Address Validation: check address residential status before requesting Carrier real-time rates or use the default status
Overview
Carriers might charge higher rates for residential addresses and some of them (i.e. FedEx) don't check address status when returning rates, which might cause shipping rates discrepancies and inaccuracy. The "Address Validation" feature checks the residential status of the destination address entered at checkout before requesting Carrier real-time rates.
Address Validation: Popular Scenarios
Check some popular scenarios perfectly solved with Address Validation:
- Check address residential status before requesting Carrier real-time rates (learn from this article)
- Default to residential or commercial address type when requesting Carrier real-time rates (learn from this article)
- Set up own rates based on the address status
- Apply Shipping Rules based on the address residential status
Address Validation: Configuration Steps
Before you start: make sure you have at least one Carrier Shipping Option, for which you want to apply the Address Validation
Step 1: Enable Address Validation feature
Step 2: Enable Address Validation for the Carrier Shipping Option or Use the Default Status
After you finish: check applied address status in the Activity Feed while testing
Step 1: Enable Address Validation feature
Open Address Validation Settings and enable the feature:
- Shipping Areas. Only destination addresses in the selected Areas are validated. Leave empty to validate every address. Limiting the Areas avoids unnecessary calls and credits usage.
- Qualify "unknown" addresses as. The address type used when the result is unknown, for example Residential.
- Display address status in the Order Notes. Shows the validated status in the order.
Step 2: Enable Address Validation for the Carrier Shipping Option or Use the Default Status
In Shipping Options, open your Carrier Shipping Option > Basic tab > Carrier Settings > Address Type in Rate Request.
Enable Address Validation
Select "Validate Address" and save the Shipping Option.
Address type from the validation results will be used when requesting shipping rates. No address validation data will be used if the "Address Validation" feature is disabled (Step 1).
Use the Default Address Status
You may also use the default address status ("residential" or "commercial") for your Shipping Option. In this case you may disable the Address Validation feature (Step 1).
The "Unknown" value means no address type will be sent to the Carrier when requesting shipping rates.