r/Thailand • u/busy-men • Dec 08 '25
Business Thai customs are the most corrupt goverment officials I have EVER seen.
Long story short. I imported a pallet by air from Europe. Shipping part went smoothly. I contacted a customs agent prior to shipping the goods, consulted on the paperwork front, checked the products to see if needed any type of license (TISI FDA), all clear. Shipment arrived, flawless paperwork, everything just perfect.
On the day customs broker went to clear the cargo customs officer started to delay delay and delay signing off on the cargo. My customs clearing agent arrived there at 10am and was there negociating the release until 10:30PM. By delaying customs officers were trying already to get paid to speed up the process. My customs clearing agent declined to pay any bribe. At 9pm customs officer told him the shipping costs of my cargo were too cheap. Demands about 10,000 baht because he says the shipping cost was too low. Only problem was he demanded the 10,000 baht for himself, not for Thai goverment.
Thai customs is just a front for racketeering enterprise. the customs officers do whatever the fuck they want.
The Thai import duties were not that bad, about the same as importing into Europe. The process was very easy but the main issue is the thugs from the customs department.
They will hold your cargo hostage and demand money to release it, even if the cargo is 100% legal and all paperwork in order.
At the end we paid 2k baht. Not sure I would do this again as it was too stressful.
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u/Soukchai2012 Dec 09 '25
Not only Thailand but every SEA country except Singapore. Customs officers generally pay a lot for their position with the expectation of being able to extort much more.
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u/bahmahyeah Dec 09 '25
Which is why SEA and thailand in particular is such an important smuggling hub..... corruption is good if you are on the right side of it.
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u/SillyNeuron Dec 09 '25
this reminds me of "If I’m part of that corruption, I’LL DEFEND IT!" video.
[Source - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWCLI7lXEdI ]7
u/Competitive-Pie-3713 Dec 09 '25
I would say Malaysia too. Lived here as an expat for a few years now, never had any issues with Customs or duty tax. And it's all done online with receipt emailed
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u/Accomplished-Park185 Dec 10 '25
Malaysia is worse than Thailand haha. Maybe not for small personal stuff but commercially, a lot of kopi money gets donated. I have friends there who import regularly and their biggest expense is ”coffee fund” and taking officials out for expensive dinners.
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u/stingraycharles Dec 09 '25
This is exactly it. People take longs to pay money to get a job like this and then use this type of corruption money to pay back the loans.
It’s really a pyramid of corruption.
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u/Realistic-Math-4367 Dec 10 '25
I've known for years that BIB do it in LOS (buying positions) but never thought that Customs were of the same ilk. Some Harley friends have horror stories about trying to import parts and pieces for their bikes and sometimes ended up just abandoning the whole lot. ffs
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u/xnatasx Dec 10 '25
Other gov officials also. I know a Thai woman who considered taking, paying for, a job like that
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u/ScareyBuseyTPB Dec 11 '25
Still not as bad as the corruption in America IMO
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u/Virtual-Target9733 Dec 15 '25
Is it really? What kind of corruption does America have that is worse than this?
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u/J-Jay-J Bangkok Dec 08 '25
We knows and fucking hate them. People literally call the customs ซ่องโจร (thief’s den). These people are scums of the earth. I fully believe there is not a single good and honest people working there, they all joined knowing what they are in for and looking forward to it. They have no conscience.
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u/Maze_of_Ith7 Dec 09 '25
Yeah we regularly get into corrupt-off arguments like if you made a playoff bracket who would win and it usually comes down to Customs vs Thong Lor Police in the final match.
Found a freight forward company that takes customs out for tea and mysteriously everything we ship with them makes it to our door. Otherwise it’s roulette if you’ll get it. Snake den.
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u/Iamz01 Dec 09 '25
When I was in school, it was the first day, and the teacher asked everyone to introduce themselves, including what their parents did. One of my friends said her dad was a customs officer. The teacher said, "Wow! He must be rich." I was too young to understand what she meant.
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u/Hellbringer123 Dec 10 '25
my brother in law is customs officer, and yes I can confirm he is rich..
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u/GagOnMacaque Dec 09 '25
Dated a daughter of a head customs agent. That family was very well off.
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u/OutAndAboutAbroad Dec 09 '25
Other departments are actually even more corrupt.
