Great idea, thanks a lot!

Hi,

I was wondering how your search went. What is the address that I can use to have my parcel shipped to the post office in Ferney Voltaire?

Thanks!

Contact MBE (Mail Boxes Etcetera) in Ferney Voltaire. It is about two hundred meters from the last stop of the F bus and from the Ferney post office.

https://www.mbefrance.fr/fr/envoi/ferney_voltaire/2535

It works with UPS, Fedex, DHL and has mailboxes for rent (boîtes aux lettres), where you can receive mail or packets.

https://www.mbefrance.fr/fr/domiciliation-et-location-de-bo%C3%AEtes-aux-lettres

Hi all,

In case you are interested, I just an answer how to do it with the Post Office in France - I went there and asked in person :)

As a shipping address, write on your orders:

Your full name

Poste Restante Ferney Voltaire

01210

France

This will automatically goes to the main post office in F.V. You will not receive a notification from the post office, however, you usually get a notification from the online shop. Keep the tracking number.

They will keep your parcel for 10 days, after which it is sent back to the sender.

When you come to collect, you will need your ID, tracking number and they charge 4 EUR.

I hope this helps, I will try next week!

Awesome, thank you so much for looking into that and then advising us all!

Have a great day,
Sean

For anyone trying from Amazon, you will need to provide the actual address:

1 Avenue Voltaire

Not sure if it helps, but when ordering from Amazon, there are multiple points relais available. It is free of charge, they will only want your ID document when collecting. There is probably 20 or 30 just in Gaillard, Annemasse, including collection point at La Poste - I guess same on each side of the border. 

Hi Hubs, that's really awesome and useful information. Thank you !

By the way, I just picked up by first package from Ferney-Voltaire post office, sent via post restante. They just asked for the tracking number and charged me eur4.95.

In future: for Amazon I will look into the points relais, and for ebay etc I will go for poste restante.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but aside from additional import taxes, many senders are now refusing to ship to Switzerland anymore. I don't know why this is, but it is pretty annoying!

So to ship to the Ferney-Voltaire post office:

Your full name

Poste Restante Ferney Voltaire

1 Avenue Voltaire

01210

France

Thanks so much for the info. Does anyone know if the post office will acept parcels from UPS and DHL?

Im ordering something from Etsy, from Turkey. but its delivered via UPS or DHL. I can asked that the parcel requires no signature.

thanks!

Hi all,

does anyone know if 'poste restante' works with other courriers? I am wainting to order something from a supplier in Turkey (via Etsy) and have it delivered to the post office in Divonne. but the parcel will be sent via DHL or UPS. I rad somewhere that the post office will not sign for parcels. but sure i can ask the sender to remove 'sigature with receipt' surely?

has anyone done this?

thanks!

Hi-

No DHL or UPS will be accepted unfortunately.

Onlu if delivered via Colissimo or Chronopost (French carriers - but they may have other intermediary counterparts in the country of origin).

I ordered 2 items from Amazon to the Ferney Post office. One was recieved and the other refused and returned, and I could could not find out why. I had provided exactly the same address details.

Needless to say, I won't be going for it again. There are apparently Amazon pickup boxes in France, so I might give that a go.

The best option to is to ship to a friend, but if it something big, then they will need to pick it up from the post office, which kind of makes it a bigger favour.

Since the new import tax on goods coming into Switzerland (January 2019), many shippers on Amazon or eBay are refusing to ship to Switzerland. I don't know if it is just the tax or some other issue (additional paperwork maybe?)

https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/online-shopping_vat-on-online-purchases-from-abroad-from-2019/44327714

Hi all. I just ordered an item from France and had it delivered to the Ferney Post via Chronopost. It worked without a hitch. Three days after ordering, the package arrived at the Ferney Post. Chronopost sent me an email with my tracking info and informing me that I have 15 days to collect the package at the post. All I had to do was go with my tracking information and an id. Someone else can pick it up for you but they need your id, their id and a letter from you giving the person authority to pick up the package. There were three employees at the Post retrieving packages, i literally waited less than 5 minutes. The cost was 4.50 euros, well worth the service, in my opinion. I’ll deliver this way again, although based on some of the reviews, I likely wouldn’t have a package from Amazon delivered there. Hope this helps!

Hello, I also used Poste Restante in Ferney-Voltaire, but they are now rejecting the package if is coming from UPS or DHL.

Especially when buying from Amazon, I'm not forced to ask in advance to the vendor which shipping company will be used, and it's quite annoying if you are a hard-core online buyer!

If you find some real good solution I'm happy to know, thanks!

I had 1 success and 1 failure with poste restante ... with no explanations why.

I wil try the Amazon pickup boxes next. If anyone has tried them please let us all know!

I received a package from Italy sent with a private shipping company and they rejected. The result is that I had to pay again 85 euro.

Happy to listen for working alternatives!

My experience with shipping to France.  I live in geneva, but have a second home in france.

UPS, avoid at all cost, even if a parcel does not require a signature, they will often not leave it.   They do not respect re delivery times.   We ask them to redeliver on saturday ... they agree ... and show up on Monday.

DHL.  Generally good .. they will even sometimes leave a package requiring signature without one.

Chronopost/ Colliposte - best bet.  Will always leave a package that does not require a sgnature.  If it does, they leave a delivery notice and we pick it up at the post office with no fee.

GLS.  Limited experience, but has always been positive.

I have also been very happy with point de relais

Lastly, DHL and UPS, If you get through to them will let you pick up non delivered packages at their depot

I have done this a number of times - it requires a bit of persistence and a knowledge of french

Good luck

Dear all, 

I hope this thread can be of help. 

Does this method still work? And if so, what are the correct steps to deliver to the Post offices in France? 

The customs charges in Switzerland are quite pricey! 

Many thanks for the advice in advance. 

Kind regards,

Emily 

People seem to have mixed experiences with the French postal service for this particular purpose.

I would strongly encourage you to check out MBE (Mail Boxes Etcetera) in Ferney Voltaire. It is about two hundred meters from the last stop of the F bus and from the Ferney post office.

https://www.mbefrance.fr/fr/envoi/ferney_voltaire/2535

It works with UPS, Fedex, DHL and, additionally, it has mailboxes for rent (boîtes aux lettres), where you can receive mail or packets. If you rent a mailbox, you can receive packages sent through any service.

https://www.mbefrance.fr/fr/domiciliation-et-location-de-bo%C3%AEtes-aux-lettres

I have used them for several years without a hitch.