Ship to Non-Billing Addresses and Increase Online Sales

A sure way to increase online sales is to allow your customers to have their purchases shipped to a non billing address.
In this article I will examine the primary reason online merchant have this policy in place and 3 ways online merchants who have this policy in place are missing the opportunity to increase online sales.
The reason why many online merchants refuse to ship to non billing addresses is primarily due to a fear of fraudulent credit card activity.
For many online merchants, only shipping purchases to billing addresses on file with the customer's credit card provider assures them that the transaction is valid and the transaction will not result in a fraudulent chargeback.
However, by attempting to protect themselves from fraud these online merchants are losing sales.
How are these online merchants losing out on online sales? For starters, an online customer shops online for convenience.
According to published reports approximately 63% of online shoppers will make purchases from work during the holiday season.
This makes perfect sense considering the average American works between 40 and 60 hours per week, has an average round trip commute time of an hour and sleeps 8.
5 hours a day.
People who spend most of their days at work like to have packages shipped to work.
If an online merchant refuses to ship the purchase to a customer's work address, that customer more often than not will cancel the order and place the order elsewhere.
After all, people don't like to have packages shipped to a place they will not be.
Secondly, online customers are shopping smarter in today's day and age and are often making purchases as gifts.
Online customers are comparison shopping looking to get the product they want at the lowest possible price.
An online merchant may have the lowest price on a product but not the best price if a customer is making the purchase as a gift has to pay to ship the gift once he or she receives it.
Look at this from an online customer who is making the purchase as a gift point of view.
Cost of watch including tax and shipping from merchant A = $200 Cost to Ship Watch to gift recipient = $25 Total Cost of Gift from Merchant A = $225 Cost of Watch including tax and shipping from merchant B direct to gift recipient = $210 Savings by buying from merchant B = $15 As a customer, wouldn't you prefer to save $15 by having the gift sent directly to the recipient, not have to wait for the package to arrive and have to take additional time in having to ship the item once you received it? It's much more convenient to simply purchase from merchant B.
Thirdly, many online merchants who refuse to ship to non billing addresses have this policy posted on their websites.
"In order to prevent credit card fraud we only ship to billing addresses on file with your credit card provider.
If you wish to have the item shipped to a non billing address please download this form, complete and fax to 555-555-5555 or contact your credit card company and have the shipping address temporarily added to your account.
" How many visitors see this policy, simply click of the site and shop elsewhere? Could be a few or it could be many.
Regardless of the number, each person who leaves the site due the posted policy is a lost opportunity to make a sale.
If you're an online merchant who does not ship to non billing addresses you now know how changing this policy will increase your online sales.
However, how do you change this policy and protect yourself from credit card fraud? After all, this is why the policy is place.
Simply call 877-751-6213 Extension 334.