Our account was abruptly terminated in November 2024 without any prior notification—after only two sales. We immediately filed a termination appeal with extensive supporting documentation. However, four months have passed since our website was shut down, and we have yet to receive any update or clarification on the alleged AUP violation or any indication of when—or if—our appeal has been reviewed and if our website will be restored.
The original ticket ID was 1abdf8a4-d42d-4637-b49e-1574a021e906 and we've had DOZENS of Chat Support Advisor case tickets, with the most recent being 55672687. Each interaction results in long wait times between responses, generic apologies, and empty reassurances that the matter is under review by a "specialized department." Despite repeated promises to escalate our case, there has been no tangible progress or communication. We still do not know what AUP violation is in question or where we stand in the review queue. Its been four months and we have made zero progress.
We have made significant personal investments in inventory, startup costs, and website development, all of which remain in limbo due to this prolonged uncertainty. The lack of communication has left us unable to make informed business decisions, and we urgently need clarity on the next steps.
We have also seen many others reporting similar issues on forums like this and Reddit so we're hoping someone seeing this might be able to offer some guidance based on their own experience. Is there an alternative route to obtain a status update or track the progress of our appeal? Given our investment in a custom-built template, switching platforms is not an immediate option, but the ongoing silence is unsustainable.
The Shopify Help Center lists the policy below, yet our account was terminated without any sort of notification prior. We still do not know what AUP we were supposedly in violation of. Just getting increasingly frustrated and desperate for any sort of actual progress on this so we can figure out what to do next.
The store termination process
Here's how the termination process generally takes place:
- Initial communication: Shopify sends an email to the Store Owner explaining potential violations and asks for a response to clarify or rectify the issue.
- Response required: If there is no satisfactory response within a given period, or if the issue raised is severe, then the store may be terminated.
- Termination: Failure to address concerns may lead to your store being shut down. If your store is terminated, then you will receive an email notifying you of the termination.
