Account Terminated This Morning Without Reason...

Account Terminated This Morning Without Reason...

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

Shopify terminated my account this morning without any reason. The email I received simply states:

"We have reviewed your account and determined that your shop presents a level of risk that we are unable to support. As a result, we are no longer able to host your account..."

When I go into the Shopify dashboard, there is an alert that says:

"Your store doesn’t meet the requirements to sell on Shop. Go to Settings for a closer look at Shop’s eligibility guidelines."

So when I click to review the requirements, it says:

"Your store is prevented from selling in the Shop app for reasons other than those listed below."

There is then a button to contact Shopify support. But when I talked to the agent, they said the only help I could receive was directly through the initial email. But when I respond to that email address, there is no indication that it has been received or any assurance that a response will be sent. Most of the time when emailing any sort of support, an automatically generated email will be sent back, assuring that the message has been received and will be addressed within a specific time frame. 

I've been using Shopify since 2018, selling the same type of products since then (vintage toys and collectibles). I haven't the slightest clue as to why my account was terminated. I have a massive inventory built up on here and it would be nothing short of devastating to lose all of that. 

Any help, guidance or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Replies 43 (43)

Oph1
Shopify Partner
1 0 0

HEY RETRO

What products are you selling your store  because shopify dosent terminate accounts like that 

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

The majority of the collectibles I sell are called "keshi". They are small little rubber figures from Japan. They look like the image below. But I sell all kinds of vintage toys, cards and other collectibles. 

1990-part4-frieza-keshi.PNG.webp

heavywolf
Excursionist
23 0 4

the same thing happened to me 2 hours ago, its very strange that both our store in the anime industry were affected by this. Did you get a trademark infringment letter? i did, but it doesnt say the trademark owner name, or the trademark in question, just a link to a product, which i already sent the supporting documentation to show that i am authorized to sell this item.

 

where is your store based off?

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

I received no additional information which makes this all the more frustrating. If it were a copyright issue then at least I could remove the products they are worried about.  But it says whatever the reason is, it's not listed. No details in the email I received either other than my account "presents a level of risk that we are unable to support"

My accounts are based in the USA, but I am physically in South Korea and ship from here. 

heavywolf
Excursionist
23 0 4

The same to what happened to me, it is very strange, im going to look if more stores were suspended in the anime industry today.

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

Very strange indeed!

I am hoping that this was just some sort of bot/ai glitch and that the accounts can be restored without issue. I have thousands of items listed as my specialty is cheap, small little toys mostly. So the idea of migrating everything to a new platform sounds just miserable. And I'm a one man operation and my profits are not so huge that I can afford to pay an app or company to do the migration or anything like that for me. 

I REALLY hope someone from Shopify can step in soon and help and advise us on this. 

Maz
Shopify Staff
1254 132 193

Hello, everyone!

 

Thanks for joining this thread.

 

Currently, we are unable to offer account-specific support through the Shopify Community. If you've already received an email regarding your account, please continue to liaise directly with the team handling your case, as they are best positioned to assist with any queries related to your account.

 

If you haven't received an email about your account yet, please reach out to us directly here. We'll ensure your inquiry is directed to the appropriate team.

Maz | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

Hi Maz. I have responded to the initial email I received several times and have yet to get a response. I feel I am owed an explanation. 

What can I do other than continually email legal@shopify.com? 10 days without a response is unacceptable. 

heavywolf
Excursionist
23 0 4

did you get a reply from shopify? 

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

No response yet. How about you? You see if any other shops in our realm had that same issue? 

heavywolf
Excursionist
23 0 4

Yes i did, another store and he got the same problem with a godzilla product.

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

Wow. So this is now the third instance where I heard it was related to Godzilla. I never received any details on to why my shop was terminated, but I have plenty of Godzilla related products available. A customer of mine on Instagram told me his friend's Shopify was terminated too because of a Godzilla product. And a user on the Shopify subreddit also told me the same. 

So I think it's safe to say that Godzilla was the keyword their bots used for this mass termination action. 

Oh, and surprise surprise, still no word back from legal@shopify.com about this issue. I sent a second follow up email to them last night. 

I love how they give us this ticking time bomb of everything being deleted by June 7th, but they take their sweet time responding to their emails. 

Absolutely disgraceful actions on the part of Shopify. If it was a specific product or IP that was the root of all this, why not just notify the shop owners and give them a temporary shop closure until the affected products are removed. 

heavywolf
Excursionist
23 0 4

Do you mind sharing the other stores name so i can contact them?

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

Didn't get store names from anyone. 

I've already moved on from this honestly. I am still curious as to what Shopify's reasoning was behind all this, but I didn't have time to wait around and have already migrated to a new platform. 

heavywolf
Excursionist
23 0 4

Got to the bottom of this, toho has filed a lawsuit againts 250 merchants, apparently they are known for, you aswell, case number is 1--24-cv-04006, i was able to get mine dismissed since i buy from bandai directly, now im sending all these proof to shopify and requesting to reinstate my account, lets see what happens.

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

Wow, so this was all Godzilla related? But I am pretty sure there is nothing illegal about reselling used/vintage items without needing a license from the company. Sites like Ebay wouldn't exist if that were the case. 

Also wait, are you saying there is a case filed against me by Toho now too? LOL

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

I found that case number online btw, but can't find any way to download any of the related court documents without having to pay. Do you happen to have a list of the 250 merchants they are filing a suit against? I wanna make sure I'm not on that list for any reason. 

 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

Hello.
I'm the same situation...

Shopify sent us below message.

