar with the Atomic B1 Regulator but this appears to be a VERY old model which is a concern on its own but the current model B2 is available in the US for $725 (with first stage). This was competitively priced from the looks of it but I am not surprised they are giving it away considering how old it is.

Bottom line is to anybody reading this thread, BE CAREFUL and know what you are getting and what the real value is. Perhaps the prices listed by Bowmouth were very competitive for Thailand....maybe not. I would at least know what I want and what I can pay for it here before I bought it anywhere else. otherwise, I would just have to be prepared to accept that a store somewhere in the world got rickh off me.
 
All the items as mentioned in my previous post are indeed older models. That's why they are on sale I guess.
Personally I have no problem with buying a piece of quality equipment that is not the latest model.

With a little bit of shopping around and comparing prices, it's possible to buy high quality gear for a very good price in Thailand.

Normal discounts given on newer models is usually between 10 to 20 percent off the advertised price.
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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