Shipping Checkout Options
Last Updated: July 02, 2026
Table of Contents
Overview
The Shipping Checkout Options page provides granular control over how shipping-related elements behave during customer checkout. Settings here govern address validation, delivery preferences, shipping estimate display, fulfillment routing, and optional premium address verification.
UltraCart offers two distinct levels of address validation, both configured from this page:
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Built-in city/state/zip validation — Included with all accounts. Uses Geocodio to confirm that the city, state, and zip code combination entered by the customer is valid. This check runs silently in the background and does not prompt the customer to modify their address. Controlled by the "Disable U.S.P.S. Address Standardization" setting under Shipping Address Behavior.
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Full address standardization via Smarty Streets — An optional, merchant-configured integration. Verifies the complete shipping address, including street number and unit information, and can prompt the customer to accept a corrected version (for example, an updated zip+4 or a corrected suite/apartment designation). Requires a Smarty Streets account and API credentials. See the Smarty Streets Address Verification section below, and the separate Smarty Streets Integration Guide for full setup details.
Navigation
Location: Main Menu > Configuration > Checkout > Shipping > Checkout Options
Configuration Categories
| Category | Description | Primary Function |
|---|---|---|
| Customer Delivery Preferences | Manages options that empower the customer to control delivery timing and instructions. | Enables customer-selected ship and delivery dates and special delivery notes. |
| Setting | Description |
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Default Shipping to Residential Address | When customers are given the option to specify a residential or business shipping address, enabling this sets the default to Residential. Customers can still change it to Business if applicable. |
| Force Shipping to Residential Address | Removes the Business Address option from checkout entirely. Useful for merchants who prefer not to ship to business addresses due to potential carrier surcharges. |
| Use this carrier to determine residential address flag | When selected, UltraCart queries the specified carrier (e.g., FedEx) to determine whether an address is residential, rather than relying on what the customer selects during checkout. |
| Loose P.O. Box restriction check | By default, UltraCart's P.O. Box check looks for "P" at the beginning of the address and "box" anywhere within it. Enabling this loose check treats an address as not a P.O. Box if it contains "box" but also has an entry in Address Line 2. This helps prevent issues with carriers like UPS and FedEx, which do not deliver to true P.O. Boxes. |
| Disable U.S.P.S. Address Standardization | Controls UltraCart's built-in city/state/zip validation. When unchecked (the default), UltraCart uses Geocodio to verify that the city, state, and zip code entered by the customer form a valid combination. This validation runs silently — it does not prompt the customer to modify their address and does not process the street address. Check this box only if you want to disable this background validation entirely. For full address standardization that prompts the customer to accept a corrected address, see Smarty Streets Address Verification. |
| Setting | Description |
|---|
| Setting | Description |
| Setting | Description |
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Enable Smarty Streets address verification | Activates the integration. All other settings in this section require this to be checked. |
| Auth ID | Your Smarty Streets Auth ID. Type a new value to replace the masked stored credential. |
| Auth Token | Your Smarty Streets Auth Token. Type a new value to replace the masked stored credential. |
| Verify the shipping address at checkout | When enabled, UltraCart submits the customer's shipping address to Smarty Streets for verification during checkout. |
| Offer the corrected address as a suggestion | When a discrepancy is found, the customer is shown the Smarty Streets-corrected address and given the option to accept it. If unchecked, verification runs silently without customer interaction. |
| When the customer will not provide a verified address | Controls what happens if the customer declines a corrected address or their address cannot be verified. Options include allowing the order to proceed or blocking it until a valid address is provided. |
| Enable address autocomplete | Enables server-side address autocomplete as the customer types in the shipping address fields. No embedded client-side API key is required — all requests are proxied through UltraCart's servers. |
| Monthly autocomplete request limit | Sets a cap on the number of autocomplete requests sent to Smarty Streets per month. Enter 0 for unlimited. Useful for controlling API costs. |
| Monthly verification request limit | Sets a cap on the number of address verification requests sent to Smarty Streets per month. Enter 0 for unlimited. |
Related Documentation
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Smarty Streets Integration Guide - Full account setup, credential configuration, and verification workflow
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Shipping Restrictions - Carrier-level and destination-based shipping restrictions
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Routing Orders Based Upon Upsells Using Distribution Center Location Preferences - How UltraCart routes orders across distribution centers