Your payouts from Shopify Payments are on hold while we review your account

[mattcne]

Were notified a week ago  from legal@legal-mailer.shopify.com "Your payouts from Shopify Payments are on hold while we review your account. This is a standard review, and this hold does not prevent your customers from checking out." 

We contacted support who said this is a general review.  It's been a week and we have not heard from anyone or any timeline on how long this will take.   We have been selling on Shopify for over 7 years.  This is very strange.

[Elias]

Hey, @mattcne.

Thanks for reaching out and posting this question.

I can confirm that the email address is legitimate, and the standard review is something that can happen from time to time - such as when new products are added to the store. Though this does not impact customers from checking out, you'll want to check your Shopify admin for any banners or next steps. The standard review may also be conducted without a follow-up, and your payouts would resume as normal. If you still haven't heard back or receive your payout, then we'd be happy to access your account and take a closer look. While we're unable to provide account-specific support via the Shopify Community, we'd be happy to continue assisting you through live chats. Please visit the Shopify Help Center and login to your account to connect with a Support Advisor. 

If you have any other questions on this topic, then don't hesitate to let me know!

[mattcne]

Thank you - support is not able to help.  No one really has any info and it seems like customer stores are being shut down with no notice for any reason.  This is a very unusual procedure - we have not made any product changes, we have very low returns and no one has asked us for any information despite our payments being on hold for a week.

[mattcne]

After about 10 days we learned the reason we were getting that message was because a lawyer in NY sent Stripe a fraudulent subpoena citing a fake court judgement against us on behalf of a lender we have a relationship with.  Neither the lender or the NY court knows anything about the "case" or situation, yet they were able to get Stripe to share our bank account information with this guy and freeze our funds all just using my social security number.  It's insane!  Now we have to work it out with Stripe directly or something - its a mess.

[mattcne]

Still nothing from Shopify. Going on 2 weeks. All payouts on hold.  

[Elias]

Hey, @mattcne.

Thank you for following up with the additional context. 

Sorry to hear that you still haven't heard back regarding the standard review and your payouts. However, as I'm unable to access merchant accounts on the Shopify Community, I'm unable to get any further insight on your store. That being said, if you haven't heard back, then we may need to have your request escalated to our Payments team. Please get in touch with us via the Shopify Help Center again and let the Support advisor know that you've been experiencing this issue for two weeks so that they can escalate your support request.  

Feel free to keep me posted.

[sonmjkkj]

I am also experiencing a similar situation, with payments being held since January 9, 2024, without any given reason. It seems that Shopify is unable to resolve these issues effectively. I sent a letter to support, and they said they are waiting for verifications from the bank and it would take 2-3 days to resolve. Since then, it's been 7 days, but there has been no further information. Shopify clearly does not care about whether their customers can do business or not, which goes against everything they have built up until now

[Elias]

Hey, @sonmjkkj.

Thank you for joining the thread and bringing this to our attention.

I understand that you're looking to understand why your payouts have been placed on hold. If you're the account owner, then I'd recommend checking whether or not you've received an email from our Payments team or checking if there's a banner on your Shopify admin. If you're still not seeing an email or a banner, then it looks like we'll need to access your account in order to get a closer look. While we're unable to provide account-specific support via the Shopify Community, we'd be happy to further assist you through live chats. Simply visit the Shopify Help Center and log into your account to create a support request. 

That being said, I noticed that you're a new member of our Shopify Community. I'd love to hear more about your business and share some resources to help you get started. 

[mattcne]

Just to add another update, in case anyone else out there has the same experience.  The attorney Jeffrey Zachter  30 Wall Street, 8th Floor New York, NY 10005 (646) 779-3301 is sending out fraudulent restraining notices to Stripe, Shopify, Amazon, and anyone else he can find saying he has a judgement from a court and instructing Stripe and others to freeze merchant accounts.  Amazingly Stripe does not even verify if the documents they are receiving are legit, they just take action and then refuse to communicate with anyone.  Now we have to file a federal lawsuit against this lawyer, Sellers Funding, Stripe, Shopify just to get them to stop.  It's crazy how this is even possible - just because the people on the back end are not doing their job. 

[jhindi1]

Hey, any updates on getting this resolved?