OK, who has shipped to Italy... what a fucking joke.

starmap3333

I shipped a shirt to someone on april 1st... have the "customs" declaration number, which shows nothing other than that it was accepted by USPS. now this guy is bitching he didn;t get his shirt yet. seriously, can';t they track thwe package with this customs number or what? never again. fuck you italy (and i'm italian, so i'm allowed to say that). :corn:

Suziemay

Only way I know to track packages through USPS is to ship Registered, it's an additional $11.75 on top of postage and you have to make sure all the crevices of the package is taped with brown paper tape. It's a pain in the butt and more expensive than it should be, but it's what's available through USPS.

I think with the customs number you can find out if it's been delivered but that's it. If it shows accepted by USPS but not on the Italy side, it probably hasn't found its way there yet.

youngster

Yeah, there is a laundry list of issues with anyone shipping to Italy. Something to do with their customs or something. Read enough items on ebay where sellers say they will NEVER ship to Italy. I heeded that warning. Hope you don't get burned and ole boy gets his item.

Dead Man Walking

Italy's postal service is so bad that you'll find a lot of online merchants won't even ship there.

There are a few members here that live in Italy that I've shipped to in the past but I've been very upfront with them in saying "If it doesn't show up, it's your loss. I'm not responsible for it." Luckily, I have never had a package go M.I.A. (knock on wood) but at the same time, I trust the people here. I wouldn't consider sending items to Italy if it wasn't someone who was part of this community. Just not worth the hassle.

demetrios

youngster wrote:

Yeah, there is a laundry list of issues with anyone shipping to Italy. Something to do with their customs or something. Read enough items on ebay where sellers say they will NEVER ship to Italy. I heeded that warning. Hope you don't get burned and ole boy gets his item.

I've noticed that lately on eBay. So many sellers don't want to ship to Italy. I did many cd/dvd b+p/trades with friends in Italy many months back and they received their goodies safe & sound. What's happening now with their postal service? Haven't heard anything about it in the new's.

Chief Broom

I was told by a postal worker that if I was shipping ANYTHING to Italy to insure it.
He also told me that IF it does get to the person it will probably be in a month or two...
There were a few other countries he mentioned too,but Italy was the one that stood out because I was actually shipping something there that day. I try to avoid it now.

dimitrispearljam

Suziemay wrote:

Only way I know to track packages through USPS is to ship Registered, .

starmap3333

i did actually give him the customs number and tell him last time i shipped there it took almost 2 months. terrible. thanks for the feedback.

pjradio

I was told by USPS person that the customs number only guarantees tracking inside US border...said it was out of their hands on foreign soil

Had my Benny shipped FROM Italy....no problem. took about a week

nm219369

have him check on the italian postal site I know shipping from canada to the states you have to use both canada post and usps to track

AlbertaGirl70_

I took a trip to Italy last April,and wanted to ship some purchases back to Canada to avoid the extra/overweight charges from the airlines,and was told by the Italian guide to absolutely not do it if I hoped to see my stuff again.Turned out it was going to cost me about $800 Euros anyway to pay Italian Postal Service to handle it,and that was only going to get it to the Canadian border if I was lucky...needless to say it flew back with me

flyinwhole313

starmap3333 wrote:

I shipped a shirt to someone on april 1st... have the "customs" declaration number, which shows nothing other than that it was accepted by USPS. now this guy is bitching he didn;t get his shirt yet. seriously, can';t they track thwe package with this customs number or what? never again. fuck you italy (and i'm italian, so i'm allowed to say that). :corn:

I sent an item which took LITERALLY 53 days from the time of shipping until finally received. However, my record is Australia...I shipped something which wasn't delivered until 71 days after original postmark!!!!! But it is a pretty widely understood sentiment that shipping to Italy specifically is a problem. I don't do it personally.

100 Pacer

While I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of shipping to Italy, I will say this: I've learned you get exactly what you pay for (especially when referring to postage).

This past month I shipped 2 posters out separately to Australia, with Canada Post postage working out to roughly $80 after the added insurance and tax. Each poster tube was guaranteed to arrive within 5 business days, and both included tracking number/delivery confirmation/insurance/signature. The 1st tube arrived within 5 business days, and the 2nd tube arrived within 4 business days. The next cheapest option (the only other option available from Canada Post) was surface mail for $50 which would have taken somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 months without any tracking or delivery confirmation.

dangerboy said it best elsewhere: if you're going to gamble on a shipment, do so on an item you won't lose sleep over should it get lost and you're out of pocket for the cost. Don't cut corners as a seller, ever. If a buyer has a problem paying for the most secure shipment ask yourself if you're prepared to walk away from the sale for your own peace of mind. The seller/shipper needs to ask the right questions of the carrier chosen in order to receive the right answers. Do so, and you shouldn't have any problems.

