Shipping Belongings to Taiwan in 2026: Suitcases, Boxes or Sea Freight?

Shipping belongings to Taiwan is one of those jobs where people either overspend by thousands or get caught by one missing form. Our honest take after helping newcomers settle into Taipei: most people should ship far less than they think. Taiwan is easy and cheap to furnish, the voltage is different, and the cheapest box is the one you never send. Below is what each option really costs in 2026, the customs rule that trips people up, and what we would do for a single person, a couple and a family.

Photo: Heeheemalu via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

Shipping belongings to Taiwan: the four real options

1. Extra checked bags (fastest, often the best value)

Your stuff lands with you, and there is no customs paperwork beyond the normal arrival. EVA Air raised its fees for travel from September 29, 2026: an extra checked bag on flights to and from Taiwan now costs about US$160 to 390 depending on the route, up from US$140 to 300 (Focus Taiwan). North America and Europe sit at the top of that range. Two changes matter: a bag between 23 and 32 kg is now charged as a full extra piece (it used to be half), and prepaying at least four hours before departure gets 10% off. China Airlines and STARLUX run similar piece systems, so check your own fare.

So one extra 23 kg bag from the US or Europe costs roughly US$300 to 390. That sounds steep until you compare it with posting the same 23 kg.

2. Postal parcels (good for 2 to 5 boxes)

• USPS Priority Mail International to Taiwan accepts parcels up to 44 lb (20 kg), and a Large Flat Rate Box (up to 20 lb) is roughly US$100 to 130 at the counter (USPS country conditions for Taiwan).
• Royal Mail standard international parcels stop at 2 kg, so for real boxes from the UK use Parcelforce Worldwide (up to 30 kg).
• Australia Post international parcels go up to 20 kg.

Boxes are delivered by Chunghwa Post. If the declared value is over NT$2,000, customs issues a tax notice and the postman collects duty and 5% business tax on delivery. Declare used clothes and books honestly at their low secondhand value, mark them "used personal effects", and you usually pay nothing or very little.

3. Couriers (DHL, FedEx, UPS)

Fastest door to door (3 to 7 days) and the most expensive per kilo, usually well above postal rates for anything heavy. They also clear customs as express cargo, so the same NT$2,000 threshold applies. We only recommend couriers for one urgent box: work equipment, documents, or something you need in week one.

4. Sea freight with an international mover (for furniture and 3+ cubic meters)

Here you pay by volume, in cubic meters (m3). A small apartment's worth of boxes plus a desk and chair is often 3 to 5 m3. The bare ocean freight part of a shared container (LCL) from the US is cheap, roughly US$80 to 130 per m3 (ExFreight), but packing, pickup, export paperwork, Taiwan customs clearance and delivery to your door are where the money goes. One recent agent quote for just the Taiwan end of a 5 m3 personal effects shipment (Keelung port to a Taichung address) was US$1,250 on its own. A realistic planning figure for a small door-to-door move from North America or Europe is a few thousand US dollars, so get three written quotes.

Timing: sea freight is usually 4 to 8 weeks door to door, longer in the August to October peak season.

Movers with Taipei offices that foreigners actually use: Asian Tigers (K.C. Dat), Allied Pickfords and Crown, all listed with Taipei offices (Taichung City Government list). Santa Fe Relocation also serves Taiwan. On Forumosa, people also recommend Lucky Moving (offices in both the US and Taiwan) and the local firm Steven The Mover, described as fast and reliable but not cheap. Our pick for a small private move: get quotes from Asian Tigers and Lucky Moving and compare the same volume.

Photo: Padai via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0

The customs rule for unaccompanied baggage in Taiwan

This is the part that costs people money. Taiwan treats anything you ship separately as "unaccompanied baggage" (後送行李), and the rules in the Ministry of Finance's regulations on inward passengers' luggage (official English text) are clear:

1. Declare it when you land. Walk through the red channel at the airport and tell customs a shipment is following. Keep the stamped declaration and give a copy to your mover. If you walk through green, the duty exemptions no longer apply and the whole shipment can be taxed at normal import rates.

