The returns network lets stores running COD Protection warn each other about buyers who refuse cash on delivery parcels. It is off until you switch it on.
What it does
- When a buyer has refused COD parcels at two or more other stores in the last year, cash on delivery is not offered to them at your store. They can still order and pay online.
- Each time you press Mark parcel returned on an order, your store adds that buyer to the network.
- The COD Protection box on an order shows how many other stores the buyer refused parcels at.
Switch it on
- In WordPress open WooCommerce, COD Protection, Returns.
- Turn on Check buyers against returns at other stores and save.
You need COD Protection 1.3.0 or newer and an active licence.
What is shared, and what is not
- Only a one way hash of the buyer's phone number (its last ten digits) and a hashed reference to your order are sent to eternaltech.dev. The phone number itself, the name, address, email and order contents never leave your store.
- eternaltech.dev hashes the value again with its own secret before storing it.
- Mention in your store's privacy policy that returned parcels are shared in hashed form with a fraud prevention network.
Fairness
- A report from one store is never enough. Your own reports never count against buyers at your own store; your blocklist setting handles those.
- Stores on a free trial can report, but their reports do not count until they buy a plan.
- Marked a parcel by mistake? Press Clear this buyer on the order. That takes your report back from the network.
If eternaltech.dev cannot be reached
Checkout never waits more than two seconds and never breaks. The buyer is simply not checked against the network, and your own blocklist still applies. Reports that could not be sent are kept and sent with the daily licence check.