shipping a small container

moirawalsh wrote:

Hello, Do people often move to VN with a container of possessions shipped from home  (USA in my case)?  Does it go smoothly?  Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated.  Also wondering about shipping box by box via post or some shipping service.  Thank you.  Thank goodness for this forum.

I had hoped you might get a reply to this, but based on what I've been seeing from other Forum members, plus my own experience, the cost of shipping and customs plus the loss of valuables through theft has a lot of us doing maximum downsizing prior to our moves.

I personally used frequent flier miles to fly First Class from San Diego, which gave me a two-large-suitcase free allowance.

Since I've arrived I've confirmed that most rental apartments are "fully serviced" which includes the outfitting of the kitchen as well as basic linens for bed and bath, changed twice a week, plus often a washing machine.

Tailors are everywhere, not just Hoi An, and you can get brand-new custom garments made. I pay about $7 for excellent new shirts.

Given the costs I mentioned surrounding shipping, it made sense to a lot of us to sell off or give away things in the states and purchase new or used items here.

Customs will assign a value to everything you bring as an "import", even if it is used.

If you insure anything, they will use the insured valuation.

Personally, my exercise in getting rid of stuff was invigorating, and ended up freeing me to do more here than I would have been able to, had I saddled myself with a lot of personal items.

Hope this helps.

moirawalsh wrote:

Hello, Do people often move to VN with a container of possessions shipped from home  (USA in my case)?  Does it go smoothly?  Any recommendations or advice would be appreciated.  Also wondering about shipping box by box via post or some shipping service.

Container shipping is expensive and has to go through Custom, which may result in import duty.  I've been advising people to use the airline's free checked bag allowance instead.  We've done that twice just for the move to Vietnam alone.  (We did that for the move to Europe too, but that was almost 2 decades ago.)

The official move to Vietnam gave my husband and me 4 free checked bags of 50 lbs each on coach fare (@OB probably had a bigger allowance on first class).  Last month we went back to the States for family matter and returned with another 250 lbs (200 lbs were free; we paid $118.40 for the extra box of 50 lbs). 

Yes, we used boxes instead of suitcases.  A heavy duty Home Depot box (much cheaper than U-Haul box) weighs half a pound while the lightest large suitcase weighs between 7 -  10 lbs.  All boxes except one arrived untouched and intact.  The exception was the one that was opened and resealed in LAX by TSA because one of the dozen bottles of Dr Bronner's soap leaked (we didn't use thread seal tape aka plumber tape this time.  We did the first time with 60+ bottles of essential oil -- no leak, no damage.)

So, essentially, our move from the States with 450 lbs of belongings cost us $118.40 plus some insignificant amount for boxes and tape.

Both times, with two flat dollies piled high with boxes and carry-on suitcases (higher than my height), we sailed past Nothing to Declare desk at TSN. 

Two expats whom I've been helping with their move followed the same method with the same result.

@Ciambella is an expert at this.

Definitely pay attention to her.

I want to correct something I said:

I don't know anyone who has had to pay import duty on household items they brought with them on a flight.

However, items shipped through the mail are routinely taxed.

The solution to pay extra for accompanied boxes does sound like the best best.

I also passed through customs in Hanoi--with those two suitcases, an overpacked laptop case, a large carry on bag and a CPAP machine and accompanied by my Visa agent's VIP rep--without even needing to speak to a customs officer.

However, it's probably a good idea to limit the number of electronic devices you pack...

(news from last September)

https://e.vnexpress.net/news/news/saigo … 15200.html