eBay

2756anderson · ‎05-31-2018

I sent an item to Taiwan using the shipping address supplied by Ebay/Paypal. It was in Chinese so you can't submit that to a post office so I used Google Translate to get it in English. The buyer said the package hadn't arrived and requested a refund, which they got. The package then arrived back to me. The buyer further stated the address was "incomplete" but it was copied verbatim from the sale and paypal transaction page. So I lost $19.00 in shipping and the sale plus I get a non-delivery penalty. Why is Ebay allowing physical addresses to be sent in the originator's language? There is no more just plain cut-out and stuck on labels used in the post office, it is all done via computerized labeling and bar-coding. Unless you understand Chinese, you can't do a translation yourself so I used the best solution. Why isn't this translation being done BY Ebay??

femmefan1946 · ‎05-31-2018

It was in Chinese so you can't submit that to a post office

Yes you can.

It does help the postal clerks to write "China" or "Taiwan" on the package along with the characters.

Chinese is one of the Universal Postal Union's accepted languages*.

(Fun fact, English only became one of those languages in 1994, more than a century after the founding of the UPU.)

The postal clerk who told you that misled you.

so I used Google Translate to get it in English.

Which for practical reasons, was a sensible idea, but the original Chinese address should have been used too.

The package then arrived back to me.

Well, that's one good thing.

*

French is the official language of the UPU. English was added as a working language in 1994. The majority of the UPU's documents and publications – including its flagship magazine, Union Postale – are available in the United Nations' six official languages (French, English, Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish).

Universal Postal Union - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Postal_Union

cumos55 · ‎05-31-2018

There will always be situations where a seller is put into such a situation.

It is many years since I was faced with this situation.

The parcel was going to Hong Kong..... This I knew from the Sales Record with the transaction.

The address in Hong Kong was presented in the Chinese language.

The full address in Chinese was copied and transferred to a Word Document. ... This was a copy and paste option.

The address was enlarged, printed and placed on the parcel.... This was a exact copy and not a seller written address, or a translation of the address.

The destination country was noted in English.

It is very important to have the Exact address in the language of the destination country. A translation of that language into English will never be perfect....

It is the aim of the seller to get the parcel from Canada to the destination country...

The destination country is in English.... The destination address is in the language of the buyer's country.. A seller should never trust a translation of the buyer's address, or a copy of the address as written by the seller.... The address must be a copy and paste...

cumos55 · ‎05-31-2018

Another consideration is to have the official name of the destination country on the parcel.

China becomes.... People's Republic of China

Taiwan... The problem becomes the political relationship between Taiwan and the People's Republic of China.

Officially Taiwan is the Republic of China.... but should be addressed on the parcel as Taiwan, Republic of China. The parcel will go to Taiwan and not the People's Republic of China

Very touchy... and a very sensitive relationship historically.

The cyrillic alphabet was a part of my ancestry.... Ukrainian..... Even then anything going to Russia must be dealt with differently than anything going to Ukraine.

Russia is officially stated as the Russian Federation.

The buyer's address must always be in the language of the destination country... Never a translation into English..... The postal service in the destination country will not have English as an official language

And if one is not too sure of the official name of the country google the country.... such as China... and find out it is officially the People's Republic of China

Because if the address says Republic of China ... the parcel will go to Taiwan... Ouch!!!

Always be careful.......

ricarmic · ‎05-31-2018

When I get non english addresses, usually it is Chinese or Russian, I simply print the address as it is in Chinese or Russian and tape it onto the package, or the form, making sure, as femme says that the country name is in English (I think every time the country name has been in English already)

The packages are usually much more likely to arrive safely when they're in the "native" language anyway....

(PS if the form has to have something in it to print the form, just make something up so it will print then tape the Chinese/Russian version over the address, I've had to do this a couple times as well)

momcqueen · ‎05-31-2018

"It was in Chinese so you can't submit that to a post office so I used Google Translate to get it in English."

What made you think you needed to alter the Chinese language on the label? The job of the seller is to ship to whatever it says. At the point of delivery in China, they're not going to give a rat's butt what the label says says in English. If you were nervous, use the address in both languages. Don't eliminate what the buyer gave you.

This was your first mistake. Your second was to ship to Taiwan without tracking.

