Troubleshooting shipping labels

If you get an error message saying The shipping address is invalid. Your order doesn't have a valid shipping address, then check whether the address is incorrect. This message is associated with orders that were placed through a sales channel such as Facebook and Instagram by Meta.

If you try to edit the shipping address in your Shopify admin on the order page or the shipping label purchase page, then you get another message that says The shipping address can't be edited because the order was placed on Facebook.

To resolve your issue, use one of the following options:

• Create a draft order with the original address or the corrected address, then mark the payment as paid if you received payment on the original order, and then buy your shipping label through the new order that you created. You can then fulfill the original order using your tracking number from the new order.

• Buy a shipping label using your own carrier account or a third-party app, and then fulfill the order manually.

If you get an error message saying The service you selected is unavailable between your origin and destination addresses, then this means that your carrier has suspended its service to a certain destination because of a current event or specific circumstances.

If a carrier is experiencing a temporary outage, then the carrier's shipping services might appear greyed out and marked as ineligible when you buy a shipping label. This indicates that the carrier is temporarily unavailable and that you need to select a different carrier.

View the service disruptions pages for individual carriers using the following links:

• USPS
• Canada Post
• DHL
• UPS

To resolve your issue, you can try to purchase a shipping label with another carrier, or you can contact another carrier directly to purchase a label outside of Shopify.

If a message is displayed indicating that a carrier is unavailable right now and to select another service, then the carrier is experiencing a temporary outage that prevents label purchases.

During a carrier outage, the affected carrier's shipping services might also appear greyed out and marked as ineligible in the rate picker. Rates from other carriers remain available.

To resolve your issue, take one of the following steps:

• Select a shipping service from a different carrier that's available in the rate picker.

• Wait for the outage to end and try purchasing the label again. Review the Shopify Status page for updates on carrier availability.

• Contact another carrier directly to purchase a label outside of Shopify.

If you get an error message saying This order's address couldn't be verified or This address may be incorrect, then an address you're using might be incorrect.

If you've verified the address or you know the address is correct, and you can still purchase a label, then you can ignore the message.

You can use an online address validator service for the country that you ship to, such as the following examples:

• United States, USPS, Look Up a ZIP Code
• Canada, Canada Post, Find a Postal Code
• United Kingdom, Royal Mail, Find an address
• France, La Poste, Test an address
• Italy, Poste Italiane, Postal code search
• Ireland, An Post, Check an address

You need to make sure that the address you use is formatted in the same way that it's written on the carrier's website.

To check shipping addresses for locations that aren't covered by the links above, you can use Google Maps, DHL's address lookup service, or the Google for Developers geocode search tool.

If you ship to a country that doesn't use or require postal codes, then you can edit the address at the fulfillment stage of the order, and enter 00000 in the Postal code or ZIP code field. This avoids an error message indicating that the destination postal code or ZIP code is invalid.

If you get an error message saying The address you're shipping from could not be verified, or Shipping origin street address is required, or Invalid Origin Postal Code, then there's an address verification issue with an address that you entered in the Settings > Locations section of your Shopify admin, or an address has incorrect or missing information.

Check whether the address is incorrect or not, and then make any changes that you need to.

If you've verified the address or you know the address is correct, and you can still purchase a label, then you can ignore the message.

If you still need help, then contact Shopify Support.

If you get an error message saying Something went wrong. Try again. This order's address couldn't be verified, then this usually indicates that there were a large number of requests to DHL to purchase labels.

You should try to purchase your label again after a short period of time. If you still need help, then contact Shopify Support.

This message is specific to shipping label purchases with DHL Express.

If you get an error message saying The address you're shipping to is invalid, then you need to ensure that the shipping address you enter is an exact match to how it's written in DHL's address lookup service.

This message is specific to shipping label purchases with DHL Express.

If you get an error message saying The address line you're shipping from exceeds 35 characters or The address line you're shipping to exceeds 35 characters, then there's a specific line in an address that exceeds the character limit allowed for that address line by a particular carrier.

You need to reduce the number of characters for the affected line in either the customer's shipping destination address on the order, or the shipping origin address in the Settings > Locations section of your Shopify admin.

Review the following carrier-specific address character limits:

If you get an error message saying The Postal Code is not valid for the selected province. Please correct the Postal Code or select a different province, then either the customer's shipping destination address on the order, or the shipping origin address in the Settings > Locations section of your Shopify admin, has a postal code that isn't valid for the province that's included in the address.

