Payment Controls

Payment Method Risk Controls are Pro’s surface for hiding specific WooCommerce payment gateways from high-risk customers, linked accounts, or velocity-flagged checkouts. 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 → Payment Controls.

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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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Rule Structure #

Each rule has:

1. Condition — when does the rule apply? (e.g. trust_score < 30, segment is critical, linked_accounts_count >= 3)
2. Action — which payment methods to hide for matching customers

Rules evaluate at checkout — the customer’s available gateways are filtered based on their TrustLens state.

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Example Rules #

Condition	Hide	Effect
segment in [risk, critical]	BNPL methods (Affirm, Klarna)	Risky customers can only pay with credit card or wire — no installment plans
total_disputes >= 1	All credit card gateways	Customers with dispute history can only pay with bank transfer or store credit
linked_accounts_count >= 3	Cash on delivery	Fraud-ring members can’t use COD (which has high failure rate)
recent_card_testing_signal = true	All gateways	Effectively a soft block — customer can’t pay at all without admin intervention

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Configuration #

In Settings → Payment Controls:

1. Click “Add Rule”
2. Set conditions (uses the same condition system as the automation engine)
3. Select which payment methods to hide
4. Save

Rules can be reordered. The first matching rule wins — if a customer matches multiple rules with conflicting actions, the topmost applies.

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Available Payment Method Detection #

TrustLens automatically detects every payment gateway active in your WooCommerce setup and lists them in the rule editor. Common gateways:

• WooCommerce Payments / WooPayments
• Stripe (with sub-methods: Cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc.)
• PayPal Standard / PayPal Pro / PayPal Checkout
• Affirm
• Klarna
• Afterpay / Clearpay
• Square
• Authorize.net
• Cash on Delivery
• Bank Transfer / BACS
• Check
• Custom gateways

Each detected gateway can be independently controlled.

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Sub-Method Granularity #

For gateways that expose sub-methods (Stripe Cards vs Stripe Wallets vs Stripe BNPL), you can hide individual sub-methods rather than the whole gateway. Useful for keeping wallet checkouts (Apple Pay, Google Pay — generally lower fraud) while hiding card-direct entry from risky customers.

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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	Some methods hidden; customer chooses from remaining
Yes	—	Blocked entirely; no methods shown

Blocking takes precedence — a blocked customer doesn’t reach the Payment Controls evaluation step.

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What the Customer Sees #

Customers see only the payment methods that pass the rules. They don’t see “this method is hidden because we flagged you” — the method simply isn’t on the list. From the customer’s perspective, it looks like the store doesn’t offer that payment method.

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 Are Hidden? #

If a rule hides all payment methods (or a customer’s matching rules collectively hide all gateways), the customer sees an error similar to blocking: “No payment methods available.” Effectively, this is a block via Payment Controls.

This is intentional — sometimes the right action is “no payment method should work for this customer.” The Payment Controls UI warns you when a rule could potentially hide all methods.

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Audit Log #

Every Payment Controls rule evaluation is logged:

• Customer hash
• Order ID (if available)
• Rule(s) matched
• Methods hidden
• Methods available

Visible at Settings → Payment Controls → Activity Log. Useful for debugging “why doesn’t customer X see method Y?”

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Testing Rules #

Each rule has a “Test” button that simulates a checkout for a specific customer hash and shows which methods would be available. Useful for verifying rules before enabling them.

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Performance #

Rules evaluate at checkout in-line. Each rule is sub-millisecond; even with 20+ rules, the overhead is negligible. The rule data is cached per page load.

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Permissions #

Configuring Payment Controls requires manage_woocommerce. Rule changes are logged in the WordPress audit log.