Why Block by Country?
Country blocking lets you control store access based on visitor location. Common reasons include:
Fraud Prevention
Certain countries have higher rates of payment fraud. If you’re not shipping to those regions anyway, blocking access reduces fraud attempts.
Shipping Limitations
If you can’t ship to certain countries, there’s no reason to let visitors from those regions browse and attempt purchases.
Legal Compliance
Some products have legal restrictions by country. Blocking ensures you don’t accidentally sell where you can’t legally operate.
Resource Focus
If 99% of your customers are in specific countries, you might block others to reduce support burden and analytics noise.
Competitive Protection
Block regions where competitors might be scraping your pricing and catalog data.
How Country Blocking Works
- Visitor IP Detection: When someone visits your store, we identify their IP address
- Geolocation Lookup: The IP is matched to a geographic location using multiple data sources
- Rule Matching: Your blocking rules are checked against the visitor’s country
- Action Taken: Blocked visitors see your custom message; allowed visitors continue normally
Setting Up Country Blocking
Blocklist Approach
Block specific countries while allowing everyone else:
- Best when you have a few high-risk regions to block
- Default is permissive - new countries are allowed
Allowlist Approach
Allow only specific countries, block everyone else:
- Best when you only serve specific markets
- Default is restrictive - new countries are blocked
Choosing What to Block
High-Risk Countries
Countries commonly blocked for fraud prevention vary by industry, but often include regions with:
- High chargeback rates
- Prevalent card fraud
- Difficult payment verification
No-Ship Regions
Block where you can’t deliver:
- Embargoed countries
- Regions your shipping carriers don’t serve
- Areas with prohibitive shipping costs
Non-Target Markets
If you only sell domestically or to specific regions, blocking others reduces:
- Customer service inquiries you can’t help with
- Abandoned carts from people who discover shipping issues at checkout
- Analytics pollution
Custom Block Messages
When blocking by country, display a helpful message:
Good example:
“We currently only ship within the United States and Canada. We’re working on expanding internationally. Please check back soon!”
Bad example:
“Access denied.”
Good messages:
- Explain why access is restricted
- Offer alternatives if possible
- Maintain your brand voice
- Don’t make visitors feel attacked
Region-Level Blocking
Beyond whole countries, SecurEcommerce supports region/state blocking:
- Block specific states or provinces within a country
- Allow a country but block high-fraud regions within it
- Comply with state-level regulations (like certain US state restrictions)
Things to Consider
VPN Bypass
Determined visitors can use VPNs to appear in different countries. Country blocking is a barrier, not a perfect solution. Combine with VPN blocking for stronger protection.
Legitimate Travelers
Your actual customers might travel. Someone from the US visiting blocked countries will be blocked. Consider:
- Warning messages instead of hard blocks
- Customer service override processes
- Allowlisting authenticated customers
Business Travelers
Corporate customers might access from offices worldwide. B2B stores should carefully consider blocking impact.
CDN and Proxy Effects
Some visitors’ true locations may be obscured by corporate networks or CDNs. Blocking can occasionally affect unintended users.
Monitoring and Adjusting
After enabling country blocking:
- Monitor blocked traffic - Are you blocking more than expected?
- Check customer feedback - Are legitimate customers complaining?
- Review fraud rates - Has blocking reduced fraud attempts?
- Adjust as needed - Add or remove countries based on data
SecurEcommerce logs blocked visits, helping you understand the impact of your rules and refine them over time.
Best Practices
- Start conservative - Block obvious high-risk regions first
- Document your rules - Know why each country is blocked
- Review periodically - Fraud patterns change over time
- Communicate clearly - Good block messages prevent frustration
- Layer protection - Combine with VPN/proxy blocking