Sending presents abroad

I have just found a shop in Sydney that my DiL tells me has stuff the grandchildren would like;I have bought a gift voucher on line and it will be delivered to DiL by email. She'll get the pressies, wrap them and give them on Christmas day. Last time I posted a parcel from here Aussie customs kept the parcel for 5 weeks so it missed by GD's birthday (inspite of customs forms being completed etc)

My daughter and family moved to USA 18 months ago. Last Xmas I wanted to send a few, lightweight Xmas tree presents to them to put under the Xmas tree as well as sending them money for their main present. What a shock I had when the total postage costs came to £50 !!!!!! This year we have sent some extra money to my daughter to buy a few treats for under the tree and we are sending money for their main present

My DD and family live in Spain and although it doesn’t cost a fortune to send things the random charges applied by their customs just makes it ridiculous since Brexit, I doubt I’m even going to send their Advent calendars this year, which they love even though they are teenagers now. And things can take weeks and weeks to get there.

Ive been sending parcels all over the world for about 20 years. The cheapest way is undoubtedly Royal Mail untracked but you are taking a chance.

I send most things RM tracked or tracked and signed. The customer pays the postage. Unless they live in the USA (where they have a very high import tax threshold of about £800) I ask them what value they wish me to put on the package. Many Americans want items very quickly so I send the Fedex Express (overnight) but its expensive. Again the customer pays.

Always use very generic packaging - nothing to draw attention for the parcel - so special gift wrapping is out. I also use very generic customs descriptions:- "metal necklace" rather than " antique sterling silver necklace".

I dont recall posting anything to Thailand but lots to Taiwan, South Khorea, Taiwan China and Japan. Many sellers will not post to these countries but they buyers just use a re-shipper based in the UK or USA.

Online ordering from somewhere in their country? Give their address when you pay for it.

The reason many gifts send by individuals take so long is that the customs now want the information sent electronically with the correct harmonised code on the customs form. Hand written customs forms only delays the package.

So sorry. I have no experience with shopping in the Far East.

My daughter and fam live just on the outskirts of nowhere in Northland New Zealand. It's a tiny place but I've registered as an online shopper with KMart in Whangerei (about 2 hours from their home), and The Warehouse in Kaitaia (where they live) as well as Farmers. I order online from these stores (Easter chocs, advent calendars, bday and Xmas gifts) and my DD receives Warehouse parcels within 2 days and KMart parcels within 5 days. No mess no fuss. I've NEVER had a problem in 4 years.

Tracking is available and delivery costs are their local delivery costs. Or I order 'click and collect' for her. Just ordered the advent calendars from The Warehouse on Sunday night and she collected them yesterday.

I hope you find an easier and cheaper way for Thailand gifts.

I'm afraid I still send things.

I know it's expensive but it brings me joy.

Even parcels ordered in this country aren’t delivered. I have been waiting a long time for some gifts I ordered from Etsy, not the makers fault but the post. Money is the best for anybody not close

I had an online bookseller send 2 books to a friend in France. She was charged the equivalent of £24 in tax. She wanted to send a small present from France to a family member in the UK. At the post office she found the paperwork daunting. She asked an assistant to help her fill in the forms and he said, ”No, and you can blame Boris Johnson.”

Hello GrandmaHil

I understand your problem, its so frustrating when postage costs are way over the cost of the gift!

My eldest daughter has lived in Singapore for many years and I went through the whole palaver of wrapping gifts with huge postage costs etc.

She suggested that I buy gifts though Amazon Singapore, where there is local delivery and prices are reasonable as its core market are people living I Singapore. Amazon converts the cost from Singapore dollars to sterling and they get the gift within a couple of days. My daughter wraps gifts for grandchildren in some wrapping paper at their end.

I should imagine there will be something similar in Thailand.

Good luck!

I sent some Earl Grey Decaf Tea Bags to Canada a couple of weeks ago. I've told her the cost is so much it might be better if she tried her own countries Amazon in future. Although my daughter is going over in March so will take a supply with her then.

