Sellers who refuse to send items to PO Box.

[lotzrgood]

Due to so much mail theft and identity theft, both Australia Post and the Police advise people to get a Post Office Box for safety and security. Then WHY do so many Ebay sellers now say they refuse to deliver to a post office box? 

A few years ago, I had some very important mail stolen from my home address mail box. Why? I had an Australia Post approved mail box, but mail delivery people would always leave mail half out of the (spring loaded) mail flap. When I complained to Aust Post I was told this rediculous reason - 'delivery people will not use 2 hands to put mail in boxes'. To put mail into my box you need one hand to prise open the strong flap (strong so as to stop people putting their hand in) and other hand to put the mail in. But our dear posties will only deliver mail with ONE hand. So they leave mail hanging through the slit. I was told that if I wanted to get my mail securely, to get a Post Office box. So I did.

So now many Ebay sellers will not deliver mail to my post office box 'due to security reasons'. HOW? WHY? When I go to my post office box I have to sign for many items. And as my work sees me away from home for many days at a time, I know my mail is held safely. Many items I buy from Ebay don't need to be signed for - so why can't they go to a safe post office box? What annoys me is that if I do give my home address, and I do need to sign for the item - if I am not home, they leave a card. And I have to drive down to the SAME post office where by box is, and wait in the queue for nearly 20 minutes, just to sign for the parcel. Something I would have to do if it was sent to my PO Box!! My incoming mail is FAR more secure sitting at my post box.

Also, my brother works doing FIFO in very remote sites. These sites do not have physical addresses - all goods go to a box at the nearest local post office. He is finding it increasingly hard to get things sent to him due to this silly seller requirement. Alot of sellers will lose buyers with this rediculous request. I can understand if a buer has nil or low feedback count, but with well established, good reputable buyers, why the problem?

[bbmk-mu-pswhy0]

What gets me is the way that eBay in some cases advertises some products with a "Buy Now" option on a screen showing nothing about delivery method / exceptions etc. If the item that I want is in Australia, I will select the "Buy Now" button, but I am not told until after committing to the purchase that the seller will not deliver to my PO Box. This to me is very underhand and misleading business practice.

I have had this happen to me a couple of times now, and I refuse to proceed with the sale under these circumstances. If that means I get banned from using eBay - so be it. There are plenty of other options available.

Unless there are legitimate circumstances why any purchase I make cannot be delivered to my PO Box (eg size, weight, classified or dangerous goods), then I refuse to deal with ANY supplier, eBay included, who will not deliver to my stated postal address.

[digital*ghost]

---

@bbmk-mu-pswhy0 wrote:

What gets me is the way that eBay in some cases advertises some products with a "Buy Now" option on a screen showing nothing about delivery method / exceptions etc. If the item that I want is in Australia, I will select the "Buy Now" button, but I am not told until after committing to the purchase that the seller will not deliver to my PO Box. This to me is very underhand and misleading business practice.

---

Look at the postage and payments tab, for your own sake as well as the seller's.

The info is there, it's up to you to make yourself aware of it before buying.

Not only that, if you use the "add to cart" option instead of "Buy it now", you can't even purchase an item if a PO box is your default delivery address and the seller won't post to them.

This is a situation you yourself can 100% avoid.

The postage options a seller provides is up to them, not you - it matters not whether you like, understand or agree with their decisions, it only matters that you respect them.

[bbmk-mu-pswhy0]

Yes - I have just learnt through reading through this post that I should not use the "Buy It Now" option and will shop via the "Cart" in future.

This however does not detract from the fact that the "Buy It Now" option which does not display delivery address exclusions until it is too late and the buyer has committed to the sale is questionable / misleading practice at best. I would more accurately describe the practice as fraudulent.

I have no beef with a seller who does not wish to deliver to a PO Box - I simply will not deal with them. But where I am not made aware of the seller's choice until after I have committed to the sale - either through the actions of the seller or eBay - then we have a problem.

[digital*ghost]

---

@bbmk-mu-pswhy0 wrote:

I have no beef with a seller who does not wish to deliver to a PO Box - I simply will not deal with them. But where I am not made aware of the seller's choice until after I have committed to the sale - either through the actions of the seller or eBay - then we have a problem.

---

You can check, though. It's right there, in the postage and payments tab. 

