Canadian merchants are asking whether Shopify will expand Shopify Protect (initially called “Merchant Protect” in the discussion) beyond the United States. The core concern is that Canadian stores can use Shop Pay, but do not receive the same chargeback protection available to eligible U.S. merchants, making fraud and unrecognized chargebacks more financially risky.
Participants clarified that Shopify Protect is distinct from standard fraud analysis tools and from Shop Pay/Shop Pay Installments. It covers eligible fraudulent or unrecognized chargebacks and related fees, but current Shopify documentation requires the merchant to be U.S.-based with a U.S. Shopify Payments account.
No confirmed Canadian rollout date or evidence of planned expansion was identified. Suggested interim actions include using Shopify’s fraud analysis, AVS/CVV indicators, manual review, Shopify Flow risk workflows, and careful recordkeeping before fulfilling higher-risk orders.
The latest concrete outcome is that the original poster plans to ask Shopify Support to log the request as product feedback. The issue remains unresolved and ongoing.
Has Shopify spoken about if/when they’ll roll out Merchant Protect for Canadian merchants? They introduced it in the US 4.5 years ago. In Canada, Shop Pay just seems like a conduit for fraud because so much credit card information is not shared.
Shopify talks a lot of rah rah about Canada. I get that the majority of their merchants are US-based, but 5 years feels like enough time for Canadian merchants to wait for an important feature
Thanks for following up. Those steps are decent but fall well short of what Shopify offers for US merchants via Protect. 
We’ve got a trade war going on: Shopify can help.
@Clovia there’s no such thing as Merchant Protect…
The correction on the name is right — the official product is Shopify Protect, not “Merchant Protect.”
And the distinction matters because Shopify Protect is more than Shopify’s normal fraud analysis. For eligible orders, Shopify Protect covers fraudulent and unrecognized chargebacks, including the chargeback amount and associated chargeback fee, provided the order meets the protection requirements. Shopify currently requires the merchant to be located in the United States and have a U.S. Shopify Payments account, so Canadian merchants do not currently have access to that protection.
That’s the real issue being discussed here.
Canadian merchants still have Shopify’s normal fraud-prevention tools — fraud analysis, AVS/CVV indicators, IP and order-risk information, proxy detection where applicable, manual review, and Shopify Flow workflows that can be used to hold or cancel orders based on risk. Those tools can certainly help reduce fraud, but they are not a substitute for Shopify Protect. They help a merchant decide whether an order is safe enough to fulfill; they don’t provide the same financial protection if a qualifying fraudulent chargeback happens afterward.
It’s also worth distinguishing Shopify Protect from Shop Pay itself and Shop Pay Installments. Canadian merchants can use Shop Pay, and eligible Canadian merchants can offer Shop Pay Installments. That does not mean they have Shopify Protect. Shopify’s current documentation specifically says Shopify Protect requires a U.S.-based merchant with a U.S. Shopify Payments account.
So I think the underlying request from Canadian merchants is perfectly reasonable: they aren’t asking how to review risky orders. They already have tools for that. They’re asking why the chargeback protection Shopify offers eligible U.S. merchants through Shopify Protect isn’t available to Canadian merchants, and whether Shopify intends to expand it.
As for a timeline, unless Shopify has actually published one, I wouldn’t speculate that Canada is coming soon. Asking Shopify Support to record the request as product feedback is still worthwhile, as is adding merchant demand to threads like this, but that shouldn’t be confused with evidence that an expansion is planned.
For now, the accurate answer is simply that Shopify Protect exists, it provides protection for eligible Shop Pay orders, and Canadian Shopify Payments merchants currently aren’t eligible for it.
Hi there @OrchardPhones
I get the frustration, especially when margin is directly impacted by fraud protection. I have not seen any confirmed Canadian release date for the Merchant Protection so I would not get your hopes up about timng. In the meantime, monitor Shop Pay and payment risk settings closely, and take advantage of Shopify’s built-in fraud analysis with every order. For higher risk payments, you may want to manually verify transactions prior to shipping and maintain detailed records of authorization and customer information. That can cut your exposure while you bide for wider availability.
Good idea: will be asking Shopify Support to record the request as product feedback