Sellers won't ship to a PO Box

[gnarlodious]

I am having trouble buying and having them sent to this address. Sellers who won't ship to a PO Box, so I am unable to pay for the item because the payment page is blocked. Purchases made in the past are not delivered to my street address so I have to go to the post office box anyway to take delivery. Nobody knows where this street address is, because it is not a street address, it is an alley address (literally says ‘alley’ on the address!). I am unable to set my adress to what the Post Office recommends because eBay can parse out the address and blocks it when it contains a PO box. I tried all sorts of tricks to fool the parser, but then it aborts my edit and returns me to the street address. I'm at my wit's end. I can buy the same item on Amazon with no trouble, what's wrong with eBay?

[lintbrush*]

Amazon ship via USPS and they have no issue with PO boxes.

FedEx and UPS Ground or 2nd day cannot ship to a PO Box.

Have you tried entering both the alley address and PO Box as your shipping address?

123 Main Alley

PO Box 123

Anytown, USA

[missjen831]

Sellers are allowed to block PO boxes. Some do it because the carriers they use will not deliver to the PO and some are either misinformed & think PO boxes are unsafe when they are safer than a residential address or they are copy-catting other sellers that use the block & they have no idea why they are actually using the block. If the seller is shipping USPS, I would suggest contacting them before you attempt to purchase and ask if they will remove the PO box block.

[richard1rst]

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@gnarlodious wrote:

 I am unable to set my adress to what the Post Office recommends because eBay can parse out the address and blocks it when it contains a PO box. I tried all sorts of tricks to fool the parser, but then it aborts my edit and returns me to the street address.

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I have received many orders from buyers showing both a P O Address and a street address on separate lines as shown by another poster.

On the other hand, if an item is so large that it becomes a post office oversized box then some sellers (myself included) will specify FedEx as the shipping method. And FedEx will not ship to a P O Box so I can not ship to any buyer showing only a P O Box on the particular item.

[berserkerplanet]

>>And FedEx will not ship to a P O Box so I can not ship to any buyer showing only a P O Box on the particular item.

Correct. UPS and FedEx will not deliver to a PO box address, and both the eBay And FedEx label flows prohibit creating a label to one.

I however do have FedEx and UPS shipments delivered to my PO Box, but am enrolled in the USPS Street Addressing program, and I provide a street address version of the PO Box address when checking out.

if my PO box number were 123 then my checkout address would be:

Awesomest Buyer
9876 Main Street #123
Sacramento, CA 95825

where 9876 Main Street is the actual Post Office physical street address. UPS and FedEx show up and deliver, USPS has written authorization to sign for my packages as needed, and either a key to a parcel locker or a counter pick up card is left in my #1 letter size PO box.

Works pretty well (even better now that the parcel lockers are being used again and I don't have to get over there during retail hours to pick up pkgs)

[richard1rst]

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@berserkerplanet wrote:
 but am enrolled in the USPS Street Addressing program, 

USPS has written authorization to sign for my packages as needed, and either a key to a parcel locker or a counter pick up card is left in my #1 letter size PO box.

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I had seen similar posts about this before but they did not go into detail.

If I understand correctly you have to prearrange this with the post office?

In other words if a seller just arbitrarily addresses it as you suggest then the post office might refuse it?

You make reference to them signing for it. If the package comes in with no signature required will they accept it even if no agreement had been signed?

[berserkerplanet]

>>If I understand correctly you have to prearrange this with the post office?

It is (was?) a program that required enrollment (like the USPS Informed Delivery feature), but was not an online signup.

Started rolling out in 2013, not much fanfare or advertisement, appears to have not gotten much traction, and some of the online docs have disappeared.  Some of the old info is here:

https://postalpro.usps.com/competitivepoboxes

>>In other words if a seller just arbitrarily addresses it as you suggest then the post office might refuse it?
That is my belief*

>>You make reference to them signing for it. If the package comes in with no signature

>>required will they accept it even if no agreement had been signed?

I don't know, but don't think so based on the fact that I had to sign form to that effect and turn it in at the PO. I'm guessing there are legal issues involved when USPS acts as an agent for the recipient (once again wild guesses)

I went ahead and poked around in my account. It appears that Street addressing has been rolled into the online PO box management

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

The new PO Box user agreement doc is here:  https://www.usps.com/pobox/customer-agreement-for-premium-po-box-service-enhancements.pdf

Part B of that agreement  - Signature on File - seems familiar, but I don't have a copy of what I filled out years ago, and it wasn't a part of the original POB user agreement doc I have.

