what is meaning of billing address?

I am Chinese.I have never buy things on net overseas,but now i am developing template based on zencart.
I do not understanding why there is a billing Address in zencart default systerm.What is it used for? can I remove it?

linjuming:

I am Chinese.I have never buy things on net overseas,but now i am developing template based on zencart.
I do not understanding why there is a billing Address in zencart default systerm.What is it used for? can I remove it?

It's the home address of the credit card owner. Delivery address is where the purchaser would like the product to be shipped, it could be a gift for someone at a different address to the person buying it.

can i remove billing address?

linjuming:

can i remove billing address?

Why would you need to do that?

the billing address is sharing with the same db table "address_book" with delivery address.
but billing address is the special address the same info with credit card, why can it has so much addresses?

And I want to know is there any shopping sites not showing the billing address? Is it essential to shopping websites?

I often order things online and have them delivered to where I work because I'm not home during the day to accept delivery, so in my case, the billing address is my home and the shipping address is my work. I don't think I've seen any shopping sites that don't ask for both.

Me too, but in my shopping cart I dont want to ask for and do not need a billing address. It adds to clutter in the checkout process, and I would like to see a way to get rid of it.
From memory its only USA where Credit card authorisations match billing addresses, so its not needed for other countries or for stores that do not accept credit cards.

theblake:

Me too, but in my shopping cart I dont want to ask for and do not need a billing address. It adds to clutter in the checkout process, and I would like to see a way to get rid of it.
From memory its only USA where Credit card authorisations match billing addresses, so its not needed for other countries or for stores that do not accept credit cards.

but do you sell a physical product?
What payment methods do you intend to use?

theblake:

From memory its only USA where Credit card authorisations match billing addresses, so its not needed for other countries or for stores that do not accept credit cards.

Nonsense ! Don't make such sweeping statements unless you know what you are talking about.

The billing address is one of the most critical verifications of identity when a credit card transaction is submitted to a bank. At SOME POINT in the procedure, the customer will need to have this verified.

Whether the billing address is collected on the selling site, or at the payment gateway, it will still be a required data-set.

Where such verification (at the gateway end) is done by matching a coded password (EG: Verified By Visa), the billing address is still there... it's just hidden from view.