This message is specific to shipping label purchases with Canada Post. You can use Canada Post's address verification tool to check that the postal code matches the province, and then make any changes that you need to.

If you get an error message saying Your shop is temporarily unable to purchase labels. Your shipping address phone number must be ten digits, then you need to ensure that the phone number is valid for the region of your shipping origin address in the Settings > Locations section of your Shopify admin.

If you get an error message saying Your UPS shipping details need to be reset because you haven't purchased UPS labels through Shopify in several months. To reset your information and buy labels, contact Shopify Support, then you need to contact Shopify Support to have your UPS account reset.

If you haven't purchased a UPS shipping label after you registered for a UPS account, or if it's been several months since you purchased a UPS shipping label, then your UPS account associated with your Shopify store might have been deactivated.

If you get an error message saying This shipping service isn't available because of a technical error. Select a different service to complete your purchase when you're trying to buy a shipping label with UPS, then UPS might not operate your selected service between the origin and destination shipping addresses.

You can use the UPS service calculator to check the list of services that are available between your origin and destination shipping addresses.

If you find a service that matches the option you're trying to select in your Shopify admin, then contact Shopify Support.

If you get an error message saying that shipping labels are temporarily unavailable, then your store might be completing an account or identity verification check. Label purchases are paused until the verification is complete.

Verification usually completes within 24 hours. If more than 24 hours have passed and you still can't buy labels, then contact Shopify Support.

If you can't buy a shipping label because of an outstanding shipping label balance, then you need to pay the outstanding amount before you can buy more labels. You can pay your balance in the Settings > Billing section of your Shopify admin.

If no Pay now button is available, or the charge appears only on your upcoming bill, then refer to Billing for shipping labels or contact Shopify Support.

If you can't select Buy shipping label for an order, then confirm that the following requirements are met:

• Your shipping origin address in the Settings > Locations section includes a valid phone number for the region. Some carriers require a phone number before you can buy a label.
• Your account verification is complete.
• You don't have an outstanding balance that's blocking label purchases.
• The order isn't already fulfilled. You buy labels from an order's Unfulfilled section. If the order is fulfilled, then refer to Buying a replacement label when a label can't be voided.

If a carrier that customers can select at checkout isn't listed when you buy a shipping label, then use the following checks:

• The carrier might not operate the selected service between your origin and destination addresses. Try a different service, or check the carrier's service calculator.
• Extra or non-standard details in a shipping address can make some services ineligible. Reduce the address to only the required fields, and then try again.
• If you connect your own carrier account, then confirm that the account is still connected in the Settings > Shipping and delivery > Carrier accounts section.
• Some carriers, such as UPS, deactivate accounts after several months without a label purchase, which requires a reset by Shopify Support.

Australia Post services require a connected Australia Post MyPost Business account and a Shopify plan that includes carrier-calculated shipping (CCS). If either prerequisite isn't met, then Australia Post services aren't listed when you buy a label.

To resolve this issue, complete the following steps:

1. Confirm that your plan includes carrier-calculated shipping. Buying Australia Post labels requires a Shopify plan that includes CCS. Review plan availability and CCS requirements.
2. Confirm that your Australia Post MyPost Business account is connected. In your Shopify admin, go to Settings > Shipping and delivery > Carrier accounts and verify that your Australia Post account is listed. If it isn't, then connect your Australia Post account.
3. If the account is connected and your plan includes CCS, then verify your fulfillment location address, the destination, and package weight and dimensions. Refer to Troubleshooting and testing shipping rates for additional checks.
4. If the issue persists after you've completed all of the previous steps, then contact Shopify Support.

You might get one of the following general error messages when you attempt to buy a shipping label:

• A system error has occurred and is being investigated.
• There was a problem buying shipping labels. Review order details and try again.
• Something went wrong. Try again.

You can try the following steps to resolve the issue:

• Verify the shipping destination address and the shipping origin address.
• Check whether any address lines exceed a particular carrier's character limit for that specific address line.
• Check for any special characters in languages other than English, any decorative characters, or any emojis. Remove or replace any that you find in the following fields:
  • The shipping destination or shipping origin addresses.
  • The customer's name.
  • The store's name.
• In the Customers section of your Shopify admin, verify that both the First Name and Last Name fields have a full name for the relevant customer that you're shipping an order to.
• Verify that the customer's phone number includes the relevant country code, and that the length of the number matches the expected length for phone numbers in the shipping destination country.
• DDP (Delivered Duty Paid) labels are supported only for specific carriers. If you collect duties and import taxes at checkout, then you can purchase DDP labels for DHL Express or DHL eCommerce. If you use any other carrier, then you can't purchase a label for orders where duties have been collected. You need to purchase the label externally or refund the order.
• Review international shipping considerations.

