Hello EnglishForumers - Over the last two years that we have lived in Geneva I have looks at many of your posts and been educated on several topics related to living here in Switzerland. Thank you!
Now I am having an issue I cannot seem to find a resolution to on the forum. I would like to shop want amazon.fr and carrefour.fr and other European websites. However, I eventually gave up when the shipping to Geneva was non-existent or pricier than the item I was trying to purchase. Now, I need a stroller part that is not sold here in any of the stores, but is available on the French shopping websites. I do not know anyone in France I can just ship it to, so I need to find another way.
Previous posts suggest the website grenzpaket, which looked perfect. But when I went to create an account, the Gaillard location was no longer available. Another poster suggested sending it to a post office in France and it will be held there for a nominal fee until pickup. How, exactly, does one do this? My French language skills are basic to say the least. Also, can one shop carrefour.fr and have it sent to a store? That did not look like an option, but I wasn't sure if there was a way. Also, I should note, this will be a large box. Are there restrictions on that anywhere?
Thank you for your help!
Is delivery to a Point Relais an option?
There are several places listed in Saint Julien, mostly small shops that act as collection points. Deliver is usually cheaper than to a house address as well.
I think you can have them hold it for you at the post office. I know that you can do it with letters but the French website was such a mess last time I checked I couldn't confirm you can have packages held.
Next time you are there pop into the closest post office and ask them. If they say yes they will tell you what to do.
It's called 'Poste restante' and you can do it for both letters and parcels.
You have the parcel sent to you at the post office of your choice and they will hold it for you until you collect it ( 10 days maximum I think). They charge a very small fee on collection.
You jut have to have the post addressed at follows:
Your name ( surname first)
Poste Restante
Address of chosen post office
http://www.discoverfrance.net/France/DF_postal.shtml
Hello Belgianmum,
thank you for this tip. I just have one query, how do you know know when the parcel has arrived at the post office?
I couldn't see anything on La Poste website. I guess common sense is that I have to ask the sender (in Germany in my case) to tell me when the product was shipped, then I can go to the post office 3-4 days later. Alternatively if DHL is used I guess there will be a tracking code.
Gavin
I'm quite surprised that this works in practice. The small border town post offices must be literally flooded with parcels waiting for Swiss customers.
I visited some of the "Grenzpaket" shops in the Weil am Rhein near Basel. They have large warehouses and there's usually quite a line of people waiting to pick up their stuff.
I've never used the post office for to collect mail, but the nearest Point Relais (I'm assuming this is the french equivalent of a 'Grenzpaket' depot) is just a small haberdashery shop where most of the parcels are crammed behind the counter and in a corridor out the back; Health and Safety would have a field day if that happened in England!
And yes, some days people are queuing out the door, I sometimes think I'm the only person who goes into that particular shop to buy what the shop actually sells.
Not sure how the shop gets paid; as no money changes hands directly it's presumably a small cut of the delivery fee paid to the seller.
This is the case around the French border, Saturday morning is packed with people from Switzerland collecting their parcels. This service used to be 0.65 EUR and about a year or so ago they hiked the price overnight to 3 EUR because they have so many parcels from Swiss customers. I doubt the price hiked in other regions of France.
Relais Point pays the shop 0.35 EUR for each parcel that gets collected from there.
Dear V, do you happen to know if it is possible to use the Relais Point system with shipments coming from outside France?
Whilst it wasn't very clear to me from their website, it seems as if it is only possible if the shipment is originated in France from one of the suppliers that was signed up to use Relais Point. So I'm going to use the LaPoste "Poste Restante" instead. Not sure if there is any benefit of using one over the other. I will let the thread know how the post office option works out...
I imagine Relais Point is France only.
Poste Restante is better because they will hold letters and parcels. With Poste Restante the post can often accept packages delivered by other couriers. Only downside is the 3 EUR per item.
Hello all,
Dont really want to start a new topic for this. I need to order something online that is above the limit. Apparently the poste restante does not exist anymore close to geneva.
Also, the item will be sent by DHL. Is there anyway to collect it from a DHL depot in France? Thanks
Poste restante doesn't work for DHL deliveries in any case.
You could have it delivered to one of the self box locations ( thoiry or Cessy I think they are)
http://cartons-de-demenagement.info/...piece-en-plus/
Evening Gata,
If you're really stuck and it'll be in the next week or so you could have it sent c/o my place. The Thoiry option does sound interesting though, I must tell my sons about that one for when Mum's no longer around to take in their parcels!
I'm a few kilometres from St Julien, but you'll need a car to fetch your parcel as I don't have transport at the moment. PM me if you need to.
A
Im not in any rush. Im exploring options for now but thanks so much for the offer!
I found this http://www.relaiscolis.com but i didnt figure out how it works. I know you are supposed sent stuff to some shops and pick it up from there but do you put the shop address or what? No FAQ on the site from what i could see
I think using relaiscolis or the other similar french system (can't remember what it's called off-hand) is only an option if the seller offers it as a delivery option. It's usually much cheaper than sending stuff through the post office and a lot of places use it, including many sellers on eBay, 3 Suisses and la Redoute.
I've tried reading through their website but can only find what you need to do if you want to send things as a private individual rather than using a relaiscolis depot as a delivery address, it might be worth emailing them directly and asking?
That's it exactly. If the shop you're buying from offers it as an option then you can choose to have your order delivered to one of their points near you.
There is a list of participating companies which scrolls along the screen if you go to the 'recevez un colis' option on the 'particuliers' section of their website.
There are other options which are used by other retailers (kiala is one I think).
Mondial Relais was the other one I'm familiar with.
Same problem though, you can't elect to have things sent to a collection point if the seller doesn't offer it as an option.
About 18 months ago I bought and shipped goods to La Poste Restante, Bureau de Poste Colonges Sous Salève. It worked fine. I had to pay a fee to collect of <5€ on one shipment, but on another shipment it was free. I think if the sender was Amazon it was free but I'm not 100% sure.
According to the below this is still a valid option.
https://www.laposte.fr/particulier/p...e-de-son-choix
"Vous devez vous faire envoyer un courrier ou un colis, mais vous n’êtes pas à votre domicile ? Avec La Poste, vous pouvez recevoir vos courriers et colis en Poste restante dans le bureau de poste de votre choix.
Cette solution simple et pratique ne nécessite aucune démarche préalable.
Il suffit que votre expéditeur vous adresse les courriers et colis en indiquant vos nom et prénom suivis de la mention "Poste restante" et de l’adresse complète du bureau de poste de votre choix"