Online purchases with different bill to, ship to

[VanKitten]

So, I have encountered a problem.

I have a mailing service in Florida.   My credit cards have my billing address as the one in Florida.   

But..I am in Colorado.    

I have moved twice in the last 2 months, and will probably move again in Sept.  (long story, but getting more than 1 month without a lease has been a big problem for me...RV won't be ready till oCtober)

Ok...so, in the last couple weeks I have had online systems refuse my credit card...in checking with my card company, they assure me they never even received the contact for authorization.    Obviously, the online software is preventing me from using my card.

I had this issue with AT&T recently.   (See my posting under $20 per month AT&T in communication forum). Now, I have had it with a classic car carpet seller.
Unlike AT&T, classic car had intelligent people to talk with me...and the heart of the matter is that the visa/master card processing systems flag purchases with difference ship to and bill to
The assumption is that it is fraud.

As I launch on a permanent on the road life...this will be the only process for online purchases.    How will I over come this?    I managed to get the purchase done with classic car...AT&T seems to be completely hopelessly.    I can expect this issue will come up over and over

How do you folks handle this?   Do you change you address on file with the credit card each time you move to a new location?   What about bill to address that is General delivery to the local post office?      Is that even a thing?

 

[Scott7022]

I had this issue with Amazon. I needed something and when I bought it and tried to ship it to myself in Georgia (the country) it didn't go through. Calling either my CC or Amazon is a pain. Have to have a good enough Skype connection or use a cell at x huge per minute costs. So I thought about it and then did the exact same purchase 10 minutes later as a gift purchase, filled out the gift card "Happy Birthday Amazon Workaround", and presto package prime sent: four days to Georgia.
No duty No taxes. Need a friend in country to receive it, but.

Most of us have two legal names Scott Douglas, Eva Godot, etc etc. So Scott Covey buying a gift for Douglas Covey general delivery Las Vegas Nevada should work out fine on Amazon.

Russians usually only have name and surname. They are always asking why I have a middle name. I always answer how many Sergie, Dimitri, Igor's do you know? Five six is the answer. then I say WHY don't you guys have two names. Instead I have Lada Dimitri, Beach Dimitri, Moscow Dimitri all to keep you sneakers buggers apart!!

 

[Queen]

^^^ Same. Zero issues when I check the gift option. I send things to my great-niece all the time, when I had a hitch trying to do a separate address for myself, I clicked gift and wrote a happy birthday message.

 

[MrNoodly]

My billing address is in SD and I've been at a friend's place in CO the past couple of months. I've ordered several things from Amazon and Rock Auto with no problems. I did the same thing when I was here last year. I was also at another friend's place in AZ this winter when I ordered from Zappos. No problem. I had things delivered to my sister's place when I was there. No problem. That's been my experience for the four years I've been vandwelling. Maybe it's because when I opened my account I told my bank (Wells Fargo) I'd be traveling a lot. Maybe it's because I have a history of using my card all over the west (gas, groceries, etc.)

 

[highdesertranger]

I haven't had a problem yet. I have stuff sent to my Arizona address all the time and my CC's still have my CA address. I have also had stuff sent to me in Oregon. however I notice some sites state they will not ship to a different address. that's a good tip about saying it's a gift. highdesertranger

 

[tx2sturgis]

All you guys sending 'gifts' are sure welcome to use MY mailing address.

 

[VanKitten]

Mr noodly, The vendor is never making any contact for authorization. Wouldn't matter if is is BOA, Wellsfargo, credit union, or what. Vendor does not even make the contact.

Classic car told me the clearing house for visa and master card are pushing back on the vendors to make sure it isn't fraud. Meaning, you have to call and try to sort it out with the vendor after calling the bank to learn if the really denied the card or if this was a case of the clearing house refusing..and pushing back. Then, call the vendor and sort it out....or in the case of AT&T waste a morning and give up.

 

[CityWoman]

I work in retail and the company I work for is small but has an online presence as well as brick and mortar.  A lot of our customers have more than one home.  They will have things shipped to their home out of state to avoid NYC sales tax, but will put it on their credit card that has a billing zip code for elsewhere.  As long as the billing zip code associated with the card matches what is on record, the charges go through our Processing Company.  The only time we won't approve a different Ship To is if it's international.  

I don't know why these merchants are giving people such a  hard time - if sending to an address other than the billing address isn't allowed, why even provide an option for a different Ship To?  Having more than one residence isn't that unusual.  And what about business accounts?  Are cards attached to a business granted more leeway with these merchants?

Some ideas:
Keep asking to escalate your complaint to the next higher level of management at the merchant to help you resolve this;
Change your address with the credit card company each time you move;
Send packages only as gifts;
Send packages c/o ("Care of") an address;
Use PayPal; or
If you'll be staying somewhere for a length of time, open a bank account locally and use the debit card attached to that account, so your Bill To and Ship To will match.

I don't know what else could be done. I can understand your frustration.

 

[VanKitten]

This appears to be only happening online. This appears to be only happening with certain vendors who are using a visa/master card security clearhouse.

The clearhouse is bouncing the charge back to the vendor without ever trying to process the charge. Presumption of fraud. Push back to the vendor to verify.

Not every vendor is using this sort of clearhouse/security....but I suspect it will be more common as hackers figure out new ways to steal.

I had this issue come up again with rearviewcamera.com. They took care of it on the phone.
I think I will just skip placing any orders online...just google to get the phone number...since I am going to be calling them anyway

 

[akrvbob]

Amazon handles it perfectly. I have probably 100 addresses stored in my account and I can use any one of them at any time.

 

[mpruet]

I have a mailing service in Florida.   My credit cards have my billing address as the one in Florida.   

But..I am in Colorado.   

How do you folks handle this?   Do you change you address on file with the credit card each time you move to a new location?   What about bill to address that is General delivery to the local post office?      Is that even a thing?

I don't.  I have all of the things that bill me such as credit cards, etc. use ebills.  That way instead of mailing me a paper bill, I receive an email.  Also I use online payments for just about anything.  I don't think that I have anything which only sends a paper bill.  This enables me to pay my bills online no matter where I am located.

 

[CityWoman]

I don't.  I have all of the things that bill me such as credit cards, etc. use ebills.  That way instead of mailing me a paper bill, I receive an email.  Also I use online payments for just about anything.  I don't think that I have anything which only sends a paper bill.  This enables me to pay my bills online no matter where I am located.

????
But RoamingKat isn't talking about having a problem with how or where she gets her bill.

She's talking about the fact that certain online vendors use a credit card processing company that will not approve the transaction because her shipping address is different from her billing address, and the credit card processor is rejecting the sale without even communicating with her bank first. So she has to jump through hoops with the vendors to have her orders shipped to her. That is the problem she's experienced recently.

 

[VanKitten]

Thanks Bob. I haven't placed an order with Amazon since this bouncing around from sofa to motel, etc began.

Since I am having everything delivered to the address where the RV is..makes sense to save address and be able to use it each time.

Amazon is clearly not one of the vendors using a third party clearinghouse.

 

[Land-Pilot]

Go online to or call your credit card company or bank before making a purchase and tell them where you're at travelling so they can expect a purchase from that area.