Articles on: Order editing

Check addresses automatically

Address validation checks every new order's shipping address against Google's address data, before you ship it. Turn it on under Features → Address validation. Small mistakes can be fixed for you, and orders with undeliverable addresses can be held for review. Checks are charged per use.

What this does

A wrong address is the most expensive small mistake in ecommerce. You pay to ship it, pay to get it back, and usually refund the customer anyway.

Checking the address before dispatch turns that into a two-minute fix.

Turn it on

Go to Features → Address validation.
Turn on Check the address on every new order.
Save.

Checks are charged per use. Your plan includes an allowance, and the page shows the price per check.

Skip the checks you do not need

Two settings stop you paying for checks that will not help:

Skip customers with these tags — Orders from these customers are not checked
Skip addresses that contain these words — Orders with these words in the address are not checked

Read these carefully — they are skip rules. They exclude orders from checking. They do not target checking at them. Leave both empty to check everything.

Use the words field for PO boxes and freight forwarders, which never validate cleanly.

Quality rules

Account Editor runs its own checks before Google is involved. These cost nothing.

Required fields — An address missing a house number, street, postal code or city
Characters — Scripts and symbols a carrier cannot read
Character limits — Fields longer than a carrier will accept
Address and contact details — Apartment details in the wrong line, a name repeated, an email typo

Character limits matter more than they sound. Some carriers silently cut off long fields, and the parcel goes out with half an address.

What happens to a bad address

Fix addresses automatically — Applies a correction when the match is certain
Hold orders with undeliverable addresses — The order waits on hold so you can review it
Check the address during checkout — Customers fix it before paying. Needs Shopify Plus.

Checkout validation is the best of these, because nothing is wrong in the first place. It needs Plus.

AI address repair

For addresses too messy for Google, AI repair steps in:

Clean up junk entries before Google checks — Clears fields with random characters. Can fill in a city from the postal code and state.
Suggest a fix when Google can't find one — Offers one alternative based on the postal code and state

Google has to approve the result before it reaches the order or the customer. Street and apartment numbers are never guessed.

Good to know

Auto-correct edits the order, and the customer is not told. A fix is applied only when the match is certain, and every one is logged in your edit history. But the order changes without anyone approving it. Read that setting twice before turning it on, and check the log for the first few days.

The skip settings work backwards from how they read. They exclude orders from checking. Empty means check everyone.

Checks cost money. Each one uses a credit. Use the skip rules for addresses that will never validate cleanly.

Holding delays dispatch. An order held for review does not ship until someone looks at it. Make sure someone does.

Troubleshooting

No orders are being checked — Why: The feature is off, or a skip rule is too broad — Fix: Check both
You are being charged more than expected — Why: Every order is checked — Fix: Add skip rules for PO boxes and known-good customers
Good addresses are flagged — Why: A quality rule is too strict — Fix: Loosen character rules or limits
International addresses are all flagged — Why: Non-Latin characters are not allowed — Fix: Turn on the writing systems you ship to
Orders are held and nobody notices — Why: Nobody is watching the queue — Fix: Assign it, or turn holds off
Addresses changed without warning — Why: Auto-correct is on — Fix: Expected. Check the edit history.
Checks stopped — Why: Address credits ran out — Fix: Buy an address booster

FAQ

How much does this cost?

Each check uses a credit. Your plan includes an allowance, and the page shows the per-check price. Skip rules keep the cost down.

Does it change orders without asking?

Only with Fix addresses automatically on, and only when the match is certain. The customer is not notified, and every change is logged in your edit history.

What is the difference between this and address suggestions?

Suggestions help the customer type a good address. Validation checks the address after the order exists. Both are worth having.

Will it flag valid international addresses?

Not if you allow the right writing systems. By default, non-Latin characters are flagged — turn on the ones you ship to.

Should I hold undeliverable orders?

Yes, if someone will look at them. A held order nobody reviews is worse than a parcel sent to a slightly wrong address.

Does AI invent addresses?

No. Street and apartment numbers are never guessed, and Google has to approve any suggestion before it is used.

Updated on: 21/08/2026

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