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?

[digital*ghost]

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@dazzledayz wrote:

Is it at all possible to have multiple delivery methods?

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Yes, a seller just has to weigh up the pros and cons (where applicable), and the implementation will just depend on what works best for any given seller, or what is practical (i.e. it's a really subjective thing, in some ways - one seller might easily dedicate time and resources to have a wide variety of options for buyers or for themselves, and be happy to do so, while for others it's either not practical, or not desirable, and that's ok too - I mean things like where volume discounts start comning in to play, as the more diversified the services a seller uses are, the less leverage or bargaining power they have with any given service).

I know some sellers just do free or flat rate for postage, use a courier for all major metro, non PO box / parcel locker type addresses, and send by Aus Post to all other addresses (costs are covered overall, but postage is typically viewed as a single line expense by these kind of sellers, so while the parcels sent via Aus Post tend to cost them more, it doesn't cost the buyer more, and the sellers will typically average out their postage costs and work that into their flat rate, or item prices - if item prices, some might have 80% of the average cost worked in, others 150%). 

Rate tables are more geared towards sellers using couriers, because the rates are by region (postcode), enabling a seller to charge higher rates to those areas where their courier will attract higher fees, due to distance and weight, so it's not possible to have multiple rates to the same postcode, but if you worked it out beforehand and applied the best available prices to postcode regions from your location, then it could work like that for street and business addresses. PO boxes and parcel lockers could still throw a spanner in the works - if parcel lockers had independent postcodes that made them a unique "region" (for the purposes of rate tables), then someone like me could use them to ensure a buyer providing a parcel locker address (for example) was charged Aus Post parcel rates. 

[dazzledayz]

Thanks Digi, I didn't think ebay would be capable of handling something that useful.

[bigblockfxstb]

Its a joke now and so anoying i simply dont buy from sellers unless they ship to my pobox. Far safer than letter box and not going to sit at home waiting for a no show delivery

[m.french1968]

Bloody redicdoulous this practice should be illegal i currently live in Rainbow Beach Queensland where their is no home delivery of mail so everyone gets their mail and parcels from their post office boxes .The Australian government should step in and ban this practice .

[k1ooo-slr-sales]

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@m.french1968 wrote:

Bloody redicdoulous this practice should be illegal i currently live in Rainbow Beach Queensland where their is no home delivery of mail so everyone gets their mail and parcels from their post office boxes .The Australian government should step in and ban this practice .

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I too live in an area with no street side delivery of mail.  Anything addressed to my residential address is held at the local agency (a golf clubhouse).  As I have a PO Box there they just card the item and I collect at the time they are open.

In my experience, most of the sellers who will not ship to a PO Box are overseas sellers.  No amount of Australian legislation banning this practice would work as it would not be enforceable.

There are ways around it.  I once had my surname on the order as McBox79 and the street address for the golf clubhouse.  I did let the volunteers who man the PO agency know to expect the item.  Looked like this and worked a treat:

C McBox79

356 Golfcourse St

Mytown 3456

Spoiler

by the way, my Box is not Box 79 and the street is not Golfcourse Rd, and there is no Mytown in my area.

Spoiler

just maintaining some of the mystery around my real life identity

Spoiler

a sort of ‘eBay man of mystery’

[davewil1964]

Should they also force Australia Post to accept deliveries from couriers for free? At the moment, AP charges couriers to drop at their outlets. Are you prepared to pay the significant extra costs?

[digital*ghost]

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@m.french1968 wrote:

Bloody redicdoulous this practice should be illegal i currently live in Rainbow Beach Queensland where their is no home delivery of mail so everyone gets their mail and parcels from their post office boxes .The Australian government should step in and ban this practice .

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Darn right - anything that doesn't accommodate you personally should be illegal! 

Let's lobby the government. 

[lyndal1838]

[imastawka]

Spoiler

[padi*0409]

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@digital*ghost wrote:

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Let's lobby the government. 

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It's time to make a stand on this heinous behaviour Digi