Address Validation - Domestic

By default, as orders are downloaded into ShipWorks, address validation is performed for the Ship To addresses associated to the orders. If an incorrect address is found, the address is not automatically corrected. Instead, ShipWorks will notify you if the address is a Bad Address, if there are Suggestions to select from, will list any details related to a bad address, and give you the option to select from a list of suggested corrections when appropriate.

Example 1: The Ship To address is a bad address. By clicking on the Details link, we can see details of why the address is a bad address.

Example 2: The Ship To address has 1 Suggestion on how to correct it. By clicking on the Suggestions link, you can view the original address, see the suggested correction, and select the suggestion so that the correction is applied to the address. In the event that there are multiple suggestions, all suggestions are listed for you to select from.

If you wish, you can change how and when ShipWorks performs address validation. You can also turn off address validation completely.

Address validation settings are at the store level. This means that each store or marketplace you have connected to ShipWorks can be configured individually. Here's how:

 

Click on the Manage tab and then on the Stores button.

2. Select the store for which you would like to modify the address validation settings. Then, click the Edit button.

3. Select Store Settings.

4. Scroll down to the Address Validation section. Then, select the desired setting from the Domestic addresses: drop-down menu. The available settings are:

Automatically Fix Addresses - With this setting selected ShipWorks will automatically apply the correct address if there is only one suggestion available. If there are multiple address suggestions available, ShipWorks will list the suggestions for you and you will need to manually select the address you wish to apply from the list of suggestions.

In the below example, order 6007 has only one suggestion. So, ShipWorks automatically Fixed the address for you. However, order 6001 has multiple suggestions and ShipWorks only notifies you that there are multiple suggestions to select from.

Manual Validation Only - With this option selected, ShipWorks does not perform any address validation as orders are downloaded into ShipWorks.

In this example, you can see that the Validation Status for the newly imported orders is Not Checked. You will need to manually perform address validation for these orders. We'll show you how to perform address validation later in this article.

Disabled - This setting completely disables address validation in ShipWorks. ShipWorks does not perform any validation and you are not given the option to manually perform address validation.

From the Shipping Panel or Ship Orders Screen

1. Expand the To: address section to view the recipients ship to address.

2. Locate the Suggestion link located to the right of the Address label. The link will tell you how many suggestions were found during the validation process.

3. Click on the blue Suggestion link. The original address will be listed along with all of the available suggestions. Click on the suggestion you wish to be applied.

From the Main Orders Grid

1. Click on the blue Suggestion link in the Validation Suggestion column. Then, select the suggestion you wish to be applied.

If you have Address Validation set to Manual Validation only, you can validate addresses manually by:

On the Shipping Panel or Ship Orders Screen

1. Expand the To address section so that the recipients address is visible.

2. Click on the blue Validate link located to the right of the Address heading.

If the address is found to be bad, you will be notified that it is a bad address and can view additional details.

If there is only a single address correction found, the address will be automatically corrected for you. You will be able to view the original address as well as the corrected address by clicking 1 Suggestion.

If multiple suggestions are found, you can select from a list of suggestions by clicking on the Suggestions link.

While it is possible to disable address validation within the ShipWorks software, address cleansing will still be performed when shipping with USPS.

When your ship to address contains typos, incorrect zip codes, or non-standard state abbreviations the address will be automatically corrected and printed on the shipping label so that costly non-deliverable and returned packages can be avoided.

For example:

You can also validate addresses from the Order Editor screen.

1. Select the order. Then, click on the Home tab and then on the Edit button.

2. Select Address. Then, click the Edit button.

3. Click Validate or select from the list of Suggestions.

By default, the main orders grid in ShipWorks does not display columns associated with address validation. You can modify the grid so that you can see the Validation Status, Address Type, and Validation Suggestions columns for the Ship To and/or Bill To addresses. Here's how:

 

1. Click on the View tab and then on the Grid Columns button.

2. Scroll down in the Column Order and Visibility list to locate the Address Validation columns you wish to enable. Then, check the box to the right of the column(s) you wish to display. Click OK. The available address validation columns are:

Validation Status (shipping and/or billing) - Indicates the status of address validation; Not Checked, Bad Address, Has Suggestions, Suggestion Selected, or automatically Fixed.

Validation Suggestions (Shipping and/or Billing) - Shows you the number of address suggestions available, allows you to select from a list of suggestions and will give you additional details related to a bad address.

Type - Displays if the address is Residential or Commercial. Also displays if the address has not been validated, is too ambiguous to validate, an international address or an international address with limited address validation data.

If you wish to change the order in which the columns are displayed on the orders grid, you can use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to do so. Simply select the column you wish to move and click the appropriate button to move the column up or down in the list.

The Orders Grid with the shipping Validation Status and Suggestions columns visible.