FAQ's

BUY

Taxes and duties vary depending on the type of item imported and the country into which the item is imported. Before delivery of your purchase, you will receive an email from the courier where you will find the actual calculation of:

• Customs duties • VAT on import

• Handling fee What are customs duties? Customs duties are a type of tax applied to goods imported into a country. These duties vary based on:

• The type of item imported

• The country where the item is imported This means that customs duties will be specific to each individual order placed. Consult the table relating to import customs duties, it is usually available on the website of the Ministry of Finance of your country of origin. If you have difficulty, contact us.

What is “customs value”?

Duties and taxes are calculated based on the customs value. The customs value of an item corresponds to the price of the item, less shipping costs and our commissions.

What is import VAT?

Import VAT is a fixed government tax on items imported into a country. Any VAT charged on import will be the VAT rate of the country into which the item is imported.

Good to know: Import VAT is calculated on the customs value + customs duties of the item, as explained above. What happens if I don't pay the required customs fees? The package will be sent back to The Authentic Vintage logistics center. Once received, you will be contacted to arrange a new shipment. If you have changed your mind, we will relist the item on your behalf, to try to recover the purchase cost. 

The seller has 5 working days to complete the packaging and ship the item, unless it is an item that requires special packaging: in this case, the timing may vary, depending on the complexity of the packaging required . However, we will do our best to support the seller in speeding up the process, without jeopardizing the integrity of your new purchase. 

Once we receive the item from the seller, we inspect and certify the item within 48 hours, so as to ship it to you as soon as possible.

Once certified, for "standard" objects we will need approximately 3-4 working days before sending it to you.

For particularly fragile or large objects we are bound to the production times of wooden packaging, IPSM15 certified and tailor-made for your item, production which normally takes around 7-8 working days. Delivery times may vary depending on the country of destination and the dimensions of the object.

Normally, for Standard objects, delivery takes place in 3-5 working days throughout the world. For special items, the timing depends on the carrier used for delivery, and the individual case must be evaluated. However, you will be updated step by step on the path your item is following, from the packaging phases to the actual shipping phases. 

We use the best couriers in the world, and all our packages travel insured, so don't worry. We will do everything we can to resolve any delivery problems. If the tracking information for the shipped item has not been updated for more than 2 business days, we will contact the carrier for you. To help us complete the investigation as quickly as possible, please have the following documents ready before contacting us:

A sworn declaration, in which you clearly state that you have not received the package. Please include the following information in your declaration:

  • Date
  • Full name and surname
  • Delivery address
  • Tracking number of your item
  • Signature
  • Photo or scan of a valid ID.


You can send us legible and clear photos or scans. In order for the courier to successfully complete the search for your package, you must contact us within 14 days of shipment. 

If you have changed your mind about an item received, we offer you the opportunity to relist it without commission within 72 hours of delivery.

However, if you have received an item that does not match the seller's description, you can report it to us directly and we will look into the situation. Please note that each item is inspected by us before it is shipped to you, so this eventuality is very remote.

We may ask you to take and send some photos of your problem areas, so please feel free to have them ready when you contact us.

If there is a mismatch due to our failure, we will ask you to send the item back for a full refund, unless you still want to keep the item, at which point we will offer you a partial refund .

If, however, it was a damage that occurred during shipping, we will make you an offer for a partial refund (if you still intend to keep the item), or we will offer a full refund in exchange for returning the item itself.

Reports must be submitted to us within 72 hours of delivery of the item, otherwise the complaint will not be accepted.

Note: If the return concerns a defect mentioned in the description, visible in the images or indicated during the quality control phase, the request may be rejected. 

Don't worry, our shipments always travel insured.

In the event that an item arrives damaged, please report it to us within 48 hours of delivery, otherwise we risk that the courier will not accept our complaint.

To file a complaint we need photos of the packaging, the damaged item and the damage that occurred, so that we can forward them to the courier to open the case. The courier's response times may vary, but we normally receive an initial response within 5 working days from the date of opening the complaint.

Once the damage has been confirmed, two options are open to you: return the item to us for a full refund, or evaluate our partial refund proposal and keep the item with you.

