Shipping vs buying when you move to Chiang Mai: what families actually do

Reviewed by Angelo, Editor. See our methodology.

A full container costs $8k to $15k. Furnishing a 3-bedroom in Chiang Mai costs $3k to $8k. Here's the honest math, what's worth shipping, and what to buy here.

The shipping question gets emotional quickly. Your books. Your kids' attached lovey. Your grandmother's painting. The kitchen tools you've cooked with for ten years. Shipping feels like preserving home. The honest math, though, almost always favors buying locally with a small priority ship.

This guide walks through the costs, what's worth shipping, what's not, and how families we work with usually land.

The three options

  1. Full container (20-foot or 40-foot). Ship your whole life. Cost $8k to $25k.
  2. Partial shipment / small consolidated freight. Ship a few hundred kilograms of priority items. Cost $1.5k to $4k.
  3. Suitcases only, furnish on arrival. Cost: airline excess baggage ($200 to $800) plus $3k to $8k furnishing here.

For most families relocating to Chiang Mai for 2 to 5 years, option 2 or 3 wins on cost. Option 1 only makes sense if you're moving for 7+ years AND have furniture worth more than the shipping cost.

The real cost of a full container

A 20-foot container from the US or Europe to Chiang Mai (door-to-door, with customs clearance):

  • US East Coast: $9,000 to $14,000.
  • US West Coast: $7,500 to $11,500.
  • UK / Western Europe: $8,000 to $13,000.
  • Australia: $5,500 to $9,000.

A 40-foot container roughly doubles. Add 5% to 10% if you want full-service packing (the movers pack everything). Insurance runs another 2% to 4% of declared value.

Customs clearance at Laem Chabang Port is included in most international movers' door-to-door quotes. Customs duty: 10% to 30% of declared value on imported household goods, with a foreigner-resident exemption available for genuine personal effects (one-time use, single application).

The cost of furnishing locally

A 3-bedroom house in Chiang Mai, fully furnished from scratch with new mid-range pieces:

  • Beds and mattresses (2 doubles + 1 single): ฿35k to ฿80k.
  • Sofa and living room set: ฿25k to ฿60k.
  • Dining table and chairs: ฿15k to ฿35k.
  • Wardrobes and storage: ฿20k to ฿50k.
  • Kitchen appliances (fridge, microwave, blender, kettle): ฿25k to ฿60k.
  • Washing machine and dryer: ฿20k to ฿45k.
  • Air purifiers (one per bedroom + main area): ฿15k to ฿35k.
  • Kitchenware, linens, household basics: ฿20k to ฿40k.

Total range: ฿175k to ฿405k, roughly $5k to $12k USD. That's still less than most full-container shipping costs, and you end up with locally appropriate, climate-suited furniture.

What to ship anyway

Some categories are genuinely worth shipping even when the math doesn't fully favor it:

  1. Sentimental items. Photos, art, heirlooms, kids' attachment toys, books your family genuinely re-reads. Can't be replaced.
  2. Specialty kitchen tools. A KitchenAid mixer, a sourdough starter, specific knives, espresso machine. Thai versions either don't exist or are 2x the price.
  3. Optics. Specific prescription lenses (eye exams in Chiang Mai are fine; very specific lens types are easier to ship).
  4. Hobby gear. Musical instruments, art supplies, photography gear, sewing machines.
  5. Adult clothing if you have specific sizes. Thai sizing runs small for Western frames. Bring your shoes.
  6. Prescription medication. Bring a 3 to 6 month supply with a doctor's letter; replenish in Thailand once you're set up with a local doctor.

This list typically fits into 3 to 8 large suitcases or a small palletized shipment (300-500 kg), which is partial shipment territory at $1.5k to $4k cost.

What NOT to ship

  • Furniture. Heavy. Often doesn't fit Thai homes' room sizes. Sucks in tropical humidity. Buy locally.
  • Mattresses. They mold in transit. Buy on arrival.
  • Large appliances. Voltage and plug standards may not match (Thailand: 220V, type A/B/C/F plugs). Even when they match, shipping a $400 fridge for $1,200 in container space doesn't pencil out.
  • Most clothing for kids. Kids grow. Buy as needed at Lazada, Uniqlo, Big C, mall stores.
  • Toys. Especially anything bulky. Thai Lazada has the same global brands at competitive prices.
  • Bedding, towels, kitchenware. Buy on arrival at IKEA Bangkok delivery, HomePro, or Lazada.
  • Electronics. TVs, speakers, computers are sometimes cheaper in Thailand and definitely simpler to service locally.

Where families source locally

  • HomePro. The Home Depot of Thailand. Furniture, appliances, household. Two large stores in Chiang Mai.
  • Index Living Mall. Mid-range furniture, kitchenware. Multiple Chiang Mai locations.
  • IKEA Bangkok (with delivery). Delivers to Chiang Mai for ฿1,200 to ฿3,500 depending on order size. Most expat families use IKEA for affordable Scandinavian-style basics.
  • Lazada and Shopee. Online for almost everything. Daily flash sales bring prices down significantly.
  • Facebook Marketplace + "Chiang Mai Buy Sell Trade" groups. Departing expats often sell entire houses' worth of furniture for 30% to 50% of new price. Worth checking weekly during your first two months.
  • Local Thai furniture makers (Hang Dong has several). Custom teak pieces at very competitive prices. A custom solid teak dining table costs ฿18k to ฿35k vs. ฿80k+ for the equivalent at HomePro.
  • The Sunday Walking Street and Saturday Walking Street markets. Smaller items, decor, ceramics, baskets.

The 8-week transition window

If you ship anything (full or partial), you'll have a 60 to 90 day window between arrival and shipment delivery. Two approaches families use:

  1. Furnished short-term rental for 2-3 months (฿35k to ฿80k/month), then move to your unfurnished long-term rental when the shipment arrives.
  2. Move into your long-term rental on day 1 with minimal essentials (air mattresses, plates, basics from HomePro), then properly furnish either when the shipment arrives or progressively over the first 8 weeks if you went with option 3 above.

Most families pick option 2. It's cheaper, it gets the kids into a stable address sooner (important for school enrollment), and it forces you to actually furnish in a climate-appropriate way.

Insurance and customs

For full or partial container shipments:

  • Insurance. Standard moving insurance covers 0.6% to 1% of declared value at no extra charge but pays out per-pound, not per-item value. Comprehensive replacement-value insurance runs 2% to 4% of declared value. Worth it for valuable items.
  • Customs duty. Personal-effects exemption: one-time application for foreign-residents on first relocation, covers used household goods. Get the paperwork right before shipping; doing it after arrival is harder.
  • Prohibited items. Some prescription medications, items containing ivory or specific protected materials, large quantities of alcohol or tobacco, drones (require permits). Confirm with your shipping agent.

What we cover on a Plan Check

For families weighing the shipping decision, we map your specific situation (length of stay, what's irreplaceable, budget) and recommend full / partial / suitcase-only. We also share the local sourcing routes our families have used, including which HomePro and IKEA pieces are worth it vs. which to skip.

This decision usually saves families $5,000 to $15,000 of unnecessary shipping. See Family Plan Check.