Shipping coins to Europe ?

It's not just an allegation. I've been active on watch forums for years and know that many sellers refuse to ship watches to Italy because of the high rate of theft of packages in transit. Same with 2 or 3 eastern European countries, but off the top of my head I can't recall which they are.

Irrelevant to this thread, however, since the country in question is Malta.

 

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I actually sent thousands of packages of small antiques and collectables FROM Europe, and what I used was basic airmail, essentially the same as USPS First class and to worldwide destinations, but largely to the US and Canada. Tracking anything would have tripled my shipping costs and as experience showed, made no difference.

THe cost would have far exceeded the risk factor.

 

many sellers refuse to ship watches to Italy because of the high rate of theft of packages in transit. Same with 2 or 3 eastern European countries

I suspect this could be for one or two reasons. Many US selllers are obsessive about 'the facts' on customs forms. Labelling an item 'Omega Wristwatch , value $300' is asking for trouble, if any is going to happen at all. My idea is to rely on the 'herd immunity' of one herring in a shoal of many thousands, and not to be the goldfish that stands out.

Also they use packaging with bar codes on it, and outside USA these are only found on packages sent by Special Delivery, and so mark the item out as notably worth stealing.

I have found the Italian postal service slow sometimes but by dealing diplomatically with buyers I have always managed to reassure them till the item arrived. I also never assume anyone is out to cheat me, because this is usually true. Sellers do seem to often have the attitude that any problem is due to malice by the buyer. This may well colour the way the deal with any problem.

 

It's not just an allegation.

People saying it happened is an allegation.

What never seems to get mentioned is trouble fee shipping because good news is no news.

 

U-Pic requires signed affidavits from the recipient to get paid for USPS claims, DHL claims they want the tracking number ect it's not as simple as just saying it was lost and only certain countries are covered anyway.

I'd be doubtful about sending to the countries the insurers do not cover, usually they have the experience to justify exclusions. There is half a world of countries that are fine.

Shipsurance seems to want claim forms from recipient as well scanning it briefly. Either way you have to rely on someone else to go out of their way to get your money back since it makes no difference to them. Not really something I want to bank on with international shipping.

The boilerplate in the conditions may specify signed statements, but people who have dealt with Shipsurance have reported that in the event of non-co-operation by the buyer, evidence of actual loss such as a PP refund will suffice. Most claimants would be legitimate and willing to make the minimal effort of replying to an e-mail. Modern insurance companies have learned that making claims easy makes them more money, not more losses.

My expectation is that almost all people are at least as honest as I am, treating them as such served me well in 12 years of ebay selling.

 

Did you eventually get your money back? I am surprised that ebay put you through this. They usually send you a courtesy label and if not; they give you a full refund and you don't have to send the item back. If you can I would let other people know what you received from this seller, by leaving appropriate feedback.

 

I received the fake coin on Wednesday of last week and I immediately contacted Ebay and shipped it back to the seller on Friday the 3rd. The seller seems reasonable and I hope all goes well.

I'm sure the shipping issue is because Malta is such an isolated place.

 

50% of letters ect going to Italy get lost

 

50% of letters etc. going to Italy get lost

100% of statistics like this are made up.

 

I can tell you this, I buy coins all the time from Ebay sellers in Italy and I have never (knock on wood) had a coin that I bought not get delivered to me in Calif.

I have never mailed anything to Italy but the Italian mail service to the USA has been very good to me. It averages two weeks for a coin to get to me from over there.

 

$58 to ship go to the next window. You don't need Express Mail and you can get tracking with other ways to ship the item.

 

Going to Italy is the problem

 

That's where we differ. My expectation is that everyone is corrupt and a cheat until proven otherwise. Been burned far to many times by those types to continue to go through life with rose colored glasses on

 

Seller has to pay for the return shipment according to eBay rules, with Track & Trace, if seller can't send a label, he has to pay the necessary amount in your PayPal account.
Happened to me a couple of times.
He will probably keep you waiting forever for the back payment, dont forget to give him a neg within 6 weeks .

 

No this is from the the post office in Italy

 

Source please?

 

I've shipped a fair number of coins to Europe with regular first class mail with few problems. Unfortunately the one time I shipped a coin to Malta it never arrived. One sample is not a pattern but for me it was a bad sign.

 

That is correct, ebay is a safe place to buy.

 

THE POST OFFICE IN ITALY..... : - )

 

"Buongiorno! Please hold the line, have an Espresso, about 50% of our parcels are lost, so we're currently REALLY busy explaining..." (nice female voice with Italian accent)