UPS domestic shipments: required address fields and length limits

Summary: UPS needs a name, street, city, state, ZIP, and country on both addresses of a domestic shipment: the ship-from (your origin) and the ship-to (where the package is going). If a field is blank, wrong, or too long, UPS rejects the label with a "Missing or invalid" error. This page is the overview. The field lengths, the exact errors, and the fixes are in the two articles below, split by which address the error names.

Fields UPS requires on both addresses (US domestic)

  • Name
  • Street address (at least the first line)
  • City
  • State (the 2-letter code)
  • ZIP code
  • Country

For a US address, the state and ZIP are always required. The country is normally set for you.

Which article you need

Read the error message and see which address it names. That tells you where to go.

  • The error names the ship-to, the recipient, or "ShipTo" - go to "UPS domestic shipments: ship-to (recipient) address fields". It has the field lengths, the conditional fields (attention name, phone, email), every "Missing or invalid" error for the recipient, and the fix for each. Recipient data normally comes from the order, so you can usually fix it on the Ship screen or in the Address Book entry.
  • The error names the shipper, the origin, or your account - go to "UPS domestic shipments: ship-from (your origin) address fields". It has the origin field lengths, the UPS account (Shipper Number) rules, and the fixes. Origin and account values come from your profile and carrier setup, so these are usually an admin fix, not something you change on the shipment.

What you should see

After you fix the field the error names and try again, the label prints. Some fields print shorter on the label than what you typed; that is normal and does not stop the shipment.

Related articles

  • UPS domestic shipments: ship-to (recipient) address fields
  • UPS domestic shipments: ship-from (your origin) address fields
  • UPS rejects a shipment: ship-to address line too long
  • 'Missing or invalid ship to name' from a too-long Company Name

If the address looks correct and UPS still rejects it, email support@shipstore.com and include your company name and the exact error.