A good customer places an order and Shopify shows High risk with the suggestion "Consider canceling this order." You know the buyer, or the order looks normal, and you're not sure what to do. This guide explains what the flag means, why legitimate orders get it, how to find them, how to check them and how to avoid canceling good sales.
What the high risk flag means
Shopify's fraud analysis rates many card orders low, medium or high risk of a chargeback due to fraud. High risk comes with the suggestion to consider canceling, which is a recommendation, not a requirement. Shopify says you can verify, cancel or refund a high-risk order. For more on the levels, see Shopify order risk levels.
- Low: "You can fulfill this order"
- Medium: "Confirm with the customer before fulfilling"
- High: "Consider canceling this order"
Why legitimate orders get flagged
The indicators Shopify lists include AVS and CVV checks, whether the customer's location matches the payment method, unusual device or network activity, and more than one card being tried. Honest shoppers can trip several of these. Shopify's fraud guide notes that people sending a gift or buying for someone else may have different billing and shipping addresses.
- Gifts: Shipping to someone else's address
- Travel: Ordering from another country
- VPN: Network looks unusual
- Typos: Billing address entered wrong, failing AVS
- Retries: A declined card, then a second card
Find the flagged orders
Medium and high risk orders show a warning icon next to the order number in your orders list. Open each one and go to the Order risk section to see the recommendation and the indicators behind it.
- List: Warning icon on medium and high risk
- Order: Order risk section for the detail
- Look at: Which indicators fired and why
Check before you cancel
Shopify advises against judging by a single indicator or by how many fired, and to review the overall recommendation. Then gather your own evidence. Contact the customer using the details from checkout. Shopify says calling is always a good idea, since fraudsters often use invalid numbers.
- History: Past orders with no disputes
- Contact: A quick call or email to confirm
- Explain: A gift note or travel reason
- Decide: Fulfill, hold for proof, or cancel and refund
When to cancel a high-risk order covers the cases where canceling is the right call.
Avoid losing good sales
Shopify suggests manual payment capture so you can review high-risk orders before funds are collected. That gives you time to check without rushing a cancel.
- ✅ Treat the flag as a prompt to check
- ✅ Record why you shipped each flagged order
- ✅ Keep notes on repeat customers
- ❌ Auto-canceling every high-risk order
Doing this at scale
RiskClarity reviews each paid order, explains the risk in plain English with the fraud signals behind it, and recommends allow, verify or hold. You decide with one click, and every decision is logged in an audit log you can export for chargeback disputes. See RiskClarity.