eBay, please figure out Puerto Rico PO Boxes!

[biglittleape]

I have a lot of customers from Puerto Rico and a large percentage of them use PO Boxes as their ship to address.  I have PO Boxes blocked from all my listings, since I use UPS for shipping, but this block has no effect on customers from Puerto Rico. 

This is very frustrating, I have check every order from Puerto Rico to make sure its not a po box and if it is, good chunk of them are, I have to contact the customer and ask for a different shipping address.

Come on. 

[ebooksdiva]

If shipping to PO Boxes in Puerto Rico is a problem then all you need to do is exclude Puerto Rico in your shipping preferences….problem solved! 

[wastingtime101]

I don't think the OP wants to exclude PR entirely ... just PO Box addresses in PR.

Since they're using a posting/buying ID we can't look at the listings to test the shipping settings buyers see. Because of that, aside from suggesting @biglittleape checks their settings on affected listings to ensure PO Boxes were blocked, all we can do is direct them to customer service to report the problem. Not going to post a link because I don't know if they're listing on .com or .ca.

[biglittleape]

Yes of course I don't want to block Puerto Rico, that's a silly suggestion.  Everyone that I've contacted has another address that's not a PO Box so they seem to chose po boxes for the eBay accounts.

Here is a screen shot showing PO Boxes being excluded.  This has no effect on Puerto Rico boxes at all.

[thescarletpimpernel]

All the buyer needs to do is give their name, the street address of the post office followed by their box number behind it as in #123 and UPS, FedX, etc. will deliver it there for pick-up.  That's how my purchases always arrive without an issue.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@thescarletpimpernel wrote:

All the buyer needs to do is give their name, the street address of the post office followed by their box number behind it as in #123 and UPS, FedX, etc. will deliver it there for pick-up.  That's how my purchases always arrive without an issue.

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This is a special USPS service known as "Street addressing". It's not available at every Post Office, so it might not be available to the PR buyers, and it would still require the extra step of contacting the buyers and asking for a street address, whether it's the address of their home or their PO.  Here's the form you're supposed to fill out for using Street addressing when it's offered.

https://www.usps.com/pobox/customer-agreement-for-premium-po-box-service-enhancements.pdf

[harborauction]

There have been complaints on this board for years about ebay not recognizing Puerto Rico as part of the US, asking for customs forms, etc.

That is the problem with your PO Box block not working for PR & yes it would be helpful if they got this straightened out but don't hold your breath

[buyselljack2016]

There have been complaints on this board for years about ebay not recognizing Puerto Rico as part of the US, asking for customs forms, etc.

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Not sure that would be an eBay issue.......................

May be more of a "chosen carrier" issue.

I use USPS exclusively and am never asked  to/required to do "customs forms".

[wastingtime101]

Here's my question @biglittleape :

Can you check to see if Puerto Rico is entered as the country? Or is PR state with US as the country?

The answer to that may ID where the problem is stemming from. If PR is entered as the country every time this happens, eBay is aware of issues that creates, but you can always tag one of the reps on this board to report it again.

[worldcoinauctions]

I use USPS for shipping and just sent something to PR today. I have had issues when the buyer puts PR as their Country. In that case I am unable to purchase shipping and if they are unable (unwilling in some cases) to correct that, then I have to cancel the transaction.

[az93]

You are just hurting yourself with this block in place. Nearly every small town in America has no home delivery and relies post office boxes. Think of all the buyers you are blocking.

[nobody*s_perfect]

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@az93 wrote:

You are just hurting yourself with this block in place. Nearly every small town in America has no home delivery and relies post office boxes. Think of all the buyers you are blocking.

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They aren't blocking those buyers.  They are blocking buyers who try to pay using their PO Box rather than their street address.  Those box holders can still buy the items, IF they provide an address that UPS  can use.

[theteamsetguy]

@biglittleape ,

Just ship UPS Surepost. Its a service between UPS where the USPS delivers the last mile and to PO boxes. UPS SurePost is usually cheaper than UPS Ground. 

UPS SurePost® can be used for shipments to U.S. PO Box addresses, domestic shipments (from the U.S. 48 to any of the 50 states), U.S. military (APO, FPO, DPO) shipments, and shipments to U.S. territories

[1786davycrockett]

@biglittleape 

Since Hurricane Maria destroyed much of Puerto Rico in 2017, the United States has been very slow to repair the damage done to this American-owned territory.

One of the side-effects of this disaster is the reliance of a large number of the Puerto Rican population upon the USPS postal system in order to receive their mail, since many of the roads, businesses and residences still remain under repair, six years later.

Additionally, even without the damage caused by the hurricane, residence addresses in Puerto Rico may often include other references, which may seem confusing to many state-side Americans -- references such as "behind the blue door," or "on the left side of the hill," or "underneath the second stairway."  So, under circumstances such as that,  a USPS post office box is a more dependable method to receive mail.

In the future, when an individual from Puerto Rico makes a purchase from you (and their address is a post office box), would you consider  changing your method of shipment from UPS to USPS, simply to make the sale, and to keep your buyer happy?

Thanks for your patience and understanding.

[reallynicestamps]

Does UPS still not deliver to PO boxes? I thought that policy had changed a few years back?