Medium Risk on a Shopify Order: What to Do
A medium fraud analysis result in Shopify is a request for a second look, not a verdict. Here is how to read it and decide.
The order came in. The payment went through. Then Shopify's fraud analysis says medium risk. That word sits between two easy answers, and it is tempting to pick one. Do not. Medium risk means look closer, and this guide covers exactly how to do that.
What medium risk means in Shopify's fraud analysis
The fraud recommendation rates an eligible order. It says the risk of a fraud chargeback is low, medium, or high. Fraud analysis finds orders that might be fraudulent. That way you can review them before you ship.
So medium risk is a middle answer to a real question. The order is not clean enough to ignore and not bad enough to cancel on sight. It is a request for your judgment.
A fraudulent sale can also turn into a chargeback later. The recommendation is Shopify's guess at that risk, based on patterns across its platform. Your job is to add what only you can see.
Where to find the risk level and indicators in your admin
Open the order in your admin. The order details page has an Order risk section. It lists the risk level, the recommendation, and the indicators that go with them. An exclamation mark icon marks suspicious orders, which makes them easy to spot as you scan your orders.
The analysis usually runs right after the order comes in. In rare cases it can take a few minutes, so a blank result right after checkout is not a problem. Wait and refresh before you assume anything.
Common indicators behind a medium-risk score
Fraud indicators cover two things. One is address and payment checks. The other is patterns, such as how a customer, a location, a device or a network acts. Some are simple checks, like the credit card Address Verification System or whether the CVV code was correct. Others look at patterns. For instance, a customer may be in one place while their payment method points to another. That is a location risk indicator.
How to review a medium-risk order before fulfilling
Shopify's guide is clear on one point. Look at the fraud recommendation. Do not size up the order from a single indicator, and do not tally them up and go by the count. Do not count red flags and ship or cancel based on the tally. Read the recommendation first, then use the indicators to understand why.
After that, look at the order the way a person would. Does the basket make sense for your store? Is the shipping address tied to a freight forwarder? Did a fresh account just buy a pile of the item you resell most? The indicators give you the machine's view. You still have to add the merchant's view.
For the wider picture, see card not present fraud prevention. Shopify's analysis is one layer, and it works best next to your own habits.
When to contact the customer or hold the order
Sometimes the recommendation is to investigate the order. Then a Contact customer action can show up. If you see it, use it. A short question about the order can help you decide.
If you cannot reach anyone, holding the order is fair. A fulfilled fraudulent order costs you the goods and the sale. For orders that come back high instead, the stakes change, and Shopify fraud analysis high covers that decision.
What medium risk is not: avoiding over- and under-reaction
Medium risk is not a green light. Shipping every medium order without a look skips the review fraud analysis is there for. It is also not a red flag. Cancelling every medium order also costs you good sales.
Treat it as what it is: a request for review. The check is how you find the ones that are not.
Related fraud checks and tools
Fraud analysis works on online credit card orders. Shopify has to be able to verify them. Fraud indicators are on the Basic plan or higher. So is support for third-party fraud prevention apps. Do you use a fraud app? That puts its indicators and recommendations on the same screen as Shopify's, order by order.
One gap to know about: some third-party gateways do not send review updates back to Shopify. So a result may be missing or stale, and the order still needs your eyes.
You can also use Shopify Flow to build workflows. These check your orders for fraud on their own. And you can test fraud analysis on your own store by simulating an order with high, medium, or low risk. Test orders do not receive a real fraud recommendation, so they are safe to play with.
For the full picture of the tool, start with fraud analysis in Shopify. To go deeper on spotting bad orders before they ship, see card not present fraud detection.