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Has anyone else experienced sudden store lockouts with Shopify Capital?

Has anyone else experienced sudden store lockouts with Shopify Capital?

HRANCH
Tourist
3 0 12

Let me start by saying that I thought long and hard about posting this... I truly feel there will be some sort of swift retribution from Shopify. But it feels important to be shared and after searching for similar problems from other Shopify users, I couldn't believe I was the only one. My lawyer discovered they have filed over 7000 UCC liens in the last 6 months alone, so obviously not just me. Not sure why it's nowhere online... 

 

I've been a user of Shopify for about 4 years now. In general pleased with them, although they certainly have some bizarre company policies and pretty lame customer service. A few years back I was offered the Shopify Capital Cash Advance. Have gotten and paid back many of them. No problems. The interest is absurd, but the fact that they take a percentage of sales was always nice (I tend to have large sales a few times a month so they would get big chunks back instead of nickel and diming). It always worked out great. So I thought... 

 

On the 12th of this month I was locked out of my admin. No explanation, no notice other than "store locked". After contacting support and searching my emails, I discovered in my SPAM folders some emails from them. Gmail marks a lot of Shopify as fraudulent or spam (should tell ya something right there). The first one was from a week prior. It did have the RESPONSE REQUIRED on the header, but other than that it was an informal email asking me why my sales were slow, as they wanted to be able to offer me Capital in the future. NOTHING about closing my shop down without a reply. I was also very confused by the email, as my sales weren't any slower than normal. I average about the same each month, and nothing was really different. The second one was an email stating I had committed a "bad act" and an hour after that email, the original rep (from slow sales email) then sent me an email stating they had filed a UCC lien against me and "with great discomfort" that my admin was locked until I could pay the loan back. 

 

Now, I'm in a state of panic. WHAT JUST HAPPENED. The day they closed my admin, I had made a $400 remittance payment (from sales, not directly). How could they just lock my store at the HOLIDAYS when all of us are busting our buns getting orders out. I have zero access to anything. I call, I beg, I plead: PLEASE JUST SEND ME CSV OF MY ORDERS AND WE CAN SORT THE REST OUT LATER. But no reps can. Not until that specific department gets back to me. Each day goes by with me having to embarrass my store to customers to explain I can't access their orders. Friends shut their Shopify stores down in fear it'll happen to them. I call the number over 100 times and not ONCE did a human answer. Always an answering machine. Thankfully a follower of mine contacted me and let me know how to access addresses by their email. But with 100s going out what should have taken a few hours, ended up taking me about 20 hours to process. When I needed to be working on orders. 

 

Meanwhile, I'm emailing everyday. Calling everyday. Live chatting everyday. Nothing. Finally I contact a lawyer, who is as flabbergasted as I am by this situation. They're literally holding MY orders hostage, with no notice. They're causing me emotional distress, detrimentally hurting my business and have gone completely silent. I was also contacted by the Secretary of State as they were confused by the UCC filed against me. A cash advance is not a loan, as well as there is no set due date not amount owed each month that I could have missed, so how could they file one? According to my lawyer it's simply a scare tactic. They cost $10 to file and anyone can file one. My lawyer also kept asking me for the contract and I had to explain that I can not access it. It's in my admin, which I am locked out of. Oh, they also offered me the ability to pay back just half the loan and call it even... but there was no way for me to send a payment. That's ALSO in the admin! So I'm stuck, hands tied. At their mercy. 

 

Finally FOUR days pass. I send a rather threatening email about my lawyer getting involved and lo and behold, I get a call. Not an email, so no paper trail of course. But at least they finally contacted me. She asks why my sales were slow. I explain I didn't think they WERE slow. But if there was a reason it was because I was going through chemo (in August of 2018 I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer). I haven't mentioned that til now, because it's not RELEVANT! She says "Oh we didn't know you had a medical condition, so if you agree to pay $200 a month I can unlock the admin"  I ask MULTIPLE times, where did I not meet the required payments? What amount exactly do I need to meet each month? She will NOT give me a straight answer! Y'all, I almost punched a wall. I'm not kidding, literally at no point did she give me a straight answer!! Example of conversation: 


ME: So what is the minimum payment I need to make each month? So this doesn't happen again

HER: It varies from store to store. 

