New Magento extension released: address validation

The Address Verification Extension helps store owners verify billing and shipping addresses specified by customers during the checkout process.

Addresses are verified by the USPS API and formatted according to the USPS standards: http://pe.usps.gov/text/dmm300/602.htm

Having your customer's billing address verified is a great way to minimize the payment gateway transaction cost as some payment gateways charge a fee for each transaction/billing attempt.

Having your customer's shipping address verified is a great way to secure and speed up the delivery procedure.


How to start

1) Install and configure the Address Verification Extension at your Magento store;

2) Request USPS API keys for your Magento store;

3) Configure the extension settings and start using it!

How it works

The extension verifies USA and Canada billing / shipping addresses in the following cases:a) Frontend: in the course of the checkout procedure (Billing and Shipping addresses);b) Frontend: when the customer modifies his/her address in the customer's dashboard section (My addresses);c) Backend: while managing customer's addresses by an admin (Manage Customers addresses);d) Backend: during the order creating procedure (Billing and Shipping addresses).

NOTE: When using the USPS address validation service only USA / Canada addresses will be validated.
Magento store owner will be able to:

1) enable/disable the Address Verification Extension;
2) manage verification methods for different countries (the USPS address validation for USA/Canada set by default);
3) enable/disable the Standardize function;
4) allow/disallow the checkout process continuation based on the verification response.

Use case example

1) A customer starts the checkout process and inserts his/her billing/shipping address;

2) In case when the inserted address belongs to the USA/Canada postal address system, the system sends information to the USPS API attempting to validate the address;

3) In case when the billing/shipping address is valid, the system continues the checkout procedure;

4) In case when the billing/shipping address is not valid, the system displays an alert and aborts the checkout procedure (optionally, you can allow continuation of the checkout process with a warning about the unverified address);

5) In case when the Standardize function is enabled, the billing and shipping information provided by the customer will be formatted in accordance with the USPS postal service standards;

6) In case when the Standardize function is disabled, the system will store the address as it was specified by the customer