When attempting to get shipping rates if an invalid state/zip combo is selected then some FedEx items are missing. With my current settings if I have Florida as the state and enter a Florida zip code then I get 7 FedEx shipping methods returned with rates. But if I have Georgia as the state and enter a Florida zip code then I get 2 FedEx shipping methods returned. I have diagnostics mode turned on and when I review the logs FedEx is returning an error for the missing rates with the message 'Recipient postal code does not match recipient state/province code.'

Is there a way to have the system return an error message instead of returning some rates and having some rates missing? Country/Region/Zip should be validating against each other. If someone enters Georgia as their state and a Florida zip then for the rates that are returned are they for Florida or Georgia? This is also an issue if I enter a country other than US and enter a Florida zip code. I do not get any FedEx shipping methods back. I also noticed that for USPS if I enter an invalid state/zip combo it ignores the state and just gets rates for the zip. This should return an error indicating that the zip does not match the state/region/country.

That would be nice. I don't think it has changed in SP2.


To validate the zip code against the region or country would either require an internal database of postal codes or an external postal code verification service. SP2 does not include an internal database of postal codes and it does not include any links to an external verification service.



Another option would be to examine the error codes returned by the carrier to see if they warned of an invalid postal code. There are two problems with this: 1) some carriers such as FedEx do not include an error message about invalid postal codes...I suppose they assume it's there own fault, and 2) BVC5 (even SP2) does not display errors from shipping providers to the customer. SP2 will display a message like "contact the merchant" if no rates are returned (I believe the exact text is a site term).