Sunday, November 28, 2010

Amazon.com arrives in Italy, curious to see if our books show up

I have ordered from Amazon.fr (France), Amazon.uk and the Book Depository.com.uk and received my books no problem.

When the news first hit about Amazon starting an Italian website, Linda, a Canadian exapt in Milan said, "It's exciting news, isn't it! Your books may not show up but it's the thought that counts." ha.

Poste Italiane has a terrible reputation. The funny thing is, it used to be worse. I have a hard time wrapping my head around that.

We'll see. I use the other sites only for English language books I can't find here. Living in Rome, I have access to great independent bookstores and several chains, like la Feltrinelli.

I love bookstores and will always support them, even if I have to pay a little more. I can't see buying Italian books from Amazon.it but if I lived in a small town, this would be a fantastic resource.

I assume they will start to sell more international books and other products. Amazon in the States sells much more than books.

Will Poste Italiane be up to the challenge of delivering books in a timely fashion? If it goes well, maybe Netflix would be next. Now, that's a service I can be very exicted about as most of the mainstream/commercial film DVD rentals places are automated anyway.

The picture above is from a billboard near the Ponte Sisto bridge. It's massive.

15 comments:

Nonna said...

so funny and sadly true

Sonia @ My Sweet Monkey said...

You may want to check out ibs[dot]it. My hubby uses that a lot and i ordered all my pregnancy books from there. Also, if you order a certain amount, you get a free DVD! Just look for the 'Books' [in english] icon, otherwise, if you just go to i libri, you won't find anything.

And the good thing is... it's delivered promptly and by a courrier service... not Poste!!

Brendacchione said...

The last time I ordered something online in Italy was 2008. The company I ordered from rang me 3 days later and asked me to send a fax of my carta d'identita' and credit card because "they had some problems with orders coming from Rome". I did, and the order arrived 3 weeks later. Is it still like that? I could not bring myself to put myself through such an inconvenience ever again.

J.Doe said...

I placed an order from amazon.it. They say they ship internationally and my order is due to arrive mid-December. I hope there are no problems. italian language books are very hard to find in NJ, and italian language children books- practically impossible.

Tracie P. said...

i am still bitter about several items sent by my mom that never made it to me!!

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

nonna - it is!

sonia - thanks for the tip.

brendacchione - I don't know. I've never ordered anything from Italy based website.

j. doe - I didn't even think about international orders. The site could do very well with that market. I was unable to find Italian language books in L.A.

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

tracie p - I completely understand.

milanese masala said...

I'm so behind. just read this post now! Thanks for the mention :)
Yeah, I'm still doubtful the orders are going to arrive on time (if at all) but it's not Amazon's fault. I ordered one of those bucktooth joke pacifiers from Amazon in July and it arrived last week! And the cards I ordered from Moo are 5 days late. I have the sneaking suspicion the problems start once the package arrives in Italy.

Unknown said...

Your title made me laugh. I sent something to my italian beau seven years ago when we were together... It still hasn't arrived!

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

Joanne - maybe it will arrive next year?

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

milanese - So far all my books from France and the UK have arrived no problem. We'll see what happens with Amazon.it.

J.Doe said...

Just wanted to let you know that my order from Amazon.it arrived no problem. I don't know anything about the poste itaiana. The box that arrived was marked amazon.de and the packing list was in German so my shipment came from there, even though I did order it from the italian website. maybe that's only for international orders though.
It's great to be able to get childrens books in italian!

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

j. doe - that is very cool! I'm glad to hear your books arrived no problem. I'm going to tell my friends in the States who are looking for Italian books to check it out.

Danielle said...

I have an addition to amazon.it already. I've ordered like 13 things, and all have arrived promptly. Prices are way better than in the stores too. HELP me stop the insanity, I'm ordering electric brooms, dustbusters, random things I don't even need.

nyc/caribbean ragazza said...

danielle - oh no. Okay, I now know I need to stay away from the site. I forgot they would sell more than just books and DVDS. Good luck breaking the addiction.