In department stores, when consumers directly buy goods and take them home, they usually aren’t required to give any sort of address for the transaction. However, when it comes to online shopping, i.e, purchasing goods or services over the internet, it is important to acknowledge the two terms- shipping address and the billing address.
In electronic shopping, these two terms are often confused for one another because even though they may generally signify two different places, at times they refer to the same place. The shipping address may be similar to the billing address in cases where both the addresses are similar to where the customer wants the ordered goods to be delivered to or when the customer wants to gift the goods to some other person.
Shipping Address vs Billing Address
The main difference between the shipping address and the billing address is that a shipping address refers to a physical location where the customer would want the ordered goods to be delivered to whereas a billing address would be the address connected to a particular payment method like maybe a debit/credit card payment or PayPal and the recorded address where the corporation sends bank statements, invoices or bills to.
Comparison Table Between Shipping Address and Billing Address (in Tabular Form)
| Parameter of comparison | Shipping address | Billing address |
|---|---|---|
| Meaning | The shipping address is the destination point to where the goods are delivered from the buyers to the customers. | The billing address is the address that is linked to a particular form of payment. |
| Nature | The shipping address is the physical address of the customers. | The billing address is where the customer’s bill is sent to. |
| Verification | The shipping address can be verified with the help of USPS in the United States and India through the National Address Database. | The billing address can be verified with the help of the Address Verification System. |
| Placement | The shipping address is important to calculate the shipping fee. | The billing address is the address which is given in the invoice. |
What is Shipping Address?
The shipping address is the place where the buyers would want their merchandise to be delivered to. These goods are often shipped (the procedure of transporting goods or merchandise) to the buyers from online stores. The billing address and the shipping address are two unique terms and one may often get confused between the two.
There are two principle addresses in the shipping process. One is the shipping addresses and the other is the pick-up address. The companies that ship the goods to their customers usually attempt to reduce the time taken for the goods to travel from the pick-up point to the shipping address. This is a major factor as this determines the customer’s satisfaction level. The lesser the time taken by the shipping company to deliver the merchandise to its customers, the more satisfied the customers are with the service provided by the shipping company and vice versa. For instance, Shiprocket is a shipping company that delivers goods or merchandise fastest to its customers.
In this new era, numerous other shipping companies can transport goods to their customers very quickly. The shipping address can either be the customer’s home or his office address. It is also necessary for customers who order goods to keep their shipping address correct and up to date to avoid delays and misinterpretations.
What is Billing Address?
The billing address is the place where the company sends the customers their bills or bank statements. Billing addresses deals with only a specified form of payment and the payment is usually preferred through means of debit or credit cards or even through online payment methods.
When a company usually asks the customers for their billing address, it’s mainly to verify the authorized use of the customer’s card. The billing address must be current and up to date. Billing and shipping addresses may have some similarities but are also said to have numerous differences. When a billing address is different from the shipping address, an additional verification is required by the company from its customers.
The billing address is additionally useful as it helps online merchants to prevent any sort of fraud that might happen with the customer’s card and this can be done by a process called Address verification system. The Address Verification System compares the numbers in the billing address that the customer provides to the merchants, with the billing address on file with your card issuer.
Main Differences Between Shipping Address and Billing Address
- The shipping address is the address that is used by the shipping company to deliver the merchandise to its customers. The billing address is an address that is linked with a particular form of payment either through cards or by online means.
- The nature of the shipping address is the physical address of the buyers to where the merchandise has to be delivered to. The nature of the billing address is mainly linked to either a debit or credit card or through online payment methods.
- The verification required for the shipping address in the US is done with the help of USPS and in India, it is done with the help of the national address database. The verification of the billing address can be done with the help of the Address Verification System.
- The shipping address is given by the company to the shipping company to calculate the amount of shipping fee the customers ought to pay. The billing address is normally placed by the company in the invoice of the buyer’s order.
Conclusion
Since the terms- shipping address and billing address are almost similar, the little dissimilarities between them might give the consumers a tough time, especially those individuals who are looking into online shopping for the first time.
As a result, the simplest and easiest way for them to remember the dissimilarity between the two terms would be to look at their initial words ‘shipping’ and ‘billing’. The shipping address would be the address where the ordered merchandise would have to be delivered to whereas the billing address would be the address registered in the customer’s bank to ship bills, bank statements, and invoices.
The billing address can be similar to the shipping address if the billing address is up to the minute with the bank, and might also differ when the address is not up to the minute, or when the customer wishes to ship it someplace else.
While purchasing goods, buyers must pay heed to the two terms to guarantee the proper delivery of their bills, bank statements, or goods to the right location and to steer clear of any sort of delays. Additionally, the customer must make sure to enter the right billing address during the checkout payment otherwise the Address Verification System (AVS) will reject the purchase due to probable unethical activities, like the probability of cheats using stolen debit or credit cards during electronic shopping.
References
- https://help.utsavfashion.com/support/solutions/articles/14000005693-what-is-shipping-address-
- https://help.ifixit.com/article/179-what-is-a-billing-address