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I have been having this problem and cant seen to find the cause of it, because everyone is blaming it on someone else.
I have lived in the same house for 20 years and I have never had a problem getting things shipped here. Since I have been buying things off of ebay and using paypal, I now have a problem. I suspect it is how their computer programs handle zip codes.
In ebay and paypal my correct address is listed. My Town does not have its own zip code. Both UPS and FEDEX have marked my packages as undeliverable because of "cant find address" or "wrong zipcode". After I finally get the packages, I notice that my street address is correct except instead of my Town, the town that the post office (and zip) is located in is listed. I assume this is the problem, but cant imagine this makes my packages undeliverable.
I discussed this with ebay/paypal the last time and they blamed UPS. Now it has just happened with FEDEX.
I would like to get at the root of the problem. I havent sold on ebay, so I am wondering...does the seller get my shipping info from ebay? If I pay by paypal, does paypal send the info? Could ebay or paypals computers automatically change my Town to match the zip code? As I said, my address is correct in my account and on my receipts...but somehow the Town gets changed.
Thanks for any help. This is getting very frustrating when it takes 2 weeks to get a package.
John
Oh, to make this even more complicated, the last items I ordered from the same company on the same day were sent in 2 boxes and I had a problem with both boxes. When I finally got them, one was addressed to the town that my post office is located in, the other was sent to a town with a different zip about 30 miles away.

[This message has been edited by Vermonter (edited 01-13-2008).]

I guess nobody here has had this problem. I spoke with FEDEX and think I know what is going on, so I thought Id post it in case it will help someone else.
This problem happens when 2 or more towns share a zip code. On many computer programs, when something is ordered it changes your town name to the town that the post office is located in. The package gets shipped and the driver cant find your house because they are in the wrong town. The FEDEX guy said this costs them a lot of time $$ and loss of reputation. I dont know why this cant be corrected, but here is how you can prevent it:
Most forms for shipping have Address 1 and Address 2. Fill in both fields with your actual address. Address 1 may default to the town that the post office is located in, but Address 2 wont change. The driver will then know where you are located.
John

i have had about 350 transactions on ebay....about 320 have been shipped either way using usps (and cant remember a single inncident using them).....about 30 have been shipped using either fedex or ups (i would guess 10 problems).....my theory is that your mailman comes to your house every day and is familiar with your town and neighborhood....they can correct problems before they happen sometimes....the fedex and ups drivers are usually pulling out of the driveway before you can get to the door (always in a hurry)

just my 2 cents

Regardless of what ebay lists as my address, I want it shipped to the following,

vermonter ***

*** ***St

***town, **state

*** zip


Include that at end of auction and tell them why.. it should get to you..

Dodogas,
How do you do that, just message the seller on ebay when you win? Thermo, youre probably right, but you usually dont have a choice of shippers when you buy on ebay. Thanks for the input.
John

John when you pay, whether with paypal or other methods there is a message box you can use that the seller will see. I have used it a couple of times when I needed an item sent to my office or when I was sending a check or M.O. to the seller. Hopefully you won't have this problem any more.

Thanks again. The package arrived today and after looking at the shipping label, the wrong town wasnt the problem, the guy got my street address wrong (635 instead of 535). See my new post for further details of the other problems.

There are a couple of issues where I can speak from experience.

When a seller gets a Paypal payment, the buyer's shipping address is either confirmed or unconfirmed by Paypal. Paypal checks the address against a charge card or bank account to make it a confirmed address. If the address is confirmed, the seller must ship to that exact address to be covered by Paypal's Seller Protection Policy:

"When your transaction is eligible for Seller Protection Policy coverage, you won’t be held liable if your buyer files a claim or chargeback indicating that they didn’t receive the item or the payment was not authorized. PayPal will cover the costs associated with these types of claims or chargebacks."

So it is in the best interest of the seller to ship to the confirmed address even if the buyer suggests to ship somewhere else. Remember the big problem is that a scammer will usually charge a purchase on somebody else's credit card and then want it shipped to a third party address.

The other issue is the automatically "standardized" address. Many times I have typed in an address with the Postal Service Web site only to get it changed to their standardized address when it gets processed. I usually assume that they have "corrected" the address, but there are probably mistakes made as well sometimes.

Check the standardization of your address by typing it into the form on the following link to see how it is processed.

http://zip4.usps.com/zip4/welcome.jsp



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Jim "Oldgas" Potts
Your host and moderator

Thanks Jim, but my credit card address is the same as my home address, and I checked my address with the USPS link, and its my home address also, so I still think the guy at Fedex is correct about ebay/paypal and other programs using a default address to the zip code. Its insane, makes no sense, and nobody seems to want to do anything about it. I said to the guy at Fedex, this has to cost your company millions, and I would think you could take the ebay/paypal guys to shoot a round of golf and solve the problem on the 19th hole he said: "My department was created for this problem, its job security for me." haha.