Getting mail from Western countries in China -- Will amazon.com ship to China?

[xiexieniii]

How would the Chinese post office know where to send your package if the address is not written in Chinese? I really need a certain book, but the amazon sellers are naturally all back in the US.

[Daan]

In my experience, the Chinese postal service will usually deliver mail even if the address has been written in pinyin, although in some rural areas this might not hold true. Your mileage may vary. Another idea would be to type the address in characters, then take a screenshot and send the seller the JPG file, asking him to simply print the JPG file and use that as the address label.

[yonglin]

Pinyin usually works. Just don't attempt a translation!

That said, China Post is occassionally erratic.

[xiexieniii]

What about international package services like UPS or DHL? Do those work well? I can have it sent to a big business area like Chaoyang, where I am assuming people there must get a lot of international correspondence.

[imron]

I have had stuff shipped from Amazon.com to China before on multiple occasions. It works fine. Just write the address in pinyin and everything should be ok.

[peekay]

Amazon US will ship books to China, marked as "personal belongings" for customs purposes. The shipping company (typically UPS for express) will need your passport info to clear customs, so be sure to put your Chinese phone # along with your pinyin address on the Amazon order page.

When the package arrives in Beijing, someone from UPS (usually an English-speaking agent) will give you a call & ask you to fax or email them your passport's picture page. It can take a day or two to clear customs so be sure to account for this to the total shipping time.

[imron]

My books all came through China Post and didn't require any personal identification to clear customs. I haven't ordered anything off Amazon for a while though so I don't know if this is still the case.

[hunanfan]

I haven't lived in China for 3 years, but used to receive stuff from Amazon all the time. All you need is the pinyin address, and usually someone at the post office will write the Chinese characters on the package to get it to your door...or have you come to the post office to pick it up.