eBay

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎07-21-2025

I just got my very first Taiwan buyer who provided their address in Taiwanese characters. The address did not show up correctly at all on the label (see bottom where there are all the ¿¿¿...)

Would ebay still let me cancel the order with "problem with buyer's address" and give the buyer their full refund, as well as refund my shipping label? I'm not really comfortable mailing something when the address isn't showing on the label properly...

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎07-21-2025

@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:
I just got my very first Taiwan buyer who provided their address in Taiwanese characters. The address did not show up correctly at all on the label (see bottom where there are all the ¿¿¿...)

Would ebay still let me cancel the order with "problem with buyer's address" and give the buyer their full refund, as well as refund my shipping label? I'm not really comfortable mailing something when the address isn't showing on the label properly...

I'd ask for the English translation and update the label, but I suppose it depends on the value of what you're selling... most of the time I sell items under $25, so I don't worry too much about scammers when something like this happens.

C.

38e_avenue · ‎07-21-2025

It happens occassionally to me, too - mainly from South Korea.

I print a separate address label written in Korean and put it next to the "????????" CP label.

All items arrived to their destinations.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-21-2025

@zee-chan-jpn-books wrote:
I just got my very first Taiwan buyer who provided their address in Taiwanese characters. The address did not show up correctly at all on the label (see bottom where there are all the ¿¿¿...)

Would ebay still let me cancel the order with "problem with buyer's address" and give the buyer their full refund, as well as refund my shipping label? I'm not really comfortable mailing something when the address isn't showing on the label properly...

@zee-chan-jpn-books

You will definitely need to void and mail with the translated address in English characters.

To translate an address for Taiwan, use Pinyin (romanized Chinese) for the address details, and always include the country name as "Taiwan" or "Taiwan (R.O.C.)" for international mail. The address should be written with the recipient's name on the first line, followed by the street address or PO Box, then the city/district and postal code, and finally the country.

This page will work for how to format. You can add both formats on the parcel. You just have to confirm you are placing address labels in the position required.

https://www.smarty.com/global-address-formatting/taiwan-address-format-examples

https://www.postgrid.ca/global-address-format/taiwan-address-format/

devon@ebay

Does eBay have a workaround for this issue? This has been passed on to eBay in the past but never officially addressed. Many countries have their own format for addresses that do not mirror standard N. American or Europe. To meet those countries requirements the package address must mirror. This is not really a problem with address vs more a problem of eBay not mirroring the the destination country standards.

38e_avenue · ‎07-21-2025

@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
Does eBay have a workaround for this issue? This has been passed on to eBay in the past but never officially addressed. Many countries have their own format for addresses that do not mirror standard N. American or Europe. To meet those countries requirements the package address must mirror. This is not really a problem with address vs more a problem of eBay not mirroring the the destination country standards.

I would say it's rather CP problem, because the address is shown correctly on Ebay and get messed up only on the CP label. But surely they can work together to find a fix. The problem persists since always - with all languages which use different letters (Korean, Chinese, Polish, and even French).

38e_avenue · ‎07-21-2025

I would be very carefull with a transliteration.

If you translate a Chinese address into English - yes, you will understand, CP will understand, but .... will the destination post office also understand, as well?

They might use a different transliteration system, which might be not able to translate your shipping label correctly into the local language.

recped · ‎07-21-2025

The Universal Postal Union recommends English for all international shipping labels, an alternative but definitely not required is the language of the destination country.

USPS will accept labels in non-English format as long as the Country is English, Canada Post will accept labels in non-English format as long as the Country is either English or French.

"What else could I do? I had no trade so I became a peddler" - Lazarus Greenberg 1915
- answering Trolls is voluntary, my policy is not to participate.

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎07-21-2025

@recped wrote:
The Universal Postal Union recommends English for all international shipping labels, an alternative but definitely not required is the language of the destination country.

USPS will accept labels in non-English format as long as the Country is English, Canada Post will accept labels in non-English format as long as the Country is either English or French.

Not anymore, USPS requires the entire address in English if the destination country uses non-Latin letters. I had a package with a Japanese address that was sent USPS and it came back to me with a sticker that said the address must be in English.

I use Google Translate to translate the address (Japanese and Korean, not Chinese), and then paste the address in their language on the other side of the package so the destination country can read it.

C.

38e_avenue · ‎07-21-2025

@sapphyres-designer-jewellery wrote:
Not anymore, USPS requires the entire address in English if the destination country uses non-Latin letters.