 

"You will continue to be able to access your admin for two weeks if you wish to export your store data. On June 7, 2024 your account will be permanently closed and you will have no further access to your store or its data."

 

But we are not able to access our admin on the 2th of June not 7th of June.
This is too terrible.

This is not the same as the initial announcement from shopify and there has been no response.

Anyway, their response is dishonest.

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

I've emailed them several times since this has happened and haven't gotten a single response. And their live chat told me that email address (legal@shopify.com) was the only team that could help me and that they could ONLY be reached through email. 

Still never got a clear explanation as to why my shop was deemed "risky".

Absolutely unbelievable. 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

Yes that's same situation...
Are you still able to access your admin?

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

I hadn't tried in a few days. I was actually going to do a last check of the page today to make sure I migrated all the data I needed to. 

And YUP, just like you, I have zero access to the page now. WHAT THE HECK!!!! 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

oh my god...

That's too terrible...

They told us that we able to access admin until 7th of June but why we are not able to to access admin today already!!!

We were in the process of migrating our products as well...

 

lightupmyife
Visitor
1 0 0

Here's the form to request access to your data to the Legal dept: https://privacy.shopify.com/en . I hope this helps. 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

We received reply from shopify finally.

I attached the CSV and check it.

Did you receive reply from them?

 

 

 

 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

And we also found articles stating the following

"Toho has hired a law firm called HSPRD to defend its trademark rights (Godzilla copyright) and has filed a lawsuit against online shops. This included hundreds of shops.

The judge in charge of the case then ordered Shopify to close all listed shops selling these products.

Shopify has no choice but to comply with the magistrate's order. Shopify will not reopen your shop until the judge dismisses the case.

To find out if you are listed in the lawsuit, as Shopify suggests, you should contact the law firm directly.

However, it is understandable that you consider this a risk as they may demand money. But if you do nothing and Toho sues you, that could also be a problem.

I have found that the law firm HSPRD has previously represented Toho and TV Tokyo, and other shops (on Ebay and Shopify) have been ordered to close."

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

Yea they gave me another email address to contact who was the one who "files the notice".

 

Where did you see this article posted? Could you share a link please? Shopify actually never told me I violated any rule or law or terms. Just that my shop was high risk. 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

Hello

 

Did you send message to third party another email address?

 

I'll try to find that article.

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

I did as I am curious as to the details behind the account termination. Even if I could get my Shopify account back, I will not be doing so either way. But I want to know what the reasoning was so I can take steps to avoid it from happening again in the future. 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

Yes me too.
I think so and I understand too much

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

If we hear back from third party another email address we will let you know.
Can you let us know if you hear anything back from them too?

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

I will post an update here when they respond. 

But I think once it's June 7th, we won't be able to post haha

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

So I finally received an email today from the law firm handling the TOHO Godzilla case. Looks like my shop is listed in their case. Did you get that email too? Says the shops listed are being sued for selling bootleg toys more or less. But my shop only sells authentic used and vintage goods. Not sure how to even proceed from here. I am trying to get in touch with a lawyer through one of those online consultation services, but it's very hard with the time difference. 

Did you get the same email too?

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

Hi, no...I still don't any message from them...
Me too...my shop is in Japan and I only sell authentic Japanese products.

I don't have any contact from them and I wonder what will happen if I leave it like this.

Do you act to have the case dropped?

 

 

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

So I had initially wrote up an email to send to the law firm, but decided to hold off until I speak to a lawyer to get some advice. I haven't hired a lawyer, as I can't really afford one. I am using some online service where you pay a small fee and get consultations from lawyers. 

Are you on instagram? I can talk to you on there and check if your shop is on the defendants list. It's a sealed document, so I can't really post it here. 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

Have you received any petition (complaint) from them?

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

Yes. I got a summons, complaint, preliminary injunction and sealed TRO file. The TRO file is the one with the list of the 250+ defendants on it. Just has the lists of the shops and their IDs. Not sure what other information the law firm has on the sellers.

If you can message me on Instagram I can check if you are on the list. my ID is the same as on here. 

 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

Hello.
What has happened since then?

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

I was able to get my shop dismissed from the lawsuit. Not sure if they were gonna do it automatically anyway, but I had written them up an email with proof of where I get my merchandise and asked them to drop me. 

Shopify out of the blue messaged me to say I can have my account back too haha. But I already migrated all my data and what not to a new platform, so it's their loss. 

I've been following the case through PACER and have been tracking the dismissals every time they are posted. Seems like all of the direct website shops have been dismissed, aside from like 3. The majority of the amazon, aliexpress and other platform sellers are still there I believe though. 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

Oh...I understand... 

And me too...

You asked some lawyer??

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

I couldn't afford a lawyer to handle this. So I just worked with ChatGPT for a long while to draft an appropriate letter to write. 

taumidaisuke
New Member
13 0 0

Oh okay.
So did you send email with proof to where?

retroworldkorea
Shopify Partner
21 0 1

The lawyer who sent me the summons. 

finitra
Tourist
5 0 0

Same thing here! They blocked our shopify payouts account and are keeping our funds for 120 days with absolutely 0 explanation! We only received an automatic copy pasted message saying that there was an "increase in chargebacks", yet we have NEVER had a single chargeback! 

We immediately contacted support and they said another team would get back to use as they also didn't understand why we would get a suspension for chargebacks where there isn't a single one! 

Nobody from the financial team answers and we only received an automated copy pasted saying they would keep our funds for 120 days! We can't opperate like this! We have production costs, shipping costs, need to pay salaries!