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by neilparikh 971 days ago
When I was traveling abroad, I placed an order on Walmart, shipping to my home address, so that it would be there for me when I got back home. Walmart cancelled the order, "due to location restrictions on placing and shipping orders", even though the delivery address was in the US! I have no idea why the physical location of the computer placing the order should matter to Walmart. Eventually I just had to get my friend order for me.
3 comments
pshirshov 971 days ago
A tailscale node on your AppleTV at home will fix the issue for you.
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sangnoir 971 days ago
Wireguard on a $15 Raspberry Pi Zero works as well[1], for those who don't have AppleTVs.

1. Or OpenVPN on your router. It's probably to gove yourself a tunnel to your home-network you can use from your phone or laptop from anywhere in the world. Avoid default ports if you can.

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snotrockets 971 days ago
Tailscale is wireguard, just with outsourced admin.

I'm getting paid to develop and operate network infrastructure, I don't want to have a second job doing it without compensation.

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sangnoir 969 days ago
The only admin work I ever do is generating a new config when I get or replace a peer device. I imagine this is inescapable even on Tailscale? Are there specific, recurring tasks that you think would cause it to rise to the level of a second job, rather than a once-and-done 5 minute install?
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mango7283 968 days ago
The fact you have to state avoid default ports if you can kinda really highlights why this is not the best idea right?
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jeromegv 971 days ago
Shopify does use the IP location distance Vs shipping address as a risk factor for fraud. I see it often on my Shopify stores where they will flag an order as high risk for that reason.

Same thing if someone used a VPN.

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jrockway 971 days ago
I don't know how the numbers break down, but plenty of people that buy credit card numbers are happy to orchestrate a scheme to ship packages to the US and have someone forward them to the scammer. Or steal them off your porch.

It is probably exceptionally rare for a fraud protection algorithm to be in place to inconvenience and spite you. Rather, some ne'er-do-well has cooked up a bafflingly complicated scheme that looks like your legitimate business. Such is the tragedy of operating at scale.

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