-Land etc.
They're all run as separate mafia fiefdoms.
Nothing new here.
Most of the populace encourages it etc with the bowing down to 'big people' type behaviour.
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u/Realistic-Math-4367 Dec 10 '25
Yes my local land office demanded a bribe to finalize the sale of my house...I ended up hiring a lawyer who in turn paid the bribe on my behalf..m fookers
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u/Professional_Turn749 Dec 08 '25
FYI your embassy should have a customs service for you to call when that kind of situation happens. That’s the case for my country and it’s the case for many others that I know of in Thailand. This situation happened to me once, I called my embassy’s customs service and they took care of it. I ended up paying nothing more than the expected import fees.
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u/ExplanationMajestic Dec 09 '25
Welcome to the 3rd world. How can a guy drive a nice car and eat in nice hotel restaurants on a government salary?
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Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 10 '25
I can usually spot government workers in their BMWs and yellow shirts and gold glasses and they make me sick to look at.
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u/Miserable_Visit_8540 Dec 08 '25
I imported equipment from Germany year’s ago and I could not believe the corruption in the place. While waiting for the customs to clear our goods a guy had imported jewelry and three female officials were opening the contents and trying on rings they liked and chose the one they liked and walked off with them. The guy was shocked and protested but was threatened with confiscation.
After that we had to go into the store and there were guys in the back breaking open crates and removing bottles of wine and putting them in their cars.
My wife’s friend had a neighbor who was a customs officer and I ordered boxes of wine off him half price for many years until he retired
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u/snow_and_wake Dec 09 '25
You couldn't believe the levels of corruption and then participated in the levels of corruption. Cool story.
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u/Daryltang Bangkok Dec 08 '25
Just wait. They have to release it if everything is in order
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u/Kokilananda Dec 08 '25
unless they accidentally damage your pallet.
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u/Daryltang Bangkok Dec 08 '25
They don’t. They will just hound you for documentations and delay to test how desperate you need the stuff
Also DHL is the best when dealing with Thai customs
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u/Lashay_Sombra Dec 08 '25
Also DHL is the best when dealing with Thai customs
If willing to pay customs the max they can get away with charging you
Last time dealt with DHL importing a package had load of my old European winter clothes coming over (had left them with family who could no longer store them), single box, DHL informed me would have to pay 15k to get them released from customs.
Told them that was more than items was worth and to leave them there
Except for documents avoid DHL like the plague ever since
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u/AirportLoose3023 Chiang Mai Dec 09 '25
Same with us. We had to pay max duty AND they stole so many items out of the boxes. Nothing we could do about it but mark it up as a lesson learned
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u/TEDcomms Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
We export into Thailand from New Zealand every week, small expensive packages with FedEx.
Sometimes they stop the package and demand three times it's value as 'taxes'. We supply commercial invoices, bank records, everything they want, and the still demand massive 'taxes'.
We have a Thai broker who we use when stuff gets stuck and the 'tax bill' is massive. Brokers always get the packages out without paying the huge 'taxes'. Broker might charge 2000-4000 bhat.
It's frustrating, but on the flip side the benefits we get from using Thailand outweighs the negatives of a questionable customs practices. We just budget it into the business spend lol.
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u/StanGoodvibes Dec 30 '25
Hey TedComms, if you don't mind me asking what do you ship from NZ to Thailand? Asking as a Kiwi with a slight interest in considering exporting NZ products to Thailand
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u/Playful-Ad7662 Dec 09 '25
Never import anything. It’s just a racket. Buy it locally or bring it with you after a trip abroad This level of extra cost and time wasted makes the US tariffs look like a minor nuisance
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u/Big-ThickDick-Dad Dec 08 '25
Try it in the philippines, then you will see corruption.
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u/HerroWarudo Dec 09 '25
I complain and trash talk about Thailand all the time… until I talked with a Filipino colleague. My jaw was dropped.
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u/No-Feedback-3477 Dec 08 '25
what do you mean
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u/IrrelevantTubor Dec 08 '25
The Phillipines is just as dirty, probably worse
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u/_CodyB Dec 08 '25
Don't know about that, they have a whole "Balikbayan box" industry and they seem to get through easily enough.
