i dont wanna give my address ((

(i dont buy illgeal stuff)

I'd either rent a PO box or use those Amazon pickup locations

Post Office Boxes are the solution.

How will you pay without providing the address for credit card validation?

In my experience, when I went online to rent a PO box, they force you to create an account and asks for a bunch of invasive information anyways including my address, so I gave up on that idea for now.

Maybe it's dependent on the post office. Maybe I just need to go in-person and maybe they'll ask less info of me?

Isn't the PO box merely to hide your identity from the seller rather than the post office? Not casting doubt on your approach though, just curious if there was anything more to be aware of since I too am thinking about signing up for a PO box.

privacy.com cards and prepaid Visa/Mastercard I believe let you enter any address of your choice. Of course, privacy.com would still know and some vendors might be a bit more restrictive, especially towards the prepaid cards in recent years.

Ahh, neat. Yeah, some vendors do check the address. Ones that don't end up paying more per transaction to cover the increased fraud.

Xmrbazaar.com

Correct, the seller wouldn't know, I'm just saying that that data now goes to UPS or whoever your PO box provider is instead of the website you're purchasing from

The fucking USPS already have your address dude.

Yeah, if you want to receive packages that's kind of necessary. Someone has to own the place where the drop happens. Whether that's a separate piece of land, an apartment complex mailroom, or a simple PO box. If it's not coming to you directly, then there is an owner of where it is going and that owner has to know who the package is meant for so they don't allow anyone else to take it. Can't have both a fully secure and fully private location. Some person or company has to secure it for the owner or everyone has to have access and thus ability to steal it.

No duh bro. More than one person can live at a house though. So USPS knows who owns the house like you said, but not anyone extra unless that data is given to them, like for example when you create an account and include that you ALSO live at an address as the owner.

Moreover, if you read USPS privacy policy, they use Google Analytics, so guess what? Anything you do on USPS also goes to Google. They also allow tracking pixels from meta, LinkedIn, and several other companies.

So no, it's not just "the fucking USPS already has your address dude", it's that several other companies also are getting that data when they dont need to be. That's literally the whole point of this forum and the data I provided above is relevant. All I'm saying is if someone wants a PO box, it's not as private as one may assume. The seller you're buying from won't know your address, but tons of tech companies will.

I honestly hate people like you. Learn to be more curious and ask questions instead of trying to be a smart ass. You could have asked "But why worry that USPS already has your address, aren't they literally a delivery company?" That's a completely valid question, yet you chose to be a dick. Go fuck yourself.

So, I went and fucked myself first like you asked. Was nice BTW, great suggestion, thanks.

yeah, I often some address like the simpsons family, or 85 Albert Embankment, Vauxhall, Lambeth, London, UK for Mr. Bond

Anything you do on USPS also goes to Google.

Opening a PO Box in person should avoid this issue.

Big retailers may have options for local pickup. Amazon has delivery boxes, local pickup from store is available in bestbuy, home depot, Microcenter... I think you can pick up Walmart purchases in stores too (not sure about this one). But unless there is a delivery box they may ask for ID.

Or, a USPS PO box, as others suggested. You can rent one in person, pay cash, but they will require your personal information anyway. But that allows you to break the direct tracking - seller will not know your address, and in general they don't need to know your real name. I receive packages on fake names via po box no problem. The problem can happen if USPS will lose your package. I guess returns or warranty calls may become more complicated...

P.O. Box is good advice, blind boxes are better, not being a paranoid schizophrenic and recognizing that you exist and interactions with other entities prove your existence is even better than that.

Possibly best is just making a deal where you have packages delivered to your neighbor in exchange for mowing their lawn or something.

I tried to sign up for privacy.com once and they demanded a copy of my photo ID. They wanted me to send it to a 3rd party ID verification service.

I didn't wanna give out a scanned copy of my DL. Which in hindsight feels like a good choice -> https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/09/fbi-probes-service-selling-153m-drivers-licenses/

If you are not very private already, they may not require that. But if you are, they'll punt you to an identity broker service before you can sign up.

Long time ago, you could sign up for ebay under any name + PO box.

I did that, and I had sth like 8 (?) years of frequent buying and selling with 100% top feedback scores as a buyer and seller. I literally never had a single feedback that wasn't the best rating.

Then, Ebay went all in on KYC, and my PO box and not-my-real-name triggered an account suspension unless I sent them a copy of my photo ID. Despite 100's of transactions. All made in good faith. With zero probs.

But I can't single out Ebay. All the big online markets go this way now. I get it, they have to protect against fraud and abuse. But holy shit. I had 8+ yrs of good faith transactions. I'm not a gd frauster.

sad i hope this stops being the dfalt (

Weird, I know, but no. You can't have effeftove e-commerce really without the buyer and seller knowing each other without the use of middlemen who'll raise costs and wind up knowing more about both parties than they'd have found out about each other the old fashioned way.

If you want to buy anonymously, you have to do it with cash, in person.