ME: Um, ok. But MY store. What is the payment I need to make? 

HER: It's between and 10 and 17 percent. 

ME: Ok what is my percentage? 

HER: It varies. 

ME: You can't give me an exact amount? 

HER: It's usually a percentage. 

 

I can't make this up. It should also be noted, none of this was automated. Every step was hand done by her. She should have exact dates and amounts that I missed.  Every single one of my questions was met with weird vague answers that got nowhere. So she asks me if I can pay back the $200 a month? I say yes of course. I average $900 payment back a month already. If it only takes $200 then why on the day $400 was remitted did I lose access to my store? She has no answer. So I play nice, jump through their ridiculous hoops and get access back (first thing I did was download my open orders CSV!!). 

 

And it's "over" right? I should be happy... but I'm not. She put me through 5 days of hell and can't even give anything resembling a straight forward answer?! I truly assumed at the end of this I would get access to my admin, check the contract and see something I did wrong. Like my milestone was $2000 and I hadn't hit that. In fact, it's supposed to be 60 days milestones, with the remaining amount if you don't hit it automatically deducted. According to her they no longer do milestones, but can't give me a set amount I'm supposed to have paid?! Anyways, I'm still confused and lost as to why I was put through this, for them to just say "Can you pay $200 extra month? Cool. All set!" I still have no idea what my threshold is. It's not anywhere in my admin. The closest she came to an answer is when she stated my account was marked for "growth" and I didn't grow. I asked her to expand on that and she wouldn't and backpedaled immediately. It's important to note that you can't request funding from Shopify. I can't falsify information. I'm sorry if THEY decided my business was gonna grow and it didn't, but I never stated it was going to. How can I be at fault for that and punished? 

 

In conclusion, there's nothing to really be done here. With cancer and chemo being my main energy source, I don't have it in me to sue or fight them. I will pay the remaining loan off as fast as I can, and close my store down immediately after it's paid off.

 

But if you're considering taking the Shopify Capital Advance.... DO NOT. Your store could easily be the next horror one. 

Replies 41 (41)

Jesse_Diaz
Visitor
1 0 2

I've always wondered what these types of loans were like and felt their persistence on trying to get our company to do one was heavy, to say the least. We, fortunately, don't need to do it and this just reinforces my suspicions. I can't stand these types of "business" tactics and am glad that you spoke up so others are not caught in this trap. 


@HRANCH wrote:

Let me start by saying that I thought long and hard about posting this... I truly feel there will be some sort of swift retribution from Shopify. But it feels important to be shared and after searching for similar problems from other Shopify users, I couldn't believe I was the only one. My lawyer discovered they have filed over 7000 UCC liens in the last 6 months alone, so obviously not just me. Not sure why it's nowhere online... 

 

I've been a user of Shopify for about 4 years now. In general pleased with them, although they certainly have some bizarre company policies and pretty lame customer service. A few years back I was offered the Shopify Capital Cash Advance. Have gotten and paid back many of them. No problems. The interest is absurd, but the fact that they take a percentage of sales was always nice (I tend to have large sales a few times a month so they would get big chunks back instead of nickel and diming). It always worked out great. So I thought... 

 

On the 12th of this month I was locked out of my admin. No explanation, no notice other than "store locked". After contacting support and searching my emails, I discovered in my SPAM folders some emails from them. Gmail marks a lot of Shopify as fraudulent or spam (should tell ya something right there). The first one was from a week prior. It did have the RESPONSE REQUIRED on the header, but other than that it was an informal email asking me why my sales were slow, as they wanted to be able to offer me Capital in the future. NOTHING about closing my shop down without a reply. I was also very confused by the email, as my sales weren't any slower than normal. I average about the same each month, and nothing was really different. The second one was an email stating I had committed a "bad act" and an hour after that email, the original rep (from slow sales email) then sent me an email stating they had filed a UCC lien against me and "with great discomfort" that my admin was locked until I could pay the loan back. 

