How to stop discount and new-customer offer abuse on Shopify
Promo abuse is one person claiming a one-per-customer offer again and again, like a first-order discount, a free gift or a referral credit, by using new emails or names for each order. The accounts look different, but the orders usually ship to the same address.
Warning signs
- Several 'new customers' with different emails shipping to one address
- Throwaway or look-alike emails (jane1@, jane2@) using the same welcome code
- First-order discounts redeemed repeatedly at one address
How to prevent it on Shopify
Things any merchant can do, with or without an app.
- Limit discount codes to one use per customer, and to customers with no previous orders
- Review redemptions of your welcome offer by shipping address
- Block email domains that are only used for throwaway accounts
AI-powered fraud detection
What Interceptor does about it
- Flags addresses where several different names or emails are ordering, the usual footprint of promo abuse
- Catches look-alike emails of customers you've blocked
- Blocks whole email domains you add to your blocklist
What it doesn't do: Interceptor doesn't read which discount code was used; it spots the many-identities-one-address pattern behind most abuse.
Questions
Can I limit a discount to one per household on Shopify?
Shopify limits discounts per customer account, not per address. To catch one household using many accounts, look at orders by shipping address, which Interceptor does automatically.