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Shipping to Japan - Address characters?

Terre avatar
Terre from MiniTreasuresByTerre 1:25 am Jan 11, 2013 EST
Just got a sale from Japan (Yay!), but the characters for the address are Japanese, as would be expected.

I verified their address to be the same as shown in my Activity Feed and checked my PayPal Details page. They both seem to match - as far as I can tell anyway. :/

So, when Etsy prints out the customs label (this will be my 1st customs label with Etsy) will the address be written out using the Japanese characters? If so, that won't present a problem for USPS will it? I mean, except for the street address characters, it does have their name and Japan as the country.

If Etsy doesn't print out the characters as presented, does anyone know where I can get a good translation? Someone in a Japan Team? Anyone here?

Thanks. :o)

16 Responses

Maryjane C. avatar
Maryjane C. from WhistlingFishPottery 1:28 am Jan 11, 2013 EST
USPS just needs to see JAPAN on the bottom. The JAPANESE post office will need the japanese characters to get it to the final destination. USPS isn't going to be delivering!
Rachel S. avatar
Rachel S. from customhemptreasures 1:29 am Jan 11, 2013 EST
I had this problem before and it was before the DC etsy shipping labels, I just asked my customer if they could please give me their address in english letters, and they did it no problem.
Rachel S. avatar
Rachel S. from customhemptreasures 1:29 am Jan 11, 2013 EST
Maryjane- I shipped it in english and they got it...
Terre avatar
Terre from MiniTreasuresByTerre 1:30 am Jan 11, 2013 EST
Thanks Maryjane. Do you know how Etsy prints out the label? I don't want to create and pay for one, if the characters aren't in Japanese.
Terre avatar
Terre from MiniTreasuresByTerre 1:33 am Jan 11, 2013 EST
Rachel - I've done it before as well, and I think I ended up asking the buyer and they gave me their address. Was hoping I wouldn't have to ask this time, and I don't want Etsy printing out an address that has gibberish or unrecognizable cubes.
Alona avatar
Alona from MoonlightDesigns2 1:38 am Jan 11, 2013 EST
You can view the address label on Etsy before printing it out and paying, I always double check addresses especially for international sales before printing.
Terre avatar
Terre from MiniTreasuresByTerre 1:46 am Jan 11, 2013 EST
Thanks Alona - I couldn't remember if I could view it first or not. I'll try it first thing tomorrow (can't keep my eyes open now) and post back in case anyone else ends up with the same question.
japanese2please avatar
japanese2please from japanese2please 2:07 am Jan 11, 2013 EST edited
I'm in Japan and I know that as long as the package has JAPAN written on it, it will arrive without a problem. You don't need to worry about whether you use the romanised English or the Japanese charcacters, either is perfectly fine. The Japanese post system is very efficient and they don't have any trouble understanding addresses. Hope that helps! Forgot to say, you can convo me if you need help with anything!
Trudy Shaw avatar
Trudy Shaw from secondarycreations 2:55 am Jan 11, 2013 EST edited
Those of you who've used the Japanese characters for the address, what do you do about the customs form, especially now that all the info has to be entered into a computer either online or at the post office? If you buy the postage online, does the computer recognize the Japanese characters and fill them in?

The one time I had this happen to me, I contacted the buyer who provided the address in Roman characters.

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