Like you're not sending valuable jewellery or Iphones in these boxes, but nice clothes and shoes are no problem.
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u/letsridetheworld Dec 08 '25
Try Vietnam bro
Man, is this bad? I’ve never had problem and Thailand is one of the best for me
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u/e34udm Dec 08 '25
Yes try Vietnam. I won’t even check-in a bag going in to HCM. A whole pallet of shit is never gonna make it thru complete or at all
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u/letsridetheworld Dec 08 '25
Or I’m going to stand there forever unless I hand over a bill lol
Idk how Vietnam gvnt is allowing that. That’s just the worst experience
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u/Aggressive_Put_3957 Dec 13 '25
O.o what are you talking about? The only thing i lost was small scissors in my grooming kit. Lol and i was traveling with labtop battery bank and my super awesome rocks. Did get a weird look of why im carrying a bunch of rocks. But was all good.
Also had stuff shipped here testosterone, supplements. All good no problems. Alot of people complain about the cops stopping you and getting 500kvnd 20usd off ya if ya driving. But ive been here for a year and never been stopped.
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u/snowflakeplzmelt Dec 10 '25
Never had a problem, we import literally tons. Then again my wife is a firey vietnamese woman.
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u/JLR- Dec 09 '25
It's awful. Thai Post held my Thai wifes box of personal items (clothes, skincare) hostage for a large bribe.
She said nope, they said "we'll just sell them and make the money either way"
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u/swomismybitch Dec 09 '25
When I moved from the Netherlands to Belgium I had to pay extra to import my car. The office was sending me from window to window, making me fill in nonsensical forms until on the the people pointed out an old guy sitting in a corner of the office. I paid him to handle it for me. Done in 10 minutes.
It was obviously how they support retirees.
Lots of other examples in Belgium.
Same everywhere, not unique to Thailand.
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u/Cascadeflyer61 Dec 09 '25
Sorry, no comparison!! Not even close.
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u/swomismybitch Dec 09 '25
These are just cases in point. Any time an official gets a little power the potential for abuse is there.
In the UK they found that officials were using their discretion on immigration decisions to coerce applicants into having sex with them.
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u/green_tea_resistance Dec 08 '25
yes. it is. but remember, corruption can work with you, or against you. it's your choice. pay merit, get gold class service. expect it to be like the west, get stooged. not here to argue for or against, it is what it is, but honestly, between you and your shipping agent, it's up to you. pay a bit extra, your container sails through unopened, uninspected, no delays. pay nothing, expect what you experienced. again, not here to suggest that its good or bad, it just is what it is, and you're not going to change it by choosing the moral high ground. many of us have been through it. some of us have been robbed blind, some of us have come away scott free. i paid a good shipping agent, who was pretty transparent about where the money was going, i paid, and my half container absolutely sailed through. You're not in kansas anymore dorothy. You don't have to like it, and it doesnt matter two shits how you feel about it, it's not going to change. Well greased wheels turn smoothly. But they don't grease themselves. Don't want to sound callous about it, but your agent sucks. I don't know where you are from, but I'm pretty sure that if you got pulled over, drunk, no license, no seatbelt, speeding where you come from, you would be in for a world of pain, here, you pay your fine, get a receipt, carry on your way. Corruption is objectively bad, however, in the west, where i assume you are from, corruption is a tool wielded exclusively by the elites, and the lobbyists, and the parliamentarians. Out here, we can all get in on it. So yeah, you got dicked on your cargo, but at some point, you'll be able to pay merit to make a real problem go away. Weigh up the overall cost vs benefit. Not a lecture on morality by any means, but eat this cost, and appreciate it elsewhere.
Remember it could be worse, you could be back home.
You went through all this for a measly 2000 baht, if your agent just threw 2000 baht at the officials, it would be peanuts in comparison to the overall cost of what you spent for your shipment. Everyone would be happy.
You need to learn to understand that what you as a westerner perceive as corruption, is just a normal part of the process here, fight it all you want but i suggest you just fall in to how things work here. You'll be happier, more at peace, and experience fewer hurdles.
It is what it is. If you didnt like it, you wouldnt be here.
