Why Are there Three Addresses on ZC Admin invoices?

**g2ktcf** · 23 Nov 2016, 02:09 PM

I have a question about addresses. I have lots of repeat customers who seem to move a lot. They change the Billing and Shipping Addresses all the time but the the First Address shown as "Customer" never changes. It has caused us to ship things to the wrong address more than once. What is this address for? How can the customer change this address?

Thanks
Chris

**mc12345678** · 23 Nov 2016, 03:01 PM

The customer can change their "living" address in their profile. The reason for the three addresses per order is can be considered basically this: person lives somewhere, they have a method by which they pay which is registered somewhere, and the package is to be sent somewhere. These three could all be the same or they could all be different. For example a person could register with the site, but pay with an account that is registered elsewhere (PO Box or some business for example) that is being shipped to a friend or relative...

It is important as a sending organization to send to the shipping address. As well, it is important that the customer identify the correct address information at least for billing and shipping.

That said, it normally is a flag if a customer "moves" around a lot because this could be an indication that something fishy is going on. That's not to say that people don't move or have things legitimately sent to appropriate places, but it can be a concern or indicator that something is awry.

**g2ktcf** · 23 Nov 2016, 07:29 PM

Originally Posted by mc12345678

The customer can change their "living" address in their profile. The reason for the three addresses per order is can be considered basically this: person lives somewhere, they have a method by which they pay which is registered somewhere, and the package is to be sent somewhere. These three could all be the same or they could all be different. For example a person could register with the site, but pay with an account that is registered elsewhere (PO Box or some business for example) that is being shipped to a friend or relative...

It is important as a sending organization to send to the shipping address. As well, it is important that the customer identify the correct address information at least for billing and shipping.

That said, it normally is a flag if a customer "moves" around a lot because this could be an indication that something fishy is going on. That's not to say that people don't move or have things legitimately sent to appropriate places, but it can be a concern or indicator that something is awry.

What I have found is that they only change the the Billing and the Shipping. I have to get into store as a customer and see how this is done. It is missed A LOT.

**mc12345678** · 23 Nov 2016, 08:15 PM

Originally Posted by g2ktcf

What I have found is that they only change the the Billing and the Shipping. I have to get into store as a customer and see how this is done. It is missed A LOT.

In a way unless you send mail to their "home" address or provide some sort of "forced" update/check, then they are not likely to update that particular record because it otherwise in their mind doesn't make a difference as to what the address is, unless they are one to always send to their own home. If they always send to their home, then changing the address would speed things up for them.

It is also a wise decision to navigate the site as a customer. Might be surprised to see how things work and where there might be some improvements possible. Thing is that it can also be difficult to separate "knowing" how it works from how it "should" work.

**lat9** · 23 Nov 2016, 09:16 PM

Sometimes, if you have PayPal Express Checkout enabled, the address that the customer has stored in PayPal is subtly different than the address that's stored by Zen Cart and, when the customer uses the "Express Checkout" button to pay, that PayPal address is added to the customer's address book.

Zen Cart tries really hard to match those addresses, but if a customer has a PayPal address of

Code:

1 Main St., My Town, NJ 00405

but their Zen Cart address is

Code:

1 Main Street, My Town, NJ 00405

that PayPal address will be added to the customer's Zen Cart account, even though it's the same address.

**carlwhat** · 24 Nov 2016, 12:38 AM

i think we are into 2 different issues; the original issue is why there are 3 different addresses on an order/invoice. and i have yet to hear an answer that makes any sense.

most shopping carts require 2 different addresses, 1 billing address and 1 shipping address. (they can be the same...)

now, customers can have multiple addresses in their address book, but for all orders there is a shipping address and a billing address. i have yet to hear of a reason that makes sense as to why ZC has 3. it strikes me as some legacy design, and IMHO, something worthy of moving away from. (i have modified all of my clients carts to only have 2.....)

lat9 brings up a different point which is the adding of addresses back into a customer's address book based on the return value of a payment processor. this is a far trickier issue, and one that i can only comment on with regards to US addresses. USPS codes all US addresses to a specified format and maintains a DB of all US addresses. companies can pay for access to it or make use of on-line validation of addresses. unfortunately, while good, their system is not perfect. and for ZC to have a plugin or integrate this DB makes it a bit more difficult for customers to check out as rarely does a customer input their address perfectly coded. so you then need to confirm the changed address based on what the software returns.

while i have little experience with paypal, i'm pretty sure they make use of the DB, and in her example there would be no period after 'ST'.

**DrByte** · 24 Nov 2016, 03:51 AM

a) the "Customer Address" is whatever address they've selected in their My Account area as their "default address". That's all it is: their default address.
b) the "billing address" is whatever they chose for Billing during checkout
c) the "shipping" address is whatever they chose for shipping during checkout.

Most people, when changing their "main" address simply edit it directly, and that therefore updates their "default" address ... because it's that one that they actually updated.
I suppose someone "might" choose to "change" their address during Checkout, but instead of "changing" it they simply "add a new address", and they don't think to go back and change the other one already on file (despite the fact that it shows on-screen even when adding a new one).
Maybe that's an artifact of people nowadays shopping on sites that store less and less address info and people are used to having to always provide it instead of having it remembered for convenience.

One way you could prevent them from "adding instead of changing" their default address is to limit the number of address-book entries to 1. That way everyone's forced to always have a single address to which they ship and bill. Never alternate addresses.

But what strikes me about your original post is the fact that you said you've accidentally shipped to "the wrong" address .... which tells me you're not actually using the "shipping address" as the address to ship to. Perhaps there's something to change with your internal procedures, to be sure to ship to the address provided by the customer, regardless of the other info displayed on the screen?