No disrespect to the OP, his predicament, or the general frustrations experienced by others in this thread.

flyinwhole313

100 Pacer wrote:

While I'm unfamiliar with the specifics of shipping to Italy, I will say this: I've learned you get exactly what you pay for (especially when referring to postage).

This past month I shipped 2 posters out separately to Australia, with Canada Post postage working out to roughly $80 after the added insurance and tax. Each poster tube was guaranteed to arrive within 5 business days, and both included tracking number/delivery confirmation/insurance/signature. The 1st tube arrived within 5 business days, the 2nd tube arrived within 4 business days. The next cheapest option (the only other option available from Canada Post) was surface mail for $50 which would have taken somewhere in the neighborhood of 2 months without any tracking or delivery confirmation.

dangerboy said it best elsewhere: if you're going to gamble on a shipment, do so on an item you won't lose sleep over should it get lost and you're out of pocket for the cost. Don't cut corners as a seller, ever. If a buyer has a problem paying for the most secure shipment ask yourself if you're prepared to walk away from the sale for your own peace of mind. The seller/shipper needs to ask the right questions of the carrier chosen in order to receive the right answers. Do so, and you shouldn't have any problems.

No disrespect to the OP, his predicament, or the general frustrations experienced by others in this thread.

The package I spoke of above (to Australia) wasactually shipped via USPS International Priority Mail. :shock:

100 Pacer

flyinwhole313 wrote:

The package I spoke of above (to Australia) wasactually shipped via USPS International Priority Mail. :shock:

For what it's worth, in my opinion anything of significant value that requires valid tracking/delivery confirmation/insurance/signature shipped out from the States outside of North America (excluding Canada) should definitely be shipped out with EMS:

https://www.usps.com/ship/express-mail- ... tional.htm

LeatherMosquitoMan

I'm from Australia, and have lived in the US for nearly 7 years, and this must be simply coincidental. I've shipped and recieved tons of packages in that time with no trouble whatsoever, and some in less than 7 full days.

flyinwhole313

LeatherMosquitoMan wrote:

I'm from Australia, and have lived in the US for nearly 7 years, and this must be simply coincidental. I've shipped and recieved tons of packages in that time with no trouble whatsoever, and some in less than 7 full days.

I have as well. I am sure it was a coincidence, but the point is that it happened at all. CRAZY.

deserteddotse

flyinwhole313 wrote:

I sent an item which took LITERALLY 53 days from the time of shipping until finally received. However, my record is Australia...I shipped something which wasn't delivered until 71 days after original postmark!!!!! But it is a pretty widely understood sentiment that shipping to Italy specifically is a problem. I don't do it personally.

Sound like an average 10C shipping to me... :thumbdown:

boyo79

pjradio wrote:

I was told by USPS person that the customs number only guarantees tracking inside US border...said it was out of their hands on foreign soil

Yeah I've found the tracking pretty useless. Paid extra for tracking from US to UK once and the tracking stopped once it left the US. What a waste of time that was!! Item got to me fine though

I've shipped a couple of things to Italy from the UK and they haven't taken ages to get there, I don't know what they do over there but the postal service does seem a bit messed up at times!

100 Pacer

boyo79 wrote:

pjradio wrote:

I was told by USPS person that the customs number only guarantees tracking inside US border...said it was out of their hands on foreign soil

Yeah I've found the tracking pretty useless. Paid extra for tracking from US to UK once and the tracking stopped once it left the US. What a waste of time that was!! Item got to me fine though

I've shipped a couple of things to Italy from the UK and they haven't taken ages to get there, I don't know what they do over there but the postal service does seem a bit messed up at times!

Tracking doesn't just "stop". If a USPS tracking number can't be tracked once the item has left the States it's because there's no actual tracking on the item. The USPS customs form number is often confused for a tracking number but it isn't. If there's no tracking history available once the item has left the States it's because the sender didn't pay for it.

dimitrispearljam

i ship always Registered Mail,means with tracking number to usa..
from the moment item arrives to Athens,still in Greece,i can track it at usps.com
https://tools.usps.com/go/TrackConfirmAction.action..