2. The shipment must arrive before you, or within 6 months of your entry date.

3. Clear it within 15 days of the ship's arrival, yourself or through your mover.

4. Duty-free allowance: personal and household goods carried and shipped together share the NT$35,000 per person exemption (raised from NT$20,000 in June 2024). If you are taking up residence for at least a year, customs can relax the value and quantity limits by up to 50% when you show supporting documents, and used household goods in normal personal quantities are generally cleared without duty when the paperwork is complete.

Movers will ask for your passport, the entry stamp or arrival record, a packing list and, usually, your ARC. So plan your shipment to land after you have your ARC or are about to get it (see our guide from visa to ARC).

A real example from Forumosa: someone shipped 27 boxes by sea months before flying, forgot to declare at the airport, and spent days panicking about fines. The fallback people suggested was to leave and re-enter Taiwan within the 6-month window and declare then. In that case the mover's clearance team sorted it out, but you do not want to rely on luck. Write "DECLARE SHIPMENT" on your boarding pass.

What not to ship (and what is banned anyway)

Banned or high risk:

• Meat, especially pork. Bringing or mailing pork products from African swine fever areas means a NT$200,000 fine for a first offense, NT$1 million after that, and foreigners who can't pay on the spot can be refused entry (Focus Taiwan). That includes sausages, jerky and "just one" pack of bacon bits in a moving box.
• Plants, seeds and soil, fresh fruit and most food (keep food out of moving boxes entirely).
• Firearms, ammunition and drugs. Prescription medicine needs a doctor's note and should travel with you, not in freight.
• Lithium batteries: power banks, e-bikes and e-scooters are refused by many sea freight services. Carry small electronics in the cabin.
• Long blades: ordinary kitchen knives are fine, but blades over about 30 cm count as controlled knives.

Not worth the money:

• Furniture. A sofa costs more to ship than to replace. IKEA Taiwan has stores at Dunbei (near Taipei Arena MRT) and Xinzhuang, and HOLA and Nitori cover the rest.
• Appliances. Taiwan runs on 110V/60Hz. Kettles, hair dryers, rice cookers and TVs from 220V countries are useless without bulky converters, and appliances are cheap at PX Mart, Carrefour, Costco or online on momo and PChome (next-day delivery is normal).
• Bedding, kitchenware, cleaning stuff. Cheap and everywhere. Our packing guide covers what is still worth bringing in your suitcase.

Also check Facebook buy-and-sell groups for Taipei expats and Facebook Marketplace: people leaving Taiwan sell nearly new desks, dehumidifiers and bikes for a fraction of the price.

Photo: brownpau via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0

Our recommendation by household size

Single person: two suitcases plus 2 to 4 boxes. Use your free checked allowance, add one prepaid extra bag if needed, and post 2 to 4 boxes of books, clothes and hobby gear by postal service, timed to arrive after you have an address. Skip movers completely. Forumosa's best advice for single movers matches ours: it is usually cheaper to sell and rebuy than to ship.

Couple: four to six suitcases plus a small LCL shipment only if you own something special. If you have a good bike, a piano keyboard or a work setup worth over US$2,000, a 2 to 3 m3 shared-container shipment makes sense. Otherwise extra bags plus postal boxes still win.

Family with kids: sea freight, but edit hard. A 5 to 10 m3 LCL shipment, or a 20 ft container if you are bringing beds and wardrobes, with a full-service mover who handles customs. Leave appliances and big sofas behind, bring the things kids need to feel at home, and ask your employer whether a relocation allowance covers it.

Rent furnished and ship less

The biggest shipping saving happens before you pack: choosing your apartment. A furnished Taipei rental often includes a bed, wardrobe, washing machine, fridge and AC, which removes most of what families think they need to ship. Our comparison of furnished vs unfurnished rentals in Taipei shows what "furnished" really includes here. If your shipment arrives after you've already moved once, our sister site has a practical guide to moving apartments in Taipei without losing your mind. And when you plan your arrival around a sea shipment, book a short-term place for the first few weeks and let us line up viewings, so your boxes have a real address to go to.

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