"Ship To" zip-code confusion

[BritishV8]

Many of my customers are getting this message in the "Ship To" field when they try to order from me:

"We found multiple addresses matching the ZIP code you entered to estimate shipping costs. Please choose the correct shipping address or select from your existing addresses."

This causes confusion because I don't charge for shipping! 

Usually there's extra frustration because specific addresses listed under the message text are equivalent, except for some niggling detail - for example, one address might have say "Street" and the other might abbreviate it to "St"

Is there some way I can change my settings or order button to stop PayPal from checking addresses or mentioning the estimatation of shipping costs? 

[surplusdealdude]

No, you can't eliminate this step - zip code verification is part of the contract between the post office and Paypal that allows Paypal to offer lower prices.

The fact that shipping isn't paid for is irrelevant - what that box is telling you is that the computer record for USPS don't match up with the address you've entered and certain changes have to be made.

If the changes aren't made, the item may be delayed or returned.

Usually there's extra frustration because specific addresses listed under the message text are equivalent, except for some niggling detail - for example, one address might have say "Street" and the other might abbreviate it to "St"

Computers are very literal - they can't see that "St" = "Street".  with a couple of hundred million addresses, a computer is the only way, so you have to live with it, because TESE are the computers that are going to route your parcel - if they can't figure out the address now, they won't be able to route it later, and it will be sent into the slower manual stream.

It's worth correcting the problems before they occur and that's what this routine is designed to do.

[BritishV8]

Ironically, PayPal is giving two or more addresses without recommendation of which one matches post office records. (It's not saying "The post office prefers 'ST' in lieu of 'Street'.")  Also, computers obviously can see that "ST" and "Street" are equivalent, IF they're programmed to do so.  I'm shipping UPS, not USPS, so post office computers won't be routing my parcels and there's absolutely no issue of items being lost, returned, or even delayed.

I believe there should be - and probably is - a way to override this routine.  I strongly suspect it can be done when creating "Buy Now" buttons at the end of "Step 3' by entering something like "address_override=1" or "no_shipping=2" in the "Advanced Variables" box. I'm hoping someone will tell me the name and value of the Advanced Variable that needs to be entered.

[BritishV8]

I believe there should be - and probably is - a way to override this routine.  I strongly suspect it can be done when creating "Buy Now" buttons at the end of "Step 3' by entering something like "address_override=1" or "no_shipping=2" in the "Advanced Variables" box. I'm hoping someone will tell me the name and value of the Advanced Variable that needs to be entered.

[surplusdealdude]

I'm shipping UPS, not USPS, so post office computers won't be routing my parcels and there's absolutely no issue of items being lost, returned, or even delayed.

Ummm - where do you think UPS gets their information from?  The Post Office.  They're not empowered to collect that info themselves, so they use the existing system.

I know what you're referring to - I get it myself on endicia, which I use.  I've had up to 6 variations on the same address and further investigation shows that there's a reason for it - sometimes, there's a massive company occupying part of the address - their stuff will go in a UPS transport because they get hundreds of parcels a day.  Sometimes some of the addresses are residential, some are business, if it's an office building.

The computer doesn't suggest an answer because it can't - it's outside of its programming.  It needs a human to make the decision.

In any case, nobody is going to override that system, so I'd get used to it - it's there for a purpose.