Delivery Address

[DCM]

Whats the law on parcel delivery, if the buyer wishes to have a parcel delivered to an alternative address, can a retailer refuse?

[Darren Boyle]

Short answer is it is not law, but some banks insist that goods are only sent to the address the payment card is registered too. In many cases it is at the discretion of the retailer, in some instances (as with us) certain banks and card processors "insist" on it and will decline a transaction if it is not going to the cards registered address. Long and short of it is, that it is good for maximum security for both the customer and retailer but not always as convenient (cant have it both ways I guess)...

[DCM]

I shall remember that, when a customer asks for a shell to be sprayed, and where to send them to, to buy it, then.

As I have never had a customer comment about it, until today.

[Darren Boyle]

I shall remember that, when a customer asks for a shell to be sprayed, and where to send them to, to buy it, then.

Some shops do it some dont, you will just need to check before you send them somwhere (nice and easy :thumbsup:), security was our priority (as it is with most people) and stops us from this, but many stores less worried about security will send your goods anywhere you want them to.......

When we send customers shells to Custom Blitz, we send the shells to Graham without even charging the customer to get around it, then when the painted body comes back they get charged for the paint scheme and body itself and gets sent to them direct from us, which works well.

[DCM]

I won't even comment on it then, just I shall remember, when a customer wants a shell, to tell them to go to the site advertiser who is JE Spares, or Microtech, as I have never had a that issue from either.

[DCM]

just to let people know, who may be interested, a shell was ordered from JE Spares (http://www.jespares.com), and delivered to the painter, next day, which saves a little on postage.

[Big G]

our card payments were getting declined all over the shop when we 1st moved to the current system because the spelling was slightly different between what the customer had told us and what the bank had on file. silly little things like that so we turned off the address check.

we still ask for the address the card is registered to, but it's not confirmed. although the other day I had a customer who's card was being declined by our site because of it.

But as long as your card address is listed on your customer address you can put whatever address you want in the delivery address box.

I guess that's just our system.

[DCM]

Thats how I have found most shops, even big shops.

[Darren Boyle]

As I had said above "every" store regardless of the industry they are in uses a different processing system. Some stores do not even know they are breaking the credit card rules of their terminal vendor/supplier when they send to "anywhere" and if they realised the potenetial consequnces if they were caught I think that many store owners would think twice about doing it too. When you have had to personnally deal with over £3000 of fraudulent chargebacks in one calendar month (as we had to a few years back) which was a direct result of gods being sent to ficticous alternate address's you would then FULLY understand why some stores stick to the processing rules strictly, to protect THEIR customer from fraud AND indeed themselves too. It is all too easy to forget these things and put your own convenience first when not realising the full picture of how some business work in these situations......

[DCM]

Sooooo, all the other big online stores, when you pay by debit/credit card, you put ALL your card details in, including the 3 digit security code on the rear, give the card holders home address, including postal code, and then ask if the delivery address is different, and accept it, are ALL breaking the 'Credit Card' rules?

[Darren Boyle]

Sooooo, all the other big online stores, when you pay by debit/credit card, you put ALL your card details in, including the 3 digit security code on the rear, give the card holders home address, including postal code, and then ask if the delivery address is different, and accept it, are ALL breaking the 'Credit Card' rules? You are slowly grasping it!!! If that is what they have signed up for with their card issuer, then yes... The same reason many LARGE retail chains (not just model shops) do the very same thing...

Later this year, it will also become "illegal" in terms of law (so we are told) for the 3 digit security code to be submitted online, I really have no idea how the banks intend to get around that one since it is essential for validating the card.

At the end of the day, all stores are different. We process around 300 - 500 orders a week, they all go to the address they are verified to and the very vast majority of customers are most happy with the service they are provided with and recieve their goods in a timely fashion safe in the knowledge that someone has not pinched or cloned their card and is having it away with their money and having goods shipped to an alternate address. To US as a store that is paramount (the added security that is) since you will be amazed how many card companies will NOT pay out on fraud if the goods are not sent to where they should be.

