Didn't receive my order after payment on a Shopify website. How do I get a refund?

[Prateekshasrao]

I recently placed an order on this website - https://vintagey.shop/collections/frontpage

Which no longer works. I even paid the full amount for my order. But I haven't received any updates regarding the same. 

There's no way to contact the seller. I don't understand if this was a fraudulent website. If it was then how did Shopify allow such sellers to use their platform to scam people?

Help me out as to what are the next steps to be taken

[dylanpierce]

Hi @Prateekshasrao 

First of all, sorry to hear that you haven't received the product you spent your hard earned dollars for. But the good news is it sounds like you have a strong case for winning a chargeback with the bank that issued your credit card.

The process of disputing a transaction is called a chargeback. A chargeback is when the customer claims with their credit card's bank that the transaction was fraudulent, or the good was never received. 

However, please note there's a window of time where you can issue a chargeback - typically 30 to 60 days from purchase, depending on the bank that issued your credit card. So you'll need to act sooner than later when filing a chargeback.

Please contact your bank to learn how to file a chargeback, and provide as much evidence to them as you can for your dispute for the highest chance of winning the chargeback and having your money returned in full.

Remember, Shopify is a marketplace. They perform some KYC (Know Your Customer) processes on merchants when they sign up, however there are occasions where merchants don't act in good faith. They rely on customers like you to report bad acting merchants here: https://www.shopify.com/legal/tools/report-an-issue/report-a-merchant

[Prateekshasrao]

Thanks Dylan. Let me check with the bank. But I made the payment without any suspicions as it was hosted by Shopify and razorpay was the payment gateway. I don't understand with all these trusted platforms how there can be a fraud. I hope this doesn't repeat in the future.

[dylanpierce]

I hope you're able to get assistance from your bank, if this order was placed within the past 60 days then I think you have a very high chance of successfully charging back the full amount.

Both Shopify and payment gateways perform KYC (know your customer) when merchants are onboarding with them. However, in your case it sounds like the business simply ceased operations, potentially from running out of funds themselves.

It might not have been an intentional fraud, it may have been a mistake by the merchant where they simply couldn't fulfill orders. We can't know for sure.

The good news is that you used a credit card for the transaction which includes robust protections for consumers - the chargeback system is designed to protect you from these types of issues with online purchases and you should be made whole. The merchant will be given an opportunity to dispute the chargeback, but since their website is also shutdown and they never shipped the order I think it will be very difficult for them to prove otherwise.