Private purchase overseas at this time

[cinema]

Won a special little NOS frameset on a best offer (did not expect it to be accepted) but it's in italy. Getting cold feet now, but shipping is not too expensive. seller has 100% feedback. I'm on the west coast. What are the chances this makes it to me in once piece in less than a month? anyone ordered something of this magnitude recently

[muz]

I had a bike frame shipped from Brescia to Zurich, less than 5 hours drive. The frame has been stuck in Milan postal center for the last 15 days :mad:

[bikinchris]

Won a special little NOS frameset on a best offer (did not expect it to be accepted) but it's in italy. Getting cold feet now, but shipping is not too expensive. seller has 100% feedback. I'm on the west coast. What are the chances this makes it to me in once piece in less than a month? anyone ordered something of this magnitude recently

I sent a box with old tools to Italy by USPS and they made it in a week.

[Ryun]

Shipping times seem to be all over the place. Ive had a couple packages from italy make it in a week. Another took 4 weeks.
I also mailed some saddles to busyman in AUS and it took 2 months with global priority.

I think as air travel increase, you have a better shot at less than 30 days but things also seem to be sitting in US customs quite a while

[flying]

I think if you use DHL Express your ok

But...depending on value you might also get hit for duty
(under $800 no problem)

[jtakeda]

I bought some records from Italy in late March and they arrived in may

[Gsinill]

I ordered several times from eBay store "Art-Bikes" in Italy.
They shipped express and I got it within a week.
That was pre-Covid though and as per recent negative feedback their shipping apparently got impacted too.
But hey, I recently waited for almost 3 weeks to get a USPS shipping from less than 100 miles away.

[cinema]

okay kinda seems like a ymmv situation across the board. it was closer to 700$ so hopefully wont have to deal w duties

[ultraman6970]

From holland ive been lucky with like 10 days, record time has been like 5.

So, if you got a good deal just get yourself a good patience, as long as the guy sends you a tracking number just check it out time to time, not that much to do.

Even sometimes the issue is not even inbound the US, the issue is getting the boxes off customs and put in the distribution carrier like USPS, remember one that stayed there in NYC for 10 days after being cleared in customs.

So, it is a gamble :(

[gbcoupe]

So you did get it. Congrats!

Items from Italy have always taken longer than any place else for me. Including Australia. I've got an incoming frameset from Italy as well. Hurry up and wait.

[NoMoreParagon]

There is no problem at all. Italian postal system is one of the world best.
When you ship to Italy it might take longer as Italian custom v strict with duties etc.
the other way round is smoother and US customs clear faster.
Depending who you choose to ship with, you should have your item quite fast.
I see most of the high value items shipping from Italy using DHL.


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[Pinned]

This will take a long time. A month is hopeful unless you are choosing an expedited shipping option through the postal service or using DHL, FedEx, UPS.

Currently there is a distinct shortage of transatlantic passenger flights, the postal services use these passenger flights for cargo shipments. USPS is closer to 2 months to make it overseas right now. I imagine it's the same for most countries. Courier services are operating like normal.

[cinema]

oof

[cinema]

okay so its being shipped now, if anyones interested i might update when it finally arrives so the rest of yall italia heads have some idea how long it takes

[Dino Suegiù]

There is no problem at all. Italian postal system is one of the world best.
When you ship to Italy it might take longer as Italian custom v strict with duties etc.
the other way round is smoother and US customs clear faster.
Depending who you choose to ship with, you should have your item quite fast.
I see most of the high value items shipping from Italy using DHL.
Definitely.
DHL afaik is the only international courier with door-door ITA-USA / USA-ITA delivery, including in-house customs clearance.
All important documents USA-ITA and vv = DHL only.
WR Compositi, bikeonline, Cicli Corsa, etc ITA-USA all use only DHL ime.
Poste Italiane transferred to USPS is much more iffy.

As far as other couriers and delivery times are concerned I have been ordering a lot of books lately, from both UK and ESP. Some arrive in 5-7 days, others 25-30, even from the same sellers. It seems it is all up to the vagaries of the various involved couriers that particular week, with no real schedule or rhyme/reason. Some sellers in GER have still not resumed shipping small parcels at all to USA.

[YoKev]

I had a package from Poland arrive really fast. I ordered on a Monday and it was here Friday or Saturday two weeks ago...can't remember.

Faster than Amazon Prime these days.

[Polyglot]

There is no problem at all. Italian postal system is one of the world best.


Lets not get carried away here. The post office in the north of the country is indeed very good (although I would be hard pressed to declare it one of the world's best), but if the mail transits through the southern part of the country, it is exceptionally common for items to disappear or get waylaid. We are talking about a very high percentage of items not making it to destination in a timely manner. When I worked in Italy, our production plant in Avezzano (at the latitude of Rome) would use our intracompany courier to send all outgoing mail items to our production site in Vicenza for final mailing, as otherwise a good portion would not make it destination or be exceptionally slow. The situation has indeed improved quite substantially in the last 20 years, but it is still not dependable from the south.

