Whats Wrong With Italy And South Africa?

[bakaguyjean 7]

I was just wondering why nobody wants to ship to Italy or South Africa on Ebay.It seems to me that these two countries have it a little rough.

Is it a real problem? I dont live there but i have two customers,one in South Africa and one in Italy. There havent been any hang ups,other than the fact that South Africa is so far away from Japan and Italy seems to have a slow customs.

[Jedi Master 0]

I was just wondering why nobody wants to ship to Italy or South Africa on Ebay.It seems to me that these two countries have it a little rough.

Is it a real problem? I dont live there but i have two customers,one in South Africa and one in Italy. There havent been any hang ups,other than the fact that South Africa is so far away from Japan and Italy seems to have a slow customs.

I've noticed that also, but as a UK ebayer I have shipped stuff to both of those locations with no issue at all. I know that I see alot of ebay auctions that almost 'shout' that they will not suffer Nigerian scammers. It's sad that people get painted with the brush of a few bad-un's. Unfortunately it seems to be true in some cases that good guys do finish last it would seem.

[Shodog 1835]

In the past, I have had issues with Italy's postal service not delievering in a timely manner. I will ship there but I prefer not to.

[terry.sc 16]

Italys postal and customs service are known for being less than honest, a quick search around the internet will throw up many stories of problems with Italian customs.

It can take up to 2 months for the customs service to get around to issuing a letter notifying you of the duty and tax to be paid, and if they have any reason to doubt the value they will open the parcel so there is no guarantee what you get will arrive intact. Where the rest of us put up with whatever duty and fees we have to pay a relatively high propotion of Italians refuse to pay the sometimes excessively high charges customs demand, sometimes they take so long to send out the letter the deadline has passed for paying the duty by the time the buyer gets the letter. If the duty is not paid the customs usually seize the goods rather than sending them back to the seller, so the seller doesn't get the goods back while the buyer wants his money back for goods he hasn't recieved.

Italy has very strict import restrictions about what can and can't be imported. If they decide what you send breaks the restrictions the goods will just be confiscated, whether the rules are actually broken or not. For example marking something as a gift in most countries just means you might have more of a chance of escaping duty, in Italy if they suspect it isn't a gift they will just seize the item

There is also the chance that if the goods get through customs without being 'confiscated' there is a good chance they won't arrive at their final destination via the postal service.

Not so much of a problem with r/c cars and parts, but if you are selling expensive goods on ebay there is a much higher chance they might 'get lost' on the way.

[4wdmt 2]

^ That answers my curiosity why so many sellers in ebay refuse to ship to Italy. While the Africa thing is going on for a long time now.

[bakaguyjean 7]

Personally i have more problems with Indoniesa,as people try and buy stuff with fake credit cards form America. But that has more to do with the system at work.

But shipping to Italy hasnt been a problem,i guess it could be if there was some "gift" labeled stuff that didnt have a invoice in side. I also use EMS so that helps to keep someone accountable for the box of goodies.

South Africa has huge shipping costs but its still hard to find some of the better stuff down there and people pay the shipping.But if there wasnt some sort of tracking system just about any country is questionable.

I guess it comes down to what kind of shipping you use and how you label the parts/kits.

[Tamiyabigstuff 832]

Can't comment on South Africa as I have not sent anything there.

Italy shouldn't be a problem if shipping from another EU country as no customs form is needed but I understand that a lot of things do go 'missing' .

[ryanbored 3]

I shipped a model boat to Italy about a year ago (Big package about 3 foot long) and it only took 13 weeks to get there!!

And we whinge when royal mail goes on strike for a day!

[bakaguyjean 7]

I shipped a model boat to Italy about a year ago (Big package about 3 foot long) and it only took 13 weeks to get there!!

And we whinge when royal mail goes on strike for a day!

Thats a long time. you could have driven there for a nice holiday and came back in that amount of time

[ryanbored 3]

Thats a long time. you could have driven there for a nice holiday and came back in that amount of time

I think the italians are used to it though, as i never once got any negitive comments whilst e-mailing, and she even left positive feedback when she finally received it

[infernox 0]

yeah whats rong with South Africa?

i got swore at by a american supplier a few months back after enquiring about importing some lights for my drift car.

reason he said was because they got a warning from the US gevernment about fake money (?) being spent in the US by people in south africa. In short he is now job less due to the fact that i dont take kindly to threats and derogatory remarks.

i think thats the problem with SA, we have high crime rate, YES. but there are alot of good poeple as well. eg. When i win/buy something on EBAY the seller always gets payment 5-10 minutes later using paypal. And then i normally receive i email of the sent time and date.

if its late then i know its because of our bad customs or postal service. thats becaues and i urge all sellers to get the word "gift" written on the package. it helps alot with our customs.

any SA questions please ask me, i live here.

[bakaguyjean 7]

yeah whats rong with South Africa?

i got swore at by a american supplier a few months back after enquiring about importing some lights for my drift car.

reason he said was because they got a warning from the US gevernment about fake money (?) being spent in the US by people in south africa. In short he is now job less due to the fact that i dont take kindly to threats and derogatory remarks.

i think thats the problem with SA, we have high crime rate, YES. but there are alot of good poeple as well. eg. When i win/buy something on EBAY the seller always gets payment 5-10 minutes later using paypal. And then i normally receive i email of the sent time and date.

if its late then i know its because of our bad customs or postal service. thats becaues and i urge all sellers to get the word "gift" written on the package. it helps alot with our customs.

any SA questions please ask me, i live here.

