Dealing with Italy

PREFACE: I respect the people of Italy as much as any other nationality.

I've found something rare and valuable on Discogs. I won't say what it is, obviously, but the seller is based in Italy, which is where the item ships from.

I asked the seller exactly what the postage costs would be for someone who lives in the UK. They said 9.00 EUR for unregistered mail, and 13.50 EUR for registered. It's not a bad price, I thought, and the item is certainly a good deal for something so rare (the only other people selling it are charging much more).

But the trouble is, I've heard bad things about dealing with people from Italy. Many eBay sellers refuse to ship to Italy, and as I understand, their postal service has a bad reputation. A lot of sellers complain that, when they ship to Italy, their item does not arrive.

Can anyone shed some light on this? What exactly is the issue with the Italian postal service? Should I risk buying an item from this seller?

Well if it doesn't get broken whilst being transported by mule to the nearest post office and the mafia don't lift it off the back of the postal truck. You should be right.

Make sure you contact the seller a few days before his monthly 4 week vacation.

edit: you might want to pretend to be an attractive woman, too.

edit: or just "a woman," really. Sorry, I was thinking of Spain for a second.

Customs likes to steal things. Italy and India are countries also where you really shouldnt put anything in your checked luggage that you care about seeing again.

Thanks for your advice so far (serious and lulz, both good ). It looks like there are a lot of problems getting things into Italy, but would I be taking a risk in buying something from there? This seller has about 120 positive feeback, all 100%, but I still want to be sure.

this isnt about jersey shore?

lol

When dealing with Italy, i would suggest a quick landing at Bari, subdue the south with due haste then proceed northwards.

  On 8/5/2011 at 1:46 AM, Rhombix said:

PREFACE: I respect the people of Italy as much as any other nationality.

 

I've found something rare and valuable on Discogs. I won't say what it is, obviously, but the seller is based in Italy, which is where the item ships from.

 

I asked the seller exactly what the postage costs would be for someone who lives in the UK. They said 9.00 EUR for unregistered mail, and 13.50 EUR for registered. It's not a bad price, I thought, and the item is certainly a good deal for something so rare (the only other people selling it are charging much more).

 

But the trouble is, I've heard bad things about dealing with people from Italy. Many eBay sellers refuse to ship to Italy, and as I understand, their postal service has a bad reputation. A lot of sellers complain that, when they ship to Italy, their item does not arrive.

 

Can anyone shed some light on this? What exactly is the issue with the Italian postal service? Should I risk buying an item from this seller?

bro, you got it backwards.

italy should have to fuckin' deal with you -- yea.

  On 8/5/2011 at 2:39 AM, baph said:

Make sure you contact the seller a few days before his monthly 4 week vacation.

 

 

edit: you might want to pretend to be an attractive woman, too.

 

edit: or just "a woman," really. Sorry, I was thinking of Spain for a second.

dats racist!1!1

I've been to Italy many times, I speak a bit Italian and I sometimes work in the kitchen in an Italian restaurant - I hadn't heard of the bad Italian postage system before. I'd risk it. Take the insured thing, should be fine ... ? If you're asking whether you could trust the seller, well I guess you never know that before.

I am french and italian so I have experience with both countries. If Italy is considered a not-that-serious place it is mainly for corruption reason, which is right, and for political reasons, which is also the case. Now, living, investing, sending ton receiving from Italy is like any EU state: normal, normal and normal. I have sent and received many items from Italy and, though it is sometimes long (but if you pay for fast delivery you should get what you pay for) it always worked fine. Not as well as France or Germany but nearly. Just beware if the guy you're dealing with lives in Sardinia or Sicily: being islands, it could take a little longer but will be efficient anyway.

Now concerning the "italians are over attracted to girls" and "italians don't work" cliches, which are quite intolerable (well especially the second one) even if I understand that it is for fun and accept it because i like to laugh too) here's a quick explanation:

- Italy is a slightly more conservative country than most others europeans countries. That said, there is a social and mostly linguistic habit where young men adress to girls shouting "bella", but they will probably be quite surprised if the girl in question took it as an advance. Actually, women are probably looked with more respect in italy than in most other european countries (maybe because of the "mama italiana" sindrome).

