Payment Controls

Payment Method Risk Controls are Pro’s surface for hiding specific WooCommerce payment gateways from high-risk customers, customers linked to risky accounts, or customers ordering unusually fast. Where blocking is all-or-nothing (block all checkout), payment controls let you reduce checkout risk without rejecting the customer entirely — they can still complete an order, just not with riskier payment options.

Location: TrustLens → Settings → Payments.

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The Core Idea #

Some payment methods are riskier than others:

• Credit cards: chargeback exposure
• Buy-now-pay-later (Affirm, Klarna): fraud-recourse limited; subject to BNPL-specific disputes
• Cash on delivery: high failure rate, return-shipping costs
• Cryptocurrency: irreversible (good for you, but high attractiveness to fraudsters)
• Bank transfer / wire: lower fraud risk; harder to dispute

Payment Controls let you hide riskier methods from customers who match risk conditions, while keeping safer methods available. The customer experiences fewer payment options, not a full block.

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How It Works #

There is one set of controls, not a list of rules. You choose which gateways to restrict and when; at checkout, TrustLens hides all of the selected gateways if any of these conditions matches the customer:

1. Segment — the customer is in one of the segments you selected (default Risk and Critical)
2. Velocity Protection (optional) — the customer has placed at least N orders within H hours
3. Linked Account Protection (optional) — the checkout is linked to an account that is blocked or in Risk/Critical

Restrictions apply only when the order total is at or above the Minimum Order Total, and only once TrustLens knows the customer’s billing email (from the checkout form, the customer’s session, or the order being paid).

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Settings #

Setting	Default	Description
Enable Controls	Off	Master switch
Apply to Segments	Risk, Critical	Customers in these segments have the restricted gateways hidden
Restricted Gateways	None	The gateways to hide, chosen from your store’s payment gateways
Minimum Order Total	0	Only restrict when the order total is at or above this amount (0 = any amount)
Checkout Message	“Some payment methods are unavailable for this order. Please choose another payment option.”	Notice shown at checkout when gateways are hidden (leave empty to show none)
Velocity Protection	Off; 3 orders within 24 hours	Also restrict when a customer places too many orders in a short window (2–50 orders, 1–168 hours)
Linked Account Protection	Off	Also restrict when the checkout is linked to a blocked or Risk/Critical account

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Example Setups #

Configuration	Hide	Effect
Segments: Risk, Critical	BNPL gateways (Affirm, Klarna)	Risky customers can only pay with the remaining methods — no installment plans
Segments: Caution, Risk, Critical; Minimum Order Total 200	Card gateways	Larger orders from lower-trust customers must use bank transfer or another non-card method
Linked Account Protection on	Cash on delivery	Shoppers linked to risky accounts can’t use COD (which has high failure rate)
Velocity Protection on: 3 orders in 24 hours	Card gateways	A customer ordering in a rapid burst must switch to a slower payment method

Because one gateway list serves all three conditions, the same gateways are hidden whichever condition matched.

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Linked Account Protection #

When on, TrustLens checks the accounts already linked to the customer and also matches the address, phone, and payment details being used in this checkout against other customers. Only identity-grade matches count — a shared address, phone number, or payment method. A shared IP address or browser alone never links a checkout to another account. If any linked account is blocked or in the Risk or Critical segment, the restricted gateways are hidden.

Linked Account Protection needs the Linked Accounts Detection module to be on (Settings → Detection).

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Available Payment Method Detection #

The Restricted Gateways list shows every payment gateway registered in your WooCommerce setup. Common gateways:

• WooCommerce Payments / WooPayments
• Stripe
• PayPal Standard / PayPal Pro / PayPal Checkout
• Affirm
• Klarna
• Afterpay / Clearpay
• Square
• Authorize.net
• Cash on Delivery
• Bank Transfer / BACS
• Check
• Custom gateways

Each listed gateway can be selected independently.

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Sub-Method Granularity #

Controls work on whole WooCommerce gateways. If a gateway plugin offers several methods as separate gateways (for example a separate BNPL or wallet gateway), each appears in the list and can be restricted on its own. Methods offered inside a single gateway (such as wallets shown within one card gateway) can’t be hidden separately.

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Interaction with Checkout Blocking #

Payment Controls and Blocking are independent:

Blocked	Payment Control Matches	Result
No	No	All methods available
No	Yes	Restricted methods hidden; customer chooses from remaining
Yes (Enable Blocking on)	—	Checkout is rejected when the order is submitted, whatever payment method is chosen

Allowlisted customers are never restricted.

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What the Customer Sees #

Customers see only the payment methods that remain, plus the Checkout Message as a notice if you set one. The notice doesn’t say why methods are unavailable — from the customer’s perspective, the store simply offers fewer payment options for this order.

This is gentler than blocking — the customer can still complete the order, just with a different payment method.

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What If All Methods Would Be Hidden? #

TrustLens never removes a customer’s last payment option. If the restricted gateways include every gateway available for that checkout, the restriction is skipped entirely and all methods stay available. TrustLens writes a warning to the PHP error log (at most once an hour) so the misconfiguration can be found, and fires the trustlens/payment_controls_would_block_all action.

Leave at least one gateway unrestricted. Stopping a customer from buying at all is the job of customer blocking, not payment controls.

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Audit Log #

Each time gateways are hidden, TrustLens logs a payment_gateway_restricted event on the customer’s timeline (once per checkout session for the same result), recording:

• The customer’s segment
• The gateways hidden
• The order total and the minimum order total
• Which conditions matched (segment, velocity, linked-account risk) and their details

It also fires the trustlens/payment_gateways_restricted action. There is no separate activity log screen; use the customer’s Recent activity to answer “why doesn’t customer X see method Y?”

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Testing Your Setup #

There is no built-in test button. To check a configuration, place a test checkout as a customer in one of the selected segments (or one that meets the velocity or linked-account condition) and confirm which methods appear. Controls are matched on the billing email entered at checkout, so use a test customer’s email rather than your own.

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Performance #

Controls evaluate in-line when WooCommerce builds the list of available gateways on the checkout and pay-for-order pages. Segment checks are a single customer lookup; Velocity and Linked Account Protection add a few database queries, so enable them only if you need them.

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Permissions #

Configuring Payment Controls requires manage_woocommerce. Settings changes aren’t logged by TrustLens.