Bringing home Gifts

[BinhJerome 14]

I have a few suggestions for people going through HCMC with multiple high end gifts or things for resale. I just went through and had to “pay tax” because I brought to many “expensive” gifts. What caught their eyes were not the 20 boxes of Jello cheese cakes, or the 20 containers of sugar free drink mixes, it was two cell phone boxes (apple iphone). So for those of you going through with expensive gifts, I would recommend that if you have multiple cell phones keep them on your body, they don’t get scanned that way, and if you have new boxes put them in different bags, this way unless they are paying attention they will only think one cell phone in one bag, or if you have them on you then they will not scan them at all. I would also recommend that you have two $50 bills with you. I made the mistake of only having one $10 bill and quite a few $100 bills. Good luck for all of you that go through HCMC airport, hope this will help you save some money or save all of it by sliding under the radar unnoticed. Jerome

[Haonie 0]

I have a few suggestions for people going through HCMC with multiple high end gifts or things for resale. I just went through and had to “pay tax” because I brought to many “expensive” gifts. What caught their eyes were not the 20 boxes of Jello cheese cakes, or the 20 containers of sugar free drink mixes, it was two cell phone boxes (apple iphone). So for those of you going through with expensive gifts, I would recommend that if you have multiple cell phones keep them on your body, they don’t get scanned that way, and if you have new boxes put them in different bags, this way unless they are paying attention they will only think one cell phone in one bag, or if you have them on you then they will not scan them at all. I would also recommend that you have two $50 bills with you. I made the mistake of only having one $10 bill and quite a few $100 bills. Good luck for all of you that go through HCMC airport, hope this will help you save some money or save all of it by sliding under the radar unnoticed. Jerome

I usually pay them "coffee money" and they then let me go. I last time brought 10 wines and gave them "30 bucks".When I first went back to Vietnam in 1999, I was little anxious, but not anymore.:-).

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

I guess I've been pretty lucky, so far. I've been given stuff by family members in the US every time I've gone to Vietnam. As far as I know, none of it was for resale in Vietnam. I haven't been called out for anything yet, and haven't had to pay any fees or coffee money.

On my fourth trip, Phuong's uncle gave me a bag of assorted used GSM cell phones. About ten in all, I think. He got them from the lost & found box at the school where he works. I suppose they could have assumed that those were for resale, but each one had the name of the person the phone was to be given to. He actually wrote directly on the phones with a Sharpie! Anyway, they didn't mention them when I came through customs, even though I know they inspected my bags.

The phones turned out to be not much use. When people lose a phone, and it winds up in the lost & found, they usually aren't thoughtful enough to ALSO lose the AC adapter needed to charge it!

When I came in December of '08 I brought some Christmas presents, which included a new laptop, a digital camera, and an iPod. Phuong's son-in-law runs an internet shop in Hue, and also does computer repairs, so I've also shuttled a variety of computer repair parts. Again, no fees.

Somebody recently asked Phuong if I could buy some 3G iPhones on eBay, and send them with the next person who would be going to Vietnam. Apparently, they thought they could make a tidy profit on them. I asked how much they intended to sell them for, and checked the prices on eBay, and I didn't see much difference. It could be that other people have recently started doing this, and it's caused the prices on eBay to be inflated. Dunno.

[WaitingforHubby 0]

I have a few suggestions for people going through HCMC with multiple high end gifts or things for resale. I just went through and had to “pay tax” because I brought to many “expensive” gifts. What caught their eyes were not the 20 boxes of Jello cheese cakes, or the 20 containers of sugar free drink mixes, it was two cell phone boxes (apple iphone). So for those of you going through with expensive gifts, I would recommend that if you have multiple cell phones keep them on your body, they don’t get scanned that way, and if you have new boxes put them in different bags, this way unless they are paying attention they will only think one cell phone in one bag, or if you have them on you then they will not scan them at all. I would also recommend that you have two $50 bills with you. I made the mistake of only having one $10 bill and quite a few $100 bills. Good luck for all of you that go through HCMC airport, hope this will help you save some money or save all of it by sliding under the radar unnoticed. Jerome

