Hi everyone,
We’re working on a Shopify custom app and have noticed an inconsistency in the address data returned for the same location.
We have two address entry points:
- Shopify Checkout (shipping address)
- Our Next.js onboarding page, where we use the Google Places Autocomplete API to let users search and select their address.
For the exact same address:
- Shopify Checkout returns the city as Navarre.
- Google Places returns the city as Gulf Breeze.
Everything else in the address (street, state, ZIP code, etc.) matches correctly.
We’re trying to understand why the city values differ.
My questions are:
- Which address validation or autocomplete service/API does Shopify Checkout use to populate addresses?
- Does Shopify use Google Places, a different provider, or its own address validation service?
- Has anyone encountered similar differences between Shopify Checkout and Google Places? If so, what was the recommended approach to keep address data consistent across both flows?
Any insights or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Hey @santu_harne ,
That’s an interesting edge case. As far as I’m aware Shopify hasn’t publicly documented which address validation or autocomplete provider powers Checkout so it may be difficult to know whether the difference comes from a specific provider or from Shopify’s own address normalization.
In some areas it’s also possible for different address databases to return different city names for the same ZIP code (for example, a mailing city versus the actual municipality) even when the rest of the address is identical.
It would be helpful if someone from the Shopify team could clarify which address service Checkout relies on or whether there are any recommendations for keeping address data consistent when using Google Places alongside Shopify Checkout.
Thank You !
Hi @santu_harne ,
As far as Shopify has publicly documented it doesn’t specify which address autocomplete or validation provider is used in Shopify Checkout. There isn’t an official confirmation that Checkout relies on Google Places, and it’s possible that Shopify uses a combination of internal logic and third party address validation services.
Because of that it’s not unusual to see differences between Shopify Checkout and Google Places for the same physical address. Different providers often maintain different reference datasets and address normalization rules. In particular, one service may return the USPS mailing city, while another returns the geographic locality or municipality, even though the street address, state, and ZIP code are identical.
For maintaining consistency a common approach is to:
Use a single address provider throughout your own application whenever possible.
If the final shipping address comes from Shopify Checkout consider treating the Checkout address as the source of truth since that’s the address associated with the order and fulfillment process.
If you need both flows to produce identical address data you may also want to normalize addresses on your backend based on a single canonical source rather than relying on the raw city value returned by different providers.
Hopefully this helps explain the behavior you’re seeing.
Thank You !