ShipStation has the ability to import Shopify's Fraud Risk assessment, which can then be used to identify at-risk orders for further review before you ship them.
To enable ShipStation to import Shopify's fraud assessment, contact ShipStation Support. ShipStation can then map the Shopify assessment value into a Custom Fields for each order. This value can then be used to trigger an automation rule to perform actions like tagging the order or moving the order to the On Hold status.
This article provides an example for using automation rules to tag orders, but you can set your rule to perform any action you prefer (or multiple actions, if you like).
NOTE: You must enable this ability within Shopify in order for Shopify to include the fraud alert information when they send the orders to ShipStation. Check out the Shopify Fraud Analysis page for more information on how this works on the Shopify side.
Create a Fraud Alert tag
In order to use automation to add a tag to an order, you must first create the tag. This article provides instructions on creating tags if you are not already familiar with the process.
Shopify has three levels of fraud alerts:
- Low risk = Accept
- Medium risk = Investigate
- High risk = Cancel
This image shows the Medium risk as it would look when imported into Custom Field 1:
Your tag strategy may differ, but in this example, we'll create a tag for each level.
Once your tags are created, they'll be available when you create your automation rules!
**Tags are an incredibly versatile feature in ShipStation. For information on other ways to use tags, check out this article.
Create Automation Rules
In this example, we'll need three separate rules - one for each tag we want to apply. Each tag will use its own unique Criteria and Action combination to apply the appropriate tag to an order.
Step 1:
Go to Settings > Automation > Automation Rules and click +Create a Rule.
A rule to tag an order with Medium risk should look like this example:
Step 2:
Create two more rules.
For the Low-Risk orders, the criteria will be Custom Field 1 :: Contains :: Accept
For the High-Risk orders, the criteria will be Custom Field 1 :: Contains :: Cancel
Be sure to assign the corresponding tag in the Action section for each rule.
Once you save these rules, going forward ShipStation will automatically apply tags to orders that import and contain the corresponding text in Custom Field 1.
Identify Tagged Orders
Any tags added to an order will appear in the Tags column in the Orders tab, as well as the Tags section in the Order Details, so you can easily identify, sort, or filter orders based on their tags.
Feel free to reorder your columns so the Tags column is always visible (just drag and drop where you want the column to appear). If you do not see your Tags column, make sure it is selected under the Columns drop-down in the top right of your Orders screen.
Be sure to contact ShipStation support to enable the ability to import Shopify's fraud risk and let the support team know which Custom Field you'd like to use. An agent will be happy to adjust the configuration on your account so future orders will import with the Shopify Fraud Alert into your selected Custom Field.
Notes on Using Automation:
Automation rules only apply to orders when they import into Awaiting Shipment. This means the rule will not apply to previously imported orders without an additional step. To apply tags to those orders, simply click the Reprocess Automation Rules button in the Automation Rules screen.
PROTIP: You can add additional actions to your rules that will also move the order to the On Hold status after tagging them, thereby removing the order from the Awaiting Shipment section entirely! Just click Add an Action and choose the Hold the order for... option, then enter the number of days you wish the order to stay in the On Hold status.
- Other actions might include sending an email to your shipping manager or assigning the order to a specific user on your account.