Mailing to Italy

[jrr74]

I have a pony item MIB (value $85) that I am suppose to be mailing to Italy.   I have two concerns, one-I have not heard anything good about the Italian postal services and two-they only allow toys made out of wood to enter the country.  So how does one mark the contents of the box?  Apparently I will not be using my old stand-by, 'plastic vintage toy'.  I have also looked into doing priority mail so that I may insure the item, but that would cost around $60 because of the size of box that I need to use.  It would be cheaper for me to ship to someone in the UK with a more reliable postal service and then have them do tracked and insured shipping to get the package to Italy. 

Is the Italian post office really as bad as it has been rumored to be?

[lovesbabysquirmy]

Short answer.... yes.  Purchase tracking, signature, insurance, all that, because you're going to need as much coverage as possible should someone along the journey eye your parcel and decide they want it.

Italian collectors understand this frustrating issue with their postal service - they may provide advice on how to package, fill out forms, etc. to have the best chance possible of having the package actually delivered to the buyer. 

[Thunderwing]

I ship to Italy only at the buyer's risk, with insurance and TRACKING. Which is pretty darn expensive. (Of course I would work with the buyer to make the postal insurance claim and be patient and reasonable... but Italian buyers have to understand the risk involved.)

I generally mark all ponies as "Collectible Figure".

[jrr74]

Thank you lovesbabysquirmy and Thunderwing for your advice.  I have gotten myself into an uncomfortable arrangement but will figure something out. 

*hugs*

[Taffeta]

I would suggest that if there's a huge customs issue, do what you suggested doing and ship it to a friend in the UK. Right now we're still in the EU, and so long as we are, we don't need to declare anything on customs as there is an open custom zone between all EU countries. (I pray this stays after we leave, it will drive me nuts if not). Obviously there are things which are illegal to ship, such as dangerous items, or batteries, but I don't think that there's a big issue with sending toys.

Since our import rules are not as prohibitive as Italy's, you might do better sending it to someone here - or indeed anywhere else in the EU, like France, Holland, Germany etc - and send them some money to post it on for you.

[nhal039]

I have posted there without problems (no tracking) however i do understand some do have problems posting there.
Dont write toy in any circumstance :p i wrote dolls or pony doll haha it worked thou. All italians said not to use toy on the customs form

[Taffeta]

I suppose you could put "pony figure" or "horse figure"...I've had people put that on forms of things sent to me before.

[Ringlets]

I always send items with tracking and delivery confirmation when I ship to Italy - that way I haven't had any issues an I've shipped to Italy plenty of times. ( However I did lose a couple of parcels some years ago when I used to ship everything ordinary airmail so I don't risk sending via the cheap option anymore).
 Figurine, horse figure and that sort of thing without mentioning toy should get your pony through customs if you don't want to have to ship to another UK/European member first