Maybe except of Austria 😀 Since two of my packages were shipped to AUSTRALIA (!!) I always now write: AUSTRIA-ÖSTERREICH-EUROPE 😀

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aVkkUMsxEX8

sapphyres-designer-jewellery · ‎07-21-2025

@38e_avenue wrote:
@sapphyres-designer-jewellery wrote:
Not anymore, USPS requires the entire address in English if the destination country uses non-Latin letters.
Maybe except of Austria 😀 Since two of my packages were shipped to AUSTRALIA (!!) I always now write: AUSTRIA-ÖSTERREICH-EUROPE 😀

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/aVkkUMsxEX8

Even in German it's Latin letters 🙂

I'm not sure Canada Post has such a requirement although I don't think I can print a label on their website with non-Latin letters. Stallion Express requires Latin letters as well.

When I worked at the post office (2003-2007) as long as the country was written in English, all was good.

C.

reallynicestamps · ‎07-21-2025

The Universal Postal Union recommends English for all international shipping labels,

Is this a recent decision?
Because English only became a working language for the UPU, which was founded in 1874, in 1994. French is the working language of the organization, which is based in Switzerland like much of the United Nations.

The other languages are Arabic, French, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish.

Wikipedia is not clear on what writing system should be used for Chinese.

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

Perhaps as @sapphyres-designer-jewellery indicates , you mean the USPS?

dinomitesales · ‎07-22-2025

The official UPU Letter Post regulations specify that:

"The addressee's address shall be worded in a precise and complete manner. It shall be written very legibly in roman letters and Arabic numerals. If other letters and figures are used in the country of destination, it shall be recommended that the address be given also in these letters and numerals."

So you need an English translation of the address (or a translation that includes roman letters at least). You can include a foreign translation of the address on the label as well (and it is recommended), to the right of the English lettering. But you would need to add those details yourself as Canada Post won't let you print a label with non-Roman letters or Arabic numerals.

I don't understand why eBay even allows people to place international orders with addresses using anything but the Roman alphabet.

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-22-2025

@38e_avenue wrote:
@lotzofuniquegoodies wrote:
Does eBay have a workaround for this issue? This has been passed on to eBay in the past but never officially addressed. Many countries have their own format for addresses that do not mirror standard N. American or Europe. To meet those countries requirements the package address must mirror. This is not really a problem with address vs more a problem of eBay not mirroring the the destination country standards.
I would say it's rather CP problem, because the address is shown correctly on Ebay and get messed up only on the CP label. But surely they can work together to find a fix. The problem persists since always - with all languages which use different letters (Korean, Chinese, Polish, and even French).

If this is the case...eBay not recognizing characters...be they international symbols like accent marks in French/umlaut (ä, ö, and ü.) in German or characters a seller uses for creating a listing (even using a + symbol displays as a small circle), this is a problem. This issue should have been addressed and corrected years ago.

This is related to how it was discovered several months ago where listing titles were being corrupted when a seller used a symbol and then eBay proceeded to corrupt the email message the same way. I still am finding random listings that have item specific text corrupted and display that way when a user views.

eBay's AI should be able to catch these issues before a listing gets posted or a buyer completes a purchase when those exceptions are involved. Begs the question what other characters are getting corrupted and just not being spotted after a listing is posted? As standard practice do you proof each listing after creating or just go on to the next 1?

lotzofuniquegoodies · ‎07-22-2025

@38e_avenue wrote:
I would be very carefull with a transliteration.
If you translate a Chinese address into English - yes, you will understand, CP will understand, but .... will the destination post office also understand, as well?
They might use a different transliteration system, which might be not able to translate your shipping label correctly into the local language.

@38e_avenue

It does state on the Universal Postal site you can use 2 versions of an address on a parcel. Just very critical the addresses are positioned as per the local requirements.

reallynicestamps · ‎07-22-2025

devon@ebay

Something else that should be attended to.

And amazed that it was not done when eBay first started selling in China, even if they ignored Japan and India.

zee-chan-jpn-books · ‎07-23-2025

I decided to go with printing the Taiwanese address (with TAIWAN in English) on seperate piece of paper and taped it over the gibberish address... and keeping my fingers crossed. I do have Taiwan blocked from future purchases for now. I don't want to risk cancelling and then the buyer leaving my first neg in 10+ years of selling 🙄