I’m trying to build a Python script in Zapier that checks user payment info against their account details to spot potential fraud. The script worked fine when I only had two conditions to check, but now with three conditions it won’t output anything.
Here’s my code:
if user_data['payment_name'] == user_data['profile_name'] and user_data['payment_region'] == user_data['profile_region'] and user_data['payment_method'] != 'gift_card':
print "Safe User (details match)"
elif user_data['payment_name'] == user_data['profile_name'] and user_data['payment_region'] == user_data['profile_region'] and user_data['payment_method'] == 'gift_card':
print "Moderate Risk (gift card used)"
elif user_data['payment_name'] != user_data['profile_name'] and user_data['payment_region'] == user_data['profile_region'] and user_data['payment_method'] != 'gift_card':
print "Moderate Risk (different names)"
elif user_data['payment_name'] == user_data['profile_name'] and user_data['payment_region'] != user_data['profile_region'] and user_data['payment_method'] != 'gift_card':
print "Moderate Risk (location mismatch)"
elif user_data['payment_name'] != user_data['profile_name'] and user_data['payment_region'] != user_data['profile_region'] and user_data['payment_method'] == 'gift_card':
print "High Risk (needs review)"
Zapier keeps showing this error: output_missing: Please define output or return early.
I’m pretty new to Python so I might be missing something obvious. What could be causing this issue?
I’ve hit this exact issue with Zapier payment validation scripts. The problem isn’t just the print statements - your conditional logic doesn’t handle every possible combo of those three variables. When none of your elif conditions match, the script just exits without any output, which triggers that error. Beyond adding a final else clause, you need to fix how you’re outputting data for Zapier. Ditch the print statements and use something like return {'fraud_assessment': 'Safe User (details match)'} or assign to an output dictionary. Also watch your data types - if any user_data values are None or empty strings, your comparisons might act weird. I’d add some basic validation upfront to make sure all required fields exist before running those conditional checks.
zapier’s finicky about output handling. use return instead of print statements and add an else case at the end. your conditionals are fine, but without a fallback, zapier throws that error because it doesn’t know what to do.
Your issue is that Zapier needs explicit output definition - print statements won’t work. Regular Python environments handle print fine, but Zapier needs you to return or assign values to output variables. Replace your print statements with output = {'result': 'your message here'} format. Also, cover all possible conditions. If none of your elif statements match, Zapier has nothing to output. Add a final else clause for any edge cases you missed. I hit this exact problem when I started using Python in Zapier workflows. The output_missing error means your script didn’t produce data for the next workflow step.