No Electronic Downloads For PO Box Holders

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There are companies out there that won't sell you a digital download because you use a P.O. box? I could see if they were shipping a product to you but a digital download?

Brian is stationed in Saudi Arabia, and doesn't have a street address where mail and packages can be delivered. That's okay, though: the purchase he wanted to make from Garmin is a digital download. No need to worry about where to deliver it. Right? Well, not really.
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Just to play devil's advocate, a lot of the software out there is in one way or another covered by export restrictions. Even though everyone knows the regulations do little if anything to stop the export of restricted technology the companies have to play the game and provide some sort of evidence that they didn't deliver the technology to an address outside of the U.S.

Could be the case here
 
I hate any company that's like that. Although the above is retarded, from the companies' standpoint, they claim they're pretty much defenseless if they ship something to a P.O. box and it turns out to be a fraud case which fucks it up for the rest of us.
 
Should be an APO or FPO if he's stationed there, no reason he can't put NY for the state with his zip code and have it work.
 
Duck said:
Just to play devil's advocate, a lot of the software out there is in one way or another covered by export restrictions. Even though everyone knows the regulations do little if anything to stop the export of restricted technology the companies have to play the game and provide some sort of evidence that they didn't deliver the technology to an address outside of the U.S.

Could be the case here
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I think Duck hit the nail on the head right here. And if he is stationed in the military, most restrictions on PO boxes exempt APO/FPO. And if he is stationed there for other employment such as petroleum exploration, his employer should have set him up with a local address / pouch mail as well.
 
Having a PO Box as my billing address (on file with my bank) I can confirm that it infrequently causes issues. Usually it's easily sorted by calling the customer service and is really caused by flaws in the ecommerce software rather than unwillingness of the seller. Export restrictions could indeed be to blame in the above listed case though.
 
I've only ran into problems with my PO BOX on 1and1 domain purchases, mobile phones and registering a car. CA DMV wanted a real address on file along with PO BOX.

All the other places, never had a problem. My PO BOX is the billing address for all of my CC cards and all online places.
 
Thuleman said:
Having a PO Box as my billing address (on file with my bank) I can confirm that it infrequently causes issues. Usually it's easily sorted by calling the customer service and is really caused by flaws in the ecommerce software rather than unwillingness of the seller. Export restrictions could indeed be to blame in the above listed case though.
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A financial institution is required by the USA PATRIOT Act to have a real, physical address for all of its customers. You can have whatever you want as your mailing address, but they must have a physical address on file.
 
And you were referencing that in relation to the ecommerce vendor, not the bank...reading comprehension fail. :(
 
Heh, yeah my bank still has my physical address, but the billing address of any cards is my PO Box.
 
I lived in a community where USPS did not deliver mail. They gave out PO Boxes instead. The PO Box was my legitimate, primary mailing address, none the less I felt like a second class citizen to many online retailers. I have a long list of the hassles it created as well. And, good luck getting your rebates.
 
bitbum said:
I lived in a community where USPS did not deliver mail. They gave out PO Boxes instead. The PO Box was my legitimate, primary mailing address, none the less I felt like a second class citizen to many online retailers. I have a long list of the hassles it created as well. And, good luck getting your rebates.
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My house in PA has no real physical address according to the USPS......even though I have a street number and address, since its a private community it does not exist in the USPS system.....UPS and Fed Ex will deliver to the house though....
I obviously use a PO box for all my mail, but recently they are scrambling around since with the new E-911 laws, you need to have a physical address tied to your phone number......and my phone bill is sent to a PO box......not really sure how they are going to handle that yet....
 
Rebates often state they are not to be delivered to POs because of fraud issues, altho I've called the rebate issuer in the past and had them okay it for me (Corsair and some GPU vendor, I forget which). If you think PO Boxes cause issues try living in Puerto Rico, or even Alaska/Hawaii.
 
bitbum said:
I lived in a community where USPS did not deliver mail. They gave out PO Boxes instead. The PO Box was my legitimate, primary mailing address, none the less I felt like a second class citizen to many online retailers. I have a long list of the hassles it created as well. And, good luck getting your rebates.
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the best ones is when the e-tailer only ships via USPS, but they won't ship to PO Boxes.

I dealt with that BS when I was living with my parents. Mail wasn't delivered to physical location; USPS owns the PO Box; mail gets delivered to PO where PO Box resides; e-tailer won't ship to PO Box. wtf?

Impulse said:
Rebates often state they are not to be delivered to POs because of fraud issues, altho I've called the rebate issuer in the past and had them okay it for me (Corsair and some GPU vendor, I forget which). If you think PO Boxes cause issues try living in Puerto Rico, or even Alaska/Hawaii.
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meh, it's not much of an issue getting stuff shipped up here in AK anymore. Except some e-tailers say UPS/FedEx "ground" isn't available to AK even though it is.
 
While he may be overseas around a military base, that doesn't mean he isn't a private contractor or employee that happens to spend most of his time abroad.
 
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