1/23/2025

Investigating Unusual Orders on Your Shopify Store: Steps to Take

In the bustling world of eCommerce, every store faces its unique challenges. For many Shopify merchants, unusual orders can be one of the trickiest obstacles to navigate. Whether it’s sudden spikes in sales, HIGH-VALUE orders from unfamiliar locations, or frequent cancellations, these anomalies can cause concerns about fraudulent transactions. Today, we’ll break down steps you can take to investigate these unusual orders and protect your business.

Understanding Unusual Orders

What is an Unusual Order?

An unusual order can take many forms. It may include:

High-value purchases that seem out of the ordinary for your typical customer.
Multiple orders placed in a short time frame from the same IP address.
Orders from geographical locations you don’t usually ship to.
- For example, orders shipping to countries known for high rates of fraud like Nigeria or Russia must raise a RED FLAG.
Frequent cancellations or returns that are higher than your usual rate.

Recognizing the signs of unusual orders is the first step in your investigative journey. Keeping a close eye on your order history through the Shopify Admin can help you identify these problems early.

Steps to Investigate Unusual Orders

1. Analyze the Order Details

Once you identify an unusual order, begin your investigation by analyzing the order details:

Customer Information: Check the customer's name, email address, and shipping address. Sometimes, fraudulent customers use fake names or emails. For example, if the email domain looks suspicious (like having random letters or is a free account), it could be a sign.
Payment Method: Look out for orders placed with CREDIT CARDS that don’t match the billing address. According to Shopify’s Fraud Analysis, credit card discrepancies can be a crucial indicator.
Order History: Investigate their previous orders if they have any. A NEW customer with a high-value order should give you a moment of pause.

2. Use Shopify’s Built-in Fraud Analysis Tools

Shopify has built-in tools for detecting potentially fraudulent activity:

Make sure you leverage the Fraud Analysis feature. This tool uses multiple data points such as billing and shipping addresses, history of interactions, and payment behavior to flag low or high-risk transactions. If an order indicates high-risk fraud, treat it with caution.

3. Communicate with the Customer

Don’t hesitate to reach out to the customer to confirm their order:

Send a polite email or make a quick phone call asking for clarification. This can help weed out genuine customers from potential fraudsters. For example, ask them to confirm their order details and let them know you’re doing this for their protection as well as your business's.
Use tools like Arsturn to help manage customer communications. Chatbots can quickly engage and verify orders, making your investigative process quicker and more efficient.

4. Check Shipping and Billing Addresses

If the SHIPPING address differs from the BILLING address, further scrutiny is warranted. Use online services to verify addresses, especially when it involves international shipping. If the errors seem suspicious, consider canceling the order.

To simplify the process of verifying addresses, you might want to look into automated address verification services available in the Shopify App Store that can help confirm order authenticity.

5. Monitor for Patterns

Watch for any unusual activity on your store:

If you find a spike in orders placed from the same IP address or geographical location, it’s vital to act quickly. Tools like the Fraud Filter app can assist with managing and monitoring high-risk customers, restricting IP addresses that are causing problems.
Monitor customer interactions consistently to discover if an order series correlates with previous fraudulent activities.

6. Implement Manual Payment Capture

Consider enabling Manual Payment Capture. This option allows you to review orders before finalizing payments. Once you identify an unusual order, you have the option to investigate before capturing payment—perfect for avoiding chargebacks.

7. Use Customer Review Tools

Implement customer review apps and tools to gather feedback on orders. Seeing what other customers feel about the product they received can give insights on potential fraud in the system. Many fraudsters do not provide the necessary feedback or have tons of complaints. Reach out to potential customers in case of doubts—which can help you solidify your decisions moving forward.

8. Strengthen Your Payment Gateway

Ensure your payment gateway includes protection from fraud:

Utilize 3D Secure where possible. This adds a layer of security that can help validate legitimate users making purchases.
Ensure that all payment methods are SSL compliant to further safeguard transactions.

9. Educate Your Team

If you have a team managing your store, make sure they are aware of the potential fraudulent signs and the steps to take if they suspect fraud. This could include providing training sessions to help everyone understand ways to identify red flags better.

10. Consider Additional Support Apps

While Shopify’s tools are robust, there are plenty of custom solutions you can further implement:

Look for specialized fraud protection apps on the Shopify App Store like Disputifier or NoFraud which work in tandem with your store’s functionalities to help manage charges and dispute fraudulent transactions effectively.

Conclusion

Investigating unusual orders on your Shopify store requires a proactive approach. By combining Shopify’s native features, thorough checks on order specifics, and employing additional apps like Arsturn for AI engagement, you can protect your business from potential threats. Always remember: a little diligence today can save your store from headaches tomorrow! Stay alert, and keep your eCommerce venture thriving without fear of fraud.

Happy Selling!

Don't forget to check back for more insights, tips, and tools to streamline your Shopify business operations.

Why Use Arsturn?

In today’s digital landscape, engaging effectively with your audience is crucial. Explore the power of Arsturn—the powerful platform that allows you to instantly create custom ChatGPT chatbots for your website. Boost your engagement & conversions effortlessly when you utilize AI to connect with your audience 24/7. No credit card is required, so why wait? Visit Arsturn.com today!