WooCommerce is a powerful eCommerce platform that enables merchants to manage their online store efficiently. Among its many features, the ability to create draft orders is particularly useful for store owners who want to prepare, review or manually manage customer orders before confirming them. However, when it comes to fraud prevention and order validation, especially with tools like FraudLabs Pro for WooCommerce, understanding how and when a draft order is validated becomes essential. This article explains what a draft order is, how to create one and how to properly validate it using FraudLabs Pro for WooCommerce.
What Is a Draft Order in WooCommerce
A draft order in WooCommerce refers to an order that has been created but not yet finalized or paid for. It typically exists in an incomplete state, meaning it hasn’t gone through the checkout process or been confirmed by the customer. Draft orders are often created by store administrators for manual entries, phone orders, custom quotes or pre-orders that require confirmation before payment.
In WooCommerce, draft orders are stored in the database with the order status “Draft“. They are not yet part of the active sales flow, which means they don’t trigger most automation or validation processes until the order progresses to checkout or payment.
How to Create a Draft Order in WooCommerce
Creating a draft order in WooCommerce can be done directly from the WordPress Admin Dashboard. Here’s a simple step-by-step process:
- Go to Orders → Add order
In your WooCommerce admin panel, navigate to WooCommerce → Orders, then click the “Add order” button. - Add Customer and Products
Select a customer from the dropdown list or create a new one. Then, add products to the order using the “Add items” button. - Adjust Pricing and Details
You can modify quantities, shipping costs and apply discounts if necessary. - Save as Draft
Instead of changing the order status to “Processing” or “Completed”, keep it as “Draft” and click “Create” button. This ensures the order is not submitted to any payment gateway or validation process yet.
At this stage, the draft order exists in WooCommerce but remains inactive until it’s submitted for payment.
FraudLabs Pro Validation and Trigger Points
FraudLabs Pro for WooCommerce is a powerful fraud prevention plugin that screens orders for suspicious activities, helping merchants minimize chargebacks and fraudulent transactions. It provides two key Validation Trigger Point options that determine when an order is screened for potential fraud.
Before Submit Order to Payment Gateway
When set to this setting, FraudLabs Pro performs validation before the order is sent to the payment gateway. This is typically used for standard checkout flows where a customer places an order directly through the checkout page.
However, this trigger point does not support draft orders. This is because draft orders are not created through the normal checkout process. They are manually added in the admin dashboard and do not go through the same “Submit Order” event that triggers FraudLabs Pro’s validation. As a result, any fraud screening configured for the “Before submit order to payment gateway” point will not detect or validate draft orders.
After Submit Order to Payment Gateway
For cases involving draft orders, the recommended trigger point is “After submit order to payment gateway“. This option performs fraud validation after the order has been processed by the payment gateway.
When a draft order is manually submitted for payment, WooCommerce changes its status from “Draft“ to “Processing“. At that moment, FraudLabs Pro detects the status change and automatically screens the order for fraud. This makes it ideal for merchants who frequently use draft orders and later convert them into live orders through manual or offline payments.
By using the “After submit order to payment gateway“ setting, you ensure that every order, whether created from the checkout page or from a draft, is screened for fraud as soon as it becomes a valid and paid order.
Conclusion
Validating draft orders in WooCommerce requires understanding how the FraudLabs Pro plugin interacts with the order lifecycle. Since draft orders are not part of the standard checkout process, they bypass the “Before submit order to payment gateway” validation trigger. Therefore, the correct and reliable method to ensure fraud screening for these orders is by enabling the “After submit order to payment gateway” trigger point.
By doing so, merchants can confidently create and manage draft orders while maintaining robust fraud protection, ensuring that every finalized order undergoes a thorough fraud check before being fulfilled.