International Sales only 40 character address

[jenijensong]

Hi:

Most International addresses are more than 40 characters long.  I just ran into a problem with shipping an item to China where the customer did not understand to put the rest of his address on line 2.  It would help if this is better explained or the amount of characters is increased or the address automatically moves to the 2nd line if it's too long.  Ty.

[wastingtime101]

Yeah, this is a problem sellers run into daily. kyle@ebay was escalating FB on this issue to try and get adjustments made. Tagging him here to reinforce this is a constant issue for sellers.

[1786davycrockett]

@jenijensong 

This seems to be a problem encountered by many Americans, who do not understand that addresses in many countries of the world do not conform to American standards.

Americans will simply have to re-adjust the foreign addresses to fit into the lines that eBay has made available, or risk encountering multiple "item not received" cases.

Or, eBay could expand the character count in the address lines.

Imagine making a sale to this town in Wales:  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch .

If eBay truly believes that it needs to attract a worldwide customer base, perhaps eBay should begin by expanding the character numbers on the address lines, so that it doesn't appear so America-centric.

[wastingtime101]

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@1786davycrockett wrote:

Imagine making a sale to this town in Wales:  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch .

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😂They generally go by the shortened 20 character name Llanfairpwllgwyngyll and sometimes use variations even shorter than that.

For shipping you'd see something that would have no problem passing the 40 character limits. Below are real examples from their community council office and train station.

Llanfairpwll
Anglesey
LL61 5JB

Llanfairpwllgwyngyll

Wales

LL61 5UJ

[kyle@ebay]

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@wastingtime101 wrote:

Yeah, this is a problem sellers run into daily. kyle@ebay was escalating FB on this issue to try and get adjustments made. Tagging him here to reinforce this is a constant issue for sellers.

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Hey @wastingtime101 thanks again!  I'll be glad to continue passing this along as well.  In the meantime, your suggestion to use shortened versions (like that town in Wales) whenever possible is the best option available.  

[1786davycrockett]

kyle@ebay 

"your suggestion to use shortened versions (like that town in Wales) whenever possible is the best option available."

The problem is, those "abbreviations" may NOT be recognized by the local postal systems in many countries, and may additionally be leaving out important delivery information, which may translate to something like "behind the garage, on the second floor" or "down the alley, up the stairs, inside the blue door".

In reality, shortening the address of international buyers (while a convenience for eBay's antiquated address system) is of absolutely NO value to eBay's sellers, who may be attacked with multiple "item not received" cases, simply because eBay suggested shortening buyers' addresses, to accommodate a poorly designed mailing format.

Once again, and I repeat:  if eBay is sincerely interested in becoming a significant market for international sales, then eBay needs to correct its limited mailing system, which is largely designed for American addresses.

[kyle@ebay]

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@1786davycrockett wrote:

kyle@ebay 

"your suggestion to use shortened versions (like that town in Wales) whenever possible is the best option available."

The problem is, those "abbreviations" may NOT be recognized by the local postal systems in many countries, and may additionally be leaving out important delivery information, which may translate to something like "behind the garage, on the second floor" or "down the alley, up the stairs, inside the blue door".

In reality, shortening the address of international buyers (while a convenience for eBay's antiquated address system) is of absolutely NO value to eBay's sellers, who may be attacked with multiple "item not received" cases, simply because eBay suggested shortening buyers' addresses, to accommodate a poorly designed mailing format.

Once again, and I repeat:  if eBay is sincerely interested in becoming a significant market for international sales, then eBay needs to correct its limited mailing system, which is largely designed for American addresses.

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Hey @1786davycrockett I agree with everything you just said.  It's certainly not a great option; just the best option currently available.