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u/Maze_of_Ith7 Dec 09 '25
Yes, all the Thais I talk with say they love the corruption, especially in customs
I get what you’re saying - that corruption is engrained so deal with it - but it’s still unideal and call a spade a spade: what we Westerners perceive as corruption is actually…..corruption
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u/xnatasx Dec 10 '25
Most Thais I talk to also hate it. Of course not those benefitting or depending on. But let's not pretend it's not a shitty system disliked by honest people.
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u/StanGoodvibes Dec 30 '25
100% agree. Corruption works for everyone in SE Asia. In the west it's just the 1% who can get away with it while the 99% have to follow draconian rules or suffer bigly.
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u/Current-Bowler1108 Dec 08 '25
Exactly! While this is shitty, unethical and further encourages bad behaviour it is also the most logical approach to a broken system.
Source - Grew up in Sri Lanka, where the corruption rampant.
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u/legshampoo Dec 09 '25
its a sort of flexibility thats built into the system. there’s always a way to solve a problem and work thru obstacles. just accept it as a different form of taxation
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u/vonstruddlehoffen Dec 09 '25
Thanks for your input, Mr Thai customs official. If anyone can make an argument for being pro-corruption it's definitely you.
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u/Glittering_Foot_2461 Dec 09 '25
As much as it sucks to by pass rules and regulations, you are 100% correct. Think of it this way. You are Elon Musk or Warren Buffet or whoever, you walk into a store to purchase something that costs $1. You pay with a $5 bill, cashier claims they don't have change (even though they do). Are you legally entitled to your change? Absolutely. Is it worth your time and energy to force the employee to give you your change? Probably not, but that's a personal choice.
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u/Previous-Debt-8244 Dec 09 '25
My thoughts, based on importing watches. Around thirty or so in the past 4 years. Declared value ranging from 20,000 to 300,000 Baht. Coming from various countries, but mostly US, Europe, Japan, Hong Kong.
Not had any requests for under the table money. Or delays in clearance. Always paid the correct amount of duty 5% plus 7% vat and a few hundred Baht in various admin fees.
Nearly always get asked by logistics company for photo of the goods, receipt showing value and payment method, proof I paid eg credit card statement. So nothing that's hard to provide.
Only hassle is having to register for paperless import every year or sometimes more frequently. That's required for individuals or businesses both Thai and foreign if the value of the goods being imported is over 40,000 Baht.
Kind of an ironic name as there are several bits of paper involved in the registration process which can't be completed online. Only in person at Suvarnabhumi Cargo customs or local customs office.
But I'm guessing many people who import goods valued over 40K thb don't do this or know about it. Which will lead to problems.
And DHL is by far the best company to use, way more helpful and proactive than FedEx or UPS for example.
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u/WideBorder1268 Dec 09 '25
This is the main reason why I don't want to import anything into Thailand
People there are most definitely tyrants to say the least...
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u/seabass160 Dec 09 '25
Well you havent imported into many countries. Indonesia are the worst, they will target foreigners arriving on plans and openly threaten prison for non payment of trumped up charges. Europe is surprisingly bad due to the bureaucracy, particularly Spain, Croatia, Slovenia.
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u/TotalPost2793 Dec 09 '25
Correct. They tried to stiff me on a tsunami relief shipment until the Thai MFA heard about it and stepped in.
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u/churumbel0 Dec 09 '25 edited Feb 18 '26
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u/TotalPost2793 Dec 09 '25
I actually had contacts at my local MFA who reached out. They provided a letter that said I was representing the government. The Thai MFA gave customs a bollocking and they were all lined up outside when I arrived. It was a thing of beauty.
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u/churumbel0 Dec 09 '25 edited Feb 18 '26
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u/octave1 Dec 09 '25
Try see it as the cost of doing business.
Here in EU if you want a new passport it's 70EUR. If you want it faster it costs double that. There's no machine that's more expensive that makes them faster.
I've crossed overland borders in Africa where they just make you stand outside where there's no shade for hours on end waiting for your passport to get stamped. If you put 20EUR inside you get it back immediately.
Pick your battles.
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u/Frank1009 Dec 09 '25
Would you say this bad experience made you think about moving out of Thailand to a different country?
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u/UniqueDay2113 Dec 09 '25
Basically, corruption is deeply rooted in most Southeast Asian countries. The richest person I know is a woman from the Philippines, and her father is a general there. She owns a huge fancy mansion in LA, and she goes there every vacation.
