Will Sellers Ship To a PO Box?

[transplantn]

I recently had something I was going to ship via USPS stolen from my front porch while I was home so I got a PO box with an included street address.  WIll I have any problems from people not wanting to ship to a PO box? I can't take chances with ppl stealing incoming or outgoing shipments.  

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth · Accepted solution]

Many sellers who refuse to ship to PO boxes copy that from other people without understanding why. PO boxes are more secure than houses AND with the street address I believe even UPS and Fedex now ship to them.

Whenever you see someone shipping USPS and refusing to ship to PO boxes that may be a seller you don't want to deal with anyway.

[transplantn]

Good to hear this. I'd rather deal with an occasional unwilling seller than an occasional thief. 🙂

[phcd1]

It's best to ask each seller that question. I have PO boxes blocked, but that's because I ship FedEx/UPS a lot and eBay's label system won't take a PO box with either of those. Yes, I know how to get around it, but it may void (what little) seller protection I have.

[lintbrush*]

The only issue is with FedEx and UPS.  Regular Ground or Air doesn't ship to a PO Box.  If they use SurePost/SmartPost, a PO Box is fine.  They hand off to USPS for the final leg of the journey.  (It's been said to be a nightmare with fragiles though)

Some sellers who use USPS will block PO Boxes because they may not know any better.  It's an option to block and thus they might think there's a legit reason to block.

If you do have both PO Box and street address on the label, if the sellers ships UPS or FedEx, it will go to the street address.

[phcd1]

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@lintbrush* wrote:

The only issue is with FedEx and UPS.  Regular Ground or Air doesn't ship to a PO Box.  If they use SurePost/SmartPost, a PO Box is fine.  They hand off to USPS for the final leg of the journey.  (It's been said to be a nightmare with fragiles though)

Some sellers who use USPS will block PO Boxes because they may not know any better.  It's an option to block and thus they might think there's a legit reason to block.

If you do have both PO Box and street address on the label, if the sellers ships UPS or FedEx, it will go to the street address.

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You do run the risk by changing the buyers "ship to" address, you might lose a INR case because you changed it. I've had to eat expensive shipping costs 1 too many times because of PO boxes, it's now blocked. If someone ask, I don't mind adding it, but it might increase shipping costs depending on the item.

https://community.ebay.com/t5/Selling/Buyer-with-PO-Box-Address/td-p/25557330

[hyperrush]

"delivery in po" the tracking says delivered, it won't make de difference.

[phcd1]

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@hyperrush wrote:

"delivery in po" the tracking says delivered, it won't make de difference.

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You (the seller) changed the "ship to" address. Saying that if it shows deleivered, you're good is like saying if I changed the address to my friends house (in the same buyers zip code) and it shows delivered, you're good. It doesn't work that way in a INR case. That's why you get a warning from eBay when you do that. Have I done it? Sure. Would I always do it? Why should I? Its put me (the seller) at risk, I don't need to. 

[the*dog*ate*my*tablecloth]

I don't see where lintbrush told anyone to change the address? They said if both the po box and street address are on the payment that couriers will deliver to the street address.

[missjen831]

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@phcd1 wrote:

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@hyperrush wrote:

"delivery in po" the tracking says delivered, it won't make de difference.

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You (the seller) changed the "ship to" address. Saying that if it shows deleivered, you're good is like saying if I changed the address to my friends house (in the same buyers zip code) and it shows delivered, you're good. It doesn't work that way in a INR case. That's why you get a warning from eBay when you do that. Have I done it? Sure. Would I always do it? Why should I? Its put me (the seller) at risk, I don't need to. 

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Actually it does work that way in an INR. As long as the delivery zip code is the same as the buyers zip code, the seller wins the INR. Because the tracking only ever shows the city and zip not the actual address.

[duchess-at-speakeasy]

What is "a PO box with an included street address"?

Do you mean you specify the PO box on one line and your home street address on another line? That's OK if the zip code is identical -- but the zip+4 won't be.

Do you mean you specify the PO box and the PO's street address? That's OK, too -- many PO's do offer a courier delivery option to their box holders, mostly towns where there's no USPS street delivery or as a service to local businesses that don't have a defined physical address.

Or do you mean you rented a box at a PMB -- which gives you a street address and a suite number? The words "PO box" are not applicable and must not be used.

Some sellers do block PO boxes even if they use USPS. That's really stupid, but they do! Many decades ago, PO boxes were opened by fly-by-night scammers -- receive the money or net 30 merchandise and then scram. In more recent years, PO box holders must provide verifiable information. In fact, most businesses rent a PO box for ALL mail other than items that must be delivered to a loading dock.

~~C~~

[postingid2017]

When I was actively selling and switched to FedEx - I put that in the listing and asked potential buyers to please let me know so that I could get an accurate USPS quote to them.  I have no problem shipping to a PO Box.  Maybe the larger sellers might have an issue because they may have the volume to use FedEx/UPS.  

[7606dennis]

You're probably going to have to ask the individual seller if they will make an exception for you if they indicate in the listing that they do not ship to PO Boxes.

[dvrmasik]

Good to know that I am not the only one whose packages were stolen as well. Have seen a lot of similar threads lately. I do feel sorry for everybody, cause we are the onlyones to foot the bill twice.... Funny that nobody is shaming the OP that he / she did not "secured" his porch. So, dear OP, you had to foresee that some low-life thieves were after your Ebay purchases.
I was advised to get a P.O. BOX as well, but now I see that It's not that simple.

[mocb]

All sellers will ship to the physical address of the PO where the PO Box is located. BUYERS:  Change your USPS PO Box address, dropping the PO from the address, just using Box xxxx under the physical address of the PO where your box is located. Also, change the ZIP code to the ZIP for the physical address of your PO, which will likely be different from the zip for the PO box.  This will work for EVERY seller.