Whether you want to support DHL Packstationen properly or keep them out of your store entirely: AddressHero detects them and enforces the format they need.
How detection works
Our database contains the most commonly used packing station and P.O. box names: Packstation, DHL Packstation, Postfiliale, Paketshop, P.O. Box and more. Spelling variants written with a space, like "Pack Station" and "Post Filiale", are recognized the same way, so they get accepted without manual review. When a customer ships to one of them, AddressHero detects the entry as a packing station and flags it as such.
Once detected, AddressHero validates that the required components are present:
Packing station number: must always be in address line 1.
Client ID (DHL Postnummer): you choose whether it belongs in address line 2 (the Shopify standard, most common) or the company field. If it is missing, the order is flagged, and with the in-checkout rule active the checkout is blocked until it is provided.
Postnummer prefix: the setting "Allow post number prefix" controls whether the word "Postnummer" is allowed inside the post number field.
ā¹ļø Note: the post-checkout extension checks the packing station's format, not whether that specific station address exists.
Validation does not depend on delivery method
AddressHero validates almost every delivery method the same way. The one exception is the in-checkout house number check: when a customer selects a native Shopify pickup point as the delivery option, that check is skipped automatically, since the customer never types a house number for the pickup point's own address. A pickup point, parcel shop or locker still goes through the same in-checkout format checks as a home delivery address, and there is no setting to change this. Post-checkout validation, however, is now skipped automatically whenever the delivery option is a pickup station.
In-store local pickup is different: the order carries no shipping address at all, so there is nothing to validate, and it skips validation automatically.
To narrow post-checkout validation another way, Pro can restrict it to specific countries (see Country coverage) or skip specific addresses entirely via whitelisting (see Address whitelisting).
Bonus: the DHL Packstation Finder
AddressHero ships a DHL Packstation Finder UI extension for your checkout, so customers can find a nearby station instead of typing one from memory (which is where most format errors come from):
Open the checkout editor.
Search for the "DHL Packstation Finder" app block.
Add it to the checkout page.
Check the preview.
Press Save to publish.
Custom names
Customers get creative with spellings. You can add custom names and spelling variants in the settings (enter the name in the text box and confirm with Enter). Custom names are detected and, if "Block packing stations / P.O. boxes" is active in the in-checkout settings, blocked; their format is not validated.
Your three options
Option | What happens | Best for |
|---|---|---|
Allow and validate (default) | Stations are accepted, but only with a valid number and client ID | Most stores shipping with DHL |
Tag | Every station order gets a tag like "packing_station_shipment"; incorrect station orders can get their own tag | Routing station orders differently in fulfillment |
Block | With the in-checkout rule "Block P.O. boxes / packing stations" active, customers cannot check out to a station | Stores whose carrier cannot deliver to stations |
Turn on the block
In AddressHero, open checkout settings and go to Validate.
Turn on "Block P.O. boxes / packing stations."
In Shopify, go to Settings > Checkout and open the checkout editor.
Find the AddressHero app block and enable its permission checkbox so it is allowed to block the checkout.
Save.
This rule blocks Shopify Payments and PayPal in the regular checkout, on any plan. On Shopify Plus, add the checkout UI extension to also block redirect-based methods like Klarna and iDEAL. Apple Pay, Google Pay and Shop Pay skip the checkout form entirely, so those orders go through post-checkout validation instead. See Blocking invalid checkouts (Plus and non-Plus) for the full picture of which payment methods can be blocked.
Related
Orders with missing Postnummer can also be put on hold automatically: see Customer emails and on-hold orders.
Station detection in the checkout follows the same payment-method limits as all in-checkout rules: see Blocking invalid checkouts (Plus and non-Plus).
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