Part 1 · Shopify payment settings
1 Open your payment capture settings
In your Shopify admin, go to Settings → Payments, scroll to Payment configuration, and click Payment capture method.
Guide
Setting up Shopify Flow
CartWatch scores every order for bot risk. Shopify Flow can act on that score: charge the clean orders automatically, and park the risky ones unpaid until you've had a look. About ten minutes, screenshot by screenshot — the last two steps are optional.
- Requires the Order Risk Assessment setting turned on in CartWatch (Starter plan and up)
- Requires the free Shopify Flow app installed on your store
Part 1 · Shopify payment settings
2 Switch capture to Manually
Select Manually and click Save. Cards are still authorized the moment a shopper checks out — they just aren't charged yet. That pause is the whole point: it gives CartWatch a window to score the order before any money moves.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
3 Create a new workflow
Open the Flow app from your admin sidebar and click Create workflow. Flow is a free Shopify app — install it first if you don't see it listed.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
4 Select a trigger
Ignore the prompt box and click Select a trigger.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
5 Trigger on “Order risk analyzed”
Search for Order risk analyzed and pick the Shopify trigger. It fires whenever an order is given a new risk level.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
6 Add the first step
Click the + button below the trigger card on the canvas.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
7 Choose Action
From the little menu that appears, choose Action.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
8 Add the Wait action
Search for Wait and select Wait · Flow from the results.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
9 Wait 10 minutes
Set the wait to 10 minutes. This is the buffer CartWatch needs to finish scoring the order and post its risk assessment before the workflow reads it.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
10 Add a condition
Click the + under the Wait step, then choose Condition.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
11 Add a variable to the condition
In the condition's IF row, click Add a variable.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
12 Pick the order's risk level
Search for RiskAssessmentResult and select riskLevel under order/risk/assessments/.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
13 Match HIGH risk
Leave the operator on Equal to and set the value to HIGH. Then click the Add criteria button that sits inside the assessments_item list — not the one below it.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
14 Join the criteria with OR
Open the AND dropdown on the new row and switch it to OR. You want the condition to be true when either risk level matches.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
15 Add the second variable
On the new criteria row, click Add a variable and open assessments_item.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
16 Pick riskLevel again
Inside assessments_item, select riskLevel.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
17 Match MEDIUM risk
Set this second value to MEDIUM. Your condition now reads: risk level is HIGH OR risk level is MEDIUM.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
18 Build the False branch
Risky orders should simply sit and wait for you, so leave the True branch empty. On the False side of the condition, click Action.
Part 2 · The Flow workflow
19 Capture payment
Search for capture and choose Capture payment. The workflow now does its job — click Turn on workflow in the top right to go live, or add the optional email alert below first.
Part 3 · Optional email alert Optional
20 Add an action to the True branch
Want a heads-up whenever an order gets held? Go back to the True side of the condition — the risky one — and click Action.
Part 3 · Optional email alert Optional
21 Send yourself an internal email
Search for email and choose Send internal email · Flow. Fill in the address your team watches — Shopify sends it from your store's contact email — so a held order lands in your inbox instead of waiting to be noticed. Then click Turn on workflow.
Step 1 of 21
What the workflow does once it's on
Clean orders
Charged automatically about ten minutes after checkout. Nobody notices anything — the shopper's experience is unchanged.
High or medium risk orders
Left authorized but uncaptured, waiting in your Orders list. Review it and capture, or cancel it and no money ever changes hands. Add the optional email alert (steps 20–21) and each one lands in your inbox as it happens.