Is it legal on eBay for a "buyer" to disguise a P.O. Box as an Office Suite or Storefront?
We are pretty new here. Doing a little research on a buyer who has requested a fraudulent ref, we have found that they have a P.O. Box disguised as a business address. What I mean is instead of P.O. Box ###, they have the Street Address of the Post Office and Suite ###.
Is that legal? This has scam written all over it.
Thank you so much for any help you can provide!ðŸ™ðŸ™ðŸ™
26 comments
janet9988
·2 years agoWhy does the BUYERS address matter on a return?
My mortgage payment goes to a PO box and they are a business.
tobaccocardyahoo
·2 years agoIt is a recommended procedure for people who wish to receive UPS or FEDEX deliveries to a Post Office Box. It avoids the fears of some shippers that UPS or FEDEX will not ship to the PO Box address.
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoCould suite # be an account number of a "freight forward" from Florida to another country?
Usually it is listed after name of buyer.
Check buyer ID to see if it is another country.
And check to see if there was an additional charge for using an International credit card.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoSince UPS and FedEx do not deliver to PO boxes, some buyers who have them will (and are allowed to) use the street address of the PO as their mailing address. To the best of my knowledge, there is perfectly legal.
How does it "have scam written all over it"?
12345jamesstamps
·2 years agoThe only thing I know is you cannot use a P O Box for a driver's license or for a ID state or city card.
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoAs mentioned in the other posts, "Street addressing" is not only OK; it's a specific service offered by most Post Offices. The primary purpose is so that PO Box holders can receive packages sent by other carriers, such as UPS or FedEx, but it also (usually) helps to avoid problems with sellers who don't want to ship to PO Boxes. Here's some info direct from USPS:
https://www.usps.com/pobox/customer-agreement-for-premium-po-box-service-enhancements.pdf
lisa5768
·2 years ago@amayasattic
I use a PO box for all my mail, it is the safest place to send to. They hold the package for me to pick up or deliver to a package locker where I can get it 24/7. My mail/package is safe from porch pirates and mail thieves.
As someone mentioned USPS does not deliver to all homes and some people only get delivery to a PO box. USPS offers a street addressing option in some locations. Privet mailbox companies also use a street address option, their street address and a box number. Long gone are the days when using a PO box was associated with fraud.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoHow was a PO box "associated with fraud"?
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@soh.maryl
In the not-so-distant past, many individuals deliberately opened up charge accounts (and other financial accounts), using a post office box; and, when their monies started running out -- so did they, leaving NO accurate forwarding address.
So, many businesses wised up -- and refused to open up accounts for individuals who used only post office box numbers -- only physical residence and/or business addresses were allowed -- all of which required verification from other references.
The law firms for whom I was employed from 1994 through 2000 refused to accept clients who used only post office boxes, for a very simple reason: process servers could not serve papers on post office boxes -- only at physical residences and/or business addresses.
So far as I know, that has not changed.
Fortunately, most transactions on eBay are not of high value; so post office box addresses should not raise too many alarm bells.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoOK, I understand it better now, so thank you.
But it's still basically wrong to immediately think anyone using a PO box is a scammer or crook.
As a child, lived in a very, very small village. There was no home delivery, so everyone had a PO box and went there to pick up their mail.
Later on, lived at a address like RR#2, PO Box 644. A mounted carrier route. At some point, that area was annexed to the town and everyone got a street address.
amayasattic
OP2 years agoThank you so much We thought the concerning part was that he listed the address as:
### Whatever Street
Suite ###
City, State #####
Does that sound suspicious? Why pose as an office or a storefront. When asked about it, he got mad and said I don't have to explain my address to you.
We just thought that was very dishonest. That's all.
nobody*s_perfect
·2 years agoHave you read the thread? It's not concerning, suspicious, or dishonest at all. It's just different way for a PO Box holder to write out their address, in a way that can accept UPS and FedEx packages as well as packages with USPS postage.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@amayasattic
"Does that sound suspicious? Why pose as an office or a storefront. When asked about it, he got mad and said I don't have to explain my address to you."
"We just thought that was very dishonest. That's all."
Nope -- doesn't sound suspicious to me at all.
And you may be just a tad too wary of those who may be interested in purchasing your items.
As others have indicated, there is nothing uncommon about using the street address of a mail drop, including using the box number as a suite address.