[NoMoreParagon]

Lets not get carried away here. The post office in the north of the country is indeed very good (although I would be hard pressed to declare it one of the world's best), but if the mail transits through the southern part of the country, it is exceptionally common for items to disappear or get waylaid. We are talking about a very high percentage of items not making it to destination in a timely manner. When I worked in Italy, our production plant in Avezzano (at the latitude of Rome) would use our intracompany courier to send all outgoing mail items to our production site in Vicenza for final mailing, as otherwise a good portion would not make it destination or be exceptionally slow. The situation has indeed improved quite substantially in the last 20 years, but it is still not dependable from the south.


I would respectfully disagree. A lot has changed since it went through a privatization round.


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[Polyglot]

I would respectfully disagree. A lot has changed since it went through a privatization round.


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I lived in Italy for over a decade, I continue to work on a daily basis with people in Italy who deal with shipping issues. I agree that the Italian post office has improved tremendously since the first stages of privatization were launched (it couldn't get much worse) but that is a far cry from being dependable. In a survey carried out in Italy by the Italian equivalent of Consumer Reports less than a year ago, the Italian post office was rated at the absolute bottom of all delivery services in Italy:

https://www.altroconsumo.it/organizzazione/media-e-press/comunicati/2019/affidabilita-corrieri-inchiesta-altroconsumo

It was determined that 7% of all deliveries never arrived. It also had poor rankings for percentage of packages damaged during delivery. USPS has delivery statistics of 97% of all packages delivered on time, with the remaining 3% being mostly delayed, not lost.

I am generally reasonably confident about the delivery service offered by the Italian post, but only if you take into consideration where in Italy it is shipped from.

[cinema]

something NOS and minty came in the mail today from italia... it was shipped with an EMS/SDA tracking # on june 23rd and arrived today via usps. arrived in NY on tuesday and then on my doorstep in socal two days later.

https://i.imgur.com/2uYtNLh.jpg?1

[reuben]

something NOS and minty came in the mail today from italia... it was shipped with an EMS/SDA tracking # on june 23rd and arrived today via usps. arrived in NY on tuesday and then on my doorstep in socal two days later.

A Columbus sticker? :p

[paredown]

I've got a stem coming from Poland--purchased on eBay. Apparently they cannot get tracked shipping at present from Poland to USA, so it is coming economy post, not tracked.

It's ticking over 6 weeks now, and I'm starting to get a little concerned that it is lost, not just slow...

[cinema]

I've got a stem coming from Poland--purchased on eBay. Apparently they cannot get tracked shipping at present from Poland to USA, so it is coming economy post, not tracked.

It's ticking over 6 weeks now, and I'm starting to get a little concerned that it is lost, not just slow...

it took 9 weeks for us to get a poster from ukraine. ordered in march

[cinema]

A Columbus sticker? :p

:cool:

https://i.imgur.com/3aW14Ds.jpg?1

[paredown]

:cool:

https://i.imgur.com/3aW14Ds.jpg?1

That's sweet--is that an Elegant?

[cinema]

wow very quick identification; yes it is. it took me a while doing some research before pulling the trigger to find out exactly what model it is. by all appearances and from what i can find in catalogs, it is a '94ish elegant. the sticker does say oversize and i know these were first made with tange, then EL, then ELOS, so '94 or later seems likely. not sure if they were made after 95 because i can't find any more catalogs around then.

[reuben]

I have to say that I've always had a soft spot for chrome forks and chrome stays. The chrome lugs are another plus.

Sweet bike!!!

[gbcoupe]

That looks great. Good score! Seller couldn't have braced the drops any better either. Always good to see someone looking out for the new owner.

[cinema]

That looks great. Good score! Seller couldn't have braced the drops any better either. Always good to see someone looking out for the new owner.

the packaging was incredible miles above what i'm used to when sending frames domestically. italia :banana:

[Polyglot]

That looks great. Good score! Seller couldn't have braced the drops any better either. Always good to see someone looking out for the new owner.

When shipping a frame, it is always best to have BB cups and a headset installed to prevent the head tube or BB shell ovalized.

[paredown]

wow very quick identification; yes it is. it took me a while doing some research before pulling the trigger to find out exactly what model it is. by all appearances and from what i can find in catalogs, it is a '94ish elegant. the sticker does say oversize and i know these were first made with tange, then EL, then ELOS, so '94 or later seems likely. not sure if they were made after 95 because i can't find any more catalogs around then.
I did quite a lot of editing on the Colnago Wikipedia entry a few years ago, because it was so awful. (Someone else did all the racing stuff.) Elegant is listed in the sentence at the bottom of the model list because I couldn't find very much information--but I did remember the EL tubing...

[OtayBW]

Just be glad you're not waiting on a shipment of masks from China....:eek:

[cinema]

I did quite a lot of editing on the Colnago Wikipedia entry a few years ago, because it was so awful. (Someone else did all the racing stuff.) Elegant is listed in the sentence at the bottom of the model list because I couldn't find very much information--but I did remember the EL tubing...

they are quite rare in this condition as well as having oversize descriptive sticker. i have not seen one looking online. I had never ever seen one NOS like this and I've been looking. problem is now i'm afraid to ride it and get it all dirty