With our delivery validation feature, you can check whether a customer is eligible for delivery. Depending on the postcode entered in the widget, a matching delivery location will be selected.
Advanced postal code match gives you fine-grained control over which postcodes are eligible. It's designed for countries where postcodes mix letters and digits, and where postcode lengths vary — for example the UK (SW2 and SW20), Canada (A1A 1A1), Malta (ADB 1011), and Ireland (A02 A111). You can also use it anywhere if you want more control than partial matching offers.
💡 Tip: Two special characters do the heavy lifting: underscore (_) represents a single space, and asterisk (*) represents one character. Combine them to define exactly how a customer's postcode should look.
⚠️ Important: Postcodes can't overlap between locations. Each location must have a unique set of patterns.
To set up advanced postal code matching, follow the written steps below.
Postcode formatting
You can use an underscore to denote a space, and an asterisk to define a character boundary.
SW2_ matches SW2 1AA, but not SW20 1AA.
SW2_*** matches SW2 1AA, but not SW2 1AAB (the asterisks lock the second part to exactly three characters).
⚠️ Important: Using an underscore means your customers must type a space in their postcode. If they don't, the match will fail. If you notice this happening, add a pattern without the underscore too — for example, SW2*** matches SW21AA but not SW2 1AA. Alternatively, update the widget text to ask customers to include a space.
For example, if you add SW2_*** in the settings, check which example postcodes will be eligible for delivery:
Enable advanced postal code match
💡 Tip: Advanced match is a sub-option of Partial postal code match — you select Partial first, then enable Advanced.
Click Settings, then Local Delivery.
In the Distance validation section, select Partial postal code match.
Tick Enable Advanced postal code match.
Click Save.
The validation method is set. Next, add your postcode patterns to every location that offers delivery.
Add postal codes to a location
Click Locations.
Select the location you want to edit.
In the Local delivery section, click Edit settings.
In the Distance validation field, enter your postcode patterns, separated by commas.
Click Save.
💡 Tip: The asterisks are optional — use them when you need stricter control over the second half of the postcode. Without asterisks, the match behaves like a regular partial match.
Repeat for every location that offers local delivery, making sure each location has a unique set of patterns.
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