Resolving shipping address errors

Note

This guide is for merchants who started using the Shopify Fulfillment Network (SFN) before January 30, 2024. The Shopify Fulfillment Network app has been rebuilt to offer fulfillment solutions in partnership with Flexport. If you use the new SFN app, then refer to the new SFN guide.

When Shopify Fulfillment Network (SFN) receives a fulfillment request for an order, it checks the order's shipping address for any formatting that might cause shipping issues. If there are issues with the format of your order's shipping address, then SFN can’t print a shipping label and the fulfillment request is declined.

To learn how to monitor for declined fulfillment requests, refer to accessing orders with declined fulfillment requests.

The order page in your Shopify admin displays any shipping address errors and explains the issue. You need to resolve all of a fulfillment request's shipping address errors before the request can be processed by SFN.

Resolve shipping address errors

To resolve shipping address errors, you make the required changes in your Shopify order, manually request a new fulfillment

Steps:

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Orders.
2. Click the order that has a declined fulfillment request due to an invalid address.
3. In the Shipping address section, click Edit.
4. Make any necessary corrections to the shipping address, and then click Save.
5. In the Request declined section, click Request fulfillment.
6. Click Send fulfillment request.

A new fulfillment request is sent to SFN and the fulfillment status updates to In progress.

Reasons for shipping address errors

The following are common address issues that can cause a fulfillment request to be declined.

Missing address information

If there's a required information missing from your order's shipping address, then your SFN orders display an error in one of the following formats:

• Address line 1 is required.
• City is required.
• Postal code is required.
• State or province is required.
• Country is required.
• Name is required.

A phone number is required for international orders

If you are shipping internationally and your order's shipping address doesn't have a phone number, then your SFN orders display the A phone number is required for international orders error.

International customs offices and carriers require a phone number to communicate any issues or questions regarding an order. If you're shipping internationally, then you need to add a phone number to your order's shipping address.

To avoid this error in the future, edit your Checkout settings to make phone numbers mandatory.

Wrong postal code format

To resolve zip and postal code issues, make sure your postal code is in accurate format. You can use external tools to check your postal code, for example SmartyStreets address validator.

The city field contains a postal code

If the City field contains a postal code, then the following error message is displayed on your SFN order:

This order's shipping address isn't valid: city field contains postal code.

You need to remove the postal code from the City field and make sure that the ZIP code field contains the postal code.

Name has too many characters

If the Name or Company field has too many characters, then your SFN orders display an error in one of the following formats:

• Company must have fewer than X characters.
• First name and last name must have fewer than X characters combined.
• First name, last name, and company name must have fewer than X characters combined.

You can reduce the characters in the Name field by removing the following text:

• ATTENTION or ATTN
• name titles such as MR, MRS, DR, or PHD

You can reduce the characters in the Company field by shortening the company name and keeping it recognizable. For example, The Seventy Sixth Street Bakery Company can be edited to 76th St Bakery Company.

Address has too many characters

If the Address or ZIP code field has too many characters, then your SFN order displays an error in one of the following formats:

• Address line 1 must have fewer than X characters.
• Address line 2 must have fewer than X characters.
• City must have fewer than X characters.
• Country must have fewer than X characters.
• Postal code must have fewer than X characters.
• City must have fewer than X characters.
• State/province must have fewer than X characters.

You can decrease the number of characters by entering apartment details in the Apartment field, and by using the following abbreviations for street type and cardinal direction:

Abbreviations of street information

Long form	Abbreviation
Numbered streets, such as First	Use the number format, such as 1st
North, South, East, or West	N, S, E, or W
Road	Rd
Street	St
Court	Ct
Lane	Ln
Apartment	Apt
Avenue	Ave
Boulevard	BLVD
Circle	CIR
Highway	HWY
Mountain	MTN
Square	SQ
Suite	STE

Military and diplomatic address must follow guidelines

If you are shipping to a military or diplomatic destination and your order's shipping address doesn't follow US Military mail guidelines, then your SFN orders display the For military and diplomatic mail, city must be one of APO, DPO, or FPO error. The acronyms in this error message have the following meaning:

• APO: Air or Army Post Office,
• DPO: Diplomatic Post Office
• FPO: Fleet Post Office.

To make sure that your military and diplomatic mail is sent without delays, confirm that your order's shipping address format satisfies the following guidelines:

• The Name field must contain the recipient’s full name, rank is optional.
• The Address field must include the recipient’s unit and box number in the following format:
  • Air Force (APO): PSC # Box #
  • Army (APO): Unit # Box #
  • Embassy (DPO): Unit # Box #
  • Navy (FPO): Ship # Hull #
• The City field must contain either APO, DPO, or FPO to route packages as the military mail instead of international mail. The city shouldn't be the actual destination city or to the Military Post Office (MPO).
• The State field must be either AA (Armed Forces Americas), AE (Armed Forces Europe), or AP (Armed Forces Pacific). The state shouldn't be the actual destination state.
• The ZIP code field must be a military postal code, not the destination postal code or billing zip code. Military postal codes are matched to the state code in the following format:
  • AA state zip code begins with 340
  • AE state zip code begins with 090-099
  • AP state zip code begins with 962-966
• The Country field must be US or United States.

For examples of correctly formatted military mail addresses, refer to the following table:

Examples of military mail addresses

Air Force (APO)	Army (APO)	Navy (FPO)	Embassy (DPO)
SGT John Connor PSC 1234 Box 12345 APO AE 09324-2928	LT Ed Traxler Unit 45013 Box 2666 APO AE 09388	CPT Miles Bennet USS Hornet DDG 96 FPO AA 96543-1234	Kyle Reese Unit 8100 Box 121 DPO AP 96377