What's the story behind the italian postal system?

[fronzelneekburm]

Sometimes you read like "No shipping to Italy or Nigeria" in ebay auctions. I mean for Nigeria i can see why people won't ship there, here in Germany "Nigeria Connection" is synonymous for "Online fraud". But Italy? Why is their postal service that bad?


Examples:

http://www.ebay.de/itm/PRAVANA-CHROMASI ... 19c51d4f28

http://www.ebay.de/itm/STUNNING-RARE-MA ... 338986727b

http://www.ebay.de/itm/VINTAGE-LADIES-D ... 4acead3ba3

[Adam]

I ship a lot to Italy from the UK, I never have any problems. I always, for every package have 'signed for' and fully insured. I have never lost a package to Italy and only 1 or 2 elsewhere in the world. I have had a couple of chargebacks from fraudulent buyers but packages sent this way Paypal always sides with you with proof of delivery.


Adam

[richard_uk]

^ ditto. I've seen lots of "don't ship to Italy" and I don't understand it either.

[Seiko&Casio Lcd's]

I have had some items sent from italy, and i never had a problem.
But i have heard stories about lost items that were sent to italy.

[Phasar66]

I'm also puzzle by the unwillingness of some sellers
to deal with Italian buyers. Never had a problem shipping to Italy.

[bucko170]

Although I don't sell very much (just a clear out every so often when I feel the need), I have also posted to Italy a few times without experiencing any problems, given the bad publicity/reputation of the Italian postal system I think one negative experience might be all that is needed to convince sellers that it is not worth the risk.

[azimuth_pl]

It all depends what and where you are sending and how?
Don't ever use regular mail without tracking unless it's something super small and cheap.
It all started some 10 or more years ago when the Italian post was veeeeery bad and over the years it stuck for good because it did not drastically improve.
Now you have tracking of most registered serviced on their website so you can relax a bit more.
If you have ever been to Italy and experienced the Italian lifestyle you must have noticed that they are very much relaxed.
That directly impacts the working habits in various industries.
It's a very general statement I agree but it simply has a lot in common with the Mediterranean way of life and is very similar in Spain and especially drastic in Greece.
I have so far not lost any items shipped to Italy but the leadtimes have usually been very long with either myself or the buyer chasing the post office to find the item.
The same thing is now also happening with the French post, good luck to those who experience it often.
E.g. an item shipped from France....it took 2 weeks before it even left France after having traveled 300kms to Paris to reach the airport and that with priority tracked mail.

http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/in ... 245AA6Kd6o
http://all-things-grow.blogspot.com/200 ... italy.html