 

Now, I'm in a state of panic. WHAT JUST HAPPENED. The day they closed my admin, I had made a $400 remittance payment (from sales, not directly). How could they just lock my store at the HOLIDAYS when all of us are busting our buns getting orders out. I have zero access to anything. I call, I beg, I plead: PLEASE JUST SEND ME CSV OF MY ORDERS AND WE CAN SORT THE REST OUT LATER. But no reps can. Not until that specific department gets back to me. Each day goes by with me having to embarrass my store to customers to explain I can't access their orders. Friends shut their Shopify stores down in fear it'll happen to them. I call the number over 100 times and not ONCE did a human answer. Always an answering machine. Thankfully a follower of mine contacted me and let me know how to access addresses by their email. But with 100s going out what should have taken a few hours, ended up taking me about 20 hours to process. When I needed to be working on orders. 

 

Meanwhile, I'm emailing everyday. Calling everyday. Live chatting everyday. Nothing. Finally I contact a lawyer, who is as flabbergasted as I am by this situation. They're literally holding MY orders hostage, with no notice. They're causing me emotional distress, detrimentally hurting my business and have gone completely silent. I was also contacted by the Secretary of State as they were confused by the UCC filed against me. A cash advance is not a loan, as well as there is no set due date not amount owed each month that I could have missed, so how could they file one? According to my lawyer it's simply a scare tactic. They cost $10 to file and anyone can file one. My lawyer also kept asking me for the contract and I had to explain that I can not access it. It's in my admin, which I am locked out of. Oh, they also offered me the ability to pay back just half the loan and call it even... but there was no way for me to send a payment. That's ALSO in the admin! So I'm stuck, hands tied. At their mercy. 

 

Finally FOUR days pass. I send a rather threatening email about my lawyer getting involved and lo and behold, I get a call. Not an email, so no paper trail of course. But at least they finally contacted me. She asks why my sales were slow. I explain I didn't think they WERE slow. But if there was a reason it was because I was going through chemo (in August of 2018 I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer). I haven't mentioned that til now, because it's not RELEVANT! She says "Oh we didn't know you had a medical condition, so if you agree to pay $200 a month I can unlock the admin"  I ask MULTIPLE times, where did I not meet the required payments? What amount exactly do I need to meet each month? She will NOT give me a straight answer! Y'all, I almost punched a wall. I'm not kidding, literally at no point did she give me a straight answer!! Example of conversation: 


ME: So what is the minimum payment I need to make each month? So this doesn't happen again

HER: It varies from store to store. 

ME: Um, ok. But MY store. What is the payment I need to make? 

HER: It's between and 10 and 17 percent. 

ME: Ok what is my percentage? 

HER: It varies. 

ME: You can't give me an exact amount? 

HER: It's usually a percentage. 

 

I can't make this up. It should also be noted, none of this was automated. Every step was hand done by her. She should have exact dates and amounts that I missed.  Every single one of my questions was met with weird vague answers that got nowhere. So she asks me if I can pay back the $200 a month? I say yes of course. I average $900 payment back a month already. If it only takes $200 then why on the day $400 was remitted did I lose access to my store? She has no answer. So I play nice, jump through their ridiculous hoops and get access back (first thing I did was download my open orders CSV!!). 

 

And it's "over" right? I should be happy... but I'm not. She put me through 5 days of hell and can't even give anything resembling a straight forward answer?! I truly assumed at the end of this I would get access to my admin, check the contract and see something I did wrong. Like my milestone was $2000 and I hadn't hit that. In fact, it's supposed to be 60 days milestones, with the remaining amount if you don't hit it automatically deducted. According to her they no longer do milestones, but can't give me a set amount I'm supposed to have paid?! Anyways, I'm still confused and lost as to why I was put through this, for them to just say "Can you pay $200 extra month? Cool. All set!" I still have no idea what my threshold is. It's not anywhere in my admin. The closest she came to an answer is when she stated my account was marked for "growth" and I didn't grow. I asked her to expand on that and she wouldn't and backpedaled immediately. It's important to note that you can't request funding from Shopify. I can't falsify information. I'm sorry if THEY decided my business was gonna grow and it didn't, but I never stated it was going to. How can I be at fault for that and punished? 

