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In your Shift4Shop Online Store Manager, you will find a series of Shipping Settings that can be found by going to Settings >Shipping and then clicking on the "Edit Settings" button under the "Shipping Settings" section.
Once there, click on the + Icon next to "General Settings" to reveal a series of checkboxes. Within this area you will see a checkbox titled "Default to Residential Rates (UPS/FEDEX)"
If you are using FedEx and/or UPS shipping calculations for your store, this setting will always force a return of Residential rates for the shipping quotes.
Shift4Shop doesn't specifically have a shipping address verification system (AVS) built into the checkout by default. This is something that is directly controlled by the respective shipping carrier service(s). So when a shipping quote is calculated, our software has no way of determining the type of address that is being submitted for the quote.
The important thing to keep in mind is that residential rates are usually going to be more expensive than commercial rates, so what "Use Residential Rate" setting does is force your calculated quotes to come back as residential amounts by default. This in turn can help minimize any out of pocket expenses you may incur if the shopper is mistakenly given a commercial rate by the carrier (due to their proximity to commercial zones) during checkout.
Additional Information:
To explain the above in more detail; let's say your shopper's home address is technically a residential address, but the zip code they enter for shipping just happens to be close enough to a commercial area where a commercial shipping rate may be applicable. In a situation like this, UPS or FedEx could potentially return a commercial rate (i.e. cheaper) as part of their shipping quote. Through no fault of their own, your shopper may select this shipping rate and pay you for shipping using that quoted amount. Later, when you go to actually ship the item, the carrier's AVS system kicks in and determines that the charge will be for a residential rate. Therefore, you may need to pay the difference to get the item delivered properly.
By selecting the "Use Residential Rates" option, you can help minimize any out of pockets costs caused by similar situations.
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