Suziemay

boyo79 wrote:

pjradio wrote:

I was told by USPS person that the customs number only guarantees tracking inside US border...said it was out of their hands on foreign soil

Yeah I've found the tracking pretty useless. Paid extra for tracking from US to UK once and the tracking stopped once it left the US. What a waste of time that was!! Item got to me fine though

I've shipped a couple of things to Italy from the UK and they haven't taken ages to get there, I don't know what they do over there but the postal service does seem a bit messed up at times!

Tracking has actually worked for me every single time which was a nice surprise. I had zero expectations of it actually showing me anything useful, to be honest. It has to be Registered Mail, and it costs $11.75 in addition to postage. Good thing your item arrived regardless!

81

wtf is wrong with italy...

things i can't ship

Albums of any kind (of photographs, postcards, postage stamps, etc.).

Arms and weapons.

Articles of platinum or gold; jewelry; and other valuable articles unless sent as insured Priority Mail International parcels.

Artificial flowers and fruits and accessories for them.

Bells and other musical instruments and parts thereof.

Cartridge caps; cartridges.

Clocks and supplies for clocks.

Compound medicaments and medicines.

Coral mounted in any way.

Ether and chloroform.

Exposed photographic and cinematographic films.

Footwear of any kind.

Haberdashery and sewn articles of any kind, including trimmings and lace; handkerchiefs; scarves; shawls, needlework including stockings and gloves; bonnets, caps, and hats of any kind.

Hair and articles made of hair.

Human remains.

Leather goods.

Lighters and their parts, including lighter flints.

Live bees, leeches, and silkworms.

Live plants and animals.

Nutmeg, vanilla; sea salt, rock salt; saffron.

Parasites and predators of harmful insects.

Perfumery goods of all kinds (except soap).

Playing cards of any kind.

Postage stamps in sealed or unsealed First-Class Mail International shipments.

Radioactive materials.

Ribbons for typewriters.

Roasted or ground coffee and its substitutes; roasted chicory.

Saccharine and all products containing saccharine.

Salted, smoked or otherwise prepared meats; fats; and lard.

Tobacco.

Toys not made wholly of wood.

Treated skins and furs.

Weapons of any kind and spare parts for them.


:fp:

AlbertaGirl70_

Some of that shit is really friggin random.....WTH difference does some of that stuff make

dwhite76

I think they are doing work on their roads.

eddiec

Postage and Toxic waste disposal. 2 things Italy has no idea how to do.

Released1980

Fugeddabowdit....

PKTrekGirl

Italy is good a many things, but secure mail is certainly not one of them.

I've spent a fair amount of time there for business and pleasure, and it's a wonderful country in many ways (probably my favorite country, in fact)...but I would never ship there without insurance and a real tracking number. Anything less is playing Russian Roulette with your item. Maybe it will get there, maybe it won't...and you will wait a long time to find out which of those it turns out to be.

Good luck - I hope your buyer gets his goods!

Kathi

There have been severe cuts in the postal service over the last years...we used to get our mail at 9 or 10, now it's never before 12:30 cause the poor guy now has to serve lots of new places as well. Lots of offices have closed down too. They're aiming for privatization, but I doubt it'll work.

I've never had any problems with stuff reaching its destination, but it takes ages if done from my hometown and the post office is open just 3 hours a day, so I usually drive over the border to Austria (just 20 minutes) and post my stuff there. Everything overseas friends have sent me & everything I've ordered has always found its way to me until now, but I'm from a part of the country that's still relatively well-off, postal service and otherwise, so I imagine it's much worse in regions more affected by the crisis.

boyo79

100 Pacer wrote:

boyo79 wrote:

pjradio wrote:

I was told by USPS person that the customs number only guarantees tracking inside US border...said it was out of their hands on foreign soil

Yeah I've found the tracking pretty useless. Paid extra for tracking from US to UK once and the tracking stopped once it left the US. What a waste of time that was!! Item got to me fine though

I've shipped a couple of things to Italy from the UK and they haven't taken ages to get there, I don't know what they do over there but the postal service does seem a bit messed up at times!

Tracking doesn't just "stop". If a USPS tracking number can't be tracked once the item has left the States it's because there's no actual tracking on the item. The USPS customs form number is often confused for a tracking number but it isn't. If there's no tracking history available once the item has left the States it's because the sender didn't pay for it.

The tracking was paid for trust me. There was even a tracking number on the parcel when it arrived. Which postal service it was I can't remember.

starmap3333

the guy reported the item arrived the other day, 36 days later!!