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Address Validation

An article about the ShipStation Address Validation feature that describes which databases it uses, which countries it works with, and what the various icons mean.

Address Validation is the process of checking the Recipient Address against an official database to ensure the address is valid. Many carriers will not create labels for invalid addresses and will give an error in ShipStation when this is the case.

ShipStation runs address validation on every order shipping to and within the supported countries (listed below) and can even auto-correct domestic and international addresses for these supported countries.

Note

For U.S. orders, ShipStation validates addresses against the USPS address validation database. For other supported countries, ShipStation validates addresses against the Melissa Database.

ShipStation's Address Verification feature supports address validation and correction for the following countries:

  • Australia

  • Canada

  • France

  • Germany

  • Great Britain

  • Israel

  • Italy

  • Norway

  • Spain

  • Sweden

  • United States

While the address validation will always run on orders shipping to the above countries, you are not required to use the automatic address correction feature.

Validated Addresses

ShipStation displays an icon to indicate the validation status of an order's delivery address. This icon appears in the Orders grid alongside the recipient's name and in the Order Details screen.

Orders Grid:

Close-up of 3 different validation statuses for order-delivery addresses. Heading reads, Recipient, lists 3 names.

Order Details:

Order Details. Sample Ship To field. Commercial address icon & Address Validated status in green

Address Validation Icons

The table below provides a description of what each address validation icon means in ShipStation.

Icon

Description
Validated Commercial Address icon: Green office building with white squares as windows

Validated Domestic Address

The address verification service has verified the address successfully and the ship-to country is the same as the home country for your ShipStation account.

For U.S.-based accounts, this icon also means the address is treated as a commercial address.
Validated Residential Address icon: Simplified house in green

Validated Residential Address (U.S. only)

Same as Validated Domestic Address, except the address is considered residential. A residential address may qualify for different services or rates.

ShipStation cannot verify addresses as residential for non-U.S. countries.
Validated International Address icon: Green globe

Validated International Address (Supported Countries only)

The address verification service has verified the address successfully and the ship-to country is different than the home country for your ShipStation account.
​​"Address not verified​" or "​Address not found" icon. White question mark inside of a black circle. ​

Address not verified or Address not found

This icon will appear for one of two reasons:

  • ShipStation has not run address verification yet. Address verification will run automatically when an order is in Awaiting Shipment. If the order is not in Awaiting Shipment, you may need to manually verify address before you can create a label.

  • ShipStation ran the address verification, but the ship-to country is not supported so address verification could not be completed.
​​"Address Verification Warning​​" icon. White exclamation point inside of an orange triangle.

Address Verification Warning

The core components of the address (Address 1, City, State, and Postal Code) verified successfully, but there is either missing or extra information in the address that is preventing full validation.

For example, an apartment number included in address line 2 cannot be verified, or there is additional text in address line 2 which is not needed.

This warning will not prevent you from attempting to create a label. However, if the postage provider finds fault with the address they may reject the label creation attempt and provide an additional error. If the postage provider returns additional errors, you will need to correct the address to create the label successfully.
Address Verification Error icon: white exclamation point inside a red circle.

Address Verification Error

The address verification system encountered an error when attempting to validate the address, usually due to a missing or invalid value, or combination of values, in the City, State, and Postal Code fields.

For example, the City field may be blank, or the postal code is in an incorrect format for the ship-to country.

An address verification error will not prevent you from attempting to create a label. However, if the postage provider finds fault with the address they may reject the label creation attempt and provide an additional error. If the postage provider returns additional errors, you will need to correct the address to create the label successfully.

Automatic Address Correction

In addition to validating delivery addresses, ShipStation can also automatically standardize and correct addresses for supported countries.

Note

For U.S. orders, ShipStation validates addresses against the USPS address validation database. For other supported countries, ShipStation validates addresses against the Melissa Database.

Address correction is enabled by default and can be enabled and disabled on a per-store basis. 

  1. Go to Account Settings.

    Closeup of Toolbar. The red box highlights the icon for Settings.

  2. Select Selling Channels from the left-hand sidebar, then choose Store Setup.

    Left-hand sidebar. Under Selling Channels, red box highlights Store Setup

  3. Click the ellipsis Gray ellipsis next to the store you want to update, then click Edit Store Details.

    Store Setup page with arrow pointing to the ellipsis icon and dropdown menu showing Edit Store Details option highlighted

  4. Check or uncheck the box to enable or disable the option to Automatically standardize and correct for either domestic or international addresses. 

    Red box highlights 2 boxes checked to Auto Standardize & Correct 1. Domestic & 2. International Addresses when verified.

  5. Click Save Changes. 

About Automatic Address Correction

  • ShipStation will still validate addresses when the automatic-correction option is disabled.

  • When using the address correction feature to standardize recipient addresses, there is a chance the closest matching address in either the USPS database (U.S. addresses) or Melissa database (all other countries) will not match the intended delivery address.

    You can manually check addresses in these databases to confirm validation or discover what the expected address correction will be. Please note that to check an international address in the Melissa database, you must create a user and log into their website. Their address validation requires the use of credits (currently, you receive a limited number of complementary credits every month once you register).

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