 

In conclusion, there's nothing to really be done here. With cancer and chemo being my main energy source, I don't have it in me to sue or fight them. I will pay the remaining loan off as fast as I can, and close my store down immediately after it's paid off.

 

But if you're considering taking the Shopify Capital Advance.... DO NOT. Your store could easily be the next horror one. 


 

kcarter
Tourist
3 0 6
Wow this is happening to me right now. They closed my store down for two months making me have to close my business and told me I have to pay the balance in full or I can’t get the store open. My current balance is $48,000 mind you my loan was for $46,000. I have just contacted today because 2 other businesses were shut down today via shopify including my husbands because we are on the same IP address. I have contacted to make arrangements and yet have heard nothing back. I will never take out another loan again.
fkx
Tourist
5 0 7

Shopify Capital behaves worse than a loan shark.

It should be banned, and may even be unlawful.

 

Borrow an amount and get a large sale a few weeks later and they take their full percent.

In my case, it paid the entire loan plus 13% - for one month advance.

 

Plus their dashboard said the loan was paid when it hadn't been yet.

They took an extra day to take the amount.

Imagine the confusion that caused.

 

I'm looking to leave shopify over this.

Brandiekay08
Tourist
8 0 1

Hi! I’m dealing with this right now and was wondering whatever happened with yours?? 

CAPITALSUCKS
Tourist
4 0 2

I'm working with a reporter at the Ottawa Citizen regarding the abuse from Shopify surrounding the capital loans. We've set up a gmail account to collect stories and information. If you would like to follow up, please feel free to email shopinvestigate@gmail.com. It's going to take a while to compile all of the information, especially with the holidays, but hoping to get a piece published in January and shed light into this deceptive practice. 

Mschuyler86
Visitor
1 0 1

The exact thing happened to us. We were going great, and just as business was starting to really pick up and we were making good money they shut our store down for 2 months. Told us that we could sell items but we were not allowed to touch any of the money made from the sales. So the money we invested for the items on top of the profit made for selling the items was Untouchable for 2 months. This happened shortly after we took out the large loan from Shopify. This seems like a dishonest, probably even an illegal business practice.

jennalyn
Visitor
2 0 3

DITTO to everything she said with the exception that our situation is still unresolved.  I do find it interesting that they chose to do this just before the holiday sales season.  For us they first emailed Thanksgiving week.  Last year we did most of our business in December.  This is probably our 4th or 5th round of financing.  The whole thing is baffling.  And shady as heck.

fkx
Tourist
5 0 7

Not only that, but we don't even know who these lenders are .

 

They might well be foreign nationals possibly from China who have no reservations about violating privacy laws or ethics or flout international banking laws.

 

They could be spying on your sales data to undercut you.

 

Shopify has no business being involved with this shady practice and it is damaging their brand.

 

Shopify needs to end this shameful practice. 

kcarter
Tourist
3 0 6
Update: they offered me to pay $10,000 and they will clear my loan or pay $2500 monthly. I cant do either. I have switched to big commerce and opened a new business and boy it’s stress free. I have tried to get payments lower and affordable and yet no help from either. I have taken this as a loss as Shopify is the biggest platform but I’m happy I do not have to worry about my store being shut down every 10 minutes. Good luck to everyone I would not recommend
jennalyn
Visitor
2 0 3

They kept offering us amounts they knew we couldn't pay as well.  We offered to pay them the agreed 15% of sales plus an additional $300 per month.  They wanted thousands per month on top of the 15%.  We're talking about $16,000 owed.  What I don't understand is how they can leave the website open for orders?  They stopped paying out, but they kept accepting orders without allowing us to access the store.  We filled orders from email notifications, and they kept every dime of that money.  I can't even believe it.  We finally opted to let them proceed with the UCC filing.  We really had no choice.

fkx
Tourist
5 0 7

I think it is time for Shopify Management to comment on this and explain why these are allowing this to continue.

