Tips & Tricks: Processing an Order to US Territories
If you’ve attempted to process orders to United States territories, you’re probably asking, “Why do U.S. territories appear on the country drop-down menu for international shipments? Shouldn’t they be processed as domestic shipments?”
It’s a good question. The answer is: Yes, they will be processed as domestic shipments. (However, getting there is a little less simple.)
At ShipWorks, we’re aware that United States territories (like American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands) aren’t international destinations.
Because we connect with different shipping providers (FedEx, UPS, and USPS Endicia, USPS Express 1, and USPS Stamps.com), we have to account for how each shipping provider formats addresses for United States territories.
USPS Endicia, Express1 and Stamps.com
The following directions are intended if you’re using USPS Endicia, Express1, or Stamps.com to process a shipment delivered to the following territories:
*Not United States territories, but countries that are still serviced by the United States Postal Service.
You can also navigate to the USPS address verification tool online for suggestions from the United States post office on how to format your shipment’s address.
For USPS shipments, you will need to process using a domestic format, selecting “United States” from the country drop-down menu.
A correct address format example for USPS shipments is:
[Name]
[Street Address]
[City]
[Territory abbreviation]
[Zip Code]
[United States]
Using this format, we can see a successfully processed USPS shipment below:
An incorrect format would select “Puerto Rico” from the country drop-down menu. This will result in receiving an error that says, “Unrecognized country: PR”.
FedEx and UPS
For FedEx and UPS shipments, you will need to process using an international format, selecting the territory from the drop-down menu.
A correct address format example for FedEx/UPS shipments is:
[Name]
[Street Address]
[City]
[Territory abbreviation]
[Zip Code]
[Territory]
Do you have more questions or need additional help? We offer free support. Contact us!