Multiple orders created from one customer order

Multiple orders created from one customer order nb: my site appears to be working normally now – however yesterday a customer placed an single order but it resulted in 5 orders appearing in WooCommerce | Orders. In the orders list the 5 orders are shown in a strange order, the order numbers are (oldest=2086, 2085, 2084, 2088, newest=2087). Each order resulted in a “Your order has been received” email to the customer plus a “New order” email to me. Each reduced the stock quantity of the item the customer bought BUT each one had the same PayPal transaction ID. I checked the PayPal account and only one payment had come through. Today I placed a couple of test orders and everything went through normally. So I cancelled 4 of the ‘spurious’ orders and corrected the stock level of the item bought. Just guessing but I’m thinking that the problem may be related to scheduled actions and maybe a hiccup on my host’s server (it’s on an IONOS shared server)? I can’t find any errors in WooCommerce | Status | Logs, there are no recent failed scheduled actions. The [Verify base database tables] tool runs okay but I can’t find anything that does a full ‘consistency’ check on the database. Any ideas? And is it safe for me to leave the site running (I have daily backups of the database)? Thanks, Dave Here’s the Status report. I haven’t included the site URL as there are no problems on the front end. System Status Report ### WordPress Environment ### WordPress address (URL): [Redacted] Site address (URL): [Redacted] WC Version: 10.8.1 Legacy REST API Package Version: The Legacy REST API plugin is not installed on this site. Action Scheduler Version: ✔ 3.9.3 Log Directory Writable: ✔ WP Version: 7.0 WP Multisite: – WP Memory Limit: 256 MB WP Debug Mode: – WP Cron: ✔ WP Environment Type: production Language: en_GB External object cache: – ### Server Environment ### Server Info: Apache Server Architecture: Linux 4.4.400-icpu-108 x86_64 PHP Version: 8.3.31 PHP Post Max Size: 64 MB PHP Time Limit: 50000 PHP Max Input Vars: 5000 cURL Version: 7.74.0 OpenSSL/1.1.1w SUHOSIN Installed: – MySQL Version: 8.0.36 Max Upload Size: 64 MB Default Timezone is UTC: ✔ fsockopen/cURL: ✔ SoapClient: ✔ DOMDocument: ✔ GZip: ✔ Multibyte String: ✔ Remote Post: ✔ Remote Get: ✔ ### Database ### [REDACTED] ### Post Type Counts ### attachment: 127 custom_css: 1 jetpack_migration: 2 jp_img_sitemap: 1 jp_sitemap: 1 jp_sitemap_master: 1 mgmlp_media_folder: 9 nav_menu_item: 7 page: 7 post: 1 product: 68 product_variation: 82 shop_order: 332 shop_order_refund: 9 ### Security ### Secure connection (HTTPS): ✔ Hide errors from visitors: ✔ ### Active Plugins (27) ### Advanced Database Cleaner: by SigmaPlugin – 4.1.1 Better Search Replace: by WP Engine – 1.4.10 BulletProof Security: by AITpro Website Security – 7.2 Classic Editor: by WordPress Contributors – 1.7.0 Classic Widgets: by WordPress Contributors – 0.3 Fetchify: by ClearCourse Business Services Limited t/a Fetchify – 1.11.2 Compliance by Hu-manity.co: by Hu-manity.co – 3.1.1 Disable User Registration: by Andrei Gheorghiu – 1.0.1 MySQL Version Display Footer: by Apasionados Apasionados del Marketing – 1.2.0 Enable Media Replace: by ShortPixel – 4.1.9 Homepage Control: by WooThemes – 2.0.3 Injection Guard: by Fahad Mahmood – 1.3.0 MMUK Functions Plugin: by Dave Riley – 0.2 Server IP & Memory Usage Display: by Apasionados Apasionados del Marketing – 2.2.0 Simple CAPTCHA Alternative with Cloudflare Turnstile: by Elliot Sowersby RelyWP – 1.40.0 Stock Exporter for WooCommerce: by Naked Cat Plugins (by Webdados) – 1.5 Storefront Footer Text: by Wooassist – 1.0.1 Storefront Product Sharing: by WooCommerce – 1.0.6 WooCommerce.com Update Manager: by Automattic – 1.0.3 WooCommerce PayPal Payments: by PayPal – 4.0.4 PDF Invoices & Packing Slips for WooCommerce: by WP Overnight – 5.13.0 WooCommerce Royal Mail, Evri, & DPD Shipping Calculator Pro: by WPRuby – 4.11.0 WooCommerce: by Automattic – 10.8.1 WP