Validating addresses in your Shopify admin

When there's a potentially invalid address entered in your Shopify admin, a warning displays and you're offered suggestions to help you update the address details. Address validation suggestions are offered when there is high confidence in the address details that were intended. This helps you reduce orders with potentially invalid addresses, and minimize delayed or failed deliveries.

Address validation occurs automatically for your online orders, and is also triggered when you perform certain actions. Address validation happens in the following scenarios:

• A customer places a new online order.
• An order is created through an API.
• You create a draft order and then add a new or existing customer to the order.
• You add or update a location that you fulfill orders from.

Tip

You can activate address validation at checkout to prompt customers to validate their address before their order is placed.

Eligibility for address validation

Note

The address validation feature is available only on desktop devices. Address validation warnings don't display in the Shopify mobile app.

Address validation is available to all merchants on any plan and is always active on your store.

The address validation feature is available for shipping addresses in the following countries:

• Australia
• Austria
• Belgium
• Bermuda
• Czechia
• Denmark
• Faroe Islands
• France
• Guernsey
• Italy
• Liechtenstein
• Luxembourg
• Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Slovenia
• South Korea
• Switzerland
• United States

Orders from unsupported countries still have their addresses inspected, but might not return as many specific address validation suggestions as those from supported countries.

Types of address validation issues

There are 2 main types of address validation issues:

• Warnings: Indicated by a yellow icon, a warning might result in a delayed or failed delivery and should be updated.
• Errors: Indicated by a red icon, an error is very likely to result in a delayed or failed delivery, and should be updated. Errors prevent you from marking the address as valid on orders.

Use your discretion to determine when to mark a flagged address on an order as valid. Fulfilling orders without resolving warnings or errors can result in delayed or failed order deliveries to your customer.

Filtering orders by address validation status

You can filter your Orders list to display orders by their address validation status. Select Address validation as the order filter and choose which filters to apply to your order view:

• Not validated: Displays orders that were excluded from address validation. These can include orders without shipping addresses.
• Has issues: Displays orders with address validation warnings or errors.
• No issues: Displays orders that were successfully validated.

Learn more about filtering orders.

Resolve issues with addresses

In your Orders list, the address validation for each order is saved so you can resolve the address issue at any time before fulfillment. In other places where address validation occurs in your admin, the validation is triggered when you enter an address into an address field, such as when you add or edit a fulfillment location address. These issues should be resolved at the time the validation error is flagged.

If there are warnings or errors detected, then the warning or error displays and a Suggestion option is included as an alternative you can select. To reduce the risk of delayed or failed deliveries, resolve any address validation warnings or errors in your Shopify admin. If you're unsure how to resolve the validation issue with a customer's address on an order, then contact the customer directly by sending an email asking them for more information.

If there's an error on a shipping address, then you can't mark the address as valid.

Steps:

Orders

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.

2. Click the order with a shipping address validation issue that you want to resolve.

3. In the Customer section, under Shipping address, click Review address issues.

4. Optional: If you want to contact the customer to confirm their address, then click Email customer to open an Email customer dialog. Learn more about contacting a customer about their order.

5. In the Edit shipping address dialog, the original shipping address displays with the address issue flagged, as well as the suggested valid shipping address. Resolve the address issue by doing any of the following options:

   • With the Original option selected, click Mark as valid to accept the existing shipping address with no updates. This is only possible when there is no error to resolve.
   • With the Suggestion option selected, click Use suggestion to automatically update the shipping address information.
   • In the Original section, click Edit address to manually update the shipping address information. When you're done updating the address, click Save.

Tip

A map marker icon beside your order number on the Orders list also provides information about the order's address validation. Click the icon to open the dialog and edit the address or accept the suggested update.

Other

1. In your Shopify admin, complete an action where address validation occurs, such as adding or editing an address on a draft order or fulfillment location. If there's an issue with an address, then a warning or error displays.
2. In the Edit address dialog, the original address displays with the address issue flagged, as well as the suggested valid address. Resolve the address issue by doing any of the following options:
   • With the Current option selected, click Use current to accept the existing address with no updates. This is only possible when there is no error to resolve.
   • With the Suggestion option selected, click Use suggestion to automatically update the address information.
   • In the Current section, click Edit address to manually update the address information. When you're done updating the address, click Save.