I realize this is probably a waste of time and likely won’t achieve anything, but I’ve just sent an e-mail to EZ Way complaining about how Shopee is apparently of the mistaken impression that foreigners require Chinese names to use EZ Way for customs clearance. It’s a continuation of the problems reported by myself and others in the following thread, and maybe other threads as well (I’ll leave it to the bosses to decide whether this post should be merged with one of those):
After several frustrating days of trying (and failing) to get Shopee customer service to fix this problem, I’m making this post in case anyone else has encountered similar problems and wants to join me in complaining to EZ Way about it together.
This is what I wrote (of course, if anyone else does want to complain, it would be good to change it at least a bit). I sent it to ezway@tradevan.com.tw and cc’d Shopee (help@support.shopee.tw), in the faint hope that doing so would get them to fix the problem faster:
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am writing this e-mail because I wish to make a formal complaint about the manner in which EZ Way’s real-name authentication is implemented on the Shopee e-commerce platform.
First, I would like to thank the staff at EZ Way and Taiwan Customs Administration for updating the EZ Way app in March 2021 to allow foreigners with an alien resident certificate to use EZ Way for facilitating customs clearance procedures, thus making it easier for Taiwan’s ca. 800,000 foreign residents to receive deliveries from abroad. I am sure that this change is much appreciated by many of Taiwan’s foreign residents.
However, I would like to bring to your attention a major problem that I recently encountered while attempting to make a cross-border e-commerce order on Shopee, which has made it impossible for me, and presumably many other foreign residents, to use EZ Way for customs clearance on the platform.
At present, Shopee requires that the user’s real-name authentication profile on EZ Way is entered using a Chinese name, as shown in the attached screenshots, which is inconsistent with EZ Way’s own policy of now allowing foreign names. This makes it impossible for any foreign residents without a Chinese name on their ARC to successfully link their EZ Way profile to Shopee and place an order. I am fully registered on EZ Way using my real name as written on my ARC, but nonetheless I am unable to place an order because of this policy.
I have already contacted Shopee about this problem and exchanged numerous e-mails with the company, but they are unable/unwilling to provide a satisfactory solution. I have been informed by Shopee that it will take them 20-30 working days (i.e., 4-6 weeks) to manually update my profile. In my opinion, this is simply unacceptable and discriminatory, and it severely reduces the usefulness of EZ Way for foreign residents living in Taiwan.
Therefore, I would like to politely request that EZ Way and Taiwan Customs Administration take steps to clarify with Shopee and other such platforms that non-Chinese names are now permissible for EZ Way’s real-name authentication and that foreign users are not required to have Chinese names to enjoy the facilitated customs clearance service provided by EZ Way. I believe that this would be of great benefit to Taiwan’s foreign residents and further improve the functionality of the EZ Way app.
Thank you in advance for any help that you are able to provide with this issue.