diff --git a/src/pretix/base/services/orderimport.py b/src/pretix/base/services/orderimport.py
index 720f1f381b..2751237a97 100644
--- a/src/pretix/base/services/orderimport.py
+++ b/src/pretix/base/services/orderimport.py
@@ -52,14 +52,15 @@ class DataImportError(LazyLocaleException):
         super().__init__(msg)
 
 
-def parse_csv(file, length=None):
+def parse_csv(file, length=None, mode="strict"):
+    file.seek(0)
     data = file.read(length)
     try:
         import chardet
         charset = chardet.detect(data)['encoding']
     except ImportError:
         charset = file.charset
-    data = data.decode(charset or 'utf-8')
+    data = data.decode(charset or "utf-8", mode)
     # If the file was modified on a Mac, it only contains \r as line breaks
     if '\r' in data and '\n' not in data:
         data = data.replace('\r', '\n')
diff --git a/src/pretix/control/views/orderimport.py b/src/pretix/control/views/orderimport.py
index e524c05c89..fba81db7a4 100644
--- a/src/pretix/control/views/orderimport.py
+++ b/src/pretix/control/views/orderimport.py
@@ -119,7 +119,17 @@ class ProcessView(EventPermissionRequiredMixin, AsyncAction, FormView):
 
     @cached_property
     def parsed(self):
-        return parse_csv(self.file.file, 1024 * 1024)
+        try:
+            return parse_csv(self.file.file, 1024 * 1024)
+        except UnicodeDecodeError:
+            messages.warning(
+                self.request,
+                _(
+                    "We could not identify the character encoding of the CSV file. "
+                    "Some characters were replaced with a placeholder."
+                )
+            )
+            return parse_csv(self.file.file, 1024 * 1024, "replace")
 
     def get(self, request, *args, **kwargs):
         if 'async_id' in request.GET and settings.HAS_CELERY: