P.O. Box AND Address?

[haneydeals]

I made a sale today and when I went to fill out the envelope I realized they have P.O. Box AND Address listed on their address line. Do I fill it out this way? Do I do one or the other? I've never encountered this before.

[southern*sweet*tea]

If the Paypal address has both, use both - street address on one line, PO Box on the other line.  Your customer will get their widget at either their street address or their PO Box and you will be covered for an INR for either one. This isn't rocket science.

[portieraportfolio]

People who do this, do it because they don't know exactly how people are going to ship.  As others have mentioned, FedEx and UPS will only take a street address.  The Post Office in rural areas will ONLY TAKE a P.O. Box if they do not have mail delivery.  Every single person and business has to have a box at the post office.  There are no valid street addresses in large areas, as in whole counties.  They will return any and all mail that is addressed to the physical address, even if it is next door.

Several things you can do to check this out.  Call the post office by looking up the zipcode or town.  Rural post offices will gladly tell you that they don't have mail delivery in the area. 

Try putting just the street address into Stamps or other address verification software.  I will often come up as invalid, even though you can find the address/building via Google. 

I have used both for years, and never had a problem with it getting to the post office box just because the street address was also used.  The only change that I often make is to put the appropriate address on the first line. 

If the last portion of the zipcode after the dash matches the box number, you are probably dealing with this sort of situation.  It's another "clue".

Just a side note, FedEx SmartPost and the UPS equivalent have made it mandatory for people with these kind of addresses to use both.  These services use the post office for the final delivery, and again,  rural post offices will not make an exception.  I had one package go back and forth from Denver to the top of the Rocky Mountains 5 times.  Calling FedEx, calling the shipper, begging the post office, was all to no avail.  The package containing my purchase was returned to the shipper.  I had begged them to include both addresses when I placed my order, but they chose not to comply.  You have to have both addresses to use these services in rural areas, and your buyer has probably gotten used to fixing the problem by always providing both.

[oldiebutagoodie]

Yup!
I live waaaay out in the remote mountains. If the seller is shipping fed ex or ups then I am forced to give my physical address... However I always also add my po box # as well because sometimes they can't get out here due to road conditions or simply can't find me. The local post office lets them drop my item off there and saves us all a lot of hassle.

[d-k_treasures]

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@dhbookds wrote:

The street address is often the address where the PO Box is located

Not necessarily.......our street address is the house address, not the PO.......we don't have door delivery....from USPS, only PO box.  They have told us to get it to the Box properly......street address should be on 2nd line (after name), PO Box on 3rd.  Supposedly, the machines read the bottom line as the "proper" one. 

Small town, don't know how universal that is............

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It's universal - that's the way it works. I do the same thing.

[d-k_treasures]

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@haneydeals wrote:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@haneydeals wrote:

I made a sale today and when I went to fill out the envelope I realized they have P.O. Box AND Address listed on their address line. Do I fill it out this way? Do I do one or the other? I've never encountered this before.

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IMHO the buyer probably knows his address better than you do.

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You’d think so but according to USPS you’re supposed to do one or the other according to the link in a previous post. Even if I do both from what I’ve read they’re supposed to go on different lines not the same line like the buyer listed. FYI they’re 0 feedback so new to eBay I’m guessing. They could be new to that address too, I have no way of knowing. But in any case if there was some mistake I’m the one that will have to deal with it. 

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Just change it to remove the PO box from address line 1 and move it to address line 2. You aren't changing the byers address, you are just formatting it correctly because ebay and paypal are too lazy to do any address verification.

[mr_lincoln]

@buyselljack2016

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

If you are printing an eBay label it will likely print shipping to the PO Box.

If you are hand addressing a label use the PO Box

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Actually it prints both PO Box & the street address ... I shipped on like that last week ... List it, Get Paid, Pack & Label it, Ship it ... cross fingers and toes ...

copying @haneydeals

[llllady]

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@southern*sweet*tea wrote:

If the Paypal address has both, use both - street address on one line, PO Box on the other line.  Your customer will get their widget at either their street address or their PO Box and you will be covered for an INR for either one. This isn't rocket science.

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Yep. My office used to be on Main Street, but I had a P.O. Box. All of my mail and packages had both addresses on it. Never a problem with the USPS or FedEx/UPS. Better to be safe than sorry.

And with that said, if the OP is sending something in an envelope, there should be no problem ditching the physical address and just using the P.O. Box. 

[buyselljack2016]

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@mr_lincoln wrote:

@buyselljack2016

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@buyselljack2016 wrote:

If you are printing an eBay label it will likely print shipping to the PO Box.

If you are hand addressing a label use the PO Box

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Actually it prints both PO Box & the street address ... I shipped on like that last week ... List it, Get Paid, Pack & Label it, Ship it ... cross fingers and toes ...

copying @haneydeals

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Correct.  When I have addresses where the buyer has provided both the street address, and a PO Box #, the shipping label puts the PO box  on as the 3rd line, just above the city/state, and uses the PO Box # as the zip +4.

Being on the line just above the city/state aids in the sorting process of letters.

At a DPS sorted office where I worked a customer with his improperly addressed (addressed to street with no street delivery available) monthly check would come in and grouse about the check not being in his PO box in a timely manner. (at the time he was in town)(always before the posted "mail up" time. The DPS mail always got in the boxes ahead of the trays of mail that had to be hand sorted locally. 

Then there were the ones that wanted their Wall Street Journal in the box as soon as the front doors were unlocked.

[haneydeals]

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@thallidguy wrote:

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@haneydeals wrote:

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@luckythewinner wrote:

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@haneydeals wrote:

I made a sale today and when I went to fill out the envelope I realized they have P.O. Box AND Address listed on their address line. Do I fill it out this way? Do I do one or the other? I've never encountered this before.

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IMHO the buyer probably knows his address better than you do.

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You’d think so but according to USPS you’re supposed to do one or the other according to the link in a previous post. Even if I do both from what I’ve read they’re supposed to go on different lines not the same line like the buyer listed. FYI they’re 0 feedback so new to eBay I’m guessing. They could be new to that address too, I have no way of knowing. But in any case if there was some mistake I’m the one that will have to deal with it. 

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I agree with using separate lines. But as a general rule, you ship to the address that the buyer gives you. Remember the seller protection rules. 

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eBay has seller protection rules? 🤪

[simply-sassi]

I have checked the setting for my listings under excluded shipping locations to not allow buyers with PO Boxes to purchase from me since I have many larger items that can't be shipped to PO Boxes (or it is too expensive). And I have it posted in my descriptions too that I don't ship to PO Boxes and especially for my bulkier and/or heavier items, these are shipped via FedEx Ground/Home Delivery and can't be shipped to PO Boxes.

But some buyers circumvent this anyway by 'mashing' their address and box number together on same line with no spaces so that ebay doesnt recognize it as a PO Box?! And so the purchase still occurs even with the ebay setting and my policy for no shipping to PO Boxes. I just cancel the sale with the reason 'there is a problem with buyers address' and buyers payment is refunded. But it is a hassle.

Just the other day a buyer was able to purchase one of my bulkier and heavier items that is shipped via FedEx Gr/HD (as selected shipping service) and he had 'mashed' his Address/PObox together on the same line. But I did not notice at first it was a mashed physical address and PO Box.

So I clicked on print shipping label and I noticed that the only selection for shipping was via USPS to buyer's PO Box address. And shipping cost was over $16.00 more for same size and weight as least expensive shipping option for USPS than FedEx Gr/HD, which was not available to select even though it was the only shipping service selected in the listing.

Apparently, the bulky and heavy box can be shipped to a PO Box?? But I wasn't about to pay over $16 more for shipping via USPS to a PO Box, since that shipping carrier wasn't even selected as a shipping service in my listing, so I canceled the sale and payment was refunded. Again, this is still a hassle.

Does anyone know why ebay allows buyers to circumvent my setting of excluded shipping locations and ignore my shipping policy as well as allow a different shipping carrier (USPS) that I did not select as a shipping service since FedEx Gr/HD is selected only for the shipping service in my listing??!!

[kattinsanity]

One problem I always have is sellers who use FedEx Smartpost who refuse to sell to anyone with a P.O. Box address.  So...I have to change the address with my pay pal pmt. excluding my box # before I'm allowed to purchase.  Then when it gets turned over to USPS they don't have the box # it is being delivered to & I don't have home delivery.  It usually delays it by a day or 2.  The same happens when sellers use UPS that is turned over to the post office.

I once did as others advised and removed the street address and used the P.O. Box #.  It turned out the box was inside the building at that address and the item came back to me as undeliverable.  After that, I don't leave anything out of the address I'm given.

I had a buyer just last week who gave a physical address as well as a "postal box #".  They only gave the 5 digit zip so I had no idea if it was a box at the address or a P.O. Box.  I just shipped it as instructed.

Not all post offices have the UPS or FedEx delivery option~~my post office doesn't.  Just address it as the buyer has given you and you will hopefully not have any problems.  If you used FedEx or UPS that is turned over to USPS for delivery DO NOT refuse to ship to P.O. Boxes.  That physical address is not any good when you don't have home delivery and will cause problems or delays without that P.O. box #.

[kattinsanity]

I also don't get UPS or Fed Ex delivery in the winter months~~they won't even attempt getting back to my house. I would never even think of owning a regular car~~I need a 4X4 to get in & out in the winter.  I'm sure I'm not the only one.  When I look at an auction that doesn't offer USPS I have to hit the back button because I would never get the delivery.   If a seller uses smartpost or UPS that gets turned over to USPS for delivery they are smarter to not ban P.O. Box addresses~~they will lose possible sales by doing so.

[newerused]

That's pretty much as I have it here; small town of 1200 people but no street delivery, PO box only.
I have both as my Ship To address because some sellers stil refuse to ship to PO boxes.

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@dhbookds wrote:

The street address is often the address where the PO Box is located

Not necessarily.......our street address is the house address, not the PO.......we don't have door delivery....from USPS, only PO box.  They have told us to get it to the Box properly......street address should be on 2nd line (after name), PO Box on 3rd.  Supposedly, the machines read the bottom line as the "proper" one. 

Small town, don't know how universal that is............

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