Shopify unable to payout my balance

[elsenorwendle]

When I first set up my Shopify account I went to enter my account and routing numbers from my check and received an error message that I couldn’t add these numbers. So I tried my wire transfer routing number instead, which the Shopify site accepted. Then the Shopify payouts all failed with this info, so I went back to update my payout info with the account and routing numbers from my check but received this error message "Unable to update your account at this time. Please try again later."

I have been in touch with customer support for two weeks now and they keep bouncing me from person to person who says possibly my account is in eligible (it actually does meet all eligibility requirements, and this was confirmed by a Bank of America customer service rep). Or saying that the account/routing numbers from the check look correct, they should work. But I have been entering those numbers everyday for three weeks now and every time receiving the same error message: Unable to update your account at this time. Please try again later."

Shopify is holding 100% of my revenue and the support people have been unwilling and unable to help me take transfer of the money. This has been an incredibly unprofessional experience, and as of today I have received exactly none of my revenue earned through Shopify with no sign of any help from the support team in remedying this.

Can anyone out there help?

[Holly]

Hi, @elsenorwendle !

Thanks for reaching out about this. I'm so sorry you're experiencing such issues with accessing your payouts. 

May I ask which country you are in? Since you are speaking of routing numbers, I am assuming the US so the following information is relevant to US merchants only. Ultimately, Shopify Payments in the US uses automated clearing house (ACH) electronic transfers - ideally not wire transfers since some banks don't allow transfers from Shopify. If your bank doesn't accept it, that's likely why the payout failed.

With that being said, was the original banking information you tried to enter for ACH transfers? If you are still able to update the information, please try inputting information that is ACH friendly or contact your bank to verify the status of the wire routing number otherwise the error will likely keep appearing.

If you are inputting ACH transfer information and still getting the error message, you will need to contact our support advisors. Please reach out to our support advisors once more and let them know of our conversation here. Feel free to copy the link to our thread for reference. They will need to escalate this internally to resolve the issue and get your payouts back on track. 

[elsenorwendle]

Hello Holly,
Yes I have had a ticket open for two weeks so all of these questions have been asked and answered MULTIPLE times with still no solution or resolve. Yes, my bank account is a business checking account at Bank of America and is able to accept ACH transfers and has done so with other vendors with no problem. This has been confirmed with my bank.
The VERY FIRST TIME I put in my account info to set up payouts (using the paper + electronic routing number) I received this error message.

“Unable to update your account at this time. Please try again later”

Then (not knowing what mayhem would ensue) I tried the wire routing number which was accepted into shopify system. So to my knowledge all was well.
UNTIL my initial payout failed. Upon which time I contacted support, they requested I update my bank info to the paper + electronic routing number that I tried initially, and I have received the same error message every time for weeks. I have tried on different browsers, I have tried on different devices. Same message EVERY TIME.

“Unable to update your account at this time. Please try again later”

No result from customer service, although I have been assured that this issue has been “elevated” Response times are painfully slow if I get a response at all. After this going to the Accounts team I actually waited 4 days before then getting a response from a different unhelpful support member. Outrageous.

I cannot express the urgency in this matter. Shopify is holding 100% of my revenue and does not seem to be concerned with solving this issue. I need to pay taxes, vendors, rent, etc. it’s interesting to me how well the support team works when collecting my money but when it comes to paying out, it’s impossible. I have trusted the entirety of my business to your platform. Hardware, software, web, brick and mortar POS, and this is how I am treated. I am so beyond disappointed and frustrated.

[Holly]

@elsenorwendle , thank you for taking the time to give me all of that context. You've painted a clear picture and one that I am sorry to hear is quite disappointing indeed. We are in the business of helping our merchants succeed and knowing that your funds are still being held is not ideal in the least. I empathize with your situation and completely understand your frustration here. 

As I'm sure you can imagine, my abilities to look into this for you through this public forum is extremely limited because we must keep information secure and private. This is why we always redirect these kinds of issues to our support advisors to discuss internally. But, I would like to exhaust all my available resources to see what I can find out for you. Can you give me your store URL as well as your email address linked to your account?