How order limits can help combat fraud in your Shopify store
Fraud is one of those things you don’t think about until it happens and by then, it’s already cost you time, money, and trust.
Some orders just don’t feel right. A huge cart of high-value items from a first-time customer, multiple orders of a free sample under different emails, or small, unprofitable international orders that get flagged again and again.
This is where order limits quietly do their job.
What kinds of fraud can order limits actually prevent?
Order limits aren’t a catch-all solution, but when used strategically, they quietly prevent some of the most common and frustrating types of abuse:
- Large, suspicious bulk orders of high-value products
Limit how many units a customer can buy per product or in total, stopping resellers or stolen card purchases before they get processed. - Repeat abuse of low-cost or free sample items
Restrict samples to one per customer and tag buyers after purchase, making it harder to game your offer with fake accounts or multiple checkouts. - Unprofitable micro-orders from high-risk international markets
Set a minimum quantity or price for specific regions to filter out small orders that cost more to fulfil than they’re worth.
What makes order limits so useful is that they don’t need to apply to everyone equally. You can set quiet, specific rules that target edge cases without affecting the experience for your regular customers.
Different customers, different limits
Not every customer is a risk, and not every limit needs to apply to everyone.
With tools like customer tags and login-based rules, you can create limits that apply only to certain groups like new customers, high-risk buyers, or visitors from specific countries. This means you can keep your store open and accessible to regular shoppers while tightening control where it actually matters.
For example, you might allow returning customers to purchase up to five units of a product, but restrict new customers to only two. Or you could apply a price minimum to overseas guests while keeping domestic checkout friction-free.
This kind of flexibility is what makes order limits more than just a block, they become a smart filter that adapts to your store’s real-world needs.
Two simple limits you can set up in DC Order Limits to help combat fraud
Example 1: Preventing repeat abuse of free samples
If you're offering free or discounted sample products, it's only a matter of time before someone tries to exploit it. It’s not uncommon to see people try to bypass sample limits by ordering the same item multiple times with different emails or fake accounts.
Instead of removing the product entirely, one store set a rule that allowed only 1 sample per product per customer and required them to be logged in to order, with the limit enforced at checkout. This way, genuine customers could still try the product, but repeat abuse became much harder.
How the rule was set up:
- Rule type: Quantity Limit
- Limit: Max 1
- Grouping Option: Product
- Product eligibility: Tagged with "sample"
- Customer eligibility: Logged in customers
- Applies to: Checkout only
To strengthen it, they also used Shopify Flow to tag customers after purchase so if someone came back, the app could apply different rules automatically. This ensured the limit held even if someone refreshed the page or tried again later, since only logged-in customers could purchase the limited product, and those customers would already be tagged.
Example 2: Blocking risky customers without banning them
Some stores run into repeat fraud from known customers. Same email pattern, same behaviour, same results. Rather than banning them outright, one merchant applied a price limit rule for accounts tagged as high-risk.
If a customer was tagged "Fraud" (either manually or by Flow), they were only allowed to place orders under a certain value, effectively blocking high-cost abuse without flagging them publicly.
How the rule was set up:
- Rule type: Price Limit
- Limit: Max $1
- Grouping Option: Product
- Product eligibility: All products
- Customer eligibility: Customers with tag "Fraud"
- Applies to: Cart and checkout
This approach kept the store safe while avoiding unnecessary confrontation or support overhead.
Fraud doesn't always show up as one big event. Often, it's a pattern of small, preventable behaviours that add up over time. A few smart order limits can quietly cut down the noise without making the checkout experience harder for the customers you actually want.