I agree it would be easier for all concerned if the prevention of purchase was an option with Buy it now as well as add to cart, but the info is still there. 

[davewil1964]

As d*g said - look at the postage and payments tab on the listing. It will mean you have to actually open the listing (maybe even read the description while you're there) but the information is available and accessible.

[countessalmirena]

Spoiler

So I’d found myself in this listing, see. I’d run there when I saw the Thugge boys heading my way with that purposeful stride that meant no good. I wasn’t up to fluttering my eyelashes at them and talking them out of giving me a nice round hole dead centre in the forehead, even if I had the time.

But I didn’t. I was in a hurry, looking at getting my order in without any lengthy delays. I saw the listing there in the search results, nice and shiny, and I knew I wanted it. Oh, yes, I wanted it real bad. The picture looked nice, and the seller’s feedback was a honey. I was sold. But just as I hit that nice blue button to buy, that’s when the Thugge boys showed up.

Well! I’d never jumped into a listing before. I tore my skirt and almost broke a heel steadying myself. There were all sorts of things lying about, most of them dusty and muddled up. I got a bit confused what with the sponsored items and the neon sign showing items frequently bought together, but finally got my bearings and turned to the item proper.

I hurried past the item specifics, casting a quick glance behind me to check that the Thugge boys hadn’t seen me go in. So far so good – I seemed to be safe. But you can bet I wasn’t hanging about; I ran as fast as my high heels would let me, right past the poster that said 2 Year Warranty. Now that was a sweet little bit of information. Maybe I should jump right in any nice-looking listings more often.

Just then I heard something that made my blood freeze.

“Thought you could hide, Dolly?”

It was Brutus Thugge. I’d know that gravelly voice anywhere. I stopped and turned to face him. He had his gun pointing right at me. I tried not to let the fear show on my face.

“Brutus, I should have known you’d be clever enough to find me,” I said softly, in as even a tone as I could manage. I even dredged up a sweet smile.

“Don’t try sweet-talking me, Dolly,” he said roughly. “You’ve done all the running you’re going to do. It’s time to pay your dues.”

“Well, how about I pay in kind?” I murmured. I kept my voice steady, and said, “I can cut you in on a sweet deal that’ll get you more money than you know what to do with.”

“What sort of deal?”

I had him. I didn’t think it’d be this easy, but I knew I had to clinch this before little brother Vermin Thugge turned up. I let my smile widen.

“You see, I have access to some warehouses in Chullora,” I breathed, and Brutus came in closer to hear me.

“Chullora? And what you got in those warehouses, Dolly?” Oh, he was hooked.

“Why, all sorts of things, brought here by China Post, coming in on pallets... You wouldn’t believe the percentage, but let me tell you...”

Wham!

I knocked him out with my handbag, and he fell flat down on the ground. It was the work of a moment to relieve him of his gun. Then I looked for somewhere to put him on ice, out of sight of Vermin. There was a strange little building to my right, with a sign written on it in blue. “Postage and payments”, it said. That’d do.

It wasn’t until I’d dragged Brutus Thugge inside the building that I saw the prominent 6-foot display that said, “Posting to: Australia. Excludes: PO box.”

“What!?” I shrieked. “Not to PO boxes? But I want this item sent to my post office box address!”

The dirty rotten scoundrel who owned this listing had the gall to tuck this info inside this building!

I looked down at the gun in my hand. One way or another, the listing owner was going to learn to play it my way. No one – but no one – put one over on Dolly.

[maranock]

HaHaHa, How much coffee did you drink Countess? way too much by my guess, Haha

[craigbau]

This is a big topic and i have only skimmed it but it does provide some explanation behind what seems like insanity to me.

What i haven't seen written and confuses me is why sellers would so readily push customers away?  Most items i want to buy there are multiple listings and usually at least one will send to a PO Box, its just annoying having to open each item to find those sellers that will. If i was a seller using auspost, I would put in the image "will send to PO Box" - I would certainly pick such an item if at a reasonable price and then stop looking - that one feature would secure my business and your competitors would no longer be a threat because i have better things to do with my life that scrawl through item after item to check if PO box excluded. Also I like to support those i think are trying to do the right thing and help customers - especially rural australia who often don't have postal delivery.

