Looking for Thailand-US traveller-commuter

talk to me in two months

There are shipping companies that will do this for you, you can get it weekly goes by weight, not cheap but better sometimes than doing without, they do not go though customs.  Then there is shipping by boat takes 2 months but much cheaper. If interested I can provide you the address for shipping. Not likely you will find someone to bring over for you unless you pay them. Good Luck

To be clear, I'm pretty sure what you are asking is illegal.  Even if you ask a friend to pick up a bottle of multi-vitamins for you on a trip, which would be no problem, technically I don't think someone can buy and carry goods for someone else back into Thailand as their own personal belongings.  If they declared it at customs it would be much worse for both of you than if shipping.

All the same I saw someone posting about doing this for a business, for pay, on another expat group somewhere else, and I've seen a website related to a business that does it frequently (forget the site name or I could point towards that).

We've had problems related to customs assessing taxes even on gifts that are shipped, and of course it's really, really inconsistent what gets flagged and what doesn't.  It's very likely the laws aren't clear and the enforcement isn't clear even aside from issues of what gets checked and flagged.  Having someone carry in some normal goods instead isn't a risky, highly criminal offense, but you probably would have to pay above and beyond just them charging for the effort since they would be illegally importing goods (dodging import taxes by essentially not declaring accurately at customs).

Hi,
        Yet another dilemma as you have correctly mentioned. Although I've been flagged several times and paid heavy duties in airport arrival halls in several nations including my home land of Australia, the customs officials always provided an official receipt. Be it that customs seniors have stated that my parcels were perfectly legal, every country has to serve in the interests of its own national establishments and making consumers of other countries legal products by paying tax is understandable.
           What is hurtful is that he ingredients are all 100% legal in Thailand. Fadogia Agestis, Ginseng, Vitamin /b12 etc etc and it is awfully embarrassing to be asking strangers, to perform such a simple courtesy.
           Good point about the randomness of not just what gets flagged but when it gets flagged. When asking for documentation and rules of shipment, authorities cannot provide a concise answer but magically know the parcels status when presented. All dependent on the official on duty.
        I cannot not believe how many legal issues once faces over the dispatch of 5 rolls of tobacco, 3 books (that cannot be ordered in Thailand), 2 singlets and 2 bottles of energy supplement that is not only approved by the US fda but promoted.   
          I guess shipment is the best afterall, but what a song and dance over menial items that have no affect on any other person.
             By the sounds of your experiences I'm not the only one with basic parcel receiving headaches.

It wouldn't be so bad if there was a list of items that could come in tax free, or circumstances when customs duties are applied, or relative costs that serve as a guideline.  In some cases the assessed duty / penalty can be the same as the cost of the item, and of course it's all applied almost completely at random.  In moving here using shipping two different items completely went missing due to a customs review search; just gone.  It wasn't as if it was vitamins that could have been drugs, or something that may have been illegal or required some type of licensing; my phone was stolen, and someone apparently took a liking to my teapot (which I also liked; they had good taste).

I get it that there's no way to write out a tax law that's going to be clear on everything that arrives in a parcel.  Even general guidelines would keep running into unusual exceptions and judgment calls, and there would be no way to ask people for invoices for everything, to keep checking quantities, it would go on and on. 

We resolve this by buying a lot of extra goods whenever we travel, things that are hard to find here, or cost a lot more, or just different versions of what's already here.

Wow!! thailand4me That is brilliant news as I would much prefer shipment as opposed to hand carrying and inconveniencing folk I'm not acquainted with. 
Could you provide details. 
Many thanks in advance.

Your bottom line is a good point. Make the most of your travels. But shipping will have to do for now. Its a long way across the Pacific.