international Royal Mail, without tracking help...
Hi, I’m asking those who have experience with shipments from the UK with Royal Mail international.
Of course they say that this type of shipment has no tracking, however there is a shipping code
that ends with UQXXXXXXXGB.
Can you tell me if once it enters Italy, even if it doesn’t have real tracking, with its general shipping code, it can be tracked at least on Poste Italiane? Have you tried doing that, when you have standard Royal Mail tracking without tracking?
Also, I didn’t order from eBay, but from a real shop in the UK. Naturally, since where I live there’s a condo resident who has always stolen packages, but among the various suspects it’s not known exactly who it could be - he already stole a package from me containing a book that was very dear to me.
I had asked the shopkeeper several times NOT to ship with Royal Mail without tracking, but he kept insisting that to ship to Italy they can’t do anything other than use standard Royal Mail international.
Have you heard that from the UK, for shipping with ordinary mail, they don’t have any kind of registered mail for sending bulky packages (inside there are balls of wool and various accessories).
Possible?
I’m very worried about the package, because I don’t know how the postman will behave (if he leaves it unattended on the mailbox even though it’s bulky, he can’t put it on top, I wonder if he’ll ring the bell but I’m not always home in the morning)..
I was hoping I could track it on poste.it, maybe they’ll change the shipping code once it enters Italy and then I’ll be able to track at least when it arrives in my city so I can be ready?
What happens if the package gets lost, do they refund me? the shopkeeper? I didn’t pay with PayPal but with postepay evolution... 😞
how long does Royal Mail international take, I’ve read ridiculous times like 2 months up to 13 months but I can’t wait 13 months, I need it right away...
Thanks everyone
prettyd_63
OP2 years agoHi, I wanted to give an update, in case it might be useful to someone.
First of all, the parcel sent with Royal Mail international (standard) weighed 900 grams (contents: 10 balls of wool). Total parcel value: 35.89 GBP.
The size was about 30 x 40, a white envelope, a parcel that almost looked like a small pillow, because of its “soft” contents (being so many balls of wool)
Goods category: Sale of Goods (balls of wool).
So probably the customs fee I had to pay was due to its weight or maybe the contents. I can’t say for sure.
Anyway, the parcel arrived quickly compared to other times. In fact it was shipped on March 22 and today, April 3, (that is, yesterday) it arrived.
I had to pay 15 euros in customs fees (actually I’d like to ask if anyone knows about customs, the reason for this rather high amount to pay). Does it depend on the contents? On the weight? The value is only 35.89 GBP (I don’t remember now how much I paid in euros, but I think, including Royal Mail postage, I paid around 50 euros, or something similar).
I can also confirm the delivery method, meaning it was delivered by the Poste Italiane courier. To be honest I didn’t really see who delivered it, since the postal workers are all new, and I didn’t remember having seen them before). Anyway, they rang my intercom, and I also had to sign.
So it seems that with Royal Mail international, standard, even if they ring the bell, they still have you sign, so it should still be difficult for someone to take the parcel, because they don’t leave it unattended at the entrance, but you have to sign.
At least for mine, I had to sign, but maybe because it arrived with customs charges to pay. I can’t confirm whether, if there had been no customs to pay, they would have made me sign. Anyway, until yesterday I tried to track it on the Poste Italiane website and in fact it wouldn’t let me track it even once it had entered Italy... at least, that’s my experience so far and in my case, based on my type of parcel.
I hope this can be useful to anyone wondering when a parcel sent with this type of shipping arrives.
Another consideration. This time it was quick, but other times, in December, I received the parcel more than a month later... meaning they shipped it on December 7 and I received the parcel around January 22.
Ok.. if anyone also knows why this customs fee was so high, because other times, meaning last year too and also in 2021 and 2022, I had received similar parcels with similar contents and Royal Mail international standard shipping and I had never paid customs fees..
marioelegio
·2 years agoVAT and customs duty are always paid for goods arriving from non-EU countries.
Sometimes they are paid in advance, other times to the courier upon delivery.
It depends on the shipping service chosen by the seller.
If they asked you for 15 euros on about 50, it means you had to pay VAT (about 10 euros) and postal fees (5 euros).
If the VAT had already been collected by eBay, you would have been entitled to a refund, but a copy of the receipt you signed for the postman would have been needed.
bye
mario
daxsisko
·2 years agoas Mario pointed out, the charges could be the ones indicated ( not knowing the exact listing and how it was set up, we have to assume that's how it went..... ) , and if it goes through a customs check the values could possibly be increased.... ( I won't go into it for the sake of brevity);
the fact that you had to sign I also see as connected to the fact that you had to pay charges ( otherwise the postman would probably have just left it in your mailbox....);
also, comparing a shipment now with the month of December (notoriously a "difficult" period for shipping, since it's the busiest time of the year..... ) doesn't really tell you much.....
there would be another couple of points to go into that come to mind, but I'd rather keep it brief and stick to what's said above....
prettyd_63
OP2 years agoThanks, to clear up my doubt I also tried tracking it there, but as they had told me, unfortunately it can’t be tracked. Even when they shipped the package to me, they had warned me that it wouldn’t be trackable, even though I had asked to pay extra to have tracking added, unfortunately they couldn’t do this different type of shipping for Italy; their shop only shipped with Royal Mail International and only the service without tracking, unfortunately. However, still having the shipping code, they told me I might be able to contact the Italian post office and see if they could track it somehow.
I’ll update the post here (I hope I remember to update it), so that anyone with the same doubt will have a reference on the timing and methods and whether it will be trackable. Thanks again for the reply!
heavenwelkin
·2 years agoGood morning prettyd_63
Try entering the tracking code on the Royal Mail website at this link
https://www.royalmail.com/track-your-item
To check whether the shipment is tracked or not.
Kind regards.
marioelegio
·2 years agoThe Royal Mail international standard should be an untracked service.
Then there are the Royal Mail international tracked and tracked and signed.
But the code you entered is that of a registered mail, so it should be traceable on the Italian Post website, once the package has left the Italian customs.
hi
mario
prettyd_63
OP2 years agoThanks, the store in the UK told me it's not trackable, so I don't understand; the ones that start with "UQXXXXXXXGB." maybe there are two types of international Royal Mail, meaning maybe even the trackable ones start with the same UQ code and that's why it seems trackable? In any case I'll try to update it, if I remember, I'll let you know when it arrives, so if someone has the same doubt, more or less they can see the timing and whether it will really be trackable, once the package has entered Italy and come out of customs.
I think it will take more than 15 days too... we'll see..