Shipping & PostageAddress validation at home and abroad
How Octoship checks US and international addresses before you buy, what each result means, and how validation saves you from correction fees.
Updated 1 min read
A bad address is the most expensive typo in shipping. Couriers like UPS, FedEx and DHL Express charge a correction fee when their driver has to fix one, and postal packages can come back to you weeks later. Octoship validates every recipient address — domestic and international — before you buy the label.
What gets checked
| Destination | Checked against | What's fixed automatically |
|---|---|---|
| United States | The USPS address database | Abbreviations, ZIP+4, capitalization |
| Canada, UK, Australia, EU and more | National postal reference data | Postcode formatting, province or county, street suffixes |
| Everywhere else | Format rules for the country | Missing required fields, postcode pattern, character limits |
Validation results
- Verified — the address matches a real delivery point.
- Corrected — we standardized it. You'll see the original and the suggestion side by side.
- Needs attention — something's missing, like a unit number or postcode. Ask your customer.
- Couldn't verify — common for new builds and some rural or international addresses. You can still ship.
Residential or commercial?
Validation also tells you whether an address is residential or commercial. That matters for UPS and FedEx, which add a residential surcharge on some services — Octoship includes it in the rate so the price you see is the price you pay.
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