If you decide to return the item to us, the return shipping is at your expense, and the item must reach us in the same condition in which you received it, under penalty of cancellation of the refund. The shipment must be made within 5 working days from the date of acceptance of the return, which will reach you via email. We will still offer you logistical support for the return shipment, in order to avoid unpleasant inconveniences from occurring. 

We accept all payment methods, including credit cards and PayPal.
If you want to pay in your home currency, we are the first Collectibles Marketplace in the world to allow this, thanks to our multi-currency checking account. In this case, you can only pay by bank transfer. Your money will still be kept safe in our account until we have authenticated the item you purchased. 

Given the collectible nature of the items offered on The Authentic Vintage, unfortunately we cannot accept returns, nor offer a guarantee on the functioning or deterioration of the items you purchase on our platform. Any purchase made on our site is therefore final, and cannot be returned. The only thing we can do is offer to resell it on our platform, without commissions 

If the item you purchased does not pass our Authenticity Checks, we will refund the full amount, and the seller will receive a warning 

We have declared war on falsification, and our Experts are the champions of Authenticity. Our process follows the one used in the field of Art: an initial screening is done when a seller submits their item to us, which is accepted/rejected based on the photos and description shown to us. Once we receive the item at our Hub, one of our experts will personally authenticate it, in order to eliminate the risk of it being counterfeit. At this point, the expert will issue a certification of authenticity, which will be signed, and which will be uploaded online with Blockchain technology, which makes it immutable and eternally valid. A real expertise that will follow your object for decades to come! 

Each item purchased is subject to a fee of 9.5% (excl. VAT) which covers all costs of certification, logistical support, and expertise that The Authentic Vintage offers. 

SELL

As soon as we receive your item and it passes our authenticity checks, which typically take up to 48 hours, we will send your payout to the account you indicated during registration. 

You have up to 5 working days to ship the item to us.

If it is a special object, or one that requires particular or customized packaging, the time window may be extended.

If you need more time to ship the item to us, please let us know immediately so we can contact the buyer and make them aware of the delay. If you do not hear from us, we are entitled to cancel your order at any time starting from the fifth working day following your order. 

Don't worry, our shipments always travel insured.
If the item is lost, you will be compensated for the retail value of the item.

In the event that an item arrives damaged, you will be immediately informed of the situation.

If you have followed our packaging guidelines, or have used one of our custom-made packages, you don't have to worry about anything, we will take care of resolving the situation with the buyer, and possibly refunding him.

If it turns out that the packaging was not adequate, we will still try to make a complaint to the courier, but we cannot guarantee that it will be accepted. In this last case, two scenarios arise:
1) the buyer still decides to proceed with purchasing the item in exchange for a partial refund, the amount of which will be agreed between you and the buyer and then deducted from your payout. If you do not find an agreement, we will return the item to you, with shipping at your expense.
2) The buyer no longer wants to proceed with the purchase, therefore we will return the item to you, with shipping at your expense. 

If the item does not pass our authenticity checks we will return the item to you, with shipping at your expense.

If, however, the object turns out to be non-authentic and also different from what was shown in the item presentation form, in addition to shipping you will pay a fee of 59 Euros to cover the costs of the authentication service. 

Follow our packing guidelines, and you'll be fine.

Alternatively, if you want to sleep soundly, we offer you a tailor-made packaging service, to guarantee maximum protection for your item. 

Given the collectible nature of the items offered on The Authentic Vintage, we cannot accept returns, therefore the buyer cannot cancel their order once sent. 

Given the collectible nature of the items offered on The Authentic Vintage, the seller is not required to offer a guarantee on the future functioning or deterioration of the items, except that the object, if sold as functioning, must reach us in perfect working order. 

Each item sold is subject to a commission of 9.5% (excl. VAT) which covers all costs of certification, logistical support, and expertise that The Authentic Vintage offers. 

If you plan to sell a lot of items on The Authentic Vintage during the year, we have a plan designed for you, contact us. 

No, the items you intend to sell on The Authentic Vintage must be available exclusively on our site. If you decide to list your item elsewhere, send us an email to remove it from our portal. Our team is responsible for constantly monitoring online ads, so don't try to get caught in multiple ways, it's not nice, and you risk being banned from our Marketplace. 

Our team of experts will evaluate your item within 24-48 hours of receiving your request. We will give you feedback via email.