A consideration you must face in setting up your e-commerce store is your shipping policy. Will you ship products to an address other than the credit card billing address?

While this may sound like an easy yes or no decision, the implications can be greater than you might expect when you run an online shopping cart.

Shipping to the non-billing address opens you up to possible credit card fraud. With a lifted credit card number and a little knowledge about the credit card owner, a criminal can submit a product order using a fraudulent card and get away with it. Even real time credit card processing is not fraud-proof as it sometimes takes days or weeks for an unsuspecting consumer to notice a credit card is missing.

A few days is plenty of time for an online shopping spree, don't you think? Each credit card provider has a differing policy on credit card fraud. American Express, for example, will pull the funds directly out of your account for any chargeback that was mailed to an address differing from the billing address. AMEX provides no recourse for the merchant what-so-ever.

On the other hand, not allowing a different shipping address will upset some legitimate customers. Especially if your products are often sent as gifts. Bottom line: If you sell very high-priced items that would be easy for someone to resell, such as jewelry, you may want to only ship to the billing address. If you sell lower priced items or gift type items, you may want to provide customers this option.

It's probably a good idea to make some sort of contact with the few customers that use this payment option. If they have a traceable e-mail address (from their ISP an e-mail should do). If they have a Yahoo or Hotmail e-mail account that anyone can get easily, a quick phone call to double check the order is wise.

Making your decision on this is a lot like buying stocks. Decide how much risk you are comfortable with, and use your best judgment. Also check with your merchant account about this option as they might have varying policies.