eBay to Let Buyers Keep Their Addresses Private?

1/17/2013 • ecommercebytes.com

What if you could buy something on eBay, but not reveal your address to the seller? And as a seller, how would you feel about sending a package to a hidden address? The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) just published eBay patent application 20130018759, "Third Party Token System for Anonymous Shipping." The Background of the patent ponders a "scenario (where) a recipient may not wish to share his or her mailing address with the sender," and the Detailed Description further explains the solution: "In an online marketplace, a buyer or recipient may be reluctant to provide personal information such as his mailing address to a seller... A token associated with the mailing address of the buyer may be provided to the seller. The seller may then use token to ship an item to the buyer with a shipping service provider who has privileged access the actual mailing address information of the buyer... ..(T)he universal addressing server allows for a user to use th