UPS vs the PO Box

[Papazita]

I could use a little help here...

I recently moved to a rural area with no post office delivery. I now have a post office box, which I have never had before. I've made sure to include my street address as a secondary address on credit cards, with the PO Box as the primary billing address. I'm running into issues now with not being able to make any purchases online, because the website/business only ships with UPS, who can not (or will not) ship to a post office box, and refuse to ship to anything other than the primary billing address. Even though my street address is listed on the card account, they still will not ship to me.

What. The.

I've missed out on several awesome deals on basses and other gear over the last month while trying to get this sorted out. I've spoke with the CC companies, my bank (for the debit card), UPS, and my local post office branch, all have the same answer; "not our problem."

I'm sure I'm not the only one here with a PO Box. How on Earth do you guys get things delivered to you????

[tplyons]

Have it shipped to work?

[Papazita]

No...they say they will ship ONLY to the main billing address on my credit/debit card (doesn't matter which card I use, I get the same answer).

Which is a post office box.

They will not ship to a post office box. ugh.

[HaMMerHeD]

Buy a Green Dot, or other type of prepaid debit card. Make the billing address your home address, load it with money when you want to make a purchase, and there you are.

[kesslari]

I am in your situation, and haven't had the "refuse to ship" issue (well, maybe 2-3 times in 14 years).
Talk to the post office about what the proper way to list both a street addy and a PO Box - I'm 99% sure that it is
Name
Street Add
PO Box
City, State, Zip

I list mine as
Name
Street Addy
- OR - PO Box
etc

Then change your CC billing address to that. And use it when you order stuff.

I still find I have to be specific with shippers, especially individuals (buying music gear on TB, or stuff on Ebay, etc)

"how do you ship? In that case please ship to THIS address..."
Even then sometimes they screw it up.
But it works most of the time.

[lokikallas]

Huh? I have everything I buy shipped to my office. There is always a billing address and a shipping address. What if you wanted to send a gift?

[Papazita]

Originally Posted by lokikallas

What if you wanted to send a gift?

That's what I said (and that's what I was trying to do earlier today), but you know how helpful some customer service reps can be...

[fourstringdrums]

Who are you trying to buy from that you're getting that answer? I've never been in a situation where I HAD to have something shipped to the billing address. I've always had to input a shipping address as well.

[lowfreq33]

Yeah, I've never had this problem. I've had stuff shipped to my mom's work, to a friends house if I'm out of town, last month I had a power amp shipped to the bar we were playing at in North Dakota the following week. Never had an issue.

[bongomania]

Paypal only provides certain protections to sellers when shipping to a "confirmed" address; and this is typically the billing address. So that might be the deal here, if OP's confirmed Paypal address is not a deliverable address, an Ebay or other Paypal-using seller is refusing to miss out on those protections.

[Unrepresented]

PO Boxes are limited strictly to the post office. Nobody can legally deliver to them besides the USPS.

As for the alternative delivery address listed with credit cards, it has historically worked with me, albeit I've never used it with paypal. If you're having issues with retailers/sellers not wanting to deviate from that, I don't know what to tell you. I find it odd that they'd knowingly pass up a sale to an authorized listed address associated with a customer's credit card.

[MX21]

My CC only has my PO Box address on it. I've never had trouble specifying the PO Box as the billing address and my street as the shipping address. Every online site I've ever ordered from has separate billing and shipping addresses.

[Truktek2]

Can't you have your package held at a UPS hub and pick it up yourself? I thought UPS stores can hold them for you to pick up with proper ID. Just a thought.

[seanm]

I remember when UPS used to charge extra to ship to a home address, so I always had it shipped to work. They wanted a work address because there will always be someone there to get the package.

I have also asked to pick it up.

But I don't have a PO Box address, so maybe they are more forgiving.

[Chunk-O-Funk]

I use to have things shipped to me at my work address all the time. I had to call my credit card company and add it as an alternative "ship to" address. I got the "can't ship to this address" email every once in a while. Not very often. It was either policy to delete it or somebody would drop the ball

Maybe it's your credit card company, even though you called them already.

[guitardefector]

Is there a music store in the nearest town? Have them order it for you and pick it up there. GC's signature line is "Sorry, we don't have it in stock. But I can order it for you online and you can pick it up here?"

[Downunderwonder]

Must be some fussy sellers. I have bought stuff online, shipped to a dropbox in US, when my credit card is billed Downunder. You can't get much more potentially dodgy than that.