Italian buyers

[lloydie1109]

Ehm... I am Italian and I always ask (and I have always asked) for signed post, as many of you know !
I know there could be a sort of "Bermuda triangle" accrossing the Channel !!! That's why I ask for the signed post !
What it is not acceptable (for me) is the price ebay ask for its shipping program. More or less it costs £ 4-5 more than a signed post.
But, according to my long experience receiving parcels from UK, if the seller makes good parcels and he is in good faith, no shipped parcel was lost, signed or normal postal service !

It is more to do with the service.
parcels are taking a long time to arrive, I have just had 6 take 5 weeks to arrive, where they have been held at the depot in Milan for most of that time. This causes problems with buyers wanting the articles. The service is very poor at times

[spudski]

The Italian Postal service is the worst on the planet imo.

One Subbuteo team, well packaged, tracked and Signed for costs £8.80 minimum...that's without the costs of packaging.

I spoke to an Italian Postman, and he told me that many postman will just leave a package outside a house, without signature or card to let the buyer know they have received the item. So many go missing this way.

I've found many people in Italy, now have their parcels sent to their workplace, as items are more likely to be received and signed for and presented.

[Focus On]

Noticed that too Ian, a lot of 'c/o's

[spudski]

Indeed

[albertocollection]

he told me that many postman will just leave a package outside a house

This happens only with regular postal service. If you send by signed post, postmen are obliged to let somone sign to receive the parcel. Often, if not at home, leave you a sort of postcard and then you later go to the post office to sign and to receive the parcel.
Sometimes happen that the postmen , when they leave the postcard, tracked the parcel as "delivered" and this creates a lot of confusion !
Antyway, you are right, the Italian Postal service is the worst on the planet.

[spudski]

he told me that many postman will just leave a package outside a house

This happens only with regular postal service. If you send by signed post, postmen are obliged to let somone sign to receive the parcel. Often, if not at home, leave you a sort of postcard and then you later go to the post office to sign and to receive the parcel.
Sometimes happen that the postmen , when they leave the postcard, tracked the parcel as "delivered" and this creates a lot of confusion !
Antyway, you are right, the Italian Postal service is the worst on the planet.

I've had it twice happen to me Alberto with 'Signed for'. The Postman left the items outside the door of the house. He never got a signature or took it back to the post office. He just left it on the floor outside

[PeteJS]

Some fun times recently, one buyer who hoovered up 4/5 items didn't want to then pay signed for.
So I cancelled the sell, I wasn't prepared to send them out any other way. They accepted - thanks Cockney for the tip there.
Another buyer is saying he didn't receive the teams, tracking says the item was delivered, and the postman tried twice in Italy. I can't operate the Italian version of their postal site, to get the signature.
After the explanation the buyer just said "Ok thanks" so Lord knows what is going to happen.
This from just 8 or so auctions. Nightmare, all the UK sales sailed through with all buyers happy.
As Barry mentioned, it's getting to the state where Italy is a no-sells-area.

[Focus On]

If i had 4 or 5 teams coming i would insist seller sent them signed for at my cost for safety if nothing else

[PeteJS]

Exactly, I insisted and they accepted the cancellation. There is no way I'm sending that lot over, only to receive a few weeks layer "I didn't receive my item from eBay" email. Let's hope the next lot goes a bit smoother. Another tip I've also do now is if I see a UK buyer's bid and it's acceptable amount, I'll end the auction early and let them have it. Less mither is worth a pound or two that you may or may not make.

[Focus On]

TBH mate the bestest way is to insist on everything being sent signed, all my auctions state this clearly...not had one go missing out but have had two go missing coming in...most annoying and both had t numbers

[barrychuckle]

I have now extended my buying ban to Malta as well as Italy. I don't sell a great deal to Malta but I would say that it is 50/50 as to parcels arriving or not. As for Italy I'm not missing the hassle one little bit.

[Focus On]

Sell quite a lot to Italy, most are reg buyers so not one prob
Del times vary widely though, and i still think the system there is well dodgy

Never sold to Malta i dont recall anyway, i'm usually UK Italy Spain States Aus

[Vikash]

I have had no issues with items reaching their destinations in Italy (touch wood), but Italian buyers need to learn to be patient. Very often items remain in Milan customs for as long as two weeks. Not making it up! I send all parcels with tracking, and it takes around a week to 10 days for items to leave SA (all depends on flights from SA to Italy), and then will sit in Milan for a couple of weeks before being distributed to others regions. It gets quite frustrating when some buyers ask you to track the parcel/s every day for them.

Oddly, most other countries in Europe are not so bad at all. I really believe the Italian postal system needs a bit of work.