Why did my new security business's Shopify store get suspended?

[FreyrSecurity]

Hi Shopify community

I recently setup a Shopify Store for our home security business selling home & vehicles locks and security devices. Shortly after putting in the card details to start the Shopify trial I was logged out of the account and it was set as inactive. I reached out to Shopify and received the following email:

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)

I immediately responded to with copies of our LLC formation certification, 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.

The website wasn't live and we hadn't done anything on there yet except download a demo theme, connect the domain and add the payment information.

Has anyone else faced this issue? I'm unsure whether to continue waiting for a response or just accept that Shopify is not going to be a reliable platform and build the shop elsewhere?

Feedback to Shopify - if you request customers to send in all their personal information including bank statements, utility bills, copies of their passport and all their business documents you should at least send an acknowledge receipt or else it feels like this could be a scam or an attempt at identity theft.

[StephensWorld]

This does sometimes happen. They usually get back to you within 48 hours. It's worth noting that this is a one-time thing, so once it's resolved, you shouldn't have any further issues. 

[FreyrSecurity]

That's great that this usually gets resolved in 48 hours. However this was 2 weeks ago now.

[StephensWorld]

I would first recommend double-checking your junk inbox, just in case you missed any emails back from them. 

If you're sure that they've never replied, then you should follow-up with Shopify's support team directly: https://help.shopify.com/en 

Type in "I want to speak to a real person" and then follow the prompts to get chatting with a support rep. 

[FreyrSecurity]

Nothing in the junk mail - I reached out to Shopify support after the first week and had an agent pick up the case to escalate it and I haven't heard anything back from them in about a week now. I've sent 3 follow up emails to both the legal  team and the customer support agent but still haven't had any responses.

[StephensWorld]

There may be an issue with your email account in that case. It's very unlikely that Shopify would be leave you hanging this long without a response. I'd try reaching out to support again, and then using a different email for them to contact you with. 

[FreyrSecurity]

Hey @StephensWorld - Quick update, I spoke to an agent and they confirmed there hasn't been any emails sent out to me and there's currently 3 tickets raised waiting for this to be addressed.

At this point I might just try a different platform!

[StephensWorld · Accepted solution]

That's really unfortunate ... I'm sorry to hear that. Shopify really should have got back to you by now (if it's been 2+ weeks). At least you know that you haven't been missing emails (or that they have the wrong contact details) now. I wish you the best of luck with a resolution!  

[jvlswz]

Any news? Did you find a solution?

I'm living exactly the same problem. Shop closed without any notifications then a mail from legal services asking me to send to them documents and no news for two weeks now.

It's really unacceptable from this kind of platform.

[FreyrSecurity]

No - Nothing. I've raised 3 tickets and submitted all of my personal information including photos of my passport and business information. They haven't even given me an acknowledgement of receipt. They keep saying it's been escalated when I raise a new ticket, but I've had zero communication from Shopify legal so I've given up now and started a trial on another platform.

Such a shame because Shopify's themes and interface is amazing, but their customer support is shocking.

Good luck!

[jvlswz]

Hey, thanks for your reply. Same here, still no news. 
But… Since their communication is absolutely awful and non-professional I looked for info by myself. 
My theory is it’s blocked because of Shopify Payment. I just contacted tierce payment solutions to get around the issue. 
How about you? Did you configure Shopify Payment?

You own a LLC but are you non-US resident just like me?

That could be clues to help you to find a solution. 

[jvlswz]

Well forget it. New shop down without configure Shopify Payment.

I can't believe this happen without have any information.

Which other platform do you use?

[SCoellPhoto]

Hi Stephen 

I am in, exactly the same situation and it's been over 2 weeks and shopify are yet to respond 

Would you be able to offer any support.

Kind Regards

community.shopify.com/c/shopify-discussions/website-suspended-and-no-reason-given/td-p/2481924

[StephensWorld]

Hey @SCoellPhoto 

Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to help with this, as I don't actually work for Shopify. I'm just a freelancer who posts on here, to try and help out when I have free time. 

The only thing I can recommend is continuing to reach out to Shopify's support team directly via the help page (https://help.shopify.com/en). 

I wish I could do more for you guys. 

[bernadroocavall]

hello i need some help 

we are based in canada our business and we have a  warehouse in france so we want to operate in france (coffee machines and ble,nds) 

we create our store here after 1 week they closed our store , they send us an email for this :

* 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

we sent all the documents even we send a video live of our warehouse 

the support dont even send us a feedback

any one can help

[Imogen]

Hi there, @bernadroocavall. Thanks for taking the time to follow up with your situation in this thread. If you have been in communication with our Support Team regarding this decision, and you received an email from them regarding information that they're looking for from you, then it's best to direct any questions you have directly to the email that you received. The Team will follow up with you directly as soon as they've had the chance to review your message and the information contained within.

[SydneyT89cali]

I got the same email and there is no way I am providing such personal information to them. I have several Shopify stores, live in the U.S., and decided to open a new store. I have never been asked for such personal information from a company before. This reeks of a scam and Shopify needs to be investigated for requiring such personal information from people. I am reporting them because you are paying for a service. They do not need such personal information and who knows what they will do with that information. This seems scammy to me and I will be taking my business elsewhere. Do not provide them with your bank information. That is absurd that they are even asking for it. Please be safe and be careful with the information you provide to them. This is so wrong on so many levels.

[justanewbie6828]

They need your bank information because they provide you the payment provider service to you and they are kinda required this information to prove we are real identity to their banking partners which is Stripe. If you apply for external third party payment provider like Stripe they will require this as well. But their support team definitely needs to step up, I'm currently in the same boat with this action required message. 

[nomek]

Any update? I just got this a week ago & haven’t heard a thing. i opened about 2-3 tickets. They all keep giving me the run arounds 😕

[Upurco]

Hi! were you able to get your store back?

I'm having the same issue...