- The south of Italy is very poor et very warm, so people often have miserable jobs, or no job at all, and during most of the day the towns are a bit empty because of the heat. That said, not having a work because of the economical situation doesn't mean you don't want to work, and taking a nap in the afternoon because you woke up early to work in the morning while it's fresh (when tourists sleep) doesn't mean you don't want to work.

There are a lot of funnier ways of making fun of italians, which are as ridiculous as any people from any country, but they can probably be slightly more subtle than the "girls" and "work" cliches.

  On 8/5/2011 at 5:56 PM, Otto Krat said:

I am french and italian so I have experience with both countries. If Italy is considered a not-that-serious place it is mainly for corruption reason, which is right, and for political reasons, which is also the case. Now, living, investing, sending ton receiving from Italy is like any EU state: normal, normal and normal. I have sent and received many items from Italy and, though it is sometimes long (but if you pay for fast delivery you should get what you pay for) it always worked fine. Not as well as France or Germany but nearly. Just beware if the guy you're dealing with lives in Sardinia or Sicily: being islands, it could take a little longer but will be efficient anyway.

 

Now concerning the "italians are over attracted to girls" and "italians don't work" cliches, which are quite intolerable (well especially the second one) even if I understand that it is for fun and accept it because i like to laugh too) here's a quick explanation:

 

- Italy is a slightly more conservative country than most others europeans countries. That said, there is a social and mostly linguistic habit where young men adress to girls shouting "bella", but they will probably be quite surprised if the girl in question took it as an advance. Actually, women are probably looked with more respect in italy than in most other european countries (maybe because of the "mama italiana" sindrome).

 

- The south of Italy is very poor et very warm, so people often have miserable jobs, or no job at all, and during most of the day the towns are a bit empty because of the heat. That said, not having a work because of the economical situation doesn't mean you don't want to work, and taking a nap in the afternoon because you woke up early to work in the morning while it's fresh (when tourists sleep) doesn't mean you don't want to work.

 

There are a lot of funnier ways of making fun of italians, which are as ridiculous as any people from any country, but they can probably be slightly more subtle than the "girls" and "work" cliches.

lol

I thought I was being funny because of how stupid the cliches are, sorry. It's like saying mama mia when you see a meatball on top of spaghetti and drenched in red sauce, which no Italian from Italy would even touch.

That said, Silvio Berlusconi is the biggest douchebag in the universe, and I'm pretty sure he'd rape anything with a skirt.

  On 8/5/2011 at 8:20 PM, baph said:

  On 8/5/2011 at 5:56 PM, Otto Krat said:

I am french and italian so I have experience with both countries. If Italy is considered a not-that-serious place it is mainly for corruption reason, which is right, and for political reasons, which is also the case. Now, living, investing, sending ton receiving from Italy is like any EU state: normal, normal and normal. I have sent and received many items from Italy and, though it is sometimes long (but if you pay for fast delivery you should get what you pay for) it always worked fine. Not as well as France or Germany but nearly. Just beware if the guy you're dealing with lives in Sardinia or Sicily: being islands, it could take a little longer but will be efficient anyway.

 

Now concerning the "italians are over attracted to girls" and "italians don't work" cliches, which are quite intolerable (well especially the second one) even if I understand that it is for fun and accept it because i like to laugh too) here's a quick explanation:

 

- Italy is a slightly more conservative country than most others europeans countries. That said, there is a social and mostly linguistic habit where young men adress to girls shouting "bella", but they will probably be quite surprised if the girl in question took it as an advance. Actually, women are probably looked with more respect in italy than in most other european countries (maybe because of the "mama italiana" sindrome).

 

- The south of Italy is very poor et very warm, so people often have miserable jobs, or no job at all, and during most of the day the towns are a bit empty because of the heat. That said, not having a work because of the economical situation doesn't mean you don't want to work, and taking a nap in the afternoon because you woke up early to work in the morning while it's fresh (when tourists sleep) doesn't mean you don't want to work.

 

There are a lot of funnier ways of making fun of italians, which are as ridiculous as any people from any country, but they can probably be slightly more subtle than the "girls" and "work" cliches.

