To update your credit card you will Login to your account then click on My Subscriptions
and then on the Add/Edit Credit Card link. *All credit card information is stored with the merchant processor not with Sales Tax Database.
Most latitude and longitude coordinates are centroid based. In other words, they're
in the exact "center" of the ZIP Code. In cases where the ZIP Code includes a large
unpopulated area, the coordinates may be population based.
No, the geo-codes are completely separate. However, the US Census does do quite
a bit of analysis with ZIP Codes as their building block - so you can never go wrong
by having your own database.
No, they don't. ZIP Codes were never meant to identify a geographic region, they're
simply routes taken to deliver mail. We use the boundaries created by the mail routes
to create a geographic region and assign the ZIP Code lat/long coordinates.
The problem you're seeing with the "4-digit or 3-digit ZIP Code" isn't really a
problem with our data at all, in fact, it has to do with Microsoft Excel and other
programs that read the Tab or CSV file. They're trying to read the first column
as an integer. When they see zeros, they get rid of them. The ZIP Code you see 501
should be 00501. You may need to use a "text-import" feature in order to get the
columns to render properly as "text" and not numbers.
Sales Tax Database is a non-exclusive licensee of the USPS.
We receive monthly updates of the USPS databases and then add our internally developed data, such as latitude/longitude, CombinedRate, CountyRate, StateRate, SpecialRate, CityRate, area codes, time zones, etc.
to their databases. We validate our data against several different sources like State Department of Revenue materials and commercial tax rate providers to insure that you receive the most accurate data possible.
There is limitation of around 65,000 rows in most spreadsheet applications such
as Excel. If you want to use the data in Excel, download the version specific to
Excel. Our Excel version contains multiple sheets within the file that contain the
data. Otherwise, you can use Access or another database program to view the data.
Yes. The USPS data is updated monthly and there are changes to the data
every single month. We receive the updated zip code data directly from
the providers and include the changes in our monthly update. This includes all added
and removed ZIP Codes. We recommend purchasing monthly updates
to our databases if you will be using the data in an application. That way, you'll always have
the most accurate data available!
Yes and no. The zip code data itself come directly from the USPS
- they are responsible for the addition, deletion, and modification of ZIP Codes.
Data such as CombinedRate, CountyRate, StateRate, SpecialRate, CityRate, lat/long coordinates, area codes, time zones, etc. is developed internally
and validated across multiple sources.
We only offer our products via download from our website. This is for several reasons,
the main one is price. We don't have to pay for CD duplication or distribution and
we can then pass those savings along to you.
If you've already purchased, your temporary password is the last four digits of
the credit card you used for your purchase. If you have logged in and changed your
password, you can use our password lookup tool found on the login page.
Each database comes in a variety of formats. You can view the available formats
by clicking on "Tech Specs" or "Sample Data" on the product page. After purchasing
you can choose which format you want the database files to come in.
We allow you to download the database for up to 30 days after your first download.
If you need more time, contact us. Licensing restrictions from the USPS
may prevent us from providing data that is more than 90 days old.
No. The update price INCLUDES the base price - you simply pay the update price and
that's it. For example, the monthly update package entitles you to receive the initial
product download, as well as all the updates.
You'll be able to download our data on or about the 5th business day of every month
until your subscription ends. If the 5th falls on a weekend, or holiday, you'll
be able to download your data on the first business day following the 5th business
day of the month.
The subscription is a one year subscription. There are 11 updates (for the monthly
subscription) on top of the initial download, so in other words, you'll receive
12 total databases. An email will be sent on or about the 5th
business day of the month containing download instructions.
That depends. Does your application depend on correct data over time? If so, you
need a subscription, or in other words, updates to the Sales Tax data. Otherwise,
you will begin to notice inaccurate data over time.
A subscription is a one-time fee charged at the time of purchase that entitles you
to receive updates to our products on a monthly basis for one year,
which means you will receive a total of 12 updates.
We primarily deal with credit cards because they allow us to keep prices low. However,
if you prefer not to use a credit card, feel free to contact us and we'll make other
arrangements.
Yes. Please contact sales or customer support for more information. Please include
the name and email address for the user with the purchase order to enable delivery
of the product.
ZIP stands for "Zoning Improvement Plan". It is used to signify a delivery route
in the United States as designated by the USPS. In most cases a ZIP Code is a geographic
region with a center point.
The USPS has assigned each ZIP Code a "type". Why? It helps them sort mail more
quickly.
S - Standard - A "standard" ZIP Code is what most people think of when they
talk about ZIP Codes - essentially a town, city, or a division of a city that has
mail service.
P - PO Box Only - Rural towns, groups of towns, or even
high-growth areas of cities are given a "PO Box Only" ZIP Code type.