HRANCH
Tourist
3 0 12

I've been contacted by 27 stores this has happened to...  We're all roughly the same size, with the same amount of business. Our theory is last fall when we all got our new cash advance loans, someone made a mistake. Offered us more than they mean to or something and are now sweeping the board trying to fix it. Rough theory I know, but the only thing we can think of. Nothing else makes sense. Why offer these loans and then punish the stores? What sort of business strategy is this? They also constantly offer people to pay back half and call it even, so they're TRYING to lose money?! Maybe Shopify is on the verge of bankruptcy or something? 

fkx
Tourist
5 0 7

Well, I don't recommend speculating about Shopify's financial circumstances,  but I would criticize their management judgement in getting involved with this third party monstrosity.

 

 Someone needs to be fired and this blight removed from the Shopify community.

 

Where is the president of Shopify on this?

ronniet
Visitor
1 0 0

More unbelievable than any other story I read on this thread is:

We never applied or asked for any loan or capital.  We are a high volume retailer.

They made a deposit in our bank of a very large amount.  Immediately proceeded to take

thousands of dollars daily from our account.  It was not discovered until month end reconcilliation.

They have taken over $30,000. and are are showing the balance due to be almost what they deposited.

So basically all the interest up front in one month.

Two days into this discovery we are only able to speak with customer service through the same frustrating communication protocal you are all familiar with.  Only informed it is being looked into and insinuating that it looks like we did file for the funds.  Upon internal investigation we found password change requests on the day of application and the day of accepting funding through our email spam file.  In addition we are in a State that funding through Shopify Capital is not authorized to do business.  We have lending laws that protect against predatory lending which is what these guys certainly qualify as.

Enormous problem with no resolution in site at this point. 

Looks like fraud and possibly criminal activity, intentional or not we have yet to learn.  Shopify platform has been terrific for us to sell from however it looks like  a huge mistake has been made partnering with whatever group this is.

Anyone else get a loan without requesting or any contact?

EmilyEmoeg
Visitor
2 0 0
They are so shady! What happens after the UCC filing ? Can you no longer use Shopify for a new store ? Do they sue your business ?
DanOhKeycaps
New Member
4 0 0

I noticed that pre-covid, I was getting a really large offer that didn't seem right. I didn't take the loan at the time because 13% just seemed too high. Then when covid started, I saw the amount go down dramatically, about 50% less. Also the interest/fee went down as well. I'm not sure if there is a connection between this and the loans described here. I have taken a few loans from Shopify without any issues. Fortunately, my store has always been growing, so I've always been ahead on the payments. 

Brandiekay08
Tourist
8 0 1

This is happening to me right now! What ended up happening with yours? 

CAPITALSUCKS
Tourist
4 0 2

So far it has escalated into them locking the site, then refusing to call during my normal business hours, only wanted to call at night when I told her I wasn't in the office. She turned the admin back on as a goodwill gesture and then sent an email stating they'll settle for half, still sent a weird PayPal link to pay the remaining though. I don't understand that. I really don't get it because they would've gotten the full amount in less than 2 months with our Q4 sales. At this point, I can't even trust Shopify if we were to ever settle on something. The irrational behavior of these reps, along with locking me out of my admin is inexcusable.  

I did find, however, that they reported in their SEC filings that they have insurance on these capital loans. So, if someone were to commit a "bad act" they get an insurance payout. It seems they force slow moving accounts into committing "bad acts" and I'm guessing maybe insurance pays half and that's why they try to settle for the other half?  

Brandiekay08
Tourist
8 0 1

He told me he could debit the amount out of my account on file. So I’m terrified of that now that i will wake up and my bank account be empty. Can they do that?! 