I have a good customer in South Africa, he is all about Drifting and Yokomo. His name is Otis. You might know him. The South Africa is pretty big.

[infernox 0]

I have a good customer in South Africa, he is all about Drifting and Yokomo. His name is Otis. You might know him. The South Africa is pretty big.

what does he buy from you? otis in cape town yeah

[bakaguyjean 7]

what does he buy from you? otis in cape town yeah

Alot of Yokomo Parts, and drift stuff. Maybe you guys could get together and get the shipping down for you guys. South Africa has to have the most expensive shipping in the world.

[infernox 0]

Alot of Yokomo Parts, and drift stuff. Maybe you guys could get together and get the shipping down for you guys. South Africa has to have the most expensive shipping in the world.

do you have a ebay shop?

[bakaguyjean 7]

do you have a ebay shop?

No we dont. We have a real shop

http://www.rakuten.ne.jp/gold/rc-rainbow/index.html

Otis just e-mails me part numbers and then i see if i have it or can get it. You can search our website with part numbers.All payment is through Paypal and we use EMS shipping. You can ask Otis as he seems pretty happy with us.

[fatboyslim 11]

I bought some parts from a TC member whose from Sth Africa, at that time the only way to pay was by sending money in a letter!!

It was only US$20 so I wasn't too bothered if it went astray

I mentioned this to a friend I have who used to live in Cape Town and his reply was

'You'll be lucky if the cash arrives or if your parts arrive, there's too many (insert rude Afrikaans word for coloured person here) work for the SA post office who steal anything they can!!'

Anyway the money arrived and so did my parts!!

[infernox 0]

I bought some parts from a TC member whose from Sth Africa, at that time the only way to pay was by sending money in a letter!!

It was only US$20 so I wasn't too bothered if it went astray

I mentioned this to a friend I have who used to live in Cape Town and his reply was

'You'll be lucky if the cash arrives or if your parts arrive, there's too many (insert rude Afrikaans word for coloured person here) work for the SA post office who steal anything they can!!'

Anyway the money arrived and so did my parts!!

Yeah look, there is a lot of stealing going on at the post office. But now, international money orders can be sent meaning no risk and the parts can be sent eaily or through a courier, so that doesnt bother me.

[kontemax 1725]

Hi all,

I'm located in Italy so can tell something about.

Postal service was a public service until some years ago. From early 20ties Italy has been a mix of private and public managements of the companies. All essencial services were public so electricity, drinkable water, gas, telephones, healt, postal service, air transports, trains and other companies were public.

They did work non so bad in my opinion. Nothing exceptional, expensive but they gave the service.

Some years ago a couple of past governments decided to sell the public companies to privates cause a loss of competitiveness. The real fact was that these companies were too much strategical for all speculators' business (friends of the government). So all these public companies has been sold for 4 euros to all these sharks generating a bad situation.

Companies like Italian Telecom is now one of the more expensive in the world, they are a band of thie** like no other ones and the company is full of debts but their presidents, CEOs and managers are full of money.

For the postal service the situation is this one: postal services slowly are no more the core business of the brand. The public postal service in the past gave a simple service of banking. You did leave your money at the postal office with an 8% of interest without costs. No other service.

Now postal service is turning in a bank service, with credit card, debit card, and all bank services you know (1% of interest/60 euros per year of costs!!!). Now the new service is telecomunication. Now you can have a mobile with Poste Italiane and the rates are identical to the other thi***, Telecom, Vodaphone, Wind (there's no competition in Italy. Why two or tree thie** must steal themself? They make a band and steal the honest, right?).

A past 1st mininster (you know who is, short stupid, with few hairs on the head) was also the owner of a online bank. During his government his online bank made a join venture with Italian post service so this online bank gained the bigger net of officies in italy without spend a euro.

If you wanna send a letter or a package or make a payment you must wait 1 hour and half at the post office, because there's a lot of people that must do bank operations and not post operations.

I suppose that the shipping service (too much expensive to have any kind of trade with a decent shipping price) is not well cured and served by the company because is not enough lucrative.

This is why, imho, shipping to Italy is a problem.

Kontemax

[federx 1]

from japan i always have received everything...you must ship using EMS, declare the content and pay taxes to uncle Silvio :-)

[irenL 0]

Personally i have more problems with Indoniesa,as people try and buy stuff with fake credit cards form America. But that has more to do with the system at work.

Well Jean, I can see the point with Indonesia... Being an Indonesian (I pay all my dues though). I've returned to live in Indonesia some 2 years ago, but apparently the system and I are just not getting together. I was a student back in the states, and as such, when I went home, I shipped most of my belongings. Now, I already have a letter from the Indonesian goverment representative office that my boxes are not to be opened for inspection by the custom, and that all custom charges are to be waived (personal effects). A copy of the letter was also sent to the custom office in Indonesia.

Guess what, a week after I arrived in Indonesia I got a letter from the custom office, asking me to pay import tax fee. And to make matters even worse, it's not enough that they've opened my boxes and inspected my goods, and put it into quarantine (which I have to bail), they also took several R/C spare parts out. Namely the NIP F40 rear spoilers I've hunted sometime ago. 2 out of 3 NIP packages were gone.

So I very much discourage sending items to Indonesia, other than if you're using courier service such as DHL, Fed-Ex, UPS. The local postal service is not to be trusted either. They lose stuff, and sending a parcel out may find the parcel sitting in their office for 2 months before it's on the way. The system is not working, and neither do the people. Money works surprisingly well though...but I guess that's the case everywhere.