Order By Mail Outside U.S./GB
 

Hope this is the proper forum to be using. I've been looking for retailers here in Thailand, and think I've found a couple, but it would be very nice if I could order from big suppliers in the States and UK. My pension is in U.S. dollars, and I have a couple of U.S. credit cards, so payment wouldn't be a problem, but I don't know about paperwork. Does anybody have any information about nurseries that sell to "foreign" countries?

LOL

Most people try and order stuff IN from Thailand instead of the other way around!

You will need various bits of paperwork.

It changes from country to country so contact your customs/quarantine service in Thailand. You will likely need an import permit and a CITES certificate, possibly also a Phytosanitary certificate.

You organise the import permit from the Thai customs bureau (or similar agency), and the grower you buy from is responsible for organising the other two. They'll need your permit number to do that so getting the import permit is first port of call.

Thanks. So that gives me a line of approach. I'll have to put that off for a while, because the Customs Department is in Bangkok and I'm currently living where we call "upcountry." Looks like a better approach might be for me to contact the Orchid Society of Thailand for guidance.

As far as US orchid companies that ship overseas goes, the only one I have ordered from is Orchids by Hausermann. They have some great stuff. You can always search the Orchid Mall for other growers.

Welcome to Orchids By Hausermann On-Line Orchid catalog.
The Orchid Mall - Everything in Orchids

In fact, IF you can find orchids that you are interested in locally (Thailand nurseries/growers) they cost about 1/8 of what you have to pay abroad, plus no problems with import permits/ documentation. If you want something that is really not available in Thail., and this is what I do: order it to a US address of someone who can bring it back to Thailand in their luggage. As you must know, inspection/import controls on arrival here are almost non-existant... Happy growing !

Ah, now that looks more like what I want.

To try to put this into perspective that will make sense to people outside Thailand, imagine you live in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and the closest nursery you can find is in Philadelphia. You don't have a car, so you have to take a bus. Carrying the orchids back home is probably going to be a challenge.

Still, as time goes by I'm learning more. Yesterday I found a web site for a fantastic nursery near the old airport north of Bangkok. Unfortunately, they seem to be wholesale only, but maybe if I went there...