Why do sellers not ship to Italy?

[Artemesia's Garden]

Hi there, I'm based in the UK and would send Royal Mail International Signed for to Italy.  Just wondering why some people still say they won't ship to Italy.  What could possibly go wrong 

[LadyMoondancer]

Their customs forbids the import of non-wooden toys.  Which the customs office doesn't ALWAYS enforce, but they sometimes do.  If they decide to enforce it just when you're sending a pony, you are out of luck.  They are not obligated to send the pony back to you.  A lot of people describe ponies as "horse figurines" on the customs form when sending to Italy.

Also, I've heard that Italy has a lot of mail theft by postal employees.  Of course all countries have some mail theft, but it sounds like it's more common and systematic there.  The risk isn't that the Italian customer will lie and say they didn't get the package, the risk is that the package will never reach them.

I've sent packages to Italy that arrived just fine, but I do feel it's more of a gamble than most countries.  It's up to individual sellers if they want to risk it.  I went back and forth on this and eventually decided that since I sometimes buy from Italy, it's only fair to ship to Italy.  I understand why some sellers don't, though.

[Sebby6]

Since you're in the UK it will probably be fine - just consult with the buy regarding the best shipping method as they have likely dealt with it before.
I've shipped there many times and never had a problem

[Tak]

Italy let me successfully ship ponies, but we had to pay for tracking which was $40. One of the worst countries to ship.

[Artemesia's Garden]

OK great, many thanks! I will put horse figurines for sure, that's a great tip.

[SoSilver]

From the United States use only Priority shipping.
Withing Europe/UK there are no probles at all, but you can use tracked shipment to be sure.

That article is from 2009, many things are changed.

[Taffeta]

I would think that within the EU and with tracking, there's probably low risk. If it goes missing, the tracking should show that...if it gets delivered, tracking should show that. If it gets sent to China (yeah, I'm serious...) then tracking will definitely also show that.

And EU doesn't require custom forms. So you don't have to write anything on the custom form as within the EU I'm pretty sure there's no import duty. Certainly we don't have it on received items here, but I think that's universal.

And so long as you're not sending something to Italy that's dangerous, it should get through. I doubt customs is going to do more than put it through a security scan if it's coming from within the EU. US people have a different situation.

I totally agree with what LM said, though. I'm really sick from a UK point of view of people assuming they can buy from me and have me go through all the trouble of shipping to their country, but they wouldn't sell to me if it were the other way because of no international shipping.

I think if you're willing to put a seller in another country through the process of shipping to you, it's only polite to reciprocate.

Though Italy's customs situation is complicated, I don't think punishing the entire population of Italy is the solution. Maybe tracking is a bit more costly, but I definitely wouldn't write off shipping to Italy.

I've also sent ponies there before many times with zero problem to date. The issues I have had shipping wise were once in Germany (money went missing, envelope arrived empty), once Belgium (buyer received item then lied and claimed on it) and the Netherlands (which was when Royal Mail sent it to China and had nothing to do with Dutch post whatsoever)...

And I've been scammed twice in trades by pony scammers from the US a long time ago. But I'd never stop selling to America because of them.

[Artemesia's Garden]

I don't think punishing the entire population of Italy is the solution.

Agreed! Fingers crossed

[LadyMoondancer]

The thing is, tracking isn't going to let a seller off the hook if an item is "lost in the mail".  :/  Tracking only helps prevent dishonest buyers from lying about whether they got an item.  If an item is lost in the mail, eBay or Paypal will require the seller to refund or send a duplicate of the item.

Which is not a big deal if you're sending a $5 item, but imagine you're sending a $100 item.  If it gets lost, you will essentially be out $200--having lost the item that was worth $100, and the additional $100 that you will have to refund the buyer.  You can see why sellers get leery.

[Taffeta]

But, if you have tracking and insurance on the item, and the postal service lose it, you can claim back the refunded value from them. It's longwinded and annoying, but it is possible.

I went through all these discussion options with our postal people when they sent the ponies to China (though fortunately they got to their destination, so it never got to that point).

And again, assuming the whole population of Italy are scammers is not the solution to me. There are bad people in all countries, and Italians can't help that their customs rules are nuts. At least if those restrictions don't apply, as they don't in Europe, I'm not going to stop Italians bidding on my items because a few shady people exist. I've encountered way more shadiness in transactions with other countries, so I just don't think it's fair to tar a whole population by the actions of a few.

Because all those things you list, LM, apply to all countries. Not just Italy. It's only the mad customs rules that apply to Italy, which affects people outside of the EU much more than those within, as far as I know.

[Artemesia's Garden]

From the United States use only Priority shipping.
Withing Europe/UK there are no probles at all, but you can use tracked shipment to be sure.

That article is from 2009, many things are changed.

Thank you, this is great to hear!

[LadyMoondancer]

And again, assuming the whole population of Italy are scammers is not the solution to me.

I hope I didn't give the impression that I think that.    It's not a problem with Italian buyers at all . . .   It's been--historically--a problem with the Italian post office, i.e. postal workers stealing mail. Systematically.  It's great to hear that the problem isn't as bad as it used to be, though.

In any case, I agree that insurance is the way to go.  I forgot that Priority International automatically includes it now--very convenient!

[Galactica]

It has been my experience that Italian customs can be problematic-  I will only mail something expensive to Italy if the buyer truly understands how the system works- because often a package will get held in customs for inexplicable reasons and for lengthy amounts of time...

It helps if the buyer can actually go down to the office and ask about the package.

[ponybanker]

I have shipped to Italy a hand full of times, dolls, barbies, breyer horses, ponies and never had any issues, sometimes it cane take a bit longer but everything has always gotten there in the end

[Babydoll]

Iv never had a problem posting to Italy and Iv been online since the late 90s. However I posted a parcel to Italy in April using Royal Mail Track & Sign and it went missing! The last tracking update was leaving Heathrow Airport on the 9th April. The buyer had bought from me numerous of times beforehand with no issues. As the item was valuable I used track & sign & I refunded the buyer (she patiently waited for 5 weeks just in case it turned up) & I claimed back for the full amount from Royal Mail! Despite this I would still happily post to Italy just make sure you have the value covered (as Royal Mail will only cover up to £20 on regular airmail). I think this must have been a fluke as Iv never had a track & sign parcel go missing before!

Babydoll~