
#236 Your Payment Processor Is Silently Blocking Sales
From Click & Convert with Maria Sparagis by Maria Sparagis
May 21, 2026 · 13 min · Episode 236
About this episode
Maria discusses how AI fraud scoring systems may be blocking legitimate sales and how to adjust settings to improve approval rates.
AI fraud scoring systems may be silently declining your transactions without you realizing it. Most online businesses see higher failed payments or lower conversion rates and assume it’s ads, checkout, or pricing — but have you checked if an AI fraud scoring system is to blame? Risk engine and automated payment gateway settings may be blocking legitimate customer orders. These systems are designed to prevent losses, not maximize revenue, which leads to false declines. In this episode, Maria breaks down how to spot when AI fraud tools are impacting your payments, and shows you which fraud settings to adjust so they actually fit your business model instead of generic default rules. You’ll learn how to recognize false decline patterns, what’s triggering them, and how to improve approval rates without increasing fraud risk: How to identify which Fraud AI mechanisms are active in your gateway How to know if Fraud AI is working against you How to adjust your Fraud AI scoring filters How to test your new settings Top fixes every merchant needs to know If you’re using Stripe, Shopify, or any payment gateway and seeing unexplained declines or high payment failure rates, this is likely…
People in this episode
Host: Maria Sparagis
Topics covered
- payment processing
- AI fraud scoring
- conversion rates
- false declines
- e-commerce
- fraud prevention
Keywords
- payment processor
- fraud scoring
- transaction decline
- conversion optimization
- e-commerce sales
- payment gateway
- false decline patterns
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Stripe, Shopify
More episodes of Click & Convert with Maria Sparagis
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- #238 What Happens If Stripe Shuts You Down Tomorrow? · June 4, 2026 · 11 min
- #237 Why Having Low Chargebacks Is No Longer Enough to Keep Your Account Safe · May 28, 2026 · 16 min
- #235 How to Reduce Stripe Chargebacks in 3 Steps · May 14, 2026 · 10 min
- #234 5 Checkout Fixes That Will Grow Your Shopify Sales · May 7, 2026 · 11 min
- #233 Stripe Payout On Hold? Fastest Way To Get Paid · April 30, 2026 · 20 min
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