piatkow - 11:15 pm on Dec 31, 2009 (gmt 0)

I don't know which country version of Amazon the OP has been looking at but I don't remember anything in .uk saying that they wouldn't ship to an alternative address. If they had I would never have tried to order my mother's Christmas and birthday presents from them for the last three years.

Why do sites do it? My guess for most cases would be shopping cart software that offers alternative addresses the merchat cannot, or doesn't know how to, turn the option off.