Brandiekay08
Tourist
8 0 1

do you know if they can do that? 

violetsea
Excursionist
30 0 21

This makes more sense. The only logical reason why they would want anyone to pay just Half of the amount owed could be explained with the insurance they got on it. The whole thing is so scary. With my business growing so big so fast I need to think twice about keeping my store under Shopify. Let's say it grows big then still I will be under the mercy of Shopify and their heartless Gurus?

I'm glad I saw this before accepting their second Loan. The first one will be paid in few weeks. So happy I saw these posts. 

They can shut down your business for no reason or for some stupid reason? OMG that's scary. It took a lot to build my business and these people act like this? hmmmmmmmmmm

Besides the "Shopify Capital"  related problems that shopify creates for customers I also believe that the shopify is waiting for customers to file for a chargeback so that it can punish the merchants, and regardless of what the decision of the customer's bank is, Shopify keeps the money and doesn't return to retailers. I never gotten any contact information of the customer's bank so that I can contact the bank directly. I would like to deal with the bank directly and not shopify. This is what they will say "The customer's bank had decided on the favor of the customer." Sorry you lost $2000. That's it. Very deceptive practice from Shopify. 

I think shopify should give the merchant the contact information of the bank and let them deal with it directly. How do I know customer's bank decided on customer's favor? because shopify said so?

Also such a big company like shopify doesn't provide some core features such as "Credit" option instead of refund? Let's say a customer buys from my shop and the minimum purchase for free shipping is $500. The customer wants a $200 refund for something and I issue a credit for $200, then he would have to spend $500 and then I can also add additional $200 credit amount worth of products in the shipment. With Gift card option I won't be able to do that. With Giftcard option he would buy $300 and use $200 giftcard and will qualify for free shipping as they both add to $500. In summary "giftcard" is not same as issuing "store credit". Shopify doesn't have several other core features that the retailers need to improve their businesses. They will make retailers pay for several apps and all will act disjointedly? In the beginning shopify was fun to start the business and as the business has grown and is still growing I regret starting with shopify at times. now just stuck with it. 

I will restrain myself from getting a shopify cash advance. Glad I paid the first one. 

 

Brandiekay08
Tourist
8 0 1

Just wondering whatever happened with your situation? I’ve been making payments when i can but still worried 

HRANCH
Tourist
3 0 12

@kcarter wrote:
Update: they offered me to pay $10,000 and they will clear my loan or pay $2500 monthly. I cant do either. I have switched to big commerce and opened a new business and boy it’s stress free. I have tried to get payments lower and affordable and yet no help from either. I have taken this as a loss as Shopify is the biggest platform but I’m happy I do not have to worry about my store being shut down every 10 minutes. Good luck to everyone I would not recommend

Honestly, I wouldn't take it as a loss. Shopify might market itself as an Etsy type of platform, but it really isn't.  I don't know anyone who goes to Shopify and searches for what they're looking for. I even polled my large Instagram following (over 50k) and less than 1% actually searched on Shopify. You're much better off switching sites. Big commerce is where I'm going once the cash advance is paid off. Their site has everything I've been wanting: WITHOUT having to pay an arm and a leg for a gazillion "apps". 

 

Even besides this nightmare from the cash loan, Shopify has always done very shady things. I recall a few months ago I was waiting for a deposit of about 8k to come in. I was flat broke from medical bills, so obviously quite excited. I shipped a few items (under a $100 that day) and the next day my site was locked. I had an outstanding shipping bill of $348. Which wasn't due for another week, but for some reason they decided to collect early. They couldn't answer me, AND THEY FROZE MY PAYOUT. I kept asking "how can you expect me to pay an outstanding bill when you're holding my money?!" They had no answer. No wait, one rep suggested I "borrow from my mother or friends." seriously. They also couldn't answer why the bill was issued a week early. Just kept saying it was automated. In the end, I did borrow from a friend, pay the bill to get my payout. But it's just one of the many bizarre situations Shopify puts you in. I look forward to the day I can move over to Big Commerce. 

