I opened a store just over 2 weeks ago, it was closed within 24 hours, during that time I took one payment from a customer for nearly £2000. I appealed the decision and have heard nothing in 2 weeks, i’ve tried the chat support 3 times, including just now and each time I get fobbed off with “it’s with internal agents and we cannot provide an update, you need to wait to hear from them”. I accepted this at first, but 2 weeks and no end in sight is very poor. I cannot provide the service to my customer and the most worying thing is they’ve said whilst this is happening they can’t issue a refund either, now surely that isn’t legal? I am in limbo and don’t know what to do, I am considering contacting a solicitor, help!!
I’m really sorry you’re going through this — having your store closed so quickly and being stuck with a customer payment in limbo is extremely frustrating, and I completely understand why you’re concerned.
Here are a few important clarifications and suggestions that may help:
1. Store closure vs. Shopify Payments hold
It sounds like your store was closed/suspended and at the same time, the payment is being held by Shopify Payments. When this happens, only Shopify’s Account Integrity / Risk team can review and release funds or process refunds. Unfortunately, front-line support truly cannot override or speed this up — which is why they keep telling you to wait.
2. Refunds ARE possible — but only by the internal team
You’re right to question legality. Normally, Shopify Payments must either:
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refund the customer, or
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hold the funds and eventually release them to you.
Saying they “cannot refund” is not the final word — it just means normal store-level refunds are disabled until the review is complete. Their internal team can process a manual refund or payout after review.
3. 2 weeks is long, but not unheard of
In some cases involving high-value transactions (like £2,000), reviews can take 1–4 weeks. I know that doesn’t solve the issue, but you’re not being ignored — it’s just slow.
4. What you can do next (most effective approach)
When contacting support, ask them to add a note to your ticket saying:
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You have a paying customer waiting
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You are unable to fulfill or refund
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You are requesting escalation due to legal and customer service obligations
This often gets the case prioritized internally.
This sounds logical. A store opens and a £2000 purchase in less than 24 hours is going to send red flags.
The process of getting the store back is long and tedious. Shopify is automated for the most part now. You really do just have to wait. And any real Support agent you get cannot do anything beyond write a ticket because they aren’t part of the team that reviews the issue.
Thanks for the replies, i understand it may have raised a red flat, but I already had customers, and shopify was my new platform for payments etc. I completely understand a review taking place, however what I am concerned by is the agents cannot seemingly give me any timescales, and the most worrying thing is not being able to refund my customer. I’ll give it a few more days i the hope I hear back.
When this gets resolved, think about having a backup plan. Shopify can shut the store down or pause payouts at any time. It’s always good to have a different platform to fall back on in a worst case scenario.
When it related to payment or transactions, you can also consult card provider or bank clients for further help. You can consider handling this with help of them and hope they can give you more advice or tips.
Hi, I am aware the customer can ask the bank to start a chargeback, however why should we have to go down that road? It simply is the case that Shopify, if they aren’t going to release the funds to me, should issue a refund to the customer as i’ve asked. If they start a chargeback, and shopify release my store, I know what will happen, it will get suspended again because the only payment i’ve taken has started a chargeback! it’s catch 22
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If so, please take measures to contact Shopify Support every two or three days, until they respond to you. If not getting their response for a long time, there is no other choice but to get bank involved.
3 more days and still nothing