# How easy is it to send a gift by Amazon? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 12, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173 "2013-12-12T17:51:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/1 "2013-12-12T17:51:21Z")
I’ve heard people send gifts directly to friends using Amazon? I tried setting one up last night and got confused. 1. I see that some items have a check mark option to indicate they are gifts 2. this link from Amazon gives info. > [@](#): > > Even if you’re shipping the items to yourself first, mark your order as a gift so the price of the items aren’t included on the packing slip. Purchased gift items won’t determine the recommendations we give you, and items you order from a registry will be marked as purchased so the recipient doesn’t receive a duplicate gift. [http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=759346](http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=759346) 1. where I’m getting confused is the shipping address. I got ready to check out, double checked that it was marked as a gift, and there was no where to enter my giftee’s address. I don’t want it sent to my house. I want to use drop shipment. Where it goes directly to my giftee. Does Amazon really expect me to set up an alternate shipping address for a one time use? (under the account settings) Then remember to delete it after the gift arrives? That seems very unwieldy and dumb. Also a bit dangerous. I don’t want my other purchases getting sent there by accident. Anyhow, I cleared my shopping cart and thought I’d ask people here that do this frequently. ---
**Author:** ![QuarkChild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/c5a1d2/32.png) [@QuarkChild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuarkChild)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/2 "2013-12-12T18:01:58Z")
I send gifts by Amazon all the time. Amazon stores as many shipping addresses as you like. One will remain the default. I keep my own address as the default, but I also have other addresses stored for easy gift-giving. During the check-out process, you can select an alternate shipping address if you have more than 1 stored. The nice thing is, it doesn’t delete the other shipping addresses (unless you want it to), so if next year you send a gift to the same person, you can just go back and select that address. If you’re totally sure you’ll never use that address again, you could delete it, but it’s not like your own packages are going to be sent there by accident. ---
**Author:** ![cormac262](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f14d63/32.png) [@cormac262](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cormac262)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/3 "2013-12-12T18:02:39Z")
I’ve done this a couple times, and it’s not that bad. You should be able to get to a page to set up an alternate address. Yes, Amazon will retain this address (probably some way to delete it, but I never bothered, and did end up using the alternate more than once). But you can also designate your regular address as the “default”, so UNLESS you specify that you want the item sent to the alternate, it will go to your regular address. People do this all the time - I have received a number of “direct from Amazon” deliveries. So I’m sure Amazon has gone to lengths to make this easy. Prior to hitting the final “commit”, it should give you a summary of your order: what it is, where it’s going, etc… And if all else fails, you can probably call them (although they may be kind of busy at this time of year) ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/4 "2013-12-12T18:08:04Z")
Ok, I’ll go back then and set up a alternate shipping address first. Then add the gift item to my cart and check out. just wanted to double check that I wasn’t doing this the hard way. 😉 thanks for the help. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/5 "2013-12-12T18:10:49Z")
Turn off one click ordering if you haven’t already. There is no option to ship to other people with one-click. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/6 "2013-12-12T18:26:12Z")
Got the alternate shipping address in. But now Amazon wants me to renter my cc info. sigh. I’ll have to wait until I get home. That cc is in a drawer there. That seems so clunky and unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/7 "2013-12-12T18:31:11Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Got the alternate shipping address in. But now Amazon wants me to renter my cc info. sigh. I’ll have to wait until I get home. That cc is in a drawer there. > > That seems so clunky and unnecessary. It’s necessary, if you don’t want Joe Password Stealer using your Amazon account to ship stuff to his house. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/8 "2013-12-12T18:31:21Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Got the alternate shipping address in. But now Amazon wants me to renter my cc info. sigh. I’ll have to wait until I get home. That cc is in a drawer there. > > That seems so clunky and unnecessary. It’s not unnecessary. It’s a security feature so someone who has obtained your login credentials (but not your cc #) can’t use your account to ship themselves thousands of dollars worth of shit on your dime. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/9 "2013-12-12T18:33:26Z")
good point. :smack: I need more coffee this morning. Still not awake yet. 😛 thanks ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/10 "2013-12-12T18:38:33Z")
I don’t think I normally have to re-enter cc info when I add a new address? (Not 100% though. ETA: ah, as everyone else says so, I must just be used to doing it quickly…) I do like having all those addresses at the ready, it means if I read a book that I am excited about I can send it really quickly as a surprise. It’s fun! ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/11 "2013-12-12T21:27:56Z")
> [@gracer](#): > > I don’t think I normally have to re-enter cc info when I add a new address? (Not 100% though. ETA: ah, as everyone else says so, I must just be used to doing it quickly…) I’ve also found out recently if you don’t use a credit card in a long time Amazon makes you reenter the number to use it again as a security feature. ---
**Author:** ![Folly](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folly/32/3219_2.png) [@Folly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folly)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/12 "2013-12-12T22:10:30Z")
Sad thing is I shop enough online to have my amex number memorized. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/13 "2013-12-12T22:19:55Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > Turn off one click ordering if you haven’t already. There is no option to ship to other people with one-click. Or you can just leave it on and use the shopping cart instead. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/14 "2013-12-13T07:01:44Z")
Fingers crossed, I think my gift order is done.Got everything marked as a gift and a greeting to the giftee in the comments box. I’ll check my email in the morning to make sure the cc went through. One issue, in Checkout I noticed my cc billing address incorrectly listed my giftee’s address. Shipping Address was correct and went to the giftee. I corrected the billing address before hitting submit. Otherwise my cc verification would have probably failed. thanks again for the help. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 7:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/15 "2013-12-13T07:20:06Z")
Cool. Now maybe you can help my mom. She wants me to buy my own gifts from my wish list and then she’ll just give me a check at Christmas. I sent her back an email suggesting she could have the less heavy things sent to her house so she could, you know, wrap them and give them to me at Christmas? I even sent her direct links to each item so she could put them in her own shopping cart. Let’s see how this pans out. _sigh_ ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/16 "2013-12-13T15:23:14Z")
> [@Wolf333](#): > > Or you can just leave it on and use the shopping cart instead. I’m thinking more of the mobile app. It makes you turn one click off before it let’s you ship to a secondary address. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/17 "2013-12-13T15:39:17Z")
And when you choose gift wrap, you can pretend that it’ll be me wrapping it. We have an Amazon fulfillment center here, and every year they offer the seasonal wrapping work to volunteer groups, with the per-package pay going to our group. (Mine’s the high-school band.) ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/18 "2013-12-13T16:04:00Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > And when you choose gift wrap, you can pretend that it’ll be me wrapping it. We have an Amazon fulfillment center here, and every year they offer the seasonal wrapping work to volunteer groups, with the per-package pay going to our group. (Mine’s the high-school band.) That’s cool. Do you have fun doing it, or is it basically drudge work like any other seasonal job? ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-easy-is-it-to-send-a-gift-by-amazon/676173/19 "2013-12-13T20:53:09Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > And when you choose gift wrap, you can pretend that it’ll be me wrapping it. We have an Amazon fulfillment center here, and every year they offer the seasonal wrapping work to volunteer groups, with the per-package pay going to our group. (Mine’s the high-school band.) Can you pretend to put a very nice and sincere handwritten card along with a nice ribbon and bow on mine please? 😃