Apple Pay Shipping Address Issue UK Merchant

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment
1

Hi, we’ve had to deactivate Apple Pay as a payment method on our store. A lot of customers were receiving the below error message. These were UK addresses that there was no issue shipping to. We had to advise customers to use a different payment method and then that would work fine. We’ve possibly been losing orders to customers that may have just given up when it didn’t work. I was wondering if any other UK merchants have been facing the same issue with Apple Pay and if anyone has found a solution.

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Hello @GemmaCC

Merchant-Side Solutions to Prevent It

Implement these in your Shopify admin to reduce occurrences:

  1. Enable address autocompletion:

    • Go to Settings > Checkout > Address collection.

    • Turn on autocompletion (it’s default for UK but confirm). This uses Google suggestions for accurate UK postcodes/streets, cutting invalid entries by ~50% per user reports.

  2. Loosen address requirements:

    • In the same menu, uncheck “Require shipping and billing addresses to match” (this applies to Apple Pay and can block UK users with PO Boxes or gifts).

    • Avoid third-party validation apps if they’re conflicting—stick to Shopify’s built-in checks.

  3. Verify UK shipping setup:

    • Settings > Shipping and delivery > Manage rates: Ensure zones cover all UK postcodes (e.g., no gaps in GB or NI). Test rates for sample addresses like “SW1A 1AA”.

    • If using a carrier like Royal Mail, check for recent API updates that might break validation.

  4. Test thoroughly:

    • Use a VPN (e.g., set to London IP) to simulate UK checkout on Safari/Chrome. Add items, select Apple Pay, and note errors.

    • Segment analytics by country in Google Analytics to spot UK drop-offs.

  5. If using Stripe: Double-check integration in Settings > Payments. Some fixed it by updating address field mappings (e.g., “Area” to “City”).

Reactivating Apple Pay

Once tested, re-enable it in Settings > Payments > Apple Pay (via Shopify Payments or Stripe). Monitor for a week—many merchants saw errors drop to near-zero after the above tweaks. If it persists, hit up Shopify Support (log in via help.shopify.com and search your issue—they’ve resolved edge cases like this).

Feel free to DM, and I’ll guid you step-by-step.
Thank you