Can't Communicate With Japanese Customer

annr · Mar 10, 2015

I made my first direct sale to Japan. I'm having trouble completing the transaction and wonder if anyone here can help me understand how things are supposed to work re: PayPal, email, USPS, etc. There seem to be 2 things detaining with the sale: the buyer did not pay the shipping fee, and he did not supply a shipping address in English (USPS says they will not accept unless in English). I tried contacting the buyer via email, and the emails sent to his PayPal email have been returned as undeliverable. The PayPal invoice for the shipping--with the request for a shipping name and address in English--has received no response.

I'm wondering how long I should wait before issuing a refund or if there is anything else I could try to resolve the situation. Advice or suggestions welcome.

druid189 · Mar 11, 2015

If you've made several attempts through PayPal [say once a day for 5 days] and no response, I'd simply refund it and put the reason in the comment section. I'd put it in both English and Chinese [using Google translate] so there's no mistake as to why.

sideways · Mar 11, 2015

If you have the customers money. You're otherwise satisfied with the deal and still want to ship.

a) Get someone who is fluent in Japanese to translate the address. If you are certain of the translation ship it with both the English and Japanese addresses clearly marked on the parcel.
The English text will help the mail service on your end and the Japanese will help with delivery on their end.

or

b) Refund the money

Also...

Ignore druid189, they speak Japanese in Japan.

Google translate is not acceptable in business correspondence.

Make sure you get better contact information in future.

annr · Mar 12, 2015

druid189 said:
If you've made several attempts through PayPal [say once a day for 5 days] and no response, I'd simply refund it and put the reason in the comment section. I'd put it in both English and Chinese [using Google translate] so there's no mistake as to why.

Thanks. I contacted PayPal and they had the same general time frame for the refund. The explanation I received regarding lack of response to my emails is that the Japanese email accounts are not set up to receive email from many outside addresses (like my 2 addresses from the US), but that I had been emailing a legitimate address. The PayPal rep also could determine that the buyer had received my invoice. I did as you suggested and sent an invoice reminder which allowed me to include my requests for shipping and the "English" address--just hope they will be able to read them.

This is a bit odd, since the item they purchased is a book written in English! This is also odd because other international customers pay the shipping invoice in a matter of hours as they genuinely want the book. So we'll see what happens after a few more days.

annr · Mar 12, 2015

sideways said:
If you have the customers money. You're otherwise satisfied with the deal and still want to ship.

a) Get someone who is fluent in Japanese to translate the address. If you are certain of the translation ship it with both the English and Japanese addresses clearly marked on the parcel.
The English text will help the mail service on your end and the Japanese will help with delivery on their end.

or

b) Refund the money

The shipping is $24--so I don't think I would want to eat that. That is what I thought I would do: include both addresses. Unfortunately, no convenient access to Japanese specialist.

sideways said:
Ignore druid189, they speak Japanese in Japan.

Google translate is not acceptable in business correspondence.

I kind of figured on the Japanese.

Good to know about Google translate for business, esp. sending items of value.

sideways said:
Make sure you get better contact information in future.

I agree! I'm just not sure how to do this. The buyer ignored the instructions which were to contact me prior to ordering in order to confirm shipping and contact details. I didn't realize that I would not be able to correspond with buyers, except by PayPal invoice after the fact, since this has not been the case in other countries. Nor did I realize that the address would come in a non-practical form. For example, sales to Israel have not arrived in Hebrew, but in English characters. The buyer bought a book written in English, so I'm figuring he has some proficiency or plan to read the book that might apply to understanding my invoice....

annr · Mar 12, 2015

Update:
I spoke with a colleague in my field who has had similar problems with transactions such as mine, and without hesitation his advice was "cancel it." In his experience, the language problem is likely insurmountable, and if the customer is dissatisfied it can lead to lengthy follow-up and disputes.

RevDevil · Mar 13, 2015

Try a Japanese to English translator. Google.com has one built in. It won't be grammatically spot on perfect, but it will get the message across provided the grammar being input is correct.

Rhinoknives1 · Mar 13, 2015

RevDevil said:
Try a Japanese to English translator. Google.com has one built in. It won't be grammatically spot on perfect, but it will get the message across provided the grammar being input is correct.

Hi Ann,
What RevDevil said!
I use Google translator with a few customers for my finger skins in Amsterdam, Germany, Austria etc.

Here is the link. https://translate.google.com

annr · Mar 13, 2015

Rhinoknives1 said:
I use Google translator with a few customers for my finger skins in Amsterdam, Germany, Austria etc.

Here is the link. https://translate.google.com

Thanks Rhino,
Do you have any Japanese customers? if so, are you able to communicate with them by email?

The thought occurs to me that if the buyer were motivated, he could have paid the shipping and used google translate himself.

I spoke with a second guy who does shipping for a company in my field, and he said that they never ship to japan without an English address provided by the customer (their product is $20,000-50,000 while mine is only $85+, but I'm still not happy to send something where I feel there is not an open line of communication and a meeting of the minds on the particulars of the sale, e.g., all sales final)

Rhinoknives1 · Mar 14, 2015

Ann,
My Japanese customers have been through Ebay so They know to use English and they would know to use English anyway dealing with you.

