Hi there,

Has anyone used a reputable post code finder, for clarification, when the customer enters their post code, it lists the address options to choose from, to make the address entry process easy.

Jason

Hi Jason

In the UK the Royal Mail own the PAF (Post Code Address Finder) & licence that data to third party providers. When I last checked for a customer a few years ago the cost was way way OTT for any small merchant. Whether that situation has changed, I don't know. I would think a site would have to be shifting a very hefty amount of product to really consider using a PAF system.

There is Part PAF & Full PAF - Full PAF means data at delivery point level including building names and numbers, organisation names and PO Boxes. Part PAF means data at postcode level or below including what used to be known as "Thoroughfare" and "Locality" level.

I've just found this information. For Full PAF the charges are, for one user is £76 / annum then add website use fee of £5,500.00 then you need to start adding blocks of usage, and those are 2019 fees. It doesn't state if those charges are subject to or including 20% VAT.

Hope that gives you an idea



Steve
Egerton Village, Bolton, UK

Hi Jason,

We have used Crafty Clicks for years and I actually worked with them to develop the initial ECT integration.

They have recently changed their name to Fetchify.

Here is a link to the ECT download:
https://fetchify.com/integrations/ecommercetemplates/

Their pricing is competitive with 10,000 lookups costing £350 for example.

We use the annual plans although you need to ensure you predict your usage well as the annual plans now expire after 1 year which didn't use to happen.

Hope this helps.

Regards,
David

Amazing, thanks David

Jason

Hi David,

Is this integration affected by ECT updates?

Jason

Google also might offer this at a more affordable price https://developers.google.com/places/web-service/usage-and-billing

Jason

Hi Jason,

I have updated our store many times over the years and don’t recall any issues with the integration.

Fetchify uses the Royal Mail PAF which should in theory be the most up to date data and although I have looked at a few alternatives in the past with our current lookup only costing about 3p each it doesn’t seem worth swapping.

If you are doing decent numbers it will cut down on customer errors when entering their addresses although if you are using PayPal Express it obviously gets bypassed.

Regards,
David

Thank you so much for this.

Jason