Hi, im not sure if this is the best place for this.
my cousin is in another country. She is not an american citizen but has a visa to visit. She says she is paying needs to pay for a profuct but the products website is requiring a US address.
She’s not interested in coming here she just wants an address to use to put in the website and was wondering if i knew of a way to get one. I was thinking about just giving her my address but i dont want to get screwed over something stupid. Or have her get screwed over. I live in a rented apartment and would be a little worried if my apartment complex found out and raised my rent over it. She also doesnt have a social security so im unsure how that would work.
Is there a way for her to get a free US address?
Edit: i see everyones confusion. Just to clarify, she is not shipping it to the US. She just needs a billing address. Im sorry for the confusion.
17 comments
1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500
69420 Dixon B. Tweenerlegs Avenue, Citytown USA
She just wants to buy something that will only ship to the US? If so, then I don’t see anything generally wrong in her sending you the money, you buy it in your name, and then you mail it to her.
The legality depends on the legality of the item in her country, as well as the legality for using the mails or shipping services to send to her. So you obviously wouldn’t do that for a gun or for marijuana. Nor for food or other items that’s not allowed in her country. Nor for mailing lithium batteries, flammable items, or other items prohibited in the mail, but shipping services might work. I don’t know about the legality of things covered by copyright.
I assume there’s some sort of customs duties that may apply.
I don’t see how a social secure number would be relevant.
1060 W. Addison St., Chicago, IL 60613
….so you’re making this sound sketchy as fuck, you know that right?
You can send things to whatever address you want when you buy something online, so the fact that getting whatever it is sent to your place concerns you is pretty concerning itself.
935 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20535
Is the product shipping to that address? or does she just need to register on the site using the address? It seems odd that this is a favor for your cousin, but you don’t want to give your address.
If the address is just needed to register, why not just make one up? 100 Gofuckyourself Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90210. It’s not like websites will often check the validity of the address.
If they are shipping to that address, there are couriers that specialize in mail forwarding to specific countries. You’d have the product shipped there and they forward the shipping to you for a fee.
You’re going to have to be more specific about the product she wants to buy and what your cousin’s home country is. If it’s something illegal in her country, or illegal to ship to her country, just stop and tell her no.
The fact that you’re concerned about your landlord finding out about a package being delivered is a massive red flag. Landlords don’t have the right to open packages. If the package is addressed to you, they have absolutely no business opening it or asking questions about it. Why would a landlord raise rent because you got a package? This makes no sense.
Be more specific and you’ll get better advice. What’s the product, where is your cousin, why are you worried about “getting screwed over”?
Can she rent a PO Box over the phone? Or you can have mail sent “general delivery” to a local post office.
> Edit: i see everyones confusion. Just to clarify, she is not shipping it to the US. She just needs a billing address. Im sorry for the confusion.
How is your “cousin” paying? If they’re paying by credit/debit card then the sales system will almost certainly cross reference the card’s information against the billing address you’ve listed and, if they don’t match, the sale will be declined. This is the whole purpose of “billing address” in the US.
Some merchants are not going to bother jumping through hoops to accept foreign cards. If they only accept domestic payments, she’ll need a card associated with a domestic account that pays in USD.
Why would your rent go up based on ordering stuff online?
PO Box
You can rent mailboxes at a UPS store that have an actual address, not just a PO box.
1060 W. Addison
Chicago, IL 60613
It worked for Jake and Elwood.
>I live in a rented apartment and would be a little worried if my apartment complex found out and raised my rent over it.
Dude, what? Raising rent because the tenant used their address as an address?
This is what is called a very poorly thought out scam. If you believe this, I have some great property I am willing to let go of at a great price! I only take PayPal FF as payment! All sales are under 10K!
More context please