How to get Ebay Labels postage refund? Ebay approved customer address undeliverable by USPS

[o-kushon]

I received an overseas order from Japan.

For the first time ever, Ebay Labels allowed me to print international postage.  Every previous time trying to print international postage, the website has returned an error, and I have been forced to go on the USPS website, and pay with Paypal (which allows the buyer to file a charge back if the package is not delivered).

I printed the postage for this order with Ebay Labels, funds drawn from Ebay Payments.

The package has been returned with a note saying that all of the information on the customs forms must be in Roman letters and Arabic numbers.  The customer had entered his name on his Ebay account in Japanese characters (Kanji).  The labels were all prefilled with the information that the customer submitted for their account, and this is the "Ebay Verified" address.  But the post office will not accept the name in Japanese characters.

I have not been to the post office yet to attempt to resubmit the package.  I fully expect them to tell me that I paid for one attempt, the attempt failed because the paperwork was not filled out correctly, and I will have to pay for a second attempt for them to accept the parcel again.

The cost of the shipping is greater than the profit margin on the sale of the item.

Is there any way to charge back the postage and get a refund from Ebay Labels?

[buyselljack2016]

Refunds for eBay labels are for "unused" label, and the request must be done within 5 days of purchasing the label.

If less than 5 days you can go to "manage labels" to request to "void".

Refund, if label is "unused" takes 2-3 weeks. USPS has to be sure label does not get used.

[nobody*s_perfect]

The label has been used, so you are not eligible for a postage refund.

In a recent thread about a similar issue, posters opined that non-English characters were usually allowed for anything except the country itself, allowing that as long as USPS got it to the right country, the local postal service could take over and read the label.  So there's a possibility that this rejection is not consistent with USPS actual policy.

Anyway, I recommend that you copy-and-paste the Japanese text into Google translate, and then hand-write the English translation onto the existing label, next to the original text, and take it to your PO to see if they'll accept it.

https://translate.google.com

[o-kushon]

That's not the issue here.

The customer's account information, which Ebay approved, and which Ebay used to fill out the postage label, is in a format that can not be delivered by USPS, which was the customer selected shipping method.  Ebay added their seal to the information by indicating they had verified the address.

This is entirely the fault of Ebay for not requiring the buyer to enter their account information and shipping address in a format that USPS will accept.

[o-kushon]

I've already hand written the name in English on the forms to attempt to resubmit the parcel.

One issue is that the data is on the computer system.  When they scan the bar code, the original text for the name will come up on the computer screen.

USPS policy has always been to never refund the cost of the postage, even when they lose the package.

When paying with a third party payment method, like Paypal, there is the issue of failure to perform the service of delivering the parcel to the intended address.  And every claim against USPS filed through Paypal has been granted.  That was always the one upside to cutting and pasting from Ebay to buy postage on the USPS website with Paypal payment.

I was so surprised that Ebay Payments finally worked for international postage, that I did not expect this to be the time I would get hung out to dry.

[o-kushon]

I went to the post office and talked to the back room clerk and was then referred to a counter clerk.

As I expected.  They aren't supposed to accept the package to begin with, with anything other than Arabic/Roman characters.

They sympathize with me about how Ebay caused this mess.

They aren't going to touch the package until I buy more postage for it.  And I'm not going to risk any more on this misadventure.

Well, one customer unhappy with Ebay and one seller out $45.