I wouldn't send the product if I was you. Since they are buying a book written in English they should know to use English! I think it's a Scammer or some kid that bored.

annr · Mar 14, 2015

Rhinoknives1 said:
My Japanese customers have been through Ebay so They know to use English and they would know to use English anyway dealing with you.

Interesting. I wondered if they knew that I needed things in English, and I don't know how to make that mandatory through PayPal. The book's editor has a standing auction on eBay and has sold through a middle man for the Japanese eBay equivalent--there are middlemen in SF who make the purchase in the US on US eBay, the item is shipped to SF where it is inspected, and then it is sent to Japan to the buyer--probably at a premium. But that makes sense to me, because I can see the problem with getting bad merchandise and trying to resolve it once it is in Japan. In my recent refund, I suggested that the buyer try his local "Japanese eBay" site. Have your eBay sales been directly to Japan or through these middle men in CA who work for http://www.sekaimon.com/? Just curious.

Rhinoknives1 said:
I think it's a Scammer or some kid that bored.

Yes, I was wondering this too, and no way to know. I haven't heard anything before, during or after the sale and refund. My buddy who told me that he stopped selling in Japan said he would get orders and would never hear from the customer again even if there were questions of shipping costs and address, etc., and even though they made purchase. Go figure. One of his customers only accepted 10% of the merchandise as meeting his standards, etc. My colleague said it just wasn't worth it. The irony is that they are copying an American art form, so I don't know how they determine standards anyway--unless they buy my book!

Rhinoknives1 · Mar 14, 2015

annr said:
Interesting. I wondered if they knew that I needed things in English, and I don't know how to make that mandatory through PayPal. The book's editor has a standing auction on eBay and has sold through a middle man for the Japanese eBay equivalent--there are middlemen in SF who make the purchase in the US on US eBay, the item is shipped to SF where it is inspected, and then it is sent to Japan to the buyer--probably at a premium. But that makes sense to me, because I can see the problem with getting bad merchandise and trying to resolve it once it is in Japan. In my recent refund, I suggested that the buyer try his local "Japanese eBay" site. Have your eBay sales been directly to Japan or through these middle men in CA who work for http://www.sekaimon.com/? Just curious.

My Japanese customers, The real ones anyone! Have always been very deliberate about putting everything in English and apologizing if their English wasn't clear. I think I've had maybe 30 customers from Japan over the years selling knives, Swords and WWII Militria, from around the world. A couple of times they have said that a friend of theirs will email me, if their English wasn't that good to ask a question etc about something I was selling.

Yes, I was wondering this too, and no way to know. I haven't heard anything before, during or after the sale and refund. My buddy who told me that he stopped selling in Japan said he would get orders and would never hear from the customer again even if there were questions of shipping costs and address, etc., and even though they made purchase. Go figure. One of his customers only accepted 10% of the merchandise as meeting his standards, etc. My colleague said it just wasn't worth it. The irony is that they are copying an American art form, so I don't know how they determine standards anyway--unless they buy my book!

The Japanese did in 10 years what the USA did in a 100 as far as becoming a industrial giant by copying what we did and making things better where they saw room.

vic2367 · Mar 17, 2015

to the OP ..get google translate,free program and its pretty good. i use it all the time

DB.Cooper · Mar 26, 2015

sideways said:
If you have the customers money. You're otherwise satisfied with the deal and still want to ship.

a) Get someone who is fluent in Japanese to translate the address. If you are certain of the translation ship it with both the English and Japanese addresses clearly marked on the parcel.
The English text will help the mail service on your end and the Japanese will help with delivery on their end.

or

b) Refund the money

Also...

Ignore druid189, they speak Japanese in Japan.

Google translate is not acceptable in business correspondence.

Make sure you get better contact information in future.

They also speak english in Japan. English is the language of business and Japan has been infusing it into school lesson plans for some time now, as has much of the rest of the world.

annr · Mar 29, 2015

DB.Cooper said:
They also speak english in Japan. English is the language of business and Japan has been infusing it into school lesson plans for some time now, as has much of the rest of the world.

Do you know which generation(s) this applies to? I mainly sell to University libraries and college professors, or other adults. So I would think they would generally be better educated than average, but perhaps they are too old to have learned English, or as Rhino suggested--this was a prank. Still have heard nothing BTW, so couldn't have been a serious buyer, not one with a deadline anyway.

calc · Mar 29, 2015

annr said:
Do you know which generation(s) this applies to? I mainly sell to University libraries and college professors, or other adults. So I would think they would generally be better educated than average, but perhaps they are too old to have learned English, or as Rhino suggested--this was a prank. Still have heard nothing BTW, so couldn't have been a serious buyer, not one with a deadline anyway.

Yeah... I would just refund the money and cancel the transaction.

annr · Mar 29, 2015

calc said:
Yeah... I would just refund the money and cancel the transaction.

Done and done. Evidently, the only way to avoid this problem is to have the PayPal settings = NOT SHIP to Japan--then supposedly the sale will not go through. If a customer contacts me directly (as posted on the website), pays the invoice, etc., I can still sell/ship there. We'll see.