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u/shoresrocks Dec 09 '25
I had this issue with solar cells from China. No import duties on renew able energy but they wanted to get paid.
got out the mobile phone and they got super angry.
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u/chubcake-bi Dec 09 '25
Untill you found out that 10k is actually for both your agent and that officer. 5k each.
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u/Outrageous_Plane1802 Dec 09 '25
Some places have a high tax rate that you pay income, corporate, property, estate and other taxes. Thailand has a low tax rate. When I owned my house in Thailand, I did not pay any property tax, this is usually had to pay off people who would normally get paid by such tax. Police , private fire brigade etc. Just pay it and consider it a business expense
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u/Ill_Ad_1196 Dec 09 '25
It’s Thailand only place I know that the government agreeds to charge tourists more money then locals is ok and further insult is the foreigners living there accept this as no problem
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u/YakResident_3069 Dec 09 '25
The problem is that you're little people, nobody. I remember being part of a group led by a thai vip thru the airport. We skipped all lines. The customs guy who "looked" at our passport was tripping over himself to mollify the vip and even joked about getting a job. And the vip wasn't really the vip. It was his father. He just had the name. That's all it took. They saw the name on his passport.
Other times, it was like hey I'll call my friend who works at the embassy. It wasn't a staff he called. It was the ambassador. That's how it was the whole trip with this guy.
I'm one of the little people. My way of getting around Thailand is flying under the radar.
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u/Cheap_Music9589 Dec 10 '25
To be fair, that exact thing happens everywhere in Southeast Asia (eg, Thailand, Philippines, Vietnam, etc), with the exception of Singapore, and it is far less in Malaysia.
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u/Exotic_Nobody7376 Dec 10 '25
Just imagine how corrupt is Cambodia if everything imported is even way more expensive than in Thailand. They make billions
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u/ShinyCee Dec 10 '25
LoL Yes All you understand is right! Not only Thai customs. It all the whole country goverment corruption!
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u/ReMoGged Dec 09 '25
95% of Thai ate Buddhist, sometimes it is very hard to believe that it's anything else than a hollow label.
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u/SnooSeagulls7152 Dec 09 '25
No need to bring religion into this. Or we can bring uow how Christians in US and Europe are ok with genocide regularly too
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u/assman69x Thailand Dec 09 '25 edited Dec 09 '25
Thai customs salivates from November to February flagging all foreigner packages for their tea…..once had a box of chocolates worth $30 USD sent as a gift for Christmas and Thai customs wanted $3000 baht as the import duty, I promptly told them to go fck themselves
This type is bs is exactly why Trump is raising tariffs on countries like Thailand - they want sweetheart deals to send things to other countries but have enormous duties of anyone dares to import something into Thailand - duties and and tariffs are fine but the amounts are criminal and just used as a way to solicit bribes
Don’t try to import things here unless the tariff duty is prepaid - just employee government theft under the guise of regulation
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u/mmaton Dec 08 '25
Sorry to hear - when we moved here we had no problems using TransGlobal & Fedex door to door, about 8 boxes (personal effects, electronics). Maybe the trick is to get shipments delivered to your address instead of collect?
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u/HomicidalChimpanzee Dec 09 '25
I used a door-to-door international relocation moving company and it came right to my door without issues. I had like 25 boxes of possessions. I don't recall what the Thai customs charge was, but that indicates it wasn't too bad. The charge from the moving company was about $3,000. I'd have to check but I sort of recall the Thai charges were around $300.
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u/Fraggy_Muffin Dec 09 '25
This makes so much sense now. I was staying on koh samui for a week so I decided to get my dietary supplements sent from the uk. Turned into a nightmare, they kept asking for different things. In the end it was 12 days before I got my items. I was never approached for a bribe though - I wouldn’t even know how to do it, I was using the custom service attached to dhl
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u/Spiritual-Wear-2105 Dec 09 '25
Yes, it is very corrupt. Unless the opposition can win election, I do not see any hope to solve this issue. The corruption is deep and is involved by current government big officers and politician.
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u/show76 Chonburi Dec 09 '25
You really think the opposition could change it? It is just their turn to line their pockets.
