Tyler and Emily in PNG

The internet is great! The chance to browse Amazon.com for the next great purchase while sitting on the sofa in own home has its perks. Living as an overseas missionary you can’t walk to the big box stores such as Wal-Mart, Lowes, Best Buy, etc. to purchase the gadget you need to complete a project or task. Living overseas takes planning and patience when it comes to online shopping. The biggest hurdle is not the purchase but how to get it from point A to point B in this case from the USA to Papua New Guinea. The easiest option is to find a friend to hand carry the item in their luggage across the ocean to you. There are many other hurdles as well that I want to explain.

Recently I made an online purchase from a company in Wisconsin. Hereafter is where it gets complicated and perhaps you can see the complexities of the system. During checkout I declared my billing address is Alaska, my shipping address is Florida, and my contact telephone number is listed in Texas, and I am purchasing the item on my computer from Papua New Guinea. Perhaps this map will give a better picture.

Legend:

Pink – Billing Address (Alaska to Wisconsin)
Red – Shipping Address (Wisconsin to Florida)
Yellow – Hand delivery (Florida to PNG)
Green – Telephone Contact (PNG via Texas to Wisconsin)

As often times when purchasing from overseas the credit card company flags your purchase as fraudulent. When that happens, you have to ring the credit card to verify the transaction. In this case, the company in Wisconsin was trying to verify my credit card with my telephone number I provided. As the story goes, I had to call the company in Wisconsin which was actually a VOIP call from Texas (green line above). The call was breaking up and hard to communicate. The sales rep told me, they were concerned why I was calling from Texas, shipping to Florida, and billing from Alaska. To top it off, the sales rep asked why the phone call was so terrible which I had to reply ‘I am actually calling from out of the country.’

To make long story short, the sales rep approved the purchase as I talked to him on the phone. (Not to forget this was at 1 AM PNG time and normal business hours in Wisconsin.)

So yes, online purchasing is very nice but as the photo shows above it is very complicated and confusing. I am glad measures are being enforced against fraud and I have to learn to be patient and be accepting of the system. Hopefully the item I purchased will soon be coming to PNG with teammates whom were visiting Florida.