Quick Answer
Shopify address validation is the process of making sure that customer shipping addresses are real and deliverable. Shopify’s built-in system checks for empty fields, but to prevent errors and delays, you’ll need an app like Address Ninja to fully verify addresses at checkout.
Detailed Answer
When a customer enters an address at checkout, Shopify only checks that basic fields aren’t left blank, like the street name, city, and postal code. But it doesn’t confirm whether the address is real, deliverable, or properly formatted. This leaves merchants at risk of shipping delays, failed deliveries, and increased costs from address errors.
Using an app like Address Ninja fills this gap. It checks addresses in real time against official postal databases, helping you catch issues like typos, incomplete addresses, or undeliverable locations before orders are placed. By validating addresses upfront, you’ll protect your business from lost shipments, lower your customer service workload, and deliver a smoother shopping experience.
Key Benefits
Using an app to validate address comes with several key benefits including:
- Preventing failed deliveries by catching invalid or incomplete addresses before orders are shipped.
- Reducing customer service issues
- Lower shipping costs by preventing expenses incurred from returned or rerouted packages.
- Clean data
- Block risky addresses such as PO Boxes, non-Latin characters, or specific delivery points.
Supporting Answers
What is Shopify address validation?
Address validation (or verification) is the process of checking a mailing address to ensure that it’s valid. The purpose of validation is to ensure that merchants have the information they need to accurately track their orders, avoiding shipping errors and delays and keeping data clean.
There are generally two types of address validation:
- Syntax Checks ensure that the formatting of the address is correct. This might include making sure the street name is filled out or that the Postal Code has the required number of characters.
- Real-time verification connects to large databases such as Deutsche Post, Canada Post or USPS, in real time to determine if the address being entered is correctly formatted and deliverable.
By default, Shopify does not offer address validation beyond making sure that address fields are not left blank. To validate addresses properly, merchants will need to use a third-party app.
What is an address field?
All Shopify stores have an address section at checkout to capture shipping information from the customer. Each section has a field for the street address, city, postal/ZIP code, apartment/suite, etc.
By default, Shopify will check that the required fields are filled in (like country, postal code, city, etc.), but it doesn’t deeply verify if the address is real or deliverable.
What is a malformed address?
A malformed address is an address that is missing house numbers, formatted incorrectly, or contains invalid characters.
These types of addresses can be disruptive because it causes issues with carriers which can lead to delays or undeliverable items.
What is the Google Places API?
The Google Places API is a tool from Google that provides apps and websites with information on addresses, businesses, landmarks, and geographic locations.
Shopify uses Google’s Places API to offer address autocomplete during checkout. This offers customers convenience when filling out their address and helps to reduce typos,but it doesn’t fully verify if the address is deliverable or catch issues like PO Boxes that aren’t supported by some carriers.
What are PO Boxes and how do they impact delivery?
A Post Office Box, or (PO Box) is a secure, lockable compartment at a post office or postal facility where individuals or businesses can receive mail and packages. They are generally used to avoid mail theft, receive deliveries at a more convenient location, or keep a home address private for a business.
As a Shopify Merchant, you may want to restrict orders from using a PO Box as their address. PO Boxes can sometimes cause delivery problems as some carriers like UPS, FedEx, or DHL, won’t deliver to them, making it difficult for you to fulfill the order properly.
Also, fraudsters may use P.O. boxes to hide their true location or create a false sense of legitimacy, making it difficult to trace their activities. To avoid fraud, merchants may wish to restrict deliveries to non-PO Box addresses.
What is a Packstation or DHL Paketshop?
In Germany, a DHL Packstation is an automated parcel locker operated by DHL where customers can conveniently pick up or drop off packages at any time, 24/7. While it shares some similarities with a PO Box in North America, such as providing an alternative delivery location, it is primarily designed for parcels, not letters, and allows for both sending and receiving shipments.
A DHL Paketshop, on the other hand, is a partner location such as a convenience store, kiosk, or other shop that offers DHL shipping services. Paketshops typically have set opening hours and allow you to send or collect parcels during business hours. Merchants may want to block Paketshops because these locations often do not accept certain types of shipments, like oversized packages or those requiring age verification. Additionally, Paketshops can increase the risk of failed deliveries if the shop has limited hours or unexpected closures, which can lead to delays and frustrated customers.
What are non-Latin characters?
Non-Latin characters include any letters, symbols, or scripts that are not part of the standard A–Z Latin alphabet. Examples include characters from languages such as Chinese (汉字), Japanese (かな), Korean (한글), Cyrillic scripts used in Russian (АБВГ), Arabic (العربية), Hebrew (עברית), and many others.
Systems or shipping carriers may not process them correctly, especially for international addresses, and so merchants may choose to block addresses that use non-Latin characters.
What is custom regex?
Custom regex (regular expressions) are patterns used to identify specific formats in text, like postal codes or street addresses.
Regex can make sure an address includes a street number followed by a street name, or that it doesn’t contain invalid characters or extra spaces. This helps catch formatting issues before the address is processed.
Real-life Experience
I once ordered a bed frame from IKEA but forgot to include my apartment number. Luckily, my building manager recognized my name and directed the driver to the right unit. If it wasn’t for her, the package would’ve been returned, and I might have waited weeks to finally receive it.
Failed deliveries are frustrating for both merchants and customers, and they can turn into bad experiences when orders get returned or delayed.
-Kyle Godon, Shopify App Expert
Key Takeway
Using an app for address validation gives you far more control than Shopify’s default setup, helping you catch incomplete or undeliverable addresses before they cause problems. If you want to prevent failed deliveries, block risky address types, and improve data accuracy, an app is the best solution.