Will my customer in the USA have to pay import tax?

No. All duties, costs and tariffs are inside the fee. We clear customs ourselves and your customer pays nothing on arrival.

How long does it take?

Around 5 to 8 days door to door. Plants generally arrive in 2 to 4 working days.

Is there a minimum or maximum quantity?

No. You can ship as much as you like at any time, from one box to weekly volume. Over 30 kg per box, call the office first.

Restricted goods are listed in our FAQ . If we cannot help we will tell you.

Will my customer in the UK have to pay import VAT or duty?

No. All duties, costs and tariffs are inside the fee. Dragon Courier clears customs and your customer pays nothing on arrival.

How long does it take?

Around 5 to 8 days door to door, from Bangkok to a UK address.

Is there a minimum or maximum quantity?

No. You can ship as much as you like at any time, from one box to weekly volume. Over 30 kg per box, call the office first.

Restricted goods are listed in our FAQ . If we cannot help we will tell you.

Will my customer in Australia have to pay import tax?

No. All duties, costs and tariffs are inside the fee. We clear customs ourselves and your customer pays nothing on arrival.

How long does it take?

Around 5 to 8 days door to door. An accurate description of the contents is what keeps a shipment on the faster end of that range.

Is there a minimum or maximum quantity?

No. You can ship as much as you like at any time, from one box to weekly volume. Over 30 kg per box, call the office first.

Restricted goods are listed in our FAQ . If we cannot help we will tell you.

Will my customer in the Philippines have to pay import tax?

No. All duties, costs and tariffs are inside the fee. We clear customs ourselves and your customer pays nothing on arrival.

How long does it take?

It depends on the zone: 2 to 3 working days for Metro Manila, up to 2 to 8 for Mindanao, and 4 to 10 for a remote island.

Is there a minimum or maximum quantity?

No. You can ship as much as you like at any time, from one box to weekly volume. Over 30 kg per box, call the office first.

Restricted goods are listed in our FAQ . If we cannot help we will tell you.

Does my customer pay anything when the parcel arrives?

No. All duties, costs and tariffs are included in our fee, 100 percent guaranteed. Nothing is collected at the door.

Is DDP more expensive than sending duty unpaid?

The total is usually lower. There is no separate brokerage fee, and no duty collected at the door with a handling charge on top. You see one number before the parcel leaves.

Which destinations are duty inclusive?

The main markets are, including the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, the Philippines, Singapore, the UAE and western Europe. Ask us about anything outside that list and we will confirm how it is quoted before you send.

How long does delivery take?

Around 5 to 8 days door to door for most markets. Singapore and Metro Manila are 1 to 2 days.

What is the difference between DDP and DDU?

DDP means the sender has paid duty and tax, so delivery is clean. DDU means the person receiving the parcel is invoiced by the carrier before it is released. The full mechanics are in the guide to DDP shipping .

Buying Plants From Thailand: What Happens Between Payment and Your Doorstep

Buyer unboxing a bare-root plant shipped from a Thai nursery, wrapped in sphagnum moss with certificates alongside

A Thai nursery posts a variegated Monstera on Instagram, you pay, and a box turns up two weeks later. Between those two moments sit an export inspection, a set of certificates, an aircraft hold and a customs officer, and the buyer is a legal party to most of it whether they realise it or not.

This is what happens in that gap, what the buyer is responsible for, and what to check before paying anybody.

The first surprise: the buyer is the importer

United States buyers in particular tend to assume the nursery handles the paperwork because the nursery is the one shipping. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service says the opposite, on its own page written for people buying online:

"Are you buying plants or seeds through an e-commerce site? If so, you are considered an importer and most likely need a permit."

Source: Buying Plants and Seeds Online, aphis.usda.gov.

That single sentence is the reason so many orders end badly. The buyer who never heard of a permit is the party the rule points at. The nursery that promised "we ship worldwide" has no obligation on the import side of the transaction and often no idea what the destination requires.

Two ways out of it exist. The buyer applies for the permit themselves, which takes time and paperwork. Or the shipment moves under someone who already holds one. Dragon Courier holds an import permit for each market, and will take care of all permits as part of the service, so no import permit is required from the customer.

What to ask the seller before paying

Four questions separate a nursery that exports properly from one that will post a box and hope.

Ask who arranges the phytosanitary certificate. It is issued by the plant health authority of the exporting country, in Thailand the Department of Agriculture, and almost every destination requires it. If the seller has never heard of it, stop there.

Ask whether the species is CITES listed. All orchids are, and a CITES export document is not optional on an orchid leaving Thailand. Dragon Courier can send CITES to major markets such as the USA, and handles other markets on request, free of charge.

Ask for the botanical name in writing. Customs and plant health officers work from botanical names, not from trade names or Instagram names. A parcel declared as "Monstera" moves. A parcel declared as "plant" or "gift" gets opened.

Ask how it will be packed and by whom. Which brings us to the part buyers underestimate most.

What a properly prepared shipment looks like

Plants are shipped bare-root, with new sphagnum moss. No soil travels, because soil is the thing most countries ban outright, and it carries the pests the inspections are looking for. The moss holds moisture without holding the pathogens that a used growing medium would.

Dragon Courier provides door to door temperature control and the plants go on the fastest flight, with courier labels. Transit depends on the market but generally runs 2 to 4 working days. Dragon Courier even sends during winter, which is when most sellers refuse to ship at all.

Dragon Courier is the number one exporter of live plants in Thailand and does this every working day.

What arrives, and what to do with it

The box contains a plant with bare roots wrapped in moss, and the certificates travel with the shipment rather than inside the box.

Unpack it the day it arrives. A plant that spent four days in a box does not want to spend a fifth on a hall table. Roots that look pale or dry are normal after transit. Leaves that yellowed on the lowest node are normal too.

Pot it into a free-draining mix and keep it warmer and more humid than the eventual home, out of direct sun, for the first two weeks. Do not fertilise a plant that has just lost its root system's growing medium. Do not water it into a saturated pot: the roots have no leaves' worth of demand yet and standing water on damaged roots is what actually kills a shipped plant.

When something goes wrong

A hold happens. Dragon Courier works very closely with customs, and when there is a hold the team works with USDA and the plant seller in Thailand to get a release urgently. That coordination is the difference between a plant released in two days and a plant destroyed at the border.

One thing the buyer should know before paying, because nobody enjoys learning it afterwards: Dragon Courier does not offer insurance for live plants. Loss is covered. Damage is not.

About Dragon Courier

Dragon Courier is a Bangkok-based international courier shipping from Thailand to over 200 destinations, and the number one exporter of live plants in Thailand. Dragon Courier has been doing this over 30 years, under the same management team for most of that time. Today that is more than 20,000 shipments a month.

Frequently asked questions

More of them, on every service, are on the FAQ page.

If the nursery ships it, why am I the importer?

Because the rule points at the buyer. APHIS writes that if you are buying plants or seeds through an e-commerce site you are considered an importer and most likely need a permit. The nursery has no obligation on the import side.

So do I have to apply for a permit myself?

Not if the shipment moves under someone who already holds one. Dragon Courier holds an import permit for each market and takes care of all permits as part of the service.

What should I ask the seller before paying?

Who arranges the phytosanitary certificate, whether the species is CITES listed, the botanical name in writing, and how the plant will be packed and by whom.

Why does the botanical name matter?

Customs and plant health officers work from botanical names, not trade names. A parcel declared as "Monstera" moves. A parcel declared as "plant" or "gift" gets opened.