[NODINK 0]

Last March, I got stopped and the screener by the exit door, stopped me because I had 2 bottle of Vitamin (300 tablets) and asked me to give him a 100 bucks! I gave him nothing. $100 bride for 2 items that cost less than $30... I told him to F--off

[hniHnitsuJ 8]

Last March, I got stopped and the screener by the exit door, stopped me because I had 2 bottle of Vitamin (300 tablets) and asked me to give him a 100 bucks! I gave him nothing. $100 bride for 2 items that cost less than $30... I told him to F--off

Yeap!!! I totally agreed. I am myself never give a penny to them. Because I am going back to VN spending a TON of DOLLAR in your country, and now you want to STOP me just because of a bottle of WINE, VITAMIN, AND IPHONE. Our parent is old and been BRIDE from the VC last 40 years, no way I will give them a single dollar of my hard working money to them. We ALL need to STAND UP, and change the system, NOT TO GIVING OUT THE MONEY WHEN YOU ARE GOING BACK TO VN.

my 2 cents.

FYI,

you are allow to bring in 2 laptops (personal use or a gift)

2 Iphone, 2 bottle wine, and all item no more than 2.

[lindal24 1]

I've never had a problem bringing home stuff. I've never paid anyone any coffee money.

One trip (3rd) I brought back 4 laptops, another trip (2nd) I brought back 2 iphones, and my last trip, I just brought myself!

[ScottThuy 140]

I have never been stopped coming in VN and have brought in too much to list... I dont pay coffee money unless its something that is normal and I need it done... I have brought several Iphones that I bought on craigslist(can see handson that it works before paying) for a couple hundred that were resold in VN or given as gifts.. 2 years ago a 3G would bring a grand. more people are bringing them in now so the price is lower... cell phones are a big thing at customs and shouldnt be shipped more than 1 per bag...

I agreed to bring back some diabetes meds for a friend last time and take over some music equip... no problems either way but I became apprehensive when I saw the amount of meds that his brother gave me to bring.. I knew it was what it was labeled as but it was a couple years worth, could have been an issue if they searched teh bag at customs.. wont be bringing back meds again... I usually have that guy at the airport stretch wrap my bags and only twice has TSA opened a single bag... too much hassle cutting the plastic and then they stuck the dirty plastic in the bag with clean clothes.... jerks... it was the bag with the meds...lol

[lindal24 1]

Yea, if you're coming back from Vietnam to the US, I would also highly recommend you pay $4USD for the plastic wrapping service. You're more less likely to get checked at US customs...I had 2 boxes last time, and one I had wrapped because I had to shift some stuff around and had them tape it back up. THey both had the same stuff in it (cigs) that got scanned, but they only opened the none plastic wrapped box...

[luckytxn 2,264]

I had one suitcase with nothing but gifts and most of it was meds. The customs guy I had couldn't speak English at all so I just chatted at him non stop and when he was done and handed me my passport back to go I kept talking to him and he just waved me through angrily. So maybe just choose the one that can't speak English and go to that one.

The customs coming back are real Aholes though and have no sense of humour.

[BinhJerome 14]

On a note, does anyone know if the other person that was wanting to bring home the cobra in a bottle made it through customs or if he did not choose to bring it? When I was in Oklahoma airport they actually had a bottle with one in it and it was on the board of "things not to bring back" due to the endangered species law, but when I looked for the types of Cobras in those bottles they are not on any endangerd list. But for anyone that is landing in OKC I would advise not to try to get one through their customs area. Jerome

[ScottThuy 140]

They have those same exhibits in most international airports... if it were declared as a bottle of wine it would not be a false statement and as long as they did not inspect the bag at customs, there would not be an issue.. TSA doesn't care about that stuff... only Customs.. when I came through Minneapolis I was surprised at how many people were flagged at the immigration desk to be scanned at customs...