U
- Unique - Companies, organizations, and institutions that receive large quantities
of mail are given a "unique" ZIP Code type.
M - Military - Military bases
overseas - and often vessels and ships - are given a "military" ZIP Code type.
In many cases, a ZIP Code can have multiple "names", meaning cities, towns, or subdivisions,
in its boundaries. However, it will ALWAYS have exactly 1 "default" name.
D - Default - This is the "preferred" name - by the USPS - for a city. Each
ZIP Code has one - and only one - "default" name. In most cases, this is what people
who live in that area call the city as well.
A - Acceptable - This name
can be used for mailing purposes. Often times alternative names are large neighborhoods
or sections of the city/town. In some cases a ZIP Code may have several "acceptable"
names which is used to group towns under one ZIP Code.
N - Not Acceptable
- A "not acceptable" name is, in many cases, a nickname that residents give that
location. According to the USPS, you should NOT send mail to that ZIP Code using
the "not acceptable" name when mailing.
There are three types of cities in our databases. They are indicated by the CityType
column.
D - Default - This is the "preferred" name - by the USPS - for a city. Each
ZIP Code has one - and only one - "default" name. In most cases, this is what people
who live in that area call the city as well.
A - Acceptable - This name
can be used for mailing purposes. Often times alternative names are large neighborhoods
or sections of the city/town. In some cases a ZIP Code may have several "acceptable"
names which is used to group towns under one ZIP Code.
N - Not Acceptable
- A "not acceptable" name is, in many cases, a nickname that residents give that
location. According to the USPS, you should NOT send mail to that ZIP Code using
the "not acceptable" name when mailing.
The USPS includes the Not Acceptable city names to assist with data validation.
If you do not want these names to display in your application, filter all the "N"
CityTypes from the database. If you want to display only one city for each ZIP Code,
display only the "D" CityType.
In many cases, a ZIP Code can have multiple "names", meaning cities, towns, or subdivisions,
in its boundaries. Alternate names show additional names that are a part of that
ZIP Code - but are not necessarily the "primary" or "default" name.
Each county in the United States is assigned a unique number for identification
purposes - a "Federal Information Processing Standards" or FIPS code. The County
FIPS code is a combination of a 2-digit state FIPS code as well as a 3-digit county
code as designated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
A state in our database is a state, territory, province, or region as designated
by the USPS. The database includes all United States territories and possessions
that have been assigned ZIP Codes.
A three-digit code that identifies one of the telephone areas into which the USA
are divided and that precedes the local telephone number when
dialing a call between areas.
If multiple area
codes belong to one postal code, all area codes are listed and delimited by a slash
"/" character.
The UTC offset is the number of hours the particular ZIP Code is from Universal
Time Co-ordinated (UTC), the international time standard, also known as Greenwich
Meridian Time (GMT).
The daylight savings time flag indicates if a particular ZIP Code "obeys", or, in
other words adjusts their clocks forward and back with the seasons. This information
is particularly useful to determine time in other time zones with areas that may
or may not use daylight savings time - for example, Arizona, Hawaii, and, of all
places - Indiana.
MSAs or Metropolitan Statistical Areas, are 4-digit codes assigned to the roughly
340 metropolitan areas as designated by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
They are primarily used to group cities together for statistical purposes or types
of analysis. Latitude and longitude are a much more efficient way of accomplishing
the same task.
Note that MSAs are now obsolete and have been replaced by CBSA codes. Please see
our CBSA product under "USA Data" in the product section.
This option allows you to purchase the most recent version of the data available.
You pay the price listed one time during checkout and are not charged again.
As the data changes each month, you will not receive updates to the data and the
data that you purchased will become outdated.
This option allows you to purchase the most recent version of the data available.
You pay the price listed one time during checkout and are not charged again.
After purchasing, you will be entitled to receive an update to your data each month
for a period of ONE YEAR. This means you will receive 12 versions of the
file - one for each month.
When your subscription expires, you will have the option to renew it. We typically
give a renewal discount to existing subscribers.
We will NOT give, sell, rent or lease your data to anyone for any reason
- period. We value your privacy and we want to make sure your personal information
(such as email, name, or contact info) is kept private in our SSL encrypted database.
We will only use your email within our company to notify you of updates to your
subscription (if you are purchasing a subscription), or to send you an email confirmation
receipt. We may also send you special offers from time to time. If you forget your
password, we will also use this email to send you your password.
For more information, please review our privacy policy.
We use more than two dozen different industry-standard practices and proprietary
techniques to keep your credit card information private and secure. Here are just
a few of the things we do to keep your information completely secure:
First and foremost, you should see a small "padlock" icon on the bottom right-hand
side of your browser - indicating a secure connection.
Furthermore, the checkout
page is located on a HTTPS: connection - which is another indication of a
secure connection.
