I had a bad experience recently buying a bass uke with rosewood fretboard and bridge from Aquila in Italy. It took 2 weeks for them to inform me that the bass had been shipped. I watched tracking for two weeks as it went around that part of Italy, landing back at Aquila. When I questioned what happened, Luc said UPS couldn't complete the shipping, so he said they will use another shipper. Another two weeks went by with no update on the tracking for days until it showed up, but when I opened the partly crunched box, the bass was cracked in three places on top from the tail to the bridge, the binding was broken and sticking up at the tail strap button and the ABS body was cracked next to the button. Obviously someone dropped it hard on that end of the box.
I immediately sent an email with photos, which Luca answered the next day apologizing, that they've never had a problem shipping to the US, they would send another and don't return the damaged one, not worth the shipping cost to them. I waited a week and heard nothing, emailed and Luca said they're waiting for the Ministry Office. Another week went by, I emailed, he said that US Customs returned it to them because of CITES, so they're going to give me a refund.
Being that the first one was sent, I think it's all bull, seems they don't want to spend the shipping cost and have to lose the income of a second bass. I'm going to live with the cracked bass, which I now modified with steel flatwound strings instead of the stock Thunder Reds, adding a tailpiece to accommodate the longer strings and higher tension.