Need help with an address please!

[vintagenorth]

I have to ship an item and eBay shows it going to an address in Oberrieden CH. That is definitely not China. I looked up Oberrieden on Google Maps and it seems to be either Switzerland or Germany, for some reason it shows as both. So where do I send it? And what does CH stand for?

[byto253]

Suggest contacting the buyer for clarification and a better understanding.   You could also go to the post office and ask them to check it and if it seems ok. 

[vintagenorth]

So I just discovered that the CH is used as a designation for Automatic Mail Sorting in the EU and if used it makes mail go faster. Has anyone heard about this and will Canada Post even recognize CH and should I use this?

Why haven’t I ever heard about this before?

[ricarmic]

PS for next time google can answer that:

"what is the 2 letter country code for switzerland"

"CH"

this also works

"what country code is CH"

[ricarmic]

I forgot to answer the latest, yes include the CH all the European countries include it......

Addendum, if there is no country name, you should include Switzerland..... I would be surprised if the country name wasn't present but one never knows anymore!

[byto253]

From what I see CH is the top level country code for Switerzland.

[vintagenorth]

Thank you ric and buto253. I’ve been googling the CH too and found out it is used primarily within the EU although from what I have read it seems to also be their domain name. I think you use it just prior to the post code. I do think I will put Switzerland on my letter, I can just see it going to China otherwise. 

[ypdc_dennis]

CN is the country code for China.

I would use Switzerland rather than CH on the address (or both).

Trivia: The official Latin name Confoederatio Helvetica (CH) was introduced after the formation of the federal state in 1848.

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

@vintagenorth 

International address formats requirements do not always match the options available/allowable in eBay. When in doubt you can do a search by country or use a website (see below)  to confirm and apply to your box/parcel as a secondary label. Even for some countries label position can vary.

https://www.informatica.com/ca/products/data-quality/data-as-a-service/address-verification/address-...

Suggestion for Switzerland:
Format:

RECIPIENT
STREET_NAME HOUSE_NUMBER [[APARTMENT][/][FLOOR]]
POSTAL_CODE LOCALITY
SWITZERLAND

At least three and no more than six lines.
Addressing lengthwise on the consignment.
Official street name in full and correct house number.
P.O. Box details on the penultimate line.
The correct postcode and the full name of the town.
No underlined postcode or town.

Guidelines as per canadapost: Section 3.3 for Intl.

https://www.canadapost-postescanada.ca/tools/pg/manual/PGaddress-e.asp?ecid=murl10006450

-Lotz

[femmefan1946]

I think your problem has been solved, but remember that if an address is causing you angst, you can cancel the sale with no penalty.

Just use Problem with Address as the reason.

[pjcdn2005]

But there isn't/wasn't a problem with the address so a cancellation wouldn't have been fair to the buyer. 

When googling which country uses CH as an abbreviation, the only answer that came up was Switzerland so it's just the matter of asking the right question.  

[recped]

The UPU Universal Postal Union has a good database of address formats that should be used for anything sent via a postal service.

If you go to this page:

https://www.upu.int/en/Postal-Solutions/Programmes-Services/Addressing-Solutions#postal-addressing-s...

Choose the country you are interested in and click the download button

This will open a new tab that gives all the info you could ever want on the "official" addressing format and abbreviations.

Although the UPU doesn't officially recognise CH it is the standard for almost all non-postal services worldwide and for all postal services in Europe. I use European based postal services (B-Post, PostNL etc.) they all use CH and even APC which I use as a consolidator for USPS IPA service uses CH.

[pjcdn2005]

That's interesting. I've always thought that the abbreviations were the UPU 'standard' 

[kawartha-ephemera]

FWIW I've always followed the guideline as suggested by Lotz. 

Last week I had a shipment going to Zurich via lettermail, the code had the same CH prefix. Upon doing a Swiss Post lookup they did not include the CH part which confused me.

I also came to the conclusion CH is postal shorthand for Switzerland. It seems to me though the destination country should always be made absolutely clear by spelling the name out in full. Real people are not good code breakers!

To confuse matters a little further, I've noted the newly formated packing slip on DOTcom now uses country abbreviations. Last week's Zurich ship to address appears as:

Name

Street Name, Number

Zurich

CH 8049, CHE

* The same address copy/pasted from Order Details is formatted North American style and includes Switzerland in place of CHE

[recped]

Here is a link to a FedEx page with a list of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) Country Codes:

http://www.fedex.com/mp/tracking/codes.html

[zee-chan-jpn-books]

Today I learned that CH = Switerzerland... I'd have thought that it's China too at a first glance! 🤔

[lotzofuniquegoodies]

---

@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:

Today I learned that CH = Switerzerland... I'd have thought that it's China too at a first glance! 🤔

---

On the eBay packing slip address it displays the country code letters. On the Shippo packing slip page it displays the full country name.

As per CP help page it recommends omitting Canada when shipping anything in Canada. Include country/correct country code when shipping Internationally. This is done to reduce miss-sorts when items are manually sorted. CA can be miss-read as California. Even incorrect short-forms for street types can cause miss-sorts. In therory CP/USPS----->eBay/eBay Labels/Shippo should all be following the standardized accepted practices.

-Lotz