Then, our GeoTrust & VeriSign SSL certificates require
your browser to initiate at least a 128-bit secure channel between your PC and our
server - so that absolutely no one else can see your data.
Next, we transmit
your credit card information in small chunks (never the whole thing at one time)
across multiple internet paths to your credit card issuing bank using 256-bit encryption
(128-bit encryption is considered totally secure).
Finally, we encrypt only
the first and last 4-digits of your credit card for storage (to help us assist you
should you have questions about your transaction) in our system using 1024-bit permanently
irreversible encryption.
If you have further questions or concerns, please contact our sales and support
team.
Rest assured, we are not declining your transaction. When you enter your
credit card number, and click "Place Your Order", we submit that card number to
your card issuing bank - meaning the bank that gives you a credit card. Along
with that card number, we submit all of the information you enter. Based upon that
information, they either accept or decline our request to charge your card.
There are a number of reasons why your card company may have declined us when we
tried to charge your card:
Do you have the correct expiration date?
Occasionally the expiration date will be different than the date listed on the card.
Do you have the billing address correct?
The billing address is where the credit card statement is mailed every month. If
you're using a business card - it's usually business address. If you're an authorized
user of someone's card - ask them what the billing address of the credit
card is.
Did you enter the "Verification Code" of the credit card correctly?
If the verification code is wrong, you will usually get declined.
Do you have a "pre-set" spending limit for the card?
Usually if there's more than one user on a credit card account, the total purchases
of both cards count against the maximum amount you can spend in a day.
Does your credit card company know you make internet transactions?
Often times credit card companies will reject internet transactions because of the
potential for fraud - you simply have to notify your credit card company that you
wish to make an internet purchase and they'll enable your account.
Is the amount of the transaction too much?
Because we are an internet-based company and your credit/debit card is not "physically"
present during the transaction, your credit card company may limit the amount that
we can charge your card.
If you receive too many declines in a day, your card company may "lock" your card
from being used - it's a preventative measure just in case your card is stolen.
What can I do now?
The easiest thing to do is to triple-check the information you entered in our form
with the list above and see if any match your situation. If so, correct any mistakes
and try again.
If that doesn't work you can CALL YOUR CREDIT CARD COMPANY and ask them why
they declined us when we tried to charge your card. They have the ability to see
everything that's going on with the transaction that are attempted using your card
and they can tell you exactly why they declined us.
The "Verification Code" or CVV2 is an important new internet security feature that
now appears on the back of most Visa and MasterCard credit cards and on the front
of American Express cards. This new code is a three or four-digit number which validates
that the customer placing the order online actually has the card in their possession,
and that the card number given is legitimate.
Visa & MasterCard
Flip your card over and look at the "signature panel" box. You should see the entire
16-digit credit card number (or just the last four digits) followed by a separate
3-digit code. This 3-digit is your "Verification Code".
American Express
Look for the 4-digit code printed on the front of your card - just above the right
of your main credit card number. This 4-digit code is your "Verification Code".
American Express Optima
Look for the 4-digit code printed on the front of your card - just above the main
credit card number. This 4-digit code is your "Verification Code".
Discover
The "Verification Code" is the 3 digits that come after your credit card number
on the back of your card.
No Updates: This option allows you to purchase the most recent version of
the data available. You pay the price listed one time during checkout and are not
charged again.
As the data changes each month, you will not receive updates to the data and the
data that you purchased will become outdated.
When your subscription expires, you will have the option to renew it. We typically
give a renewal discount to existing subscribers.
Monthly Updates: This option allows you to purchase the most recent version
of the data available. You pay the price listed one time during checkout and are
not charged again.
After purchasing, you will be entitled to receive an update to your data each month
for a period of ONE YEAR. This means you will receive 12 versions of the
file - one for each month.
When your subscription expires, you will have the option to renew it. We typically
give a renewal discount to existing subscribers.
Standard License: For most of our customers the Standard License is adequate.
It allows you, the licensee, to make unlimited copies of our products for all machines
within your organization. Furthermore, this license covers any contractors or 3rd
parties that are working on your behalf so long as the data is not being used for
other clients. There are a few simple restrictions for this license. The biggest
is that you are not allowed to bundle this data into a redistributable application--one
that leaves machines under your control. Basically, the idea is that, as long as
it's on your machines, you're okay.
General Restrictions: One of the main themes behind these licenses is that
you don't post our data to the web such that it can be easily downloaded. For example,
you are restricted from creating "lookup pages" that simply display the raw
data for end users. As long as you are displaying only portions of our data in conjunction
with your data, then you're okay. But if you make the raw data available for anyone
to retrieve, then there's a problem.
For specific questions regarding License Agreements please consult the license agreement
of the product in question. Each product page has a "License" tab allowing you to
view the entire license agreement for a particular product.