Discogs Italy: has anyone in the US ever done it?

There is a jazz record I really want, but the only copies for sale are in Italy. In the past I have heard Italy is a BIG no no for sending money in exhange for reciving items by mail. With something like Discogs, is the risk the same, or if he has 99.6% positive feedback, is it ok. It still has to go through Italian mail service just the same, no? Is that where the problem usually lies. Shall I hold out till a domestic copy finally pops up? thanks

 

If you are using Paypal then you should be fine. If not, any country that you send money to, be it the US or elsewhere, with a method that doesn't offer some sort of buyer protection is going to be a risk.

As for the postal service, yes there seems to be some sellers who don't like sending items to Italy (and some other countries) due to items getting lost. However, in this case the item is being sent to you so not so much of a worry.

Feedback score is high but look at what people have written under their feedback. It could be that his .4% loss is due to badly graded records. It's better to check that just in case.

I would keep in mind that if the item isn't as graded then the return postage might be quite expensive and Paypal's return postage coverage might not be adequate. So I'd check the postage rates just in case. I've bought much less from Europe as a result of return postage being so high.

 

I've only bought 1 thing from Italy thru Discogs, using PayPal, but I had no problems.

 

Poste Italiane is sometimes wonderful, sometimes not. Same for UPS in Italy. FedEx in Italy is usually reliable, but that said, I have a pair of carburetors from Italy that are sitting in FedEx's closet somewhere in Charles de Gaulle. CdG is a dark abyss for anything that goes through it, so maybe it is not FedEx's doing.

I would not worry about getting anything from Italy as long as (A) you use PayPal, (B) ensure the parcel is shipped to your verified address used with PayPal, and (C) the seller is willing to consider alternatives to international mail. U.S. Customs has been known to lose things, too, but FedEx uses its own customs agencies.

 

I have bought many records from Italy throughout the years, and never had a problem. Use PayPal though.