Article written by MC's VP of Client Services, Dan Kennedy >>

Article >> Shipping to Non-billable Address

Anyone have any feedback on this issue?

Yes.

#1. Do not ship to any other address and if you must accept international order ask them to fax in the back and front of their credit card with a signature agreeing to the charge. This is what we do and the legit ones seem to have no problem doing it.

Also there was a big discussion about this:

Click here to read what we think about shipping to alternate address

One other thing to think about is if you sell to companies that may have multiple store/warehousing locations. We often ship to different addresses because a company requires the product to go somewhere else for distribution or storage. Or a customer is reselling our product to someone else and wants us to ship to them. I guess you have to make your own safety measures to stay safe and away from fraud. We have been a victim of fraud on an occassion, but haven't had anything happen in the last year because of some new rules/red flags that we set for the company.

This is an issue that confronts us a few times a week. We have a "firm" policy of not shipping to a non-billing address. When a customer wants to be an exception, we make contact, usually by phone, and if they seem legitimate we make an exception.

We have also learned that American Express allows you to put more than one address in their database. We have instructed one customer to update his American Express addresses. That seemed to work.

To date, everyone seems to understand that credit card fraud is real and that we are simply trying to protect ourselves.

We have opened up the shipping to non-billing adresses, due to the fact that our products are often sent as gifts, and our gift certificate sales have gone through the roof. But it is true, you must be wary. We have dedicated a portion of our staff to "investigation" of the orders, and ALWAYS get a copy of the front and back of the card along with a picture I.D. In the end most of the customers are thankful that we are so thorough. But you will get those who are still jerks about it. But they are probably not the kind of customer that you want anyway.

I have sent several hundred orders to third party billing addresses without a problem. I think it is expected from customers especially if it is a gift or business item. It seems silly to turn that business away. You can always call the card holder if it seems suspicious.
Mark

Good info. I am sure I will have to face these issues soon too.