EmilyEmoeg
Visitor
2 0 0
Wow! Same here. I can’t afford to pay back the entire $2000 a month but I told them that I can make smaller payments until it’s paid off. They said they will file a UCC against my business. I’m not sure what’s the next step. What did they tell you? How will you finish making your payments ?
Brandiekay08
Tourist
8 0 1

What ended up happening with yours? This is happening to me now 

Ashleyg
Tourist
3 0 1
I’m going through the same thing except my payouts are on hold. We came
To a monthly payment agreement and I assumed they would take the hold off my payouts but no. I don’t know how I’m supposed to pay when my funds are being held. No one will get back to me. It’s going on a week now of no cash flow and me having to use whatever reserves I have to fulfill and make products. Also we are in California where all non essential businesses are closed. I only have income from my online store right now and then shutting it off without warning is putting my family and I in a terrible situation.
TyW
Shopify Staff (Retired)
463 71 1239

Hi all,

 

Since everyones situation is unique and personal details should not be discussed publicly if you have concerns related to Capital and your Shopify account please reach out to Recovery_Operations[at]shopify.com. When composing your message please replace [at] with the @ symbol.

 

When reaching out provide as much detail as possible so the team can assist.

 

Thanks!
TyW

TyW | Online Community Manager @ 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

Simple_Chic_K
Visitor
1 0 0

I’ve never had an issue with Shopify, but I was considering this advance. Thank God I looked up this thread! Thanks everyone for sharing.

CAPITALSUCKS
Tourist
4 0 2

I'm having a similar issue with Shopify Capital. 4 months into the loan, sales are going at normal levels, and suddenly they want to call the loan. I have tried emailing multiple times and they vaguely respond and don't address any questions. I requested a phone call, and she called once outside of the hours I listed I was available, and then shut down the admin.

This is amazing as the Shopify stock SHOP is trading at record numbers, yet they're running mafia like scams on small businesses during the COVID crisis. Ironically, my loan was issued immediately following their earnings call, and then suddenly their stock sales went through the roof with all of the padded capital numbers.

If anyone wants to reach out and share stories/compile information, please do. I tried to contact to the OP, but Shopify won't let me email them. 

DanOhKeycaps
New Member
4 0 0

@CAPITALSUCKS boy that's scary. I'm a 1/4 way through my third loan. I'm ahead of schedule so I assume they won't call in the loan as long as I stay ahead of the payments, which at current sales levels I am. 

CAPITALSUCKS
Tourist
4 0 2

You must be in a state where it's a loan and you have milestones? I didn't have any indications that I wasn't "on schedule" except an email from a rep that said she just wanted to see how our business was doing. In Michigan, it's classified as a Merchant Credit Advance, so there aren't a set number of monthly payments. 

What's the most upsetting is how weirdly detached the support reps are. I have yet to receive an email that actually answers a question or provides a time to call. I feel as though the calling of the loan is a set in stone multi step process if your store doesn't pay it back in 2 months and it doesn't matter what I say, they just proceed with what they have to anyway. I reached out to one of the reps via LinkedIn after she stopped replying, to make sure my email went through, and the whole situation was weird. I had multiple emails in my inbox the next day from various Shopify departments scolding me for using social media. They have the time to write that, but can't help a customer that has been with the site for years and did $100,000 in sales this year so far. So bizarre.   

Brandiekay08
Tourist
8 0 1

Hi! This is happening to me right now and i was wondering what ended up happening with yours? 

LBCustomFabrics
Visitor
1 0 0

ughh.... I really wish I saw this before I got mine. I got contacted by Shopify to remove some items after I applied for the loan. So I removed the times from my store not realizing it was related to me being approved or not. Once they were removed they approved me. Problem is, what was getting me all my large sales were mostly the items that were the ones they had me remove.

