Dear Shopify Help Team. I have gone through the trouble of Incorporating a company in the USA, setting up a Bank Account which was quite a process, subscribed to a $79 monthly plan which is due for renewal in a few days as well as hired a team of developers, blog writers and SEO experts to work on the site. I believed that an EIN is to a company what a SSN is to an employee. Now if I own or am working for a company that is registered for tax purposes in the US and I have basically already verified everything needed to be able to open a Bank Account in the US, why should I be prevented from linking my bank account to shopify, just because I do not have an SSN. Both the incorporation process and the bank opening processes were extensive with requirements for me to submit all necessary documentation as well as in camera verification only to hear that Shopify can’t be helpful
I would really like to make use of Shopify payments and hope that some kind of resolution can be found regarding this.
An SSN is required by law as we report earnings to the IRS. It is a requirement of our underwriting process with our Banking Partners as outlined in our Term of Service and can not be bypassed. If you’re not living in the United States, but your company operates in the United States, then it may be possible to use Shopify Payments.
In order to be reviewed for Shopify Payments when you live outside of the United States, but your company operates in the United States then you will need the following:
Government-issued photo ID (driver’s license, passport, etc.- ID for your country of origin may be accepted)
Business registration document (Registered with the UK government)
Tracking showing you are shipping from the country you signed up from or Proof of address (not a forwarding address).
A bank account set up with a physical bank located in the country you wish to use Shopify Payments for (online banks are not eligible)
If you have all of the required documents, then you can reach out to Shopify Support to begin the review process. However; having all documents does not guarantee that we’ll be able to offer Shopify Payments for your store. You can do this by logging into your store through the help center, searching your question/issue, then selecting “continue” at the bottom of the page that displays the search results.
Yes I am not living in the United States, but my company operates in the United States, and I am glad that it may be possible to use Shopify Payments. I did reach out to the help centre but only found general automated results that are not specific.
You said:
In order to be reviewed for our Payments when you live outside of the United States, but your company operates in the United States then you will need the following:
Government-issued photo ID (driver’s license, passport, etc.- ID for your country of origin may be accepted)
Business registration document (Registered with the UK government)
Tracking showing you are shipping from the country you signed up from or Proof of address (not a forwarding address).
A bank account set up with a physical bank located in the country you wish to use our Payments for (online banks are not eligible)
Yes I do have a:
Government-issued photo ID (driver’s license, passport as well as an ID from my country of origin)
I do have my Business registration documents (Certificate of Formation from the USA with all relevant documentation). I have also received an EIN number.
I will be doing mostly drop shipping which is part of your business model and will not be shipping from my country (unless this is a new requirement).
I have a Bank Account set up within a Physical US Bank, which was opened after a very thorough and extensive verification process that took over 4 weeks.
I am currently in the process of getting my ITIN which is quite cumbersome but hope to receive it in time for tax purposes although the LLC will be able to pay taxes with the EIN.
I am aware that you receive tons of questions to review and respond to but Support does not specifically deal with this issue and only provides general responses (which is a good thing). We do have real problems and would appreciate real face to face or human interactions where possible solutions could be handled in real time, for instance I had a problem with my domain at domain registrar and although they have over 20 million customers, a gentleman took the time and solved my problem in real time and I was able to move on. They also do have automated responses but do have real chat platforms with real people solving problems. Community forums like these are good and highly appreciated but the idea should be to take these queries and come up with practical long term solutions so that the same problems don’t keep coming up. I really appreciate that you are going out of the way to solve these problems and would be glad to be associated with such a great brand.
Thank you for sharing that context and for providing your feedback on your experience while trying to connect with Shopify Support. We do offer 24/7 chat & phone support; however, to access these options, you will need to manually search your question/issue in the help centre, then click “Continue” at the bottom of the page. For example, you could search “Shopify payments” to access the “continue” button.
If you have all the required documents, then connecting with our Support will be the next step to have this reviewed. If you continue to have trouble accessing our support, please let me know by providing a screenshot of what you’re seeing, along with what you’re searching for.