And, as has also been noted, in many instances it may be SAFER to use a mail drop box, rather than a residential address, considering the vast amounts of mail which are currently being stolen from home mailboxes, apartment houses, street-side mailboxes, etc.
That's not being "dishonest," as you put it. That's called being "secure."
You may owe that individual an apology for attempting to poke into his private life.
(Oh, by the way -- from 1987 through 1991, I also used a similar form of address -- "suite number" with street address -- when I was down on my luck for a while, and drifting from one friend's couch to another friend's basement, and so on and so on -- just to have a reliable method of receiving my mail, until I could re-establish myself again. Nothing "dishonest" about it -- in fact, I was attempting to maintain at least a modicum of honesty, in order to keep my bills paid. Maybe your buyer was in the same situation. It's not fun, and I don't recommend that misfortune to anybody.)
lisa5768
·2 years ago@soh.maryl
Before USPS required ID and your physical address to get a PO box it was easy for someone to get one and use it for mail fraud and other illegal activity. You could address something to the box in any name real or fake and it was delivered, unlike today where they check the name against the box holder. Many did not have key locks but a dial code on the front so all you had to do was give someone the code and they could access the box. It was an easy a
way to pass items anonymously.
If you ever did mail in product rebates, back in the day, they would not allow a PO box address because they had no way to keep someone from submitting hundreds of duplicate requests for products they never purchased.
soh.maryl
·2 years agoThank you for that information. When we first moved to the city where I live now, during World War II, when I was a child, we lived in a trailer park which was actually Federal housing because there was a great shortage of living accommodations in this very industrial town. For some unknown reason (or at least I didn't know what it was) the USPS would not deliver mail to that location and all of us, some 40-50 trailers' worth of families, had to obtain a PO box at the local USPS facility which was quite a distance away. In addition, there were a lot of families at that time who did not have a car (World War II, they were not manufacturing them for civilian purchase) had to rely on the public transportation to get to the PO or maybe stop by after work to pick up our mail. At that time, all we had to do was give the PO our name and address. There was a cost to rent a PO box, so some people opted for "General Delivery".
namtrag1
·2 years agoI get advertising about refinancing my PO Box residence in my PO Box.
I wonder what kind of rate I could get..it's only 4"x 6"x10"
albertabrightalberta
·2 years agoIt's perfectly legal.
Every p.o. has a street address in the city where it's located.
Some services like UPS and Fedex don't deliver to p.o. boxes so if the buyer uses the actual street address of the p.o. where their box is located, they can get deliveries.
I'm not sure why you think it's scammy.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@amayasattic
How would that be a "scam"?
An address is an address is an address -- no scam involved, unless you're attempting to serve legal documents.
kensgiftshop
·2 years agoYes, it's legal.
They can do it that way at some Post Offices for sellers that don't ship to a PO box.
1786davycrockett
·2 years ago@amayasattic
Here's the lowdown, direct from USPS --
In Premium PO Box Service locations that offer Street Addressing, a customer's mailing address may be either the street address for the Post Office where their PO Box is located, followed by # and the box number, or PO Box followed by the box number.
In other words -- entirely legal, and no scam involved.
justagirl12
·2 years agoLots of people use a P.O. Box as a storefront. Nothing wrong with it.
mtgraves7984
·2 years agoI don't know what the benefit is of not using the PO Box #, but I don't think it's illegal to list the address as you described. 🤔
Sit tight for other posters with experience in such...
amayasattic
OP2 years agoEvidently It is not OK.
 
monica-sells
·2 years agoThe first thing you should learn is
"not everything you read on the internet is true"
My mailbox is "disguised" and I can pretty much guarantee you could not decipher it....
You do need a verified form of identification to rent a PO Box at my Post Office.
maybe you could rent one fraudulently, but I don't think it is very prevalent. (or maybe I am missing something)
Also, some rural areas have both PO Box and Street number in their Mailing address.
Those little white trucks do not deliver "everywhere"...
Look at the "totality" of the buyer, assess your potential exposure, check here for advice, before you determine their eligibility....
soh.maryl
·2 years agoIt seems that info is referring to someone using a PO box as a return address, not as a delivery address.
If you are still unsure at this point, reach out to your local USPS facility and ask.
downunder-61
·2 years agoThat is seller's, not buyer's