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Importing DVD's from Italy (1 Viewer)

willyTass

Supporting Actor
Joined
Sep 9, 2005
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994
I have a friend in Australia who has difficulty understanding his movies in English.

I'd like to import some movies such as Gladiator in Italian.

Can anyone recommend a REPUTABLE online dvd seller for Region 2 Italian DVD's...

Thank you

Will
 

Carlo_M

Senior HTF Member
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Oct 31, 1997
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A long time ago I had a good experience with www.dvd.it - of course it was so long ago that the site doesn't even look familiar to me (I just checked it).

Also, you might want to pose this question in the Regional DVD subforum instead of the main software forum. Or ask a mod to move it there.

Good luck!
 

willyTass

Supporting Actor
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Sep 9, 2005
Messages
994
Thank you Carlo

Moderator could you please move my thread to the regional DVD forum?

Will
 

Irina

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Irina
Also try www.ibs.it. Even though it does not have the English interface like www.dvd.it, the navigation is pretty intuitive. The service is very prompt. Ibs.it ships by FedEx and dvd.it ships by UPS. Ibs.it might have items that dvd.it does not stock and visa verse. I have ordered from both ibs.it and dvd.it and I like ibs.it more. It's a hassle to resolve an issue with dvd.it. It may takes days for them to reply. Sometimes they do not reply at all. Dvd.it does not send shipment notification e-mails and ibs.it does. What I also liked about ibs.it is that they have titles in English along with the titles in Italian. It makes searching easier. Dvd.it, for the most past, only has titles in Italian. Also keep in mind that both these sites charge one's credit card at the time of purchase and not at the time of shipment. The shipping costs on both sites are pretty steep (at least to the USA) so it makes sense to order several items at once.
 

willyTass

Supporting Actor
Joined
Sep 9, 2005
Messages
994
thanks for that

Now I know why Italians dress so well - they're freight costs are ******* outrageous!!!!
 

Curt_B

Agent
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Oct 13, 2005
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I wanted to order a (1) DVD from Italy;

ibs.it wanted 17 euro for postage.
dvd.it wanted 16 euro.


my question-I went to both sites before registering to see the price of the item;
I then opened and registered an account to buy the item from both shops (to see if VAT was subtracted).
When I came to the final "confirm payment" page on either shop, I did not notice any VAT reduction, even though it is now established that I do not live in Italy, and am not subject to their 20% VAT. (which is deducted from postage also, I gather)
Not being able to find a contact address on either site, I stopped before confirming- can anyone here enlighten me on how that works??
 

Irina

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Ibs.it does not have an English interface so I did not try their customer service. I did, however, got in touch with dvd.it. At the bottom of their home page, there is a customer care button. It took some time to find the right place. Select one of the options, for example, Come Ordinare and then click on Cliccando Qui (Click Here) text shown in purple. Customer Care Contact screen will show up. Then Select Write to Us option or use this link directly:

https://www.dvd.it/page/c_care/scelta/trac/#csc

I wrote them once about a DVD that was out of stock. It took them several days to reply. There is also a live chat on dvd.it that I have not tried. I am not sure if it would function in English.

I have ordered from many European sites and not all of them deduct VAT. Some of the sites that deduct VAT that I am aware of are all amazon sites (UK, Germany, France, Japan), dvdgo.com (Spain), atlanticdvd.com.au and hmv.com.au (Australia), proxis.be (Belgium), proxis.nl (Netherlands).

A good site for European DVDs is www.xploitedcinema.com located in the US. They stock titles that have English audio but in many European DVDs, there are also soundtracks in other languages. It's worth checking out.

You can also find some additional DVD retailers (without English interface) here:

http://www.dvdbeaver.com/film/FAQ.htm#italy
 

Curt_B

Agent
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Oct 13, 2005
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Thanks Irena
the DVD.it site says explicity that VAT is included in the price, but if you "navigate"(?) to somewhere (I had the page in Babelfish) you could get the deduction. *I* couldnt find it-or even a contact email.
There is a site in Sweden where they have the 9 disc Argento box for 41 euro +10 euro postage, the site also does not "register" even though I am not in Sweden, but a woman wrote back that they would credit 25% back to my CC, So a 51 euro item becomes 39 euro, roughly-or $50 for an import 9 disc set.

Bensons world in the UK will not deduct VAT, but the will charge but £2 for several disc postage.
 

Irina

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Bensonsworld.co.uk is mu favorite site in the UK. They charge 1 pound for shipping for each DVD. Their customer service is great. They always respond to e-mails. I just sent dvd.it a question regarding the VAT reduction. I recently placed an order with them. Let's see what they say. I'll keep everyone posted.
 

Curt_B

Agent
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Oct 13, 2005
Messages
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---
their prices can be high, but s stockist had the courtesy before sending me my first order, asking if I had an all region player...
 

