As everyone else has said, general rule of thumb is to Google the information they HAVE provided in order to figure their address out.
Only once was I unable to do that, because the buyer put their suburb as Sydney, and their street name was in four different Sydney suburbs, none of which matched the postcode they had provided. In other words, it was a total dog's breakfast, so that person's order wasn't posted until they figured out where they lived and were able to communicate it to me satisfactorily. 
@purplemon18 wrote:I got a huffy response about it having not been a problem before.
My reply - "Update your details to avoid it ever being a problem again, either for a seller attempting to discern the correct details, or for your package being delayed because Australia Post's automated sorting systems reject unrecognisable / non-existant addresses".
People can huff (and puff) at me all they like, if they don't want to provide the correct details first time 'round, I'll just 
People acting like it's an imposition to do the one thing they need to in order to ensure their package gets to them just blow my mind. 
@digital*ghost wrote:
@purplemon18 wrote:I got a huffy response about it having not been a problem before.
My reply - "Update your details to avoid it ever being a problem again, either for a seller attempting to discern the correct details, or for your package being delayed because Australia Post's automated sorting systems reject unrecognisable / non-existant addresses".
People can huff (and puff) at me all they like, if they don't want to provide the correct details first time 'round, I'll just
People acting like it's an imposition to do the one thing they need to in order to ensure their package gets to them just blow my mind.
People's communication skills seem to be going down the gurgler, or they just can't be bothered taking the few seconds required to do things properly. I have to wonder how many people even know what their actual address is, or how it should be written. A lot just don't seem to care, but of course it's always someone else's fault if their items don't arrive.
You may remember that I queried a 'letter' going to a parcel collect address recently. The buyer explained to me that she lived in an apartment with tiny letterboxes and that in the end the post office set up a parcel collect service for everyone and the postie only delivers small envelopes to their letterboxes now and everything else to their parcel lockers. It works better for everyone, including the post office because they don't have to waste time on complaints.
@brerrabbit585 wrote:People's communication skills seem to be going down the gurgler, or they just can't be bothered taking the few seconds required to do things properly. I have to wonder how many people even know what their actual address is, or how it should be written. A lot just don't seem to care, but of course it's always someone else's fault if their items don't arrive.
You may remember that I queried a 'letter' going to a parcel collect address recently. The buyer explained to me that she lived in an apartment with tiny letterboxes and that in the end the post office set up a parcel collect service for everyone and the postie only delivers small envelopes to their letterboxes now and everything else to their parcel lockers. It works better for everyone, including the post office because they don't have to waste time on complaints.
I remember being taught how to write and format addresses on envelopes at school, from grade 2 through to about grade 5 where it became a simple given you knew already (I'm getting older, this was back in the 80's ), along with many other tasks that were just every day things (at the time) like writing cheques, filling out desposit / withdrawl slips.
I don't think these things are taught in schools anymore (more's the pity), because if it was, all those situations where someone is presented with having to put in a suburb and / or a city, you'd think they'd stop and go "well, this isn't my actual postal address so there's going to be a problem if I put that info there" (at least, I just know it was my first thought when I was prompted (*required) to input a suburb and city the first time. If I can leave one blank I do that, if I can't I usually just repeat the suburb - I do get a few addresses come through with the suburb repeated, or "N/A" written there, but they're few and far between). But anyway, this is why I personally think blaming PayPal (et al) and their address formatting / fields is a bit erroneous - yes, they sometimes prompt for "city" but anyone who is somewhat practised at postal addresses will adjust accordingly.
I always worry a bit when I get addresses that are clearly for a large apartment building, so the parcel collect solution sounds like a good idea. I don't see any reason why letters can't be delivered to them under normal circumstances TBH, maybe letter prices don't include the cost of operating them, but I'm doubtful looking up the alternate addresses and redirecting, or returning to sender is any more cost effective than just delivering to the original parcel locker etc. 