Would be great as a search option if ebay allowed you to search for those that will post to your 'registered address'. As hard as people in my street tried Auspost will not deliver to us - 14km from Adelaide CBD. Apparently too dangerous for our delicate posties.... but ok for my kids to play on and me to kick the footy with them (its a sealed 'dead end' road but many years ago unsealed). So therefore my paypal registered, bank registered etc etc address is a PO Box. I have had items sent to friends houses which have no links with me and could be a complete stranger for all they know and then pick up from them...... that seems to be ok with sellers!! I totally understand if a courier is involved and then I can give them an address for that, but if they post it will never get through because that address doensn't exist to Auspost. Every last small item that has been sent to friends has been via Auspost.

I know there are specific circumstances described here, but for the 4 small plastic clips that I want to buy right now from an Australian seller, and i can't see that it would be economical to use a courier for something that could fit in a normal envelope, I am totally bamboozled why they would turn my business away and not send to a secure PO Box. 

Something was said about banks outlining PO Boxes related to fraud, but i am pretty sure i had to show photo ID including my drivers license physical address (lot no. ......) to be able to get it and that would no doubt be held in official records. And yet as said - seller happy to send to total stranger address?

[digital*ghost]

Sellers know they will lose some customers if they don't / won't send to a PO box - they make a conscious choice, and there could be many reasons why that choice is made. 

With regards to intention to reduce the risk of fraud - you may have had to show ID when you got your PO box, but you don't show any scrap of evidence to a seller of who you are, especially when you use a PO box as the delivery address on a site like eBay, because the seller gets no verifiable details from you at all. It's not like they can phone the post office where you hold it and ask them if the name they were given is the same as the actual PO box holder. Sellers get minimal data about the person they're entering a financial transaction with, and believe it or not, these days there's greater risk for sellers than there is buyers, so if a seller decides to reduce some of that risk, who can blame them? 

One thing I found interesting after I set up my own website was that I get a fraud risk analysis for each and every order, it tells me a lot of things based on the data provided by the buyer, and asseses whether the order is low, medium or high risk for fraud. Sellers on eBay have no access to such data on a per-transaction basis, they are (potentially) penalised (sometimes by eBay, sometimes by the buyer, sometimes both) if they get an order that feels sketchy and want to cancel it, so they then must assess risk on statistical data, and make their decisions both accordingly and pre-emptively. If it so happens that sending to PO boxes involves a slightly higher risk of fraud, then you will absolutely get some sellers who won't post to them because of that. 

With regards to posting to a friend's address - how is a seller supposed to know you're not at the address you're sending it to? How is a seller supposed to know you didn't buy it as a gift and are getting it sent directly to the recipient? Most don't look at anything more than the delivery address provided at checkout, and as mentioned above, even if they did and felt uneasy about sending to an address that appears to not be the buyer's primary postal address, their options do withdraw from the transaction contain other risks (and not only is there no way to avoid transactions where the item is being posted to a different address, even if there were, buyers could easily get around it). 

Some sellers don't send anything by untracked means (another pre-emptive decision that reduces their risks), which immediately rules out the option for Aus Post large letter, some sellers get much better rates from couriers which means about 80% of the buying population benefits from that  - and sometimes it's not even always about getting tracking on the package, quite often it's about just having a consistent and streamlined order packing / posting process. When I make a business decision or purchase, I'm not always looking at 20 different options and picking each one that best suits specific things- no, there are times when it's much better for me (and my customers) if I narrow it down to the single most versatile option, and then get the most I possibly can out of that option, either for the sake of ease, or to get the benefit of ecomomy of scale.

The $$ amount of the postage is (often) irrelevant to a seller, because the buyer pays that, what matters to them (sometimes) is not having a dozen different postage methods, packages types and sizes, where every single listing is tailored to the cheapest or best postage method, and every sale that comes in has to be individually asssessed then treated differently depending on the item, the best postage cost, and where the buyer's address is - that would be true insanity. 

[dazzledayz]

Digi, I only use AP ATM so have never tried but maybe you could advise:

Is it at all possible to have multiple delivery methods?

By this I mean both courier and AP?

If PO box is the address it goes AP at AP rate but if address is street the it can go courier at courier rate.

Similarly, couldn't postcodes be used to also display differing rates depending on location ie AP or Courier?

Isn't this what postage rate tables are supposed to enable?

When I was investigating using couriers a while back I created a spreadsheet that would read a postcode and select either AP or Courier as the preferred option for  given location.