Since Brexit it has become far too complicated and far too expensive- and relatives had had to pay high import taxes in order to collect parcels.

Just given up. We send money to GCs, and bring nice presents when we visit.

My family lived for many years in the Far East the best co. for sending parcels was Mulberry Hall in York they even gift-wrapped but unfortunately closed down. I then switched to Liberties of London went through their site and phoned them to place the order they would then tell me what was allowed to be sent but unfortunately could not gift wrap, so I bought gift wrap from them and DD wrapped at the other end.
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For food Bettys of York will tell you what a weight will cost and what is allowed I found they had a good selection. For relations in the USA I use Amazon USA which somehow they linked to my Amazon UK account their gift wrapping is a bit expensive.

I used to send something small and relatively light to a niece in the US - e.g. a purse or a thinnish paperback - but I’d put $$$ inside whatever it was. The parcels always arrived safely.

Does Amazon or similar have a service there? We use Amazon for sending stuff to Australia as things used to get lost when we posted them

Sending presents from France to the UK is expensive but the tax duty the Uk recipient has to pay is extortionate.

Some places have an option to include taxes when sending overseas from UK (eg Liberty's) mokryna

Or you could buy from a UK company online (or over the phone) if you want to deliver here...

By using Royal Mail I can send up to 2kg for £28 tracked and it arrives in USA approximately 1 week. I make sure it is just a few grams under the 2kg. often packing the space with local brand potato crisps.My kitchen scales are very accurate. Also bear in mind, the box in itself might weigh 350 grams so where possible I wrap the goods in bubble wrap/a bin bag/lots of parcel tape.
USA is Zone 3 for royal Mail postage, only up to 2kg.. Asia is either zone 1 or 2 but there isn't much difference in the cost.

For Lego/toys for my grandson in USA I use Amazon.com. Speedy delivery at reasonable cost. I'd think Amazon deliver worldwide.

My son had several heavy-ish sentimental items still at here home. To get them to him in USA I used DHL which was brilliant although costly but worthwhile. I combined the heavy items with Christmas gifts for 2 adults and one child. DHL works mainly on the size of their DHL box. I sent 19 kg for £110. A lot of money but considering how much content and the weight involved it provided a perfect solution. I'd have been paying £60 for 2x2kg boxes just for Christmas anyway. Also DHL delivered within 3 days tracked service to USA. They are good for large/heavy boxes. But are cost prohibitive for smaller items. Unless needing a priority courier service.

Of course I'm talking here about my experience sending to USA but the information may be useful to someone.

I lived abroad for quite a while and have other friends who live abroad now,. In years past I have often bought subscriptions to magazines that the person likes. dont know if it is still the same now but paperprices were cheaper than letter post and some intenational magazines can be delivered quite easily.

When we first moved to the US parcels could be sent by boat. It took 6 weeks, but if you had your Christmas presents ready to send it was incredibly cheap. Now the only available method is by air, and I consistently spend more than $100 on postage, a lot more than the gifts themselves. Grandchildren are still young, so I send clothes, which keep the packages light. They love to get parcels from America! But once they reach their teens, I am going to stop, and send gift cards/money instead.

Son lives in USA and I send parcels to him and to granddaughter but it is more expensive now.
Every year have sent advent calendars but postage far outweighs cost of calendars. They love to get them though so I carry on doing it!

One daughter with two children in Australia, my other daughter here does a Christmas and birthday shop between her, myself and my son with Amazon Australia, we all club together to get decent gifts, works well. Assuming there must be something like this in Thailand and must be a cheaper way with the current cost of postage.

Yes, Amazon deliver pretty quickly though sometimes what you get is not exactly what you ordered.

I have a daughter in law whose family lives in Jakarta. She said she gets on a the website of a large wheel-known store in Jakarta and orders online to send to her family. They receive it with no problem.