How to ship personal itms out of Vietnam?

[Matt_Stevens 5]

OK, here is a good question. Anh has many books and CD's and documents she will need to bring and that means sending them here. But how? DHL?

Do they have to go through customs and how long does it take?

Thanks

[nhatrang 0]

Just send them via regular VNese post office. I think it is about 100K VND / 1kilogram

It takes about 2 weeks to get to the US.

Nhatrang...

[dalegg 143]

You will have to go through customs. Nicole sent some stuff just before she left and I had to go to the customs office in Long Beach to sign for the goods, then they sent me to a warehouse to pick it up. It was a big freakin hassle.

[kvtran 0]

Just fly to VN twice!!! Hehehe.. Seriously, tell her to leave the CDs in VN and bring a few books and important documents with her. I don't trust the VN post office. Your other option could be to just find out if some friends or someone from VJ is going to VN who can help you bring some things back to the US.

[Matt_Stevens 5]

DHL?

She has a large music collection and would miss it terribly.

[STL_HCMC 0]

Hi Matt,

I don't know how big, or in what quantities the "personal items" are that she needs to bring. However, she can contact DHL and I am sure they would be able to advise her on customs, shipping, etc. They have a big office on Truong Son Street in Q.Tan Binh that she can go to.

In addition, below I've listed some relocation companies that could possibly advise her on some other options. I think a lot of these companies specialize in larger moves (i.e. foreigners moving into/out of Vietnam for business), but it certainly wouldn't hurt to seek their advice.

Asian Tigers Transpo International (Vietnam)

Website Link: http://www.asiantigersgroup.com/locations.htm

346 Ben Van Don, D4 Tel: 945 0891, HCMC

Large regional alliance of move management specialists, offering pre-move advice regarding shipping and customs regulations, move planning and scheduling. Has long experience and expertise in packing, storing and moving a family's treasured belongings.

HR2B Relocations

Website Link: http://www.hr2b.com/relo/web_relo.cfm

8th Fl., Thien Son Bldg, 5 Nguyen Gia Thieu, D3 Tel: 933 0065, HCMC

Specialist in relocation, logistics, recruitment and housing with offices in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Also provides an executive search service. Maintains a good global network of contacts.

Interdean

Website Link: http://www.interdeaninterconex.com/

54, Truong Son, Tan Binh Tel: 848 8217, HCMC

Globally recognised firm offering international household and personal effects moving, diplomatic moving, relocation management, 24-hour security warehousing and distribution.

JVK International Movers

Website Link: http://www.jvkmovers.com/index.php?id=17

6th Floor, Saigon Port Building, 3 Nguyen Tat Thanh, D4 Tel: 826 7655/6, HCMC

One of Asia's premier moving companies specializing in international shipping and relocations, local moving, office moving, storage and records management.

There is also FedEX and/or UPS that she could contact as well. Many of the airlines also have cargo offices that could assist her with shipping something through in that regard.

STL_HCMC

[Matt_Stevens 5]

Fantastic!

[Anh map 2,098]

Get her an mp3 player and load it with the music. A lot easier way to ship it. And a lot more fun on that trip. I recreate my sleeping playlist before each trip to insulate myself from the cabin noise.

You can burn the music back to CD when she gets here.

[Matt_Stevens 5]

She has a lot of movies on DVD and VCD but I think most of them are bootlegs, so I imagine customs would confiscate them, right?

[STL_HCMC 0]

Hi Matt,

I don't know the quantity of DVDs or VCDs your fiancee has, but I brought 20 to 30 with me in my suitcase when I returned to St. Louis last December for the holiday break. I didn't encounter any trouble. Now if she were to ship them via DHL or one of the other shipping methods, perhaps they would have to be declared. But nonetheless, they are for her own personal use.

Still a touchy subject though...

STL_HCMC

She has a lot of movies on DVD and VCD but I think most of them are bootlegs, so I imagine customs would confiscate them, right?

[Icarus 0]

She has a lot of movies on DVD and VCD but I think most of them are bootlegs, so I imagine customs would confiscate them, right?

Hey Matt-

On both my trips to VN, I bought hundreds of DVDs...several box sets (Lost, 24, Deadwood, Buffy, Angel, Walt Disney, Anime...) and movies, and had no issues with customs. I did get stopped...not for the dvds, but for the 4 boxes of nail clippers I had bought for my stepmom, and had to 'pay' $20 US to the VN customs agent to keep them. The lesson? There is none, but I'd advise Anh to bring some loose money just in case. Chances are good they'll let her keep her items, but it might cost ya a little....

[CarolineM 0]

STewart bought a hard drive and downloaded ALL of his music onto that...he had 100's of CD's so it made so much more sense then to ship them from Australia.

So just talking about the CD's...that might make sense...if the DVD's are bootleg can't you do something similar? HArd drive storage or something? Not onyl would customs be less likely to confiscate but it would take HEAPS less room

[chuckandkim 0]

If these CD's are limited edition, one of a kind, irreplacable, then by all mean bring them. Or else, just rip them to mp3 and burn them on a few cd's. Save the room for family pictures/photos which she will never be able to find here in the US. Bring her books, all the books she wants, she'll miss a good book which i highly doubt it she can find it here. Bring dry goods (fruits, teas etc.), they dont taste the same here when you buy them at the asian supermarket. It also depends on how often you two will be going back and forth between US/VN so make a list of things she can't live without and bring those.

Kim and I left a lot of her Japanese books and important items in Saigon when we returned home. Just brought with us all of her family's photos, pictures, albums which become very useful stress-reliefer for Kim when she arrived here in the US. She missed her family so much, the pictures help!!! However, with a help of friends and family who have been back there, each trip we asked them to carry a few things home for us. The only thing we still have left over there is this guy and but BIGGER and in a glass cage... We will return to bring him here with us

Do not, i repeat, do not use VN Postal Service, they will steal her CD's and books or "lost" them...by accident... (NOT)

[gurugreg 0]

Lookie what I found

http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap6.html#602

(a) Importation into the United States, without the authority of the owner of copyright under this title, of copies or phonorecords of a work that have been acquired outside the United States is an infringement of the exclusive right to distribute copies or phonorecords under section 106, actionable under section 501. This subsection does not apply to —

...

(2) importation, for the private use of the importer and not for distribution, by any person with respect to no more than one copy or phonorecord of any one work at any one time, or by any person arriving from outside the United States with respect to copies or phonorecords forming part of such person's personal baggage;

Anybody know a lawyer to run this by?