Ikea in Dammam bringing furniture over to Bahrain- taxes to pay? | ExpatWoman.com
 

Ikea in Dammam bringing furniture over to Bahrain- taxes to pay?

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Posts
EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 04 June 2013 - 22:38

Hi,

I'm hoping someone can help me, my husband has just started a new job in Dammam but the family are going to live in Bahrain, we've found a villa to rent on a compound. The villa is totally unfurnished and so before the children and I come over to join my husband (we're currently living in Europe) i was hoping my husband could furnish it a bit. We're not bringing our furniture with us- too complicated and expensive, and the children are babies so i'm trying to be organised before we land.

Can he buy furniture in the Ikea in Dammam and drive it across to Bahrain without any problems? He seems to think there is a question of taxes he might have to pay at one of the border controls, but we can't get accurate information on this.

Also, could anyone recommend good quality, reasonably priced furniture shops in Bahrain where i can go just online and choose items and then give my husband a list of what to buy? I'm also looking for childrens shops where i can buy things like baby beds and play pens.

Many thanks in advance for any help anyone can offer.

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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 08 June 2013 - 23:18
Hi, Thanks for the additional information and suggestions of other furniture shops. We're going to check out the serviced appartment option too- good idea. Also, I didn't know about the mums in Bahrain FB group, I just looked at the website classifieds. The FB pages look very comprehensive and up to date. Thanks again.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 05 June 2013 - 16:08
Hi Julessimon6 Home Centre is not the greatest quality, but then, neither is Ikea, but when you are setting up multiple homes, sometimes quality has to be secondary to cost. Home Centre has frequent sales and there are plenty of other smaller shops, but you will probably need to wait until you arrive to trawl around them. I like The One and ID Design plus Marina Furniture which is quite nice, but they are all fairly expensive, especially compared to the UK (Ikea in Khobar is also quite a bit more expensive than the UK). With regards to Aramex, they will probably do it for him, but bear in mind you will be charged duty on the goods, as you are only allowed to move used household goods into any country without charges and even then I am pretty sure it must be coming from your country of residence. I have no idea what the costs would be, but I suspect they will be quite high (am prepared to be corrected if this is untrue). Please note that if your husband does decide to hire a van and drive himself (don't even know if this is possible) please make sure his paperwork is correct, as you need special documents to take a vehicle over an international border and Saudi is pretty strict. BEDH is right about second hand furniture. These countries are quite transient and often people leave after only a short time, selling off the furniture they bought when they arrived, so it might be a good option. Just a thought, but perhaps you could stay in a serviced apartment for a few days on arrival. Furniture bought here can be delivered very quickly, often the next day. Best of luck Kaydee
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EW EXPLORER
Latest post on 05 June 2013 - 15:00
2nd hand furniture is quite reasonable in Bahrain. There are a few 2nd hand shops im Adliya and you can buy bargains off expats as the leave. Mums in Bahrain is an organisation with a FB page that has lots of classifieds . Beds and mattresses are cheaply bought new , we got ours at Medical mattresses . Home centre , I've found is poor quality and expensive considering . There was a service that brought ikea products to Bahrain , try asking on Mums in Bahrain FB page .
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 05 June 2013 - 14:09
Hi Kaydee, Many thanks for your reply, it is really useful, i had a quick look on the Home Centre site but it seemed to be very expensive, i think i need to go back and look again. Another quick question if you don't mind, do you know if using Aramex would be one solution to getting the goods from Ikea Dammam delivered to us in Bahrain, that way my husband doesn't need to bother with the whole hiring of a big van and then the customs hold up, they will do it for us. Have you heard if thats one solution? Many thanks again.
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EW NEWBIE
Latest post on 05 June 2013 - 05:43
This forum is very quiet, but hopefully you will receive other replies. I will, however, try to help, although I live in Al Khobar, not Bahrain and my children have grown and flown. Your husband will have to go through customs coming back to Bahrain and they always stop the car for a quick check. I don't think you would have any problem with smaller items, but large things may be very different and the boarder is slow enough anyway, without getting stuck having to pay customs duty. (sometimes you can do the trip in an hour, sometimes 4, it just depends, average for us is 1hour 15 minutes from our home in Al Khobar to Adlya, but we try to pick quieter times to cross) Bahrain has plenty of shops. Home Centre is sort of the Middle East equivalent of Ikea and there is one in City Centre. They do have a website, just google it. With regard to children's stores, there is Mothercare, Baby Shop, Mama's and Papa's etc. Online shopping is not very evolved, but it might give you an idea. Hope this helps a bit and best of luck.