Mail Logging: by WP Mail Logging Team – 1.16.0 LightStart - Maintenance Mode, Coming Soon and Landing Page Builder: by Themeisle – 2.6.22 WP Super Cache: by Automattic – 3.1.1 PayPal Zettle POS: by PayPal – 1.6.1 ### Inactive Plugins (3) ### Google Analytics for WooCommerce: by WooCommerce – 2.1.23 Optimize Database after Deleting Revisions: by NerdPress – 5.3.0 WP Mail SMTP: by WP Mail SMTP – 4.8.0 ### Dropin Plugins () ### advanced-cache.php: advanced-cache.php ### Must Use Plugins (1) ### BPS MU Tools: by AITpro – 9.0 ### Settings ### Legacy API Enabled: – Force SSL: – Currency: GBP (£) Currency Position: left Thousand Separator: , Decimal Separator: . Number of Decimals: 2 Taxonomies: Product Types: external (external) grouped (grouped) simple (simple) variable (variable) Taxonomies: Product Visibility: exclude-from-catalog (exclude-from-catalog) exclude-from-search (exclude-from-search) featured (featured) outofstock (outofstock) rated-1 (rated-1) rated-2 (rated-2) rated-3 (rated-3) rated-4 (rated-4) rated-5 (rated-5) Connected to WooCommerce.com: ✔ Enforce Approved Product Download Directories: – HPOS feature enabled: – Order datastore: WC_Order_Data_Store_CPT HPOS data sync enabled: – Enabled Features: analytics marketplace order_attribution site_visibility_badge remote_logging blueprint point_of_sale ### Logging ### Enabled: ✔ Handler: Automattic\WooCommerce\Internal\Admin\Logging\LogHandlerFileV2 Retention period: 30 days Level threshold: – Log directory size: 29 KB ### WC Pages ### Shop base: #4 - / Basket: #5 - /basket/ - Contains the [woocommerce_cart] shortcode Checkout: #6 - /checkout/ - Contains the [woocommerce_checkout] shortcode My account: #7 - /my-account/ - Contains the [woocommerce_my_account] shortcode Terms and conditions: ❌ Page not set ### Theme ### Name: [Redacted] Child Theme Version: 1.0.0 Author URL: [Redacted] Child Theme: ✔ Parent Theme Name: Storefront Parent Theme Version: 4.6.2 Parent Theme Author URL: https://woocommerce.com/ Theme type: Classic theme WooCommerce Support: ✔ ### Templates ### Override: wp-content/themes/mm-child/woocommerce/emails/customer-completed-order.php ### WooCommerce PayPal Payments ### Onboarded: ✔ Branded only: – Shop country code: GB WooCommerce currency supported: ✔ Advanced Card Processing available in country: ✔ Pay Later messaging available in country: ✔ Webhook status: ✔ PayPal Vault enabled: – ACDC Vault enabled: – Logging enabled: – Reference Transactions: ✔ Used PayPal Checkout plugin: ✔ Subscriptions Mode: Disabled PayPal Shipping Callback: ✔ Apple Pay: – Google Pay: ✔ Fastlane: – ### Admin ### Enabled Features: activity-panels analytics analytics-scheduled-import product-block-editor experimental-iapi-mini-cart coupons core-profiler customize-store customer-effort-score-tracks import-products-task experimental-fashion-sample-products shipping-smart-defaults shipping-setting-tour homescreen marketing mobile-app-banner onboarding onboarding-tasks pattern-toolkit-full-composability product-custom-fields remote-inbox-notifications remote-free-extensions payment-gateway-suggestions printful shipping-label-banner subscriptions store-alerts transient-notices woo-mobile-welcome wc-pay-promotion wc-pay-welcome-page launch-your-store Disabled Features: product-data-views experimental-blocks experimental-iapi-runtime coming-soon-newsletter-template minified-js product-pre-publish-modal products-catalog-api settings async-product-editor-category-field product-editor-template-system use-wp-horizon rest-api-v4 Daily Cron: ✔ Next scheduled: 2026-06-06 15:30:57 +01:00 Options: ✔ Notes: 273 Onboarding: completed ### Action Scheduler ### Complete: 1,959 Oldest: 2026-05-06 12:50:21 +0100 Newest: 2026-06-06 12:08:25 +0100 Failed: 1 Oldest: 2026-02-27 14:32:23 +0000 Newest: 2026-02-27 14:32:23 +0000 Pending: 14 Oldest: 2026-06-06 12:38:25 +0100 Newest: 2026-06-17 14:26:36 +0100 ### PayPal Zettle POS ### Onboarding state: ### Status report information ### Generated at: 2026-06-06 12:31:17 +01:00 