How to Add a Checkout Note to Help Prevent Non-Latin Characters in Shopify Shipping Addresses

For merchants shipping globally, invalid addresses can quickly turn into costly headaches. Many international carriers cannot process non-Latin or non-Roman characters, and when those characters appear in a shipping address, the result is often failed deliveries, returned packages, refunds, and frustrated customers.

There are two ways to address this issue:

1. A free solution that adds a message at checkout advising customers to use only Latin characters. This helps reduce mistakes but does not prevent customers from entering invalid characters.
2. A paid solution that actively prevents customers from proceeding with non-Latin characters and prompts them to correct their address before completing checkout.

In this guide, we will start with the free solution and walk through the setup step by step. Toward the end of the post, we will explain the paid solution and why it provides stronger protection for international shipments.

Why non-Latin characters cause shipping problems

Many international shipping carriers rely on systems that only support Latin or Roman characters. When shipping addresses include characters from other writing systems such as Greek, Arabic, Cyrillic, Chinese, Japanese, and others, those systems may fail.

Common issues include:

• Carrier address rejections
• Incorrect routing or misread destinations
• Shipping label generation failures
• Delayed or returned shipments

For merchants, these issues often lead to manual intervention, reshipping costs, refunds, and increased customer support. A clear warning at checkout can help reduce these problems before an order is placed.

The free solution: adding a note on the checkout page

Shopify allows merchants to edit checkout text using the default theme content editor. This makes it possible to display a message reminding customers to use only Latin characters when entering their shipping address, without editing any code.

Step 1: Open the theme content editor

From your Shopify admin:

1. Go to Online Store and then Themes
2. Find the theme you are currently using
3. Click the three dots next to the theme
4. Select Edit default theme content

This opens Shopify's theme content editor, which controls text across your storefront and checkout experience.

Step 2: Navigate to the checkout text

Inside the Theme content editor:

1. Click Checkout and system in the top navigation bar
2. Then select Checkout

This section contains all text used during the checkout flow.

Step 3: Find the shipping address related text

To locate the correct field:

1. Use Ctrl + F for windows, or Cmd + F for Mac
2. In the search box that appears, type: shipping address, then press enter

This will bring up a number of input boxes that deal with 'shipping address'.

You're looking for the input box labled 'Shipping address' under 'Checkout delivery options'. This should be the first one on the list below the search box.

Note: The following is not always the case, but you may need to scroll all the way down the page using the right, vertical scroll bar to load all pertinent fields, otherwise some checkout text will not appear if you search too early.

Step 4: Add your shipping address note

In the 'Shipping address' text box that comes up (under 'Checkout delivery options'), Enter 'Shipping address' plus your note, for example: 'Shipping address (Please enter only Latin/Roman characters)'.

You can adjust the wording to match your brand tone, but clarity is essential.

Click Save when finished.

Step 5: Test the checkout

To verify that the message appears correctly:

1. Navigate to your site
2. Add a product to the cart and go to checkout
3. Check that your new message now appears above the shipping address fields

Limitations of the free solution

While this checkout warning is helpful, it has important limitations:

• Customers can ignore the message
• Shopify does not block invalid characters
• Express checkout options such as Shop Pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay may bypass this text entirely

This means the free solution relies on customer compliance rather than enforcement.

The paid solution: LatinLock

For merchants who want to fully eliminate shipping address issues caused by non-Latin characters, a stronger solution is required.

LatinLock is a Shopify app that prevents non-Latin or non-Roman characters from being entered into shipping address fields at checkout. Instead of displaying a warning only:

• Customers are prompted to correct their address immediately
• Checkout cannot continue until the address is valid
• Invalid characters never reach your fulfillment or carrier systems

Many merchants use both approaches together. The checkout message sets expectations, while LatinLock enforces compliance and prevents errors entirely.

Final thoughts

Adding a checkout note is a simple and free way to guide customers toward entering valid shipping addresses. However, if you ship internationally and want to fully prevent address-related fulfillment issues, enforcement is far more effective than warnings alone.

By combining clear checkout messaging with a solution like LatinLock, merchants can reduce failed shipments, lower support costs, and protect their international orders before problems occur.

To see the app in action, you can watch this LatinLock demo video on YouTube.