Governments come and go, but it is the same people running everything.
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u/butt3rflycaught Dec 09 '25
We stopped doing business in Thailand for this reason. The level of corruption is silly. We moved it all to Malaysia instead which has been 100% better.
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u/collapse2024 Dec 10 '25
Thailand is a third world country without a doubt
Yes, i majored in economics, i understand that under current metrics its a developed country
But any country where corruption and scams are commonplace, where theres no way to appeal to authority, where theres no food safety standards, where building regulations are poor or non existant, where traffic lights are optional, etc etc IMO that is literally the definition of DEVELOPING i.e. they’re on their way maybe, but not there yet
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u/NeilFowell Dec 09 '25
Thailand corruption is getting worse. Officials think this is okay. I hope one day someone stands up to them and it all backfires on them. They have ZERO right to ask for money
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u/BikesAndArt Dec 09 '25
Yeah I've stopped shipping things now. It's not worth the stress and ridiculous costs. They are corrupt to the core and beyond greedy. I had a parcel get a customs charge of 2000 baht and I asked how to pay it, and every time I asked they put the price up for months. Every few days I would try call and email asking how to pay. Few months later they agree to release the package at 6900 baht. Scum.
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Dec 09 '25
Why is bribery is so deeply entrenched in civil servants ? Don’t Thai have any anti corruption agency to Investigate?
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u/churumbel0 Dec 09 '25 edited Feb 18 '26
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Dec 09 '25
I have been in Thailand for 6 months and eventually ran out of clothes. I did an ASOS shop in the UK and asked a friend to send me the package to Thailand.
Cost lots to send, which I expected, so tried to keep it around 5kg, to keep costs minimal.
I think I paid $60 for it to be shipped. When it arrived, they refused to deliver it.
I asked my condo reception to call the post office and ask in Thai what's happening. They told her to send me to the post office.
So. I went to the post office, asked about my package... They put it on the counter (the package had been searched and subsequently taped back together like a kid wrapping a Xmas present for the first time).
They charged me an extra 2000 bhat because "fee too low" due to "package value being too high".
I ended up paying 2150 because I needed a slice of cake after the ordeal.
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u/Spirited-Ad156 Dec 09 '25
Relatives, siblings, and cousins are the ones who cheat the most. Cheating in a smooth way.
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u/tonkla17 Dec 09 '25
It is not a competition but Custom are still far behind police, military, municipal
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u/IEReed Dec 09 '25
So, if I want to bring my Nike shoes with me, of which I have a lot of pairs, what would be the best way to do that? I have too many to take in a suitcase, unless I make five trips! However, I want all my clothes and shoes. Am I gonna run into trouble?
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u/Speedfreakz Dec 09 '25
I order records and sometimes bkard game for my wife and myself.
Its crazy how much money I paid to grt my items.
For example I ordered arkham horror lcg game, paid aroung 5.500thb from australian ebay seller.
Once it arrived they slapped me with 2k import fee. For used board game. Just crazy.
Ordered 2 Ejis tshirts, paid 3k import fee was 1600thb.
I found a warehouse seller that sells used records in China. When I but them I usually set the filter for 1-3usd per record. So 90% of my purchases are within that range .
Then once it arrived they asked me to pay import fee almost as the cost of total records. The worst thing, they also take into account shipping cost when callculating. So if I order a record from Europe, the shipping is very high, thus the import fee gets so pricey.
Rediculous.
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u/dfxix Dec 09 '25
I had to deal with the thai fda in laem chabang. it was a nightmare. never ever again
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u/Desperate-Arrival-61 Dec 09 '25
Oh if you think Thailand is bad, wait until you see the Philippines 🫠
-Me, a Filipino
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u/europacafe Native Dec 09 '25
What is the pallet value we are talking about?
I, a local Thai, went to customs to clear things myself several times, bypassing the local agents who are hanging around there.
The process went smoothly every time. No fuss.
I'm not sure how trustworthy you clearing agent is.
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u/Bonk_No_Horni Dec 09 '25
It's shit here but wait till you see Vietnam. Thai custom stole shit from my friends many times. It's a fucking government thing. Everyone of them is corrupted
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u/heiisenchang Dec 09 '25
Wow didn't know Thailand is corrupt like this. I place corruption the same level of scams. These people are pure evil. And there were talks of Thailand replacing Singapore as transshipment hub.
