Should I block customers who repeatedly refuse orders?

A graduated policy beats a blacklist

1. First RTO: no action. Couriers fail, plans change. Treat the customer normally.
2. Second RTO: flag the customer. Their next order ships only after an explicit WhatsApp confirmation, no silent shipping.
3. Third RTO: deposits or prepayment only. Send a payment link during confirmation; no payment, no shipment.
4. Obvious fraud (fake names, prank patterns, abusive behavior): block outright without ceremony.

How to track refusers on Shopify

• Tag customers with an internal tag like rto-1, rto-2 when a shipment returns.
• Check the tag before fulfilling: your confirmation tool can require stricter rules for tagged customers automatically.
• Match by phone number, not just email. In COD markets the phone number is the real identity, and repeat refusers reuse it more often than they reuse emails.

Why not just block everyone after one refusal?

Because a meaningful share of refusals are the courier's fault or bad luck, and a blocked genuine customer is lost revenue plus a bad review. The graduated ladder costs serial refusers their free-risk privilege while keeping the door open. It also quietly deters fraud: once refusers learn your store requires deposits from them, they move on to stores that do not track anything.