Shippo Address Validation API will apparently charge ¢6 per API call for validation of shipping addresses outside the United States.

Address Validation via API - ¢6 per address for non-U.S locations

Below is a partial excerpt and Japanese translation of the email notification we received:

Wanted to make you aware of our recently launched global (non-US) address validation service. I noticed some your current API requests to us have validate=true for non-US destination countries. Previously for international destinations, this would've resulted in the following message returned from our API: "Address validation service unavailable".

Similar to how you use our US address validation, this new service will validate and correct (where applicable) non-US addresses, improving deliverability & decreasing potential customs delays. Since this new service will be charged $.06 per address I wanted to make sure you had the docs for where to toggle the validation on/off so you had time to plan/build the appropriate logic on your side. Please note we will begin invoicing for this service on 11/1, so any non-US addresses with “validate=true” will accrue a charge.

If you want to validate addresses when first receiving a customer’s address, you’ll want to call our address endpoint ahead of label creation.

Address Validation | Shippo

Here are the docs for the address endpoint, then you’ll want to bypass address validation for label creation so you aren’t getting invoiced twice for the same address. You can do this via the shipment “extra” field, also outlined in the address endpoint docs above.

We want you to understand our recently launched global (non-US) address validation service. Some of your current API requests show validate=true for countries other than the United States. Previously, for international destinations, our API would return the message "Address validation service unavailable".

Similar to how you validate US addresses, this new service validates and corrects non-US addresses, improving deliverability and reducing potential customs delays. Since this new service charges $0.06 per address, we wanted to make sure you know where to toggle validation on/off so you have time to plan/build appropriate logic on your side. Please note that we will begin invoicing for this service on 11/1, so any non-US addresses with “validate=true” will incur charges.

If you want to validate addresses when first receiving a customer’s address, we recommend calling the address endpoint before label creation.

Address Validation | Shippo

Here are the docs for the address endpoint. You’ll then want to bypass address validation for label creation so you don’t get charged twice for the same address. You can do this via the shipment “extra” field, also outlined in the address endpoint docs above.

That’s all from the Gemba, where we use Shippo’s shipping address validation API.