It may have been a separate doc, and reading the new one I'm now unsure about whether that applies to USPS signing for packages from UPS, FedEx, and other carriers or only applies to USPS signature required pkgs - if Sig on File is in effect supposedly I don't have to sign at the counter for USPS shipments requiring signature and they can be put in a parcel locker of my PO box if they fit.

So even less clear than before. I may try contacting USPS to get clarification (although this is the type of question that phone CS won't understand or be able to help with, and the better email contact path will probably still lead to a boilerplate response that misses the point.

*Only definite thing at this point is that it looks like a PO Box holder still must enroll in the program, and a shipper can't just street address a shipment unilaterally and expect a possible refusal at the PO (as I posted elsewhere before - the DMM? indicates that unauthorized shipments can/will be refused and/or PO Box holder may lose privileges in such cases)  It might work if a particular PO doesn't care and is kicked back, but no guarantees that it won't cause problems.

[richard1rst]

Thank you very much for that detailed information.

I sometimes have larger items that are bext shipped by FedEx (a post office oversized box upcharge problem).

But I sometimes get a P O Box and it has been a hassle to contact the buyer and convince them to provide an alternative address. I usually get some resistance. This should go a long way towards resolving that problem.

Again, my thanks for taking the time to spell it out so thoroughly.

[berserkerplanet]

No problem. Not many seem to be aware of USPS Street Addressing, so I try to post what I can. It has worked out well for me.

I asked USPS a couple of questions about the signature issue and about what happens if a FedEx or UPS delivery shows up to a PO box street address that doesn't have SA enabled.

Will post back when I get a response email (they say 1 day)

[berserkerplanet]

Got a response from USPS. Completely useless (as I half expected)

They apparently don't know what their own Street Addressing program is, didn't know what I was talking about, and sent a totally unrelated blurb and a link to EDDM http://www.eddm.usps.com/

I responded with USPS links about SA to explain to them what their own program is, and quickly got a response that I should call general USPS customer support. I can already visualize how futile that would be, but may try it. Face to face with Postmaster might be another avenue.

Once again, if I find out anything more of use I'll post it.

[watchingbands]

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@richard1rst wrote:

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@gnarlodious wrote:

 I am unable to set my adress to what the Post Office recommends because eBay can parse out the address and blocks it when it contains a PO box. I tried all sorts of tricks to fool the parser, but then it aborts my edit and returns me to the street address.

---

I have received many orders from buyers showing both a P O Address and a street address on separate lines as shown by another poster.

On the other hand, if an item is so large that it becomes a post office oversized box then some sellers (myself included) will specify FedEx as the shipping method. And FedEx will not ship to a P O Box so I can not ship to any buyer showing only a P O Box on the particular item.

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My PO box wouldn't accept the package because I had the address like that. They said the post office, and the PO box are two completely seperate places.

[berserkerplanet]

If you are enrolled in the Street Addressing (SA) program and have that enhanced service attached to you PO Box, AND your PO is a location that participates in the program, you can street address non-USPS packages to come to your PO Box

(don't give a rats **** what your PO people said - they are probably as ill trained as the USPS technical people I'm trying to get to answer a couple of detail questions about Street Addressing and/or your PO isn't a participating location - see below)

You can't just up and start doing it - you have to fill out the official form https://www.usps.com/pobox/customer-agreement-for-premium-po-box-service-enhancements.pdf and it looks like maybe add the enhancement via your online USPS Account PO Box management (see my post #10 above)

When I enrolled in 2014 I just downloaded the form, filled it out, and turned it in at the PO counter (USPS online was comparatively primitive, and online PO Box management wasn't a thing then)

Go here for info about data files with lists of participating PO locations and capabilities, and other SA info.

[gnarlodious]

Tried that but the eBay address parser identifies it as a PO Box and refuses to enable the “Submit” button.

[berserkerplanet]

Have you looked at the links I provided above, and tried to determine if your PO has Street addressing available?

I believe you can find out by having an online USPS account, attaching your PO box to that account, then go to manage your PO Box and try to add the enhanced services. Or check the data files at the link I provided or ask your Postmaster.

IF SA is available in your town at your PO this is all a non-issue.