| Apophis | 08 Mar 2008 10:44 a.m. PST |
I find shipping to italy to be a real pain in the neck, besides the customs forms, the postage costs are outrageous $25-$40.00 on average. I keep getting ripped on postage costs when I sell to italy as I have no idea what to expect, so I now went with the flat rate international box on ebay but it costs $40.00 USD to go to italy on average, so I list and now all I get from the Itallians is complaint emails about the cost, its not me its the PO, they charge the freakin $40.00 USD flat rate priority mail cost not me and if I go back to the old way guessing at about 15-20 dollars I go into the PO and find out its $34.00 USD to ship the item.
What the hell should I do, quit sales to overseas? |
| aka Mikefoster | 08 Mar 2008 11:01 a.m. PST |
There are lots of people that will not Ship to Italy (or Spain for that mater) The problem is that in order to make sure that the package get to the recipient you need to go with a more expensive shipping option. The sad truth about Italian and Spanish Postal service is that packages go "missing" quite often. I wouldn't quit sale overseas but I would either not sell to people that have Italian or Spanish Ship to addresses or explain in you Terms and conditions that it will be significantly more expensive to ship to addresses in those countries. |
| Rudysnelson | 08 Mar 2008 11:20 a.m. PST |
Italy just began to allow US priority global air mail. That costs is the same in a flat rate box to any country. You might want to stress that to your customers. This LOWERED shipping costs to Italy. My clients form Italy have not complained about the costs as much as the delay in getting the packages. Italy delivery times are longer than the recommended time for priority packages. Some countries still will not allow priority shipping. |
| Apophis | 08 Mar 2008 11:27 a.m. PST |
I dont know seems a though overseas is a real pain. I have only had good dealings with Canadien, UK & Sweden and a few German sales, but the Orient and Italy seem to be crazy. |
pmwalt  | 08 Mar 2008 12:46 p.m. PST |
I recently sent a package to Italy via USPS Priority International (billed to the recipient) for I think $22.00. No complaints from him and the package got to him safe and sound. |
| Stosstruppen | 08 Mar 2008 12:47 p.m. PST |
The shipping time I have experienced to th UK, Netherlands, Denmark, Oz, etc is 2/3s less than to Italy. Crazy… |
| Area23 | 08 Mar 2008 3:06 p.m. PST |
I live in Italy and orders usually arrive in one to six weeks time…
Some parcels got missing and never arrived, but I'm not sure if that's different in other countries. |
| Area23 | 08 Mar 2008 3:07 p.m. PST |
Italian mail has a ver bad rep though. |
| Stan Johansen | 08 Mar 2008 3:15 p.m. PST |
The US post office has limited our choices and upped the rates for all overseas shipments. All shipments now go by air there is no surface mail rates.
I give my overseas clients 2 choices
First class, a 1lb package costs 10.40 but it is uninsured and you cannot buy insurance so if they choose that option and it gets lost I do not cover it, that said I have been shiping overseas since the 1970 and have had only one package go missing to Italy, they went on strike and the package never got to my customer.
The other option is Priority a 1lb package is 20.00 and has a small amount of automatic insurance and you can also buy more if you need to. If they chose that option and it gets lost, I resend the order.
I hope this helps Below is the PO calculator link you can use for all countries
link |
| Rich Sartore | 08 Mar 2008 3:38 p.m. PST |
Overseas shipments via USPS to anywhere tends to be expensive for anything other than First Class Mail International. I offer a choice of First Class, Priority or Express to my overseas customers and the charges are pretty much the same regardless of the destination. In over four years of shipments via USPS to 19 countries only one order was "lost" and that was to a customer in Colombia. I have shipped a few parcels to Italy in the past and only once had a problem. The package was held in Italian customs (supposedly awaiting the customer to claim it) and after a month it was returned to me (at no cost). A re-shipment to the customer arrived just fine in a little over two weeks. That said, you really need a shopping cart service with a link to USPS to calculate shipping based on weight. Without this, overseas shipping can be a costly affair. |
| Top Gun Ace | 09 Mar 2008 5:33 p.m. PST |
Stuff does tend to go missing to Italian customers. Not sure if it is really stolen, or misrouted, or just sits without the locals notifying the recipients that they have a package they need to sign and pay customs fees for. I recommend sending via registered mail from the US, or adding insurance, so you are left holding the bag. |
| Top Gun Ace | 10 Mar 2008 1:19 p.m. PST |
That should be …aren't left holding the bag….. |
