Shopify deactivated store without any notification (no billing issues)

[Sergymc]

Hello, I started testing/setting up the store for my company. Store id is 212ee5.  Then after 3 weeks shopify suddenly deactivated store. Site was still almost empty, under password, just couple standard products. No about us page yet, no contact page, default home page, etc.

I have contacted support team, they didn't know what was the issue and have raised ticket.

After that I have received the following email from "Shopify Merchant Trust Team".

'' Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us. Please be informed that In order to reconsider your account for eligibility to use Shopify we require some additional information with regards to your business model. You can send the following documents as attachments in response to this email:

* Proof of address - Utility bill (e.g. water, electricity, or gas bill from the past 3 months), lease agreement (dated) or property insurance (dated)

* Proof of business association (i.e. business license, business registration documents (with company number) or business tax filing record). 
* Proof of inventory (i.e. dated supplier invoices, dated manufacturing agreements) 

* Social media links related to your business (if none, please explain how are you driving traffic to your store)

Please provide the above at your earliest convenience so that we can assist you further, in addition to any relevant context on your business model. If you have any questions regarding this matter please respond to this email.

Thank you, 

Shopify Merchant Trust Team"

I have provided whatever was asked and no reply for over 1 week? It is fully legitimate business in State of Texas, US. We are going to sell some construction materials.  Is anyone from Shopify team can clarify what was the issue? Otherwise you just loosing customers! Thanks

[Rick]

Hi @Sergymc 

Thanks for reaching out here - welcome to the Shopify Community.

I understand that you have some concerns regarding the deactivation of your store and the delay in receiving a response from our support team. I appreciate your patience and would like to provide some clarification.

Thanks for confirming you received an email from our team requesting more verification documents, of which you have since already submitted. It sounds like for the moment you have done everything that is required, and our team will be back in touch with you should any further information be required.

Please understand that the verification process can vary in duration depending on the complexity of the situation and the specific issues involved. Our team works diligently to review each case thoroughly and ensure a fair assessment.

Should you have any further concerns, feel free to reach out to our support team directly via our help center here. The team won't be able to make the verification process faster or provide further context on the specifics of the situation, but they would be more than happy to check in on the ticket and touch base with the team handling it to make sure they have everything they need.

[Goldieboxx]

Hi Rick, I am having the exact same issue. Has yours been resolved? I might try SquareSpace if this continues with no response from the Merchant Team. It's very frustrating! Especially when you're running an honest business. 

[FreyrSecurity]

Hey @Sergymc,

Did you ever manage to get your account back?

We had the exact same issue, we setup a Shopify store for our security business selling locks and safes but while starting to build the site was suddenly logged out and received the same email.

All documents sent across for our LLC, articles of incorporation, operating agreement, passport, bank statements and everything they could need. It's now been almost 2 weeks and I haven't heard a word from them.

Would be great to know if you ever managed to get your store back?

I'm assuming Shopify must flag some product types as high-risk. It just seems surprising that you selling construction materials, and us selling locks would be suspended when there's hundreds of people dropshipping poor quality products from China with no issues!

[Blair]

Hi @FreyrSecurity,

Thank you for reaching out to the Community. I'd be happy to provide some assistance with this, as I can completely understand the impact.

When it comes to account specific inquiries like these, I'd encourage you to connect with us directly. This will allow you to follow up with us on your open ticket, as we’re unable to provide account-specific support via the Shopify Community. We will also be able to confirm the appropriate steps have been taken to ensure this gets resolved as quickly as possible. 

If you have followed up with our advisor team already and it has been advised that your ticket was escalated, then you will want to wait for our reply. While I can completely understand how that may not be ideal, our escalated teams are working as quickly as possible to ensure this gets resolved. 

Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns. 

[FreyrSecurity]

Hi Blair,

I have reached out 3 times now and had it escalated, yet there is still no response. Do you think 2 weeks with no communication is a fair policy?

[Victoria]

Thanks for following up, @FreyrSecurity.

As mentioned above, I can definitely understand the timeframe is not ideal. Through the Community I do not have insight into account-specific tickets for privacy and security reasons. Our escalated team is likely reviewing your ticket and will contact you directly via email if they require further information. 

[Sergymc]

Hi @FreyrSecurity,  eventually Shopify reactivated my store in several weeks, but I choose to proceed with WordPress and Woocommerce. I don't want to rely on company with such poor customer service and deactivating your store without any prior notifications.   

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[Tony105]

How many weeks did it take exactly?

[baviit]

Hello,

My account has been blocked for a month with no feedback. I've already spoken to customer support about 7 times and everything is still the same. Can anyone help? Otherwise I'll have to move on to another platform. 

[Dirk]

Hey, @baviit 

You should have received comms from our accounts team regarding the status of your store when the store was initially locked. Be sure to check your inbox for that email. Since our escalated teams communicate exlusively via email, you will want to use that email to see if there is anything that can be done to reverse the account deactivation.

If there is anything else I can help you with, please let me know.

[baviit]

Hello,

Thanks for your contact and feedback.

Yes, I received an e-mail from Shopify asking for some documents relating to my business, and I immediately sent them in response. What's missing? Can you help me? It's been so long. What should I do?

[Victor]

Hi @baviit,

I hope that you will have received an update on this in the last few days but if not, please contact our social media teams on Facebook or X and we can take a look at this situation for you. 

[baviit]

Hi Victor,

I have reached out 9 times now and had it escalated, yet there is still no response. Do you think more than 1 month with no communication is a fair policy? What else should I do? I'm soon moving to another platform to set up my shop. This doesn't make any sense.

[Emily]

Hi, @Victor.

Thank you for your response. I understand your frustration and can assure you are team is working diligently to get you a response, however, our team does work on a first come first serve basis so this can cause the wait time to be a bit longer than expected. 

[baviit]

Hi Emily, 

More than a month is not acceptable for them to answer these questions. I promptly sent the requested documents on 27 May and so far no feedback from you. Will I have to switch to another platform to create my shop?

[Emily]

Hi, @baviit.

I completely understand your frustration with this. If you contact us on social media through Facebook or X, we can look further into this for you.

[baviit]

Hi Emily, 

I contacted "Shopify" page via Messenger and the team said they couldn't do anything, that it's none of their business.

[baviit]

Hi, 

It's better to build my shop on WordPress or Woocommerce, right? Since 27 May it's already too much, how terrible is your customer service!