Posting to Italy

fuzzgun19

I have been asked about sending an applecare product to Italy.
The item is worth approx £50.

I've heard Italy can be a bit dodgy to post to and many things go missing.

If I send it by Royal Mail international signed for, am I still covered if it goes missing?

Crowqueen

IIRC ISF only insures up to a certain amount - probably £46 - and very rarely tracks. It is actually pretty bad value for money, considering how much it costs. You are only covered by Paypal if it gets a signature - if it genuinely goes missing you have to refund the buyer and claim from Royal Mail.

You may like to see if there is a courier available who will ship; they are probably much more reliable than either our postal service or theirs.

fuzzgun19

Thanks Crowqueen.

I've just checked Parcelmonkey, and they have a 2-3 day service to Italy via Parcelforce.

Would this be better than Royal Mail?

porto_bello

I may be wrong, but I believe Royal Mail tracking only goes as far as the UK. Beyond that point, there is no tracking and no evidence of delivery - it seems pretty much a worthless service.

Presumably Parcelforce international offers dedicated tracking to the customer?

Strapped

I know a lot of people don't post to Italy, but I do and have never - so far - had an issue.

theonlywayisup

ISF is not guaranteed to track outside of the UK and IMHO Italy is one of those it never tracks to. I only use it to enhance any compensation when a courier service is more expensive.

FYI, the standard insurance is £46 via airmail small packets, so if the parcel is under 2kg you may decide the risk is small enough.

You do NOT need a signature for anything under £150 for a Paypal INR dispute, but as you cannot guarantee tracking anyway, you may decide to block Italy or send and keep your certificate of posting.

steveo3002

id use the courier ..ive had royal mail stuff take 4 weeks

Crowqueen

Strapped wrote: »

I know a lot of people don't post to Italy, but I do and have never - so far - had an issue.

I've sold occasionally (just cheap fluff such as postcards and stamps) and never had a problem, though the last item (an inexpensive book) took two weeks to get to them.

I had a buyer from Belarus who left me glowing feedback saying their postal service had got better!

Crowqueen

FYI, the standard insurance is £46 via airmail small packets, so if the parcel is under 2kg you may decide the risk is small enough.

Is there any change when the first class stamps go up to £60? I know they are no longer indexing the insurance to the value of 100 FC stamps, but there have been various people saying it is not going to change at all, and some saying it will go up only to £50.

clive12

a number of points in this thread are wrong

you can track outside the uk if you pay more for this but rm site only works in the uk.

you just use the countrys postal service to track it once it leaves the country.

rm includes insurance up to a certain amount as standard but there is nothing to stop you purchasing extra insurance from rm.

most buyers will be fine with these charged if you explain the costs and provide proof.

you can use the rm site to see the exact cost and then send a screenprint.

the common misconception when selling to overseas buyers seems to come from the fact that each postal service charges different costs.

Crowqueen

ISF is a costly white elephant. It may be trackable online with the Italian PO but it doesn't give any more insurance and if it gets lost, it still gets lost.

Many buyers will baulk at being made to pay £5 for something that is of benefit only to the seller, and dubious benefit of that. You will rapidly price yourself out of the market, particularly on lower cost items.

I once enquired about it for an item going to Ukraine worth about £10. ISF would have cost £4 (at that time) and I wasn't paying that for no extra insurance. The item got there fine without being lost, and many people say the Ukrainian postal service is not brilliant.

So really, it's money for nothing.