MaryOwen
Visitor
3 0 0

I can say that many people meet issues now when getting a loan, perhaps it depends mostly on a loan provider. Recently I found an interesting site with reviews on such providers, and this one attracted my attention https://smalan-norge.com/folkia-logg-inn If you need some money, you can pay attention to Folkia, they don't offer long-term loans, but their interests are rather affordable.

bbyraine
Visitor
1 0 0

Do you have an email address to contact you at? I’m going through almost the same thing! It’s ridiculous!

Brandiekay08
Tourist
8 0 1

Do you have any update to give on this? 

violetsea
Excursionist
30 0 21

So far shopify never gave me any problems. I borrowed 38k once and paid it off, and now they are offering me again. To be honest it has been helpful for me to grow my business when I use their capital.

But little bit scary when I read the posts here. Little bit hesitant to take the next offer from them but I think I will end up taking it as I will be able to make a next leap and make my sale from $1000 per day to $2000 per day. It does make a difference to have money and to not have it when you do business. Money is the oxygen for business. when you run out or run short of it then it is a problem. Keeping the cash flow helps get back the money as well. 

Scsaszar
Visitor
2 0 1

This is really shocking to me. I've done 4 advances without any issues. As a new business it's helped me grow. I'm so sorry to hear some people have had so many problems. 

Trendsetter78
Tourist
4 0 1

Very shocking to hear as well. I’ve had 12 advances since being with Shopify and have never experienced any issues other than fails remittances in 2022 due to slower sales. But even still they’ve given my store grace. Maybe laws apply differently depending on location. I wish everyone a better experience but I think they’ve been great. 

Jennifermck1991
Visitor
1 0 0

You have all of my sympathy on this one. Shopify capital is the worst possible lending setup I’ve ever experienced. Everything you said, absolutely true, and I would say the worst part for me is not being able to talk with anybody who has direct knowledge of my account or my loan agreement.  That alone should raise a lot of red flags!  I’ve learned my lesson now, and I will never do this again, but for now, Shopify has my company held hostage, and all we want to do is offboard from them. Terrible company, terrible for business, and I agree – – any responsible president or CEO would have already responded to this to try to resolve it.  Maybe Shopify is just run by bots and we’ve been fooled this entire time.

zappa
Tourist
5 0 0

Shopify loans are effectively online loan sharkery. I'm not sure why anyone takes them out in the first place. They are usually calculated in a way that has the loan paid off in 3-6 months. So straight up, if you borrow at 10% you could say that the effective per annum rate is more than 20 to 40%. That's the absolute baseline, and it is always much higher because you don't hang on to the capital for the full term. You could rightly add at least 50% more to the rate to get an idea of a comparison per annum interest rate. So a 10% fixed rate loan is like getting a credit card at 30% to 60%, and then paying it off in 3 to 6 months. If you pay it off early, you get no extra benefit. It just means you paid a higher effective rate per annum.

 

So when you consider the ethics behind a company that would offer these types of loans, is it really surprising that their recovery tactics might also be a little tactless?

 

A high interest credit card would be a better option if you can be disciplined enough to make the same payments that Shopify would have taken from you. If you can't be that disciplined, then you should seriously think about whether you should be borrowing at all.

 

My comments aren't aimed specifically at the original poster, but rather at anyone who considers borrowing at these exorbitant rates. There are much better options available to most people, and if there are no better options, then maybe don't borrow at all. 

 

The flat "interst rate" Shopify offers you is not a straight comparison with a proper per annum rate that is applied on your reducing balance. Sometimes they market it as a "flat fee", because it sounds better. No matter what they call it, it's a very high rate. Because repayments are a percentage of sales, there is no way to determine in advance what the loan term will be. This means there is no way to provide an accurate comparison rate. However, when you look at the loan after paying it off you can easily work out a comparison per annum rate. Even if Shopify offer you a 5% flat fee loan, you can safely expect to pay the same amount of interest (fee) as if you borrowed at 20-30% on a credit card. And I'll bet very few people get offered anything under a 10% flat fee, so do the maths on that.