The page I need help with: [ log in to see the link] I’m not affiliated with WooCommerce and just happened upon your post. My guess would be the problem occurred on the user’s end and not with your site since you tested things and they are working fine. Maybe the users Browser was refreshed multiple times? Doing that would cause additional Form submissions, but not actual new payment submissions. Hi @daver56 Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I understand your concern, especially since multiple orders were created from what appears to have been a single customer purchase. To help us investigate further, could you please let us know whether this has happened before, or if this is the first time you’ve encountered this issue? Could you also share a screenshot of one of the duplicate orders, including the Order Notes section if possible? This may provide additional clues about what occurred during checkout. Additionally, it may be helpful to contact the customer and ask whether they experienced any issues while placing the order, such as a slow-loading checkout page, an error message, or multiple clicks on the “Place Order” button. Any details they can provide may help us better understand what happened. Gathering this additional information will help us determine whether the issue originated from the checkout process, the payment flow, or another component of the site. Thank you for understanding and cooperation. Hi @edaitpro , thanks Ed, I hadn’t realised that the final stage of the order purchase probably involves multiple requests between the user’s browser and the web server so maybe the cause is at the browser end. Hi Shazeen , this is the first time it’s happened and the site has been going for over 3 years. I have tried contacting the customer to ask if they noticed anything out of the ordinary but so far they haven’t replied (this is their 6th order so they ought to have been familiar with how to place an order). I will try to contact them again. Here’s a screenshot of the order notes: I don’t think there’s anything of interest on the rest of the order page but can copy that too if it helps. Regards, Dave Erm, that didn’t work very well – how do I attach or insert an image here? Here’s the text of the order notes (nb: I changed the order status from Processing to Failed): Order status changed from Processing to Failed.06/06/2026 at 9:06 AM by Dave Riley Delete note Stock levels reduced: Incense – Fragrance (233→223)05/06/2026 at 10:27 PM Delete note Payment complete.05/06/2026 at 10:27 PM Delete note PayPal transaction ID: 7ET734405V479xxxx 05/06/2026 at 10:27 PM Delete note This reply was modified 2 days, 6 hours ago by DaveR56 . This reply was modified 2 days, 6 hours ago by DaveR56 . This reply was modified 2 days, 5 hours ago by DaveR56 . Hi @daver56 Thank you for sharing the order notes. Everything appears normal in the notes. I can see that the payment was completed successfully, stock was reduced, and the order status was later changed from Processing to Failed. Just to help narrow this down further, have you had a chance to ask the customer whether anything unusual happened during checkout? For example, did they click the Place Order button multiple times, refresh the page, use the browser back button, or experience any delay or error while submitting the order? Any details from the customer about their checkout experience could help us better understand what may have happened. Hi Shazeen , thanks for checking the info. I have now received a reply from the customer. She said she didn’t notice anything strange, there were no errors, the page loaded at the usual speed, etc. She’s also sure she only clicked the Pay with PayPal button once. As the website is on a shared server maybe that’s where the glitch occurred. I have UptimeRobot monitoring the site and in the past it has reported that the site goes down for a very short time and then comes back again. This has actually happened many times, usually at UK n...