We have a former international customer who placed multiple orders and then, weeks later, submit repeated chargebacks on every order under fraudulent claims (“not received”, “fraud”, “not shipped”). We’ve blocked the customer.
Our store is basically subject to fraud made in the form of chargebacks.
Chargebacks on a Shopify store can have significant financial and reputational consequences. They lead to lost revenue, potentially increased processing fees, and can even lead to account suspension or restrictions. Additionally, high chargeback rates can negatively impact a store’s reputation and make it difficult to be listed on platforms like the Shop App.
We’ve not had any orders via the Shop App, which used to cover almost half our revenues, since this fraud started.
What does Shopify do about incidents like this to protect sellers?
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Hello,
First off, sorry to hear you’re in this situation. Fraudulent chargebacks are abusing the system that’s designed to protect consumers and keep digital transactions trustworthy. However, because of this system, the burden of proof is on you the merchant.
A couple of questions:
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In the screenshot, there’s a couple of different names. How do know this is the same customer? By billing / shipping address?
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Are these orders amount above average? Perhaps you have a pattern to be more stringent on, if the order is above X amount, then you know you’ll require additional KYC information from the customer as a deterrent and for evidence against fraudulent chargebacks.
My question is not about the customer or how to check the order patterns. We’re familiar with this and nothing unusual triggered for these orders.
The question is how Shopify manages the sheer amount of chargeback fraud for shop owners, which is then tagged to our store.
I have had this with my store too, but just one high value $2000 dollar chargeback, I need to speak to someone in shopify help but of course they will not speak to me directly and I am sure they are all AI in the helpdesk and not real people, so I will go bust if they do not assist but they say they are but the do not get back to me, I think i will get an article writern about the hopelessnes of having shopify as an middle man and why you should go it alone so you can communicate directly with the bank, probably to the broadsheets and to Martin Lewis in the UK I am also unsure if to claim against shopify or the customer in the small claims court i have already sent her a letter stating that I am doing this in 14 days as I feel shopify are not really helping just saying they are
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It’s completely unacceptable the way Shopify managed chargebacks. If any customer commits chargebacks they should provide proof that they’ve returned the products. Instead, they are allowed to keep the products and also keep their money.
Unfortunately, Shopify itself doesn’t step in directly on fraud chargebacks.
are a few ways to protect yourself going forward:
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Shopify Flow rules – you can create rules that automatically flag or hold orders from certain regions/customers with suspicious patterns before they’re captured.
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Direct verification with the customer – sometimes reaching out directly can help you win disputes later. For higher-risk orders, you can request extra proof like the last 4 digits of the card, a photo ID, or even a utility bill. Having this on file strengthens your case if a chargeback is submitted.
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Use a fraud prevention app – The app FraudGuard that’s designed specifically for Shopify. It not only holds risky orders before capture (so you don’t lose fees), but also sends out verification emails automatically. On top of that, it generates a chargeback evidence, which makes it much easier to defend yourself if a chargeback still happens.