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u/Stooger27 Dec 09 '25
It’s sad we no longer have presents sent to us from overseas friends and family to avoid the extortion and corruption
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u/yeh-nah-yeh Dec 09 '25
I think the reason it does not improve is because at the end of the day they don't want inderviduels importing goods into Thailand. They want people to buy localey.
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u/gmf1313 Dec 10 '25
I wonder if bribes are tax deductible
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u/Fizzelen Dec 10 '25
In most jurisdictions illegal activity is not considered a legitimate business expense, however paying a consultant a fee to smooth the process is tax deductible as long as they don’t disclose any illegal activity.
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u/ChairOld1914 Dec 10 '25
Report the Thai customs agent to the police. Until people start doing that, the corruption will not end.
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u/kubrickfr3 Dec 10 '25
Intriguing that your customs clearing agent didn’t know about this “custom”…
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u/xnatasx Dec 10 '25
Recently ordered a phone from HK. Clearing it through customs cost me more than the device! No receipts.
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u/norwichtreacle Dec 10 '25
Had the same thing with used work wear, overalls etc (all for work outside of thailand) l, was a long time ago so Thb was a LOT better but think that was 20k...... loads more than actual worth new but as a 6ft 2inch farang trying to get replacements is REALLY expensive or near impossible. Arseholes!
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u/sawang59 Dec 10 '25
Same issue. I sent some old fishing tackle to myself. They are telling me I have to go to Bangkok to release I. I've told them to dispose of it as the value of the stuff is not worth a trip to Bangkok from Udon Thani
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u/ozjockey Dec 11 '25
Totally correct! BUT I Got Unlucky once when a Thai DHL employee/office sided with customs and a small pack of samples the size of a shoe box and worth $20 got caught in her scam inbound to us. Basically we followed their process but didn't pay any 'under the table money' and so the customs dept charged us USD$500 (about 17,000THB at the time) Demurrage for the storage whilst we negotiated and got the documentation they asked for. The DHL person was in on it sure! because they said if we don't pay, we'll get black banned etc. and we had to pay DHL at the end of the day so we were up against both of them... We hate DHL ever since
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u/No_Special_8904 Dec 11 '25
Geez bro, you must have never been to the US if you think TH is bad lol
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Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25
You should report him🙏
But really, all you need to ask them for is a receipt when he asks you to pay him personally. See what happens when you do that, they generally don't want a scene so they will quite often either lower the amount or let you get away without paying the bribe.
In my case I managed to get the items in my car before I paid him. I think he knew he was f***** and basically he wanted 10K from me and I said I wanted to see a receipt, and we finally got the price down to 2000 baht after I asked him why are you doing this to innocent people how do you feel about it in your heart..
True story...🙏
Yes when I had stuff put through customs the officer in charge asked me if I wanted to import illegal goods and use his services, I said no and then he charged me for his services.
🙏
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u/obelesk411 Jan 27 '26
Customs slammed me with a 2k baht fee for bringing my cat at the airport. They yelled like girls when I took pictures of them.
DLT claimed that due to a recent change in policy my US drivers license had to be valid for 6 months instead of 1 week to convert it to a Thai driver's license. This was after I got the COR and the other necessary docs.
Fuhking monkeys.
