Zest gives you full control over how billing information is collected from your gifters at checkout. Whether you want to keep checkout fast and friction-free or capture a full billing address for your ERP, fulfillment partner, or compliance team, you can configure this yourself in just a few clicks.
Overview: How Zest Handles Billing Addresses
By default, Zest collects only the minimum billing information needed to process a payment — a ZIP code and country. This keeps checkout fast and conversion-friendly.
If your business requires it, you can enable full billing address collection from Settings > Checkout. When enabled, gifters on self-service storefronts and team members in soncierge are required to enter a complete billing address. That address is then passed directly to your connected ecommerce system (such as Shopify or BigCommerce) with each order.
This setting is managed at the corporate level and applies to all your storefronts and Concierge orders.
Default Billing Information Collected at Checkout
By default, Zest collects the following from gifters at checkout:
First name
Last name
Email address
ZIP code (or postal code)
Credit card details
A full billing address (street, city, state) is not collected by default. The ZIP code is used for payment validation and tax calculation purposes. This minimal approach is intentional — fewer fields mean less friction and better conversion rates.
When full billing address collection is off, Zest populates the billing address field in your ecommerce system with the recipient's shipping address, using the gifter's name. This ensures required order fields are not left blank and avoids certain fraud signals triggered when billing and shipping addresses don't match.
Note: This means the billing address on orders in Shopify (or your connected system) will reflect the recipient's shipping address — not the purchaser's — unless you enable full billing address collection.
How to Enable Full Billing Address Collection
Before you start:
You'll need access to your Zest Partners dashboard with settings permissions.
We recommend placing a test order after enabling this setting to confirm billing address data is flowing correctly to your ecommerce system.
From your Zest dashboard, navigate to Settings.
Click the Checkout tab.
Under Billing address collection, select Require full billing address.
Click Update to save your changes.
Once enabled, gifters on your storefronts will be required to enter their full billing address at checkout. Team members creating Concierge orders will also be required to enter a billing address before saving.
Important: This is a global setting — it applies to all your storefronts and concierge orders simultaneously. You cannot enable it for storefronts only or concierge only.
How Billing Addresses Flow to Your Ecommerce System
When billing address collection is off (default)
Zest populates the billing address on orders in your ecommerce system using the recipient's shipping address and the gifter's name. This is done to ensure order fields are not left blank.
When billing address collection is on
Zest collects the gifter's full billing address at checkout and sends it directly to your ecommerce system as the billing address on the order. The fields sent include:
First and last name
Street address
City
State/province
ZIP/postal code
Country
Phone number (if phone number collection is also enabled).
Note: This section covers both Shopify and BigCommerce integrations. Billing address handling works the same way on both platforms.
Impact on Downstream Systems (ERPs, Fulfillment Partners)
If your business uses an ERP system (such as NetSuite via Celigo) or works with fulfillment partners that rely on billing address data, enabling full billing address collection is strongly recommended.
When billing address collection is off:
The billing address on orders in your ecommerce system defaults to the recipient's shipping address.
ERP integrations that map "bill-to" vs. "ship-to" addresses may encounter mismatches.
Systems that use billing address for customer record matching (such as those that match on name and address rather than email alone) may create duplicate or incorrect customer records.
When billing address collection is on:
The gifter's actual billing address is sent to your ecommerce system.
Bill-to and ship-to fields in ERPs will reflect the correct data.
Customer records in downstream systems will be associated with the purchaser's billing information.
ERP tip: If you use NetSuite via Celigo and your bill-to and ship-to fields are mismatched, enabling full billing address collection in Settings > Checkout will resolve this by populating the correct purchaser billing address.
Note for wine and regulated industries: Brands in wine or other regulated industries may need a full billing address for compliance purposes. Check with your compliance team whether ZIP code alone is sufficient or whether a full address is legally required for your shipments.
Packing slip tip: If you want to keep the purchaser's billing information off recipient packing slips, the recommended approach is to configure your fulfillment workflow to suppress the billing address section on packing slips for Zest gift orders — rather than changing your billing address collection settings.
Billing Address in Concierge Orders (Corporate Only)
When Require full billing address is enabled, concierge orders require a billing address to be entered before the order can be saved.
Key things to know:
The billing address is entered once per project — not per recipient.
Team members will not be able to save a concierge order draft without entering a billing address when this setting is on.
Billing address is entered through the order form, not via CSV upload.
Orders paid outside the platform:
For concierge orders paid via ACH, check, or other manual payment methods outside the Zest platform, billing address collection is not automatic since payment processing happens externally. Team members must enter a billing address manually through the order form.
Important: If you enter a placeholder billing address to save a draft concierge order, make sure it is updated to the real billing address before submission. Orders cannot be edited after they are submitted.
Conversion Considerations and Best Practices
Choosing whether to enable full billing address collection is a balance between checkout simplicity and your downstream business needs.
Keep billing address at the default (minimum) if:
Your priority is minimizing checkout friction and maximizing conversion rates.
Your payment processor only requires ZIP code for payment validation.
Your downstream systems do not require a full billing address.
Enable full billing address collection if:
Your ERP, fulfillment system, or compliance workflow requires a full billing address (for example, for customer record creation, order routing, or regulatory compliance).
You use Concierge and your organization has downstream billing requirements.
You want the gifter's name to appear correctly as the customer in Shopify instead of the recipient's name.
You are in a regulated industry (such as wine) where a full billing address may be required.
You want to use billing addresses for direct mail marketing (note: this requires additional setup in your marketing workflows to ingest and use the data from your ecommerce system).
Best practices:
Run a test order after enabling or changing this setting.
Check with your fulfillment partner and ERP vendor to confirm what billing address data they require before enabling.
Talk to your Zest account team if you have questions about how this setting affects your specific integrations.
Troubleshooting Common Billing Address Issues
The billing address in Shopify shows the recipient's address instead of the purchaser's
This is expected default behavior. When full billing address collection is off, Zest populates the billing address field with the recipient's shipping address to avoid blank fields. To fix this, enable Require full billing address in Settings > Checkout.
The customer name in Shopify shows the recipient's name instead of the gifter's name
When billing address collection is off, customer name defaults to the recipient's. Enabling full billing address collection will populate the billing fields with the gifter's name and address, which can update how the customer appears in Shopify.
Note: Shopify's customer profile name is ultimately determined by whichever email address's first order created the profile. Zest does not directly control the Shopify customer name.
My ERP has mismatched bill-to and ship-to fields
When billing address collection is off, Zest sets the bill-to address to match the ship-to address in your ecommerce system. This is intentional for standard order processing but can cause mapping issues in ERPs like NetSuite (via Celigo). Enable Require full billing address in Settings > Checkout to resolve this.
ShopPay is pre-filling an incorrect billing address
ShopPay may pre-populate the billing address field with the last-entered shipping address. This is a Shopify/ShopPay behavior and is not something Zest controls. Advise your customers to review and confirm their billing address during checkout.
Concierge orders won't save without a billing address
If your brand has Require full billing address enabled, a billing address is required to save a Concierge order draft. Team members must enter a valid billing address in the Customer information section of the order form before saving.
I need only a phone number without a full billing address
Zest supports collecting billing phone numbers as an add-on to the default fields (name, email, and ZIP code). Phone number collection is controlled via a separate setting. If you need to collect specific address fields without enabling full billing address collection, contact Zest support for guidance.