Irina

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Irina
There is still no reply from dvd.it. At this point, I doubt that they will reply. I found another Italian site that looks interesting. It's www.genux.com. They even have an English and Spanish language interfaces. To select English or Spanish interface, go to HELP and look at the left hand side of the screen for International Settings. Their shipping cost is still on a high side but better than in other places (fixed 15.55 Euros for up to 2 kilos in weight which is about 7 DVDs). Good news is that they deduct 20% IVA tax so the prices are pretty good. I will definitely keep it in mind for my future purchases.
 

Steve.P

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The reason why dvd.it are so expensive, shipping-wise, is that they send American orders by courier. I ordered a DVD from them a few months back, and it arrived in New Orleans three days later. THREE DAYS from Italy! I ordered on Monday (with the seven-hour time difference, it was already evening in Italy), and I signed for the package Thursday morning. Better than Amazon.

What they are like with e-mail questions, I don't know -- it depends on their comprehension of English, for one thing -- but, rest assured, they are a reliable organisation. I wouldn't hesitate to do business with them again.
 

Irina

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It seems strange that they would not or could not offer a less expensive shipping method. I am sure many byers would willingly wait a little longer and choose a more affordable shipping method. I found the same to be true with Spanish retailers. Even the European Amazon sites (UK, German, and French) charge quite a bit for the first DVD and they ship by a regular air mail. Ordering only one DVD becomes ridiculously expensive. Sometimes, it's worth looking at the domestic sites like xxx.xploitedcinema.com in US or www.alldvd.ca in Canada to see if they stock the same titles that are sold in Europe and save big time on shipping costs.
 

Irina

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I think I am done ordering DVDs from Italy for the last of my life. My latest order was from IBS.it. They shipped the DVDs by FedEx prioriry, the most ridiculously expensive method imaginable. The package was supposed to arrive 3 days after the shipment but did not arrive. After numerous calls to FedEx, it turned out that they lost the package. I had to contact the shipper and ask for replacement. I will have to wait another 10 days for them to obtain one of the DVDs I have ordered. Also, it seems they are not willing to refund the shipping cost and I will have to contact my credit card to have this charge taken off. What a hassle! FedEx is an absolutely worst overprised shipper with horrible customer service and inefficient operation. Avoid at all cost!
 

Steve.P

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You're not having an easy time of it of late, are you, Irina?

Have you, by any chance, considered going region-locked? :)
 

Irina

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Good point, Steve. I still like the opportunitity of being able to choose a wider variety of movies regardless of the region. I have ordered DVDs from all over the world (UK, France, Spain, Germany, Australia, Russia) and have never had any shipping issues with any of my orders. I will definitely not buy from any retailer that ships by FedEx. Unfortunately, the titles I was ordering are only produced in Italy at this time and only available at some Italian retailers (dvd.it did not have them).
 

Steve.P

Agent
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Irina: Once you go hack, you never go back, baby ;)

The most you can do -- unless you know someone in the relevant country who is willing to act as a middle-man -- is to bundle your orders together to save on shipping. But it isn't always as easy as that, I know.

I have an issue at the moment with the French website, Devendenaute. I ordered Orson Welles's "Don Quixote" from them, and instead they sent me that crap-ass 2000 version with John Lithgow. I've been fighting them through my credit card company (who don't really understand the problem themselves) for the last three months. It'd be funny if I hadn't paid approx. $28 for the damn thing ....
 

Irina

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Steve, I have ordered all my French DVDs from amazon.fr and was lucky so far with no problems to report. I understand your frustration. Have you send e-mails to this site or called them? Would they consider sending you a replacement? Fighting these companies is no fun especially when a foreign language is added to the mix. Hang in there! You are not the only one! My most adventureous purchase so far was made from Finland. The site acts funny, the customer service replies funny. We'll see what happens. I hope I won't have to go though the same hassle you are going though right now.
 

Steve.P

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Amazon.fr are my first stop for French stuff, but they don't always have everything I am looking for. Sometimes you've got to shop around the less-established websites, and that's when problems can arise.

Devendenaute consistently ignored my e-mails, and have since removed the Welles title from their site completely, as if to deny any wrong-doing on their part. At first my credit card company didn't want to know, but persistence is slowly paying off. They have temporarily credited my account, and have taken the matter up with Devendenaute directly. Devendenaute have 50 days to respond. I've told my CC company that Devendenaute must a) refund my $28 in full, and b) cover my postage costs IN ADVANCE for returning the incorrect item to them, otherwise I am keeping it.

None of this puts me off buying abroad, but it is a pain in the arse.

As for the postage thing, until someone recommends a better Italian e-tailer I am sticking with dvd.it. I agree that courier shipping is over the top and expensive, but they are the best we have at the moment. French and German postage rates are equally ridiculous.
 

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