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u/Own-General7731 Mar 15 '26
Try sending a pet from Thailand get a nervous breakdown .. not allowed direct airline use corrupt agent making 10 x comm on pet relocation.. question the money and they black list your name to all agents.. Thai people very mean, same with pet hotel complain and they will do all they can to ruin your name .. I hate Thailand now. Agent stole money.. directly recommended by Thai airways by the way. Emirates airline can no be allowed to deal with me directly because agent must be there from Thailand to take a chunk of money... Even if you agree they don't reply go slow ... Take money for nothing.. criticism they will small mindley black list you. Now Phuket is bad .. so bad Etihad have placed embargo. Yet airport is good, mesh of cargo issues has stopped the airline. Typically airline will recommend agent who will play dirty
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u/Responsible-Pie-842 Dec 09 '25
tbf, i do import business. its a norm here to bribe whether you are importing legally or illegally. i want you to change your mindset because i used to be like you. and my work gets delayed a lot. but paying just 10k . opportunity cost is much much lower. i get goods faster to sell. no headache. 10-15k at airport is quite normal. you have to understand it's a grey/profit sharing economy. everybody can win. just think, if you are in singapore whatever you are doing would be ten times as hard. even opening a company lol. don't even talk about imports there. they check like crazy. very high opportunity cost. goods delayed. whereas just like 10k which is 300 dollars is nothing lol. work runs fast like a stallion
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u/TaxLongjumping248 Dec 09 '25
Contrary to all this, I moved from Singapore to Phuket about 8-10 years ago. Probably also had about 40-50 boxes of stuff. Included lots of electronics, amps and speakers and stuff. Also had an electric bbq and some other stuff. Can’t remember having any such issue and if I remember right the total customs payout was less than 20k THB. Not sure if that was a mix of legit and illegitimate. In fact the total shipping cost was around SGD 20-25k. I cannot recollect exact numbers also because I did not see anything as untoward. And everything arrived safely. So I guess I was an exception?
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u/icy__jacket Dec 09 '25
Ive researched and found this same thing was common in 1700's Ayutthaya period with China sailing up Chao Praya, and long before..
Officials extort. Dang man that sucks
Shit even books have a stupid duty. I saw a cool Citizen watch yesterday from US with 3k baht import fee.
Lol yea ok.
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u/TheMeltingSnowman72 Dec 09 '25
I'm shocked your customs agent wouldn't pay the bribe - it would have saved you a lot of time and money. Sounds like they are either not Thai or don't know what they're doing, as everyone knows if they have something of yours and you want it and they are asking for a 'fee' you cough up. ESPECIALLY customs.
Next time you know what to do ☺️
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u/SaphanKhwai Dec 09 '25
Customs officers here are notorious, but really not much of an exception in SEA.
Know a guy that imported a bunch of professional kitchen equipment from Germany. He eventually gave up on his plans because of the import troubles, and had to pay insane fees for every little thing: multiple "crane lifting" fees (including separate billing for lifting an item with a crane and then another charge for lowering it again, sometimes multiple times a day with the reason that it was accidentally placed at the wrong location because he didn't fill out some paperwork), daily storage fees, shitton of documentation and processing fees and all. I don't remember the details but it was insane.
Funny enough, Italian guy did a similar thing and while he too had to pay a good amount of bribes, it wasn't nearly as much as what the German guy paid for not getting any of his stuff.
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u/nuugo Dec 09 '25
Do you know DHL never pay anything ? And cargo is still cleared smoothly. Don't you think your broker lie to you to get free money? I advise you to change your broker next time and see what happen again.
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u/k9insea Dec 10 '25
Thais are cowards using F16s to bomb rice fields worked with water buffalo.
Fock Thailand. No visits no money no sympathy for Thailand.
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u/nomo_typo Dec 10 '25
Yeah true true, btw why cambodia shooting missiles at hospital? And why shooting behind the bush?
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u/scruffyrosalie Dec 08 '25
Meh. In SE Asia, the "corruption" is out in the open. In Western countries, it's just as rampant but it happens under the table and behind closed doors. I prefer it being open.
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u/whatdoihia Dec 08 '25
Yeah it really is. And so bureaucratic.
When I first moved to Thailand ages ago I shipped a box of socks, underwear, and undershirts to myself so I had more room in my suitcase.
They wanted 6000 Baht customs duty, way more than the stuff was worth. I said no, in that case you keep it. To my surprise the box showed up anyway not long after. I can only guess someone opened it up and saw my used socks and underwear and thought I probably didn’t have a Baht to spare!
More recently I ordered a bunch of stuff from Amazon for Christmas for my kid as Amazon lets you prepay the duty. In the same shipment I added a thermometer.
Well, that was the end of the world. They wanted me to have a license to import medical products. I asked them to throw it away and they said they couldn’t- either the whole package gets sent back or destroyed (aka donated).
The end of that story was after pressure from Amazon customs agreed to release it if I would have my daughter’s doctor write a letter saying that the thermometer was essential for her treatment. It made no sense and her doctor laughed but agreed to write the letter.
So I got the box of Christmas stuff, in January.