Here is an article from last year about snake wine being siezed..http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/05/07/florida.snake.wine/?eref=rss_us

[vuster 0]

i brought 15 boxes (300 pills each) of Nature Made Garlic for friends and relatives. God damn corrupted SOB's took me for $100. That's in addition to the twenty dollar bill I had already stuck in my passport. Told them it's not medicine. Told me if I didn't pay, they would confiscate everything except for my clothes. F'ing commies.

[BinhJerome 14]

i brought 15 boxes (300 pills each) of Nature Made Garlic for friends and relatives. God damn corrupted SOB's took me for $100. That's in addition to the twenty dollar bill I had already stuck in my passport. Told them it's not medicine. Told me if I didn't pay, they would confiscate everything except for my clothes. F'ing commies.

They dont care what it is, when there is multiple things in one bag they assume it is for resale or gifts, and with so much of one thing that is taking tax money away from the country and they will try to get a bribe from you, so I reccomend to everyone that you make sure you have $50 bills, at least two, they got $100 from me when I came, and it was over 3 iphones in the same bag, next time try to mix up the gifts in multiple bags, and make sure you have 2 $50's with you, maybe next time you have to pay to get through $50 will be enough instead of $100. It makes sense, look at it from our standings, when you go back to America, you are allowed to bring back gifts of a certain value, but if you were to bring back 20 things that were identical the US customs would deam it as you were trying to bring things in for resale, they would then make you pay a tax on them, maybe not $100 but I have heard of some people getting hit with a $200 and even $300 duty for things like Cigarettes, and whiskey, along with people comming back from Canada and Mexico with prescription drugs, I know yours were not drugs, just garlic pills that ward off Misquitoes, but hey no matter what or how we try to deam it as fair or just this is THEIR country, people in the US make up rules that other people have to abide by, and so does Vietnam, hopefully next time we will not get hit. Jerome

[JimVaPhuong 4,863]

They dont care what it is, when there is multiple things in one bag they assume it is for resale or gifts, and with so much of one thing that is taking tax money away from the country and they will try to get a bribe from you, so I reccomend to everyone that you make sure you have $50 bills, at least two, they got $100 from me when I came, and it was over 3 iphones in the same bag, next time try to mix up the gifts in multiple bags, and make sure you have 2 $50's with you, maybe next time you have to pay to get through $50 will be enough instead of $100. It makes sense, look at it from our standings, when you go back to America, you are allowed to bring back gifts of a certain value, but if you were to bring back 20 things that were identical the US customs would deam it as you were trying to bring things in for resale, they would then make you pay a tax on them, maybe not $100 but I have heard of some people getting hit with a $200 and even $300 duty for things like Cigarettes, and whiskey, along with people comming back from Canada and Mexico with prescription drugs, I know yours were not drugs, just garlic pills that ward off Misquitoes, but hey no matter what or how we try to deam it as fair or just this is THEIR country, people in the US make up rules that other people have to abide by, and so does Vietnam, hopefully next time we will not get hit. Jerome

There's a big difference between Vietnam and US in how customs laws are interpreted and adjudicated, and how infractions are resolved.

In the US, if you try to bring in something that isn't allowed for import (but not explicitly a crime, like drugs) then they'll seize the disallowed property. If you try to bring in something that is subject to duties, like too many cartons of cigarettes, then they'll make you pay the duties or abandon the property. What they WON'T let you do is slip some coffee money into your passport to get past customs.

In Vietnam, the customs officer determines what is or is not a likely infraction, and he decides how much coffee money it's going to take to get him to look the other way. They can claim something is subject to duties, even if it clearly is not. Instead of making you pay the duty or abandon the property, they can force you to pay many times what the duty would have been or threaten you with arrest. This is bribery and corruption. There's no other way to describe it. This has nothing to do with the sovereign laws of Vietnam, which they certainly have the right to impose. It has everything to do with the financial gain of petty government officials, and a system that accepts corruption as one of the perks of being granted authority.