 

 

lol

 

I thought I was being funny because of how stupid the cliches are, sorry. It's like saying mama mia when you see a meatball on top of spaghetti and drenched in red sauce, which no Italian from Italy would even touch.

 

That said, Silvio Berlusconi is the biggest douchebag in the universe, and I'm pretty sure he'd rape anything with a skirt.

How do you rape something with a skirt?

lol

  On 8/5/2011 at 7:02 PM, Jonas said:

  On 8/5/2011 at 5:56 PM, Otto Krat said:

Actually, women are probably looked with more respect in italy than in most other european countries.

 

I like looking at Italian girls on Rai Uno with a lot of respect.

*/BAM

  On 8/5/2011 at 5:56 PM, Otto Krat said:

I am french and italian so I have experience with both countries. If Italy is considered a not-that-serious place it is mainly for corruption reason, which is right, and for political reasons, which is also the case. Now, living, investing, sending ton receiving from Italy is like any EU state: normal, normal and normal. I have sent and received many items from Italy and, though it is sometimes long (but if you pay for fast delivery you should get what you pay for) it always worked fine. Not as well as France or Germany but nearly. Just beware if the guy you're dealing with lives in Sardinia or Sicily: being islands, it could take a little longer but will be efficient anyway.

 

Now concerning the "italians are over attracted to girls" and "italians don't work" cliches, which are quite intolerable (well especially the second one) even if I understand that it is for fun and accept it because i like to laugh too) here's a quick explanation:

 

- Italy is a slightly more conservative country than most others europeans countries. That said, there is a social and mostly linguistic habit where young men adress to girls shouting "bella", but they will probably be quite surprised if the girl in question took it as an advance. Actually, women are probably looked with more respect in italy than in most other european countries (maybe because of the "mama italiana" sindrome).

 

- The south of Italy is very poor et very warm, so people often have miserable jobs, or no job at all, and during most of the day the towns are a bit empty because of the heat. That said, not having a work because of the economical situation doesn't mean you don't want to work, and taking a nap in the afternoon because you woke up early to work in the morning while it's fresh (when tourists sleep) doesn't mean you don't want to work.

 

There are a lot of funnier ways of making fun of italians, which are as ridiculous as any people from any country, but they can probably be slightly more subtle than the "girls" and "work" cliches.

Yes yes, this is all fine. But it doesn't address my mule breakage scenario.

Italians voted for Berlusconi, that should tell you something.

  On 8/6/2011 at 7:42 AM, delet... said:

Yes yes, this is all fine. But it doesn't address my mule breakage scenario.

*jots it down for tomorrow: construct mule breakage on sampler."*

I think you just need to bite the bullet and go down the insurance route. I'm guessing it's a signed for dealy, so there's really no real reason to worry. I've sent a few things to Italy in the past and lack of arguments makes me think they all got there in good shape. The seller has also got 100% feedback for a reason. I've never bought anything from abroad on Discogs for risk of breakage but I have a few close friends who do on a regular basis and get no problem. I've still got a cracked copy of Rukus (Tech Itch) which was sent from about 50 miles away, but never heard any friends complain about problems with airmail post. It's a risk whatever you do but definately worth growing some balls and making the purchase.

Or, if you don't buy it let us know what it is so someone here can buy it.

  On 8/5/2011 at 7:02 PM, Jonas said:

I like looking at Italian girls on Rai Uno with a lot of respect.

LOL, Rai ... Italian TV is the worst.

  On 8/6/2011 at 5:38 PM, Terpentintollwut said:

 

 

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CREDIBILITY DESTROYED

 

 

 

Nice train spotting dude, but his first three words were: "I am French".

i vaguely remember squee watching rai uno, i used to, and jonas does. so that's a danish, an english and dutch. do any of us speak italian? probably not. what does that say about europe?

I speak a tiny bit. Actually, I can mostly just understand it but barely speak myself.

  On 8/6/2011 at 5:47 PM, goDel said:

Nice train spotting dude, but his first three words were: "I am French".

I know, hence my joke (?)

Besides, he's clearly lying as not a single French person speaks English. :sup:

Not one? Christine Lagarde? DSK? Michel Gondry?