I was wondering if there is anyone on the forum from Italy?

And if so, have you had any problems receiving shipments of fabric from other countries?

We just had a package returned to us from Italy. It looks like Customs refused it. The package was marked "non-admiss" which seems to be French for "not admitted". And we have no idea why; we've sent fabric to Italy before and though delivery was SLOW, the packages always did get delivered.

Looking for explanations/advice/suggestions/your experiences... ?

A few years ago I used to run an eBay business where I sold CDs. The Italy shipments were the worst. They took about a month to get there (other countries would get their CDs in a week, often less) and a lot of times the packages would be opened. And this was back before the post office let you track and insure out of the country packages. My mom still sells online and every CD, no matter how cheap, gets full tracking and insurance to Italy, since otherwise it won't make it.

Lucy,

Thanks for the reply.

This particular package sat in Customs for over a month, and then they refused it. We've found that pretty much every package that we send by PMI (Priority Mail International) takes six weeks to be delivered to Italy. Express Mail (EMI - handled by FedEx) takes 2-3 weeks.

But I was looking on FedEx's website, and they mention that an import license from the Ministry of Foreign Commerce is required, for someone to receive textiles or clothing into Italy.

??

I have no way of knowing if this is new, or if it's always been that way. It's NOT listed on our Post Office's website, as far as restrictions on goods sent to Italy.

And we have shipped to Italy in the past, so I'm really confused. Trouble is, I'm left picking up the tab for the wasted shipping (because it's not the customer's fault that the package was rejected)... even though, it's not my fault either. The last thing I want to do is to pay again to have it shipped, and have it returned to me yet again.

That's why, I'm hoping that there will be a reader in Italy who knows something more about this.

Did you include Export documents with the correct Schedule B/HTS and ECCN? I know that anything textile is required to be listed with content, country of origin, and all kinds of other jazz. Remember reading about it when I researched something similar for my work.

As far as I know, everything was filled out correctly. We're going to try to re-send it (Express Mail this time)... and hope for the best. At least, whatever is going to happen, will happen faster.

Just a silly question but what kind of box did you ship this out in ? I know with our company we cannot ship out of the country in a box that has food labels on it, even if there is no food in the box. Just a thought