If you try to purchase a DHL Express shipping label, but your shipping origin location isn't close enough to a DHL location, then you might get any of the following error messages:

• A system error has occurred and is being investigated.
• There was a problem buying shipping labels. Review order details and try again.
• Something went wrong. Try again.

You can check the availability of rates from your shipping origin location by using the DHL online quote calculator.

If you still need help, then contact Shopify Support.

If you get an error message saying The selected order is not eligible for shipping labels, then this means that an order's already been fulfilled, or an order's items don't require shipping. These orders aren't expected to be eligible for a shipping label.

If an order is already fully fulfilled and you need to send a replacement shipment, then refer to Buying a replacement label when a label can't be voided.

If a USPS shipping label that you recently bought shows a tracking number that's already in use, or shows a Delivered status for a package that you haven't shipped, then the carrier might have assigned a recycled tracking number to the label.

If the label can't be voided, then contact Shopify Support to request a refund or credit for the affected label. To ship the order, buy a replacement label, and then add the new tracking number to the order. Refer to Buying a replacement label when a label can't be voided.

If your shipping labels are being cut off or cropped when you print them, then you might need to change the label format setting. Shipping labels are available in the following formats:

• Thermal (4 x 6 inch / 100 x 150 mm / A6) for label printers
• Letter (8.5 x 11 inch / 216 x 279 mm) for desktop printers
• A4 (8.3 x 11.7 inch / 210 x 297 mm) for desktop printers

You can reprint your shipping label in the correct label format while you're still on the Print shipping label page by closing the initial label popup, selecting the correct label size from the dropdown, and then clicking Print shipping labels. Your label format selection is saved and used as the default for future label purchases.

If you've already left the print page, then you must void the label and repurchase it to change the size.

If you need to reprint a shipping label for a package that hasn't been shipped yet because the label printed incorrectly or you encountered other issues with the printing process, then you can reprint the label from the Shipping labels page or the order's page. You don't need to purchase a new label.

If you purchase a USPS shipping label and the address on the label is different from the address that your customer entered during checkout or the address in your store's location settings, then this is expected behavior. USPS validates and standardizes addresses when you purchase a label, and the label displays the validated address from the USPS database.

To verify that the address is correct, you can use the USPS address validator to confirm that the address on the label matches USPS's standardized version of the address. If the validated address doesn't match the delivery location, then you should confirm the correct address with your customer.

If the validated address isn't correct, then you need to purchase a USPS shipping label outside of Shopify or select a different carrier, such as UPS.

DHL Express and UPS can't deliver to PO Box destinations. When you try to purchase a label for an order with a PO Box destination address, DHL Express and UPS aren't displayed as carrier options at label purchase.

Customers can still use PO Box addresses at checkout. After checkout, you can fulfill and ship the order with another carrier such as USPS through your Shopify admin, or you can use an external shipping carrier service.

To avoid customers using PO Box addresses at checkout, you can use the Language Editor to edit the language of your theme. For example, you can add "no P.O. Boxes" or similar text to the address fields on the checkout page. You can also create a shipping policy page that reflects this limitation.

If you purchase a shipping label and names or phone numbers appear twice on the label, then this is expected behavior due to carrier API requirements. Some carriers require that both a Name field and an Attention Name field are provided. If certain information isn't available, then the same information is used for both fields.

The following scenarios cause duplicate information on labels:

• Your business name appears twice: Your store name is used for both the Name field and the Attention Name field on the label.
• Your customer's name appears twice: If your customer enters a company name in their shipping address, then the company name is used as the secondary name. If no company name is provided, then the customer's full name is used for both fields.
• Phone numbers: If no phone number is set in Settings > Locations for your fulfillment location, or if your customer doesn't provide a phone number, then the phone number from Settings > Store contact details is used in its place.

This label formatting is required by carriers and can't be changed.

If you purchase a UPS shipping label and the apartment, suite, or unit number is missing from the origin or return address displayed on the label, then this is expected behavior. The full address information, including the apartment or suite number, is stored in the barcode on the label. When UPS scans the barcode, they can access the complete return address information.

The address displayed on the label is formatted according to UPS label requirements, but the complete address that you registered when setting up UPS is used for returns.