Asian Art Gallery Forum

[Gary]

We send about 3-4 packages to Italy each month. Lately (September - November 2007) we've had a lot of delays due to the Italian Customs Bureau. For whatever reason, packages just sit there for 2-3 weeks after arrival on Italian soil.

We are monitoring this problem closely, and are considering adding a special notice to Italian customers on our website.

The delays are nearly as bad as those in the USA (for international packages). Such delays for packages from China bound for the USA were the reason we had to move much of our operations and inventory to the USA. We don't have enough business in Italy to do the same in this case, so my apologies go out to Italian customers.

Ciao!
-Gary.

[Gary]

Italian postal deliveries still tend to have random delays. Air mail packages are taking 16-28 days.

While most are closer to the 16 day range, nearly 30% are taking closer to 28 days.
In at least one case recently, it took 30 days (possibly due to a postal holiday).

We strongly suggest choosing Priority Mail International for our Italian customers. We charge $9 more for this service (US$18.80 instead of US$9.80), even though in most cases, it actually costs us $13 more than regular air mail. We would rather split the cost with you than have headaches from delays.

Ciao!
-Gary.

[Gary]

Update on the Italian situation:

An Italian customer has reported that the Italian Customs Bureau is now holding every incoming package for up to 20 days as a matter of standard policy. Also, some tax is being collected on some packages.

I wish we had control over this issue, but apparently this is just the way things work in Italy. I guess Silvio Berlusconi really needs the money - or is punishing everyone for criticizing his monopoly of TV media in Italy

Sorry for the trouble!

Ciao!
-Gary.