Spambuster Help
The short answer
Spambuster checks the forms on your store's pages. If spam still arrives, it's usually one of three things: Spambuster is switched off in your theme, a setting hasn't reached your store, or the spam is coming in through a door Spambuster can't see. This page helps you tell which.
What Spambuster can and can't see
It checks
- Contact forms
- Newsletter sign-ups
- Blog comments and product reviews
- Login, registration and password reset
- Order forms, on Premium
It can't see
- Shopify Inbox and other chat apps
- Email sent straight to your store's address
- Fake checkouts, orders and customer accounts created directly with Shopify
- Bots that post to Shopify without loading your pages
- Spam typed by a real person
We'd rather tell you this plainly than leave you wondering why a setting isn't working. Spambuster scores how a visitor behaves, not what they write, so a person typing spam by hand looks like a person.
Check these, in order
- Spambuster is switched onUse Check my store, or open Spambuster: it should say Protected. If it says Not protected, click Turn on protection, then Save in the theme editor. This is the most common cause by far. More on checking.
- The form that gets spam is switched onIn Spambuster, Settings, check that form is ticked, then click Save. Saving sends your settings to your store again, which fixes a setting that didn't arrive.
- The spam came through a formLook at one spam message. If it came by chat, by email, or as a new customer account or order, see the next section.
- Tune the threshold, one step at a timeIf spam still gets through your forms, raise the spam threshold one step in Settings (for example 0.7 to 0.75). The highest setting is 0.8. Stricter catches more bots, and can also stop the odd genuine customer on a VPN, so go slowly.
If it came in another way
Shopify Inbox chat
Open the conversation and click the Block sender icon at the top. Blocked senders, and anything Shopify detects as spam, move to the Blocked filter, where you can unblock them later. Shopify's guide.
Another chat app
Look in that app's own settings for blocking or spam filtering.
Email to your store's address
Your email provider's spam filter is the right tool. Marking each one as spam teaches it.
Fake customer accounts and checkouts
These are made directly with Shopify, without your pages. Shopify's own options, such as requiring customers to log in before they check out, are what exists today.