Orders sometimes skipping “Processing” and going straight to “Completed”

Hi again,

Quick follow-up on my topic (previously marked as resolved), as the issue is still occurring.

Since your last reply :

• I implemented the conditional guard you recommended on woocommerce_payment_complete_order_status.
• No incidents for a while, then I added a trace snippet that logs:
  • when woocommerce_payment_complete_order_status runs,
  • when woocommerce_order_status_changed runs,
  • the execution context (REST/AJAX/FRONT + route),
  • and the plugin call stack.
    The trace does not modify the status.

With this trace active, I’ve now captured two new cases where physical orders still skip “Processing” and go directly Pending → Completed.

Key details:

• Context is always REST on /wp-json/st/v2/response (Trust Payments webhook).
• woocommerce_payment_complete_order_status is called with $status = 'completed' even though the order needs processing.
• No auto-complete snippet or plugin, and all products are physical.
• Trust Payments confirms they trigger payment completion, but insist the final status is chosen by WooCommerce.

Could you please confirm :

1. If core WooCommerce has any scenario where a physical order could be treated as “does not need processing” specifically in this REST/webhook context?
2. Whether permanently applying the conditional guard below is still the recommended approach to force physical orders to stay in processing, even when triggered via a gateway webhook?

add_filter( 'woocommerce_payment_complete_order_status', function ( $status, $order_id, $order ) {
    if ( $order instanceof WC_Order && $order->needs_processing() ) {
        return 'processing';
    }
    return $status;
}, 9999, 3 );

Best regards,

Hi Moses,

Thanks for the clear breakdown, it matches what I’m seeing on the ground. I’ve already added the temporary logg you suggested, I can confirm two things with the latest affected order :

1) The status decision happens inside the Trust Payments REST webhook context.
On order 9569, the flip pending → completed, and the execution of woocommerce_payment_complete_order_status, all happen during the webhook POST to /wp-json/st/v2/response. Trust plugin files are in the call stack at the exact moment the status is applied.

2) New clue: at that exact webhook time, WooCommerce still sees zero line items in standard line-item hooks.
My trace on woocommerce_checkout_create_order_line_item produced no captured items for that order (log line: “no lines captured at creation hook — cart empty or bypass”), while the order is obviously a physical cart a few seconds later. So the gateway is calling payment_complete() while the order is still “not fully populated” from Woo’s perspective.

Best regards,
Pierre

Hi @lovingbro ,

Thanks a lot for your answer.

Your explanation matches what I though. The Trust payments webhook is calling payment_complete() too early, before line items exist, which may makes needs_processing() temporarily return false and leads to an incorrect “completed” statut.

I’ll keep the guard in place as mitigation, and I’m now escalating to Trust Payments with this timing/race-condition evidence.

I’ll share any new findings if their side reveals more about the webhook flow.

Best regards