Consider these lessons for next time. Better luck.

retroman_studios · ‎06-03-2018

Of interesting note is that there are regions of China where customers/sellers will make up an address as I *believe* it costs a fee to get an official address in those new regions.

Long story short, it's often sellers who use those fake/unofficial addresses as it is impossible for customers to have items returned for refund as the postman will not be able to deliver it.

There is a site where they provide info and help for tracking shipments from and to China and that interesting bit was there.

2756anderson · ‎06-09-2018

Because I use Canada Post's (greedy custom's Canada mandated now) online customs form which is integrated into the Canada Post label. You can't "type" Chinese characters or any other foreign characters into this system, so you have to translate the address. But it does look like I have to start using a copy and paste label as well.

momcqueen · ‎06-09-2018

@2756anderson wrote:
Because I use Canada Post's (greedy custom's Canada mandated now) online customs form which is integrated into the Canada Post label. You can't "type" Chinese characters or any other foreign characters into this system, so you have to translate the address. But it does look like I have to start using a copy and paste label as well.

I have been shipping internationally since 2012 and I have not encountered any need to do what you are describing. Please provide a screenshot if you seek additional insight into the way(s) to properly avoid this problem.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎06-09-2018

Link attached for information/suggestions on mailing packages to Hong Kong according to Hongkongpost website for future reference. Portion of details attached.

Use of Language

It is important for the addressee's address to be written in a language that can be understood by both the local and overseas postal staff. The address should be written legibly in Roman letters and Arabic numerals. The address may be written in the language of the country of destination but the city and country names must be written in ENGLISH. Include a postal code, if any.

An address written in Chinese characters is acceptable for local mail as well as the mail sending to Mainland China, Macau and Taiwan.

https://www.hongkongpost.hk/en/about_us/tips/correct_address/index.html

-CM

hyperrush · ‎06-09-2018

ask the buyer the adress in english, i had some buyers i had to ask.

zee-chan · ‎06-10-2018

Cumos55's advice about writing it as People's Republic of China or whatever is overly complicating things. Even in Chinese the address would just be written as CHINA or TAIWAN, not that long-winded name. Just write the country name like CHINA, TAIWAN, HONG KONG, MACAU etc in English. Keep it simple for the people/machine that are sorting these mail. I have sent a few mails to Japan before, so I merely wrote JAPAN and had the full address I was given in Japanese on the mail. I'd do the same thing for other countries like Korea or Thailand etc where you might get a non-English address.

To OP: NEVER Google translate address. As a bilingual, I cannot stress how inaccurate Google translate can be. For something as precise as address, even one letter off can result in non-delivery. I'd have done what others suggested: copy and paste that address on another paper and stick that on the package, and write the destination country name in English so that it can be sorted by Canada Post.

Side note: Chinese addresses are written in different format from English addresses. It usually goes like country, province, city, town/village/area, street name/number, building name/number, unit number, then the recipient. It may or may not have a postal code. Depending on the actual address it might be shorter or longer than what I listed.

Japanese addresses start with postal code, prefecture, area, street address with three numbers, building name, unit number/floor, recipient at the end. I travel to Japan often and I still can't figure out how to interpret the "street address with three numbers". But as long as GPS understands it then it's fine for me lol. For the local people there, they might not understand an English address even if it's an accurately written address from the hotel's website. I remember having to look for the address in actual Japanese to show the taxi driver.

Bottom line is, Google translate won't be able to accurately translate something like that.

femmefan1946 · ‎06-10-2018

Thanks for stepping in zee-chan.

I remember reading somewhere that Tokyo addresses are not consecutive geographically but chronologically.

So if we were side by side neighbours and my house was built in 1946 and yours in 1990, the numbers would reflect that-- rather than location.

And London taxi drivers think they have a hard job!

steveross · ‎06-11-2018

LOL, as an aside . . .

Do not . . . ever, use Google Translate to translate something critical like an address into English (or to translate from English into another language.)

If you speak a foreign language fluently, you can demonstrate why to yourself by doing a bit of experimentation in Google Translate. Take a paragraph you can read and understand clearly, stick it into Google Ttranslate, and have a look at what emerges.

The results can be pretty good, when going between languages with fairly simple & consistent structure. You still get some absurd gobbledygook out infrequently though. And you can't ever afford gobbledygook in an address, or a legal agreement, or other important information.

And Google Translate is hopeless translating to or from languages with great structural complexity.