[Big G]

there are rules on how you are allowed to keep details, etc. PCI compliance I think it's called. With our system your card details are turned into a Hash which looks a bit like 8c424140-8f56-df21-8df3-0014222200e5 which means we can recharge the card, but never know the numbers. (btw that's not a real customers hash lol).

we do these 'standing orders' that allow us to send goods every week/month and recharge the customer every month/6 weeks.

Even if our system did get hacked that hash has our merchant details encoded into it so no one else can use it.

[DCM]

Could you post a link to the relevant regulations, that control the use of card verification and rules over the use of 'alternative delivery' address?? As I still can't see how, if you have ALL the details, the address gets verified by the card processor, and as long as it clears, the payment is done.

[DaveG28]

I may be speaking out of turn here, but the nub of the issue may be he card companies. They may well tell shops it's ok to accept alternate delivery addresses but then not cover fraud in such instances.

I remember when chip and pin came in, and an end date for old style cards was announced, we were told by the major card companies that unless we carried on accepting none chip and pin after the date they'd remove their services from us, but also that if we did accept old style they would not offer the fraud protection anymore, crazy!

[Darren Boyle]

I may be speaking out of turn here, but the nub of the issue may be he card companies. They may well tell shops it's ok to accept alternate delivery addresses but then not cover fraud in such instances.

I remember when chip and pin came in, and an end date for old style cards was announced, we were told by the major card companies that unless we carried on accepting none chip and pin after the date they'd remove their services from us, but also that if we did accept old style they would not offer the fraud protection anymore, crazy!
You are 100% spot on....

[BagofSkill]

I've got to say that I've bought several times from DMS in the past and also not bought some things based on thier shipping policy. If it's small stuff that can get through my home letterbox, no problem, but after buying a kit and going through the hassle and delay of waiting for the weekend to collect from the post centre, I learnt my lesson.
If it's against DMS' policy to sent to an alternate address that's up to them and you can't really complain about it- can you? It's thier call based on thier banking partners conditions. That's an issue based around unauthorised and undelivered goods and financial liability which as Darren said can leave the shop open to being substancially out of pocket!

That said, I have bought from many other shops including for example John Lewis, Argos and a dozen hobby shops + ebay, and alternate address deliveries are always availble. It works well for me as there is someone at my company 24/7 (literally) who can sign for or accept parcels. One shop insisted my first purchase went to my home address to validate my existence, but then I was a confirmed customer and they'd send it anywhere.

[Darren Boyle]

http://www.streamline.com/support/kb/pdf/MOI_S02_SMS8829.pdf

http://www.streamline.com/support/kb/pdf/MOI_S11_SMS8818.pdf

Here are just two of the example documents. It is worth remembering that we dont do this because we "want" to but because our contract states we "have" to. After all it increases security which is always key for us (and indeed our customers) who are safe in the knowledge that their card is not being used elsewhere fraudulently to buy things to be dleivered elsewhere.

There are also other documents regards the use and storage of the AVS (Addres Verifaction Service) whereby if you utilise it you have to abide by its rules etc and very similiar with the (CSC) Card Securtiy Code. There are lots of other documents on there worth reading and indeed these are just the "guidelines" the contract is what makes it all binding.....

[DCM]

After reading those two PDF documents, the only thing I could find, of any relevance, is

A customer asks for delivery to a different address to the billing address; this may sometimes be legitimate (as in sending a birthday present), but for high value, re-saleable goods, you should make further enquiries.

But that isn't saying you shouldn't, just that you must verify the reason for the different address.

[Darren Boyle]

There are several more pointers towards it and many many more documents on the Streamline website if you really wish to research the topic for yourself......

[DCM]

I think, what I am trying to work out, is 99.99% of businesses doing it wrong then, or doing it right.

[MikePimlott]

We use streamline through Natwest and billing address and delivery address are 2 completely different things. Never a problem.

Like Darren says though thats HIS terms and conditions with HIS bank.