Why We Now Require Customer Accounts

We try to keep ordering from us simple. For a long time, that included allowing guest checkout. Recently, though, we had to make a change and require customer accounts to place orders.

This was in response to a real problem that many small businesses are dealing with right now: card testing and fraud via automated bot attacks.

Too Busy? Here's the tl;dr

We now ask everyone to create a customer account at checkout because guest checkout was being targeted by bots trying stolen credit cards. Having accounts helps us prevent fraud, keep things running smoothly, and give you a faster, easier experience with things like reordering or getting support. We really appreciate your understanding as we make checkout safer and simpler for everyone.

 

So, What Happened?

Over the past year, and specifically the last few months of 2025, we saw repeated attempts by automated bots to run stolen credit cards through our checkout. 

Here's a screenshot of part of one page to give you an idea of the volume of attempted transactions we were dealing with, and what it might look like if you are a small business with a Shopify store.

• The attempted transactions were small, usually the least expensive item in our shop. 
• Either no name at all, or a fake name like John Doe, or test test. 
• Before we started fighting them, 100% of the orders were using the same address (a CVS Pharmacy in New York)
• Multiple checkout attempts back to back, sometimes within seconds of one another because they are testing different card numbers tried in sequence from the same cart

Even though these transactions failed, they still caused problems. Our analytics were all over the place! Our conversion rate was incredibly low, they use VPNs so we had no idea where our traffic was coming from, or which products were actually driving organic traffic to our website. These bots made it impossible to make informed decisions about our website and our sales.

 

Why Accounts Make a Difference

Bots Rely on Guest Checkout

Automated attacks depend on speed and anonymity. When an account is required, most bots can’t get through because they're using made-up email addresses that they can't access to confirm an account.

Since we implemented this change, we haven't had a single bot checkout attempt.

Small, independent shops like ours can’t absorb fraud losses like a big corporation can. This change helps us stay focused on production instead of damage control. It’s one of those behind-the-scenes decisions that helps keep everything running smoothly. 

 

What You Get From Having an Account

Easier Reorders

You’ll be able to see your past orders and reorder without starting from scratch.

Faster Support

If you ever need help, we can pull up your order quickly instead of asking for screenshots or confirmation emails.

Trust

We shop online, too! This is the kind of transparency we want to see from the businesses we support. By sharing and being up front about why we made this change, we hope you feel confident choosing us again and again.

We don’t sell customer data. We don’t share it. We only collect what’s needed to process orders and keep transactions secure. Requiring accounts helps us verify customers and prevent fraud, while giving you secure access to your order history.

Thanks for Sticking With Us

We know creating an account is an extra step, and we appreciate your patience. This change helps protect everyone involved and lets us keep doing what we do without unnecessary interruptions.

If you ever have questions about accounts, security, or anything else, just reach out. We'll do our best to answer your questions and we are always happy to help.

If you are a small business owner also struggling with this problem, let's talk! This was an annoying and overwhelming issue for us; we're not tech geniuses but we're happy to share what worked for us and what we tried to save you some stress and time.