$90,000 Reserve Hold – No Response in 11 Days, Causing Chargebacks and Business Risk

Payments + Shipping & Fulfilment

Topic summary

A high-volume merchant with 11,800+ fulfilled orders and a 0.3% chargeback rate is facing a critical cash flow crisis after Shopify Payments placed a $90,000 reserve hold on their account nearly two weeks ago.

Documentation Submitted:

  • Proof of inventory
  • Supplier documentation
  • Fulfillment performance data

Communication Breakdown:
Despite submitting a full reserve appeal, two follow-up emails, and multiple live chat attempts, the merchant has received no response from Shopify’s Risk or Merchant Trust team for 11 days. Live chat confirmed escalation but provided no timeline or updates.

Business Impact:

  • Reserve is preventing order fulfillment
  • Fulfillment delays are triggering new chargebacks
  • Creating a cycle that increases risk metrics
  • Threatening business viability and customer experience

The merchant is requesting immediate communication, confirmation of manual review, and a resolution path. The issue remains unresolved and is escalating in urgency.

Summarized with AI on October 29. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hi Shopify Team,

We’re a high-volume merchant with 11,800+ fulfilled orders and a 0.3% chargeback rate. Nearly two weeks ago, Shopify Payments placed a $90,000 reserve hold on our account.

We submitted a full reserve appeal with:

  • Proof of inventory

  • Supplier documentation

  • Fulfillment performance data

Despite two follow-up emails and multiple live chat attempts, we have now gone 11 days without any response from the Risk or Merchant Trust team. Live chat confirmed it was escalated, but we’ve had no resolution, no updates, and no timeline.

The issue is urgent:- The reserve is directly delaying our ability to fulfill orders

  • These delays are now causing new chargebacks, which ironically increases risk

  • This situation is putting our business and customer experience at serious risk

We are respectfully requesting:

  1. An immediate response or update

  2. Confirmation that the case is under manual re-review

  3. A path toward resolution or early release of funds, given our fulfillment record

We’re committed to staying compliant and doing things the right way — we just need communication and clarity.

Ticket ID: 8c66b88b-d65e-4cd5-b69c-fb69be5510aa

Thank you in advance to anyone from Shopify who can help escalate this or point us to someone who can take action. This is now business-critical.

– Brock Bilsky