I recently started Shopify. I was selling an anti-gravity air humidifier and got two sales for 60$ each within two days but then my store becomes inactive. I already shipped the item for 13$ each. They told me my business wasn’t fit for Shopify. I was guessing it was my age. Later, a customer refunded all and I paid 15$ fees and lost the 60$ and the 13$ product I’ve already shipped. I couldn’t add evidence because my store was inactive. I thought I got unlucky so I created another account and this time I used my parents info. Got two sales again for around 300$ each (was selling enchanted rose in dome), i ship the items for around 300$ in total. I get banned again?? (This all happened within 2-3 weeks. Contacted support and they gave me the same info. They wouldn’t give me more info and wouldn’t help me. I got frustrated but then I see a refund and then another refund the next day. I lost the 600$ from the customers, lost 300$ from product shipped, 30$ in fees and today they removed another 100$ for no reason! I’ve contacted support at least 5 times to get me assisted but each time I get the same answer : we can’t do anything about it, you’ll need to reach to the team, they will give you more info. I did and every time they reply, it’s the same message. But I wouldn’t give up and contacted support one more time. This time, a gentle staff told me he couldn’t do anything but can report this and forward it to another team to help me. It’s been several days now, I haven’t got any news and I’m running out of time to send evidence (I can’t send proof and evidence of my business being legitimate because both my stores are inactive). I’m 16 years old and lost around 800$ and made my parents lose 100$ for no apparent reason (remember I used my moms credit card for the infos because I wasn’t old enough and thought putting my parents infos wouldn’t get me banned), they just said I got a -98. $something payout. I’ve tried everything, I don’t even know if this is legal to steal peoples money especially a kids money. And it’s not like we’re rich or anything and my dads getting mad at me because of that. I’m getting tired of this but like I said I’m not giving up and I’ll keep fighting. If anyone working for Shopify or have the power to help me, I’d appreciate a lot I’ve lost too much time and money and I’m not sleeping at night because of this. I’m not giving up!!!
Hello,
I applaud you for being enterprising at your age. I was similar. Unfortunately, you must be 18 to operate a Shopify store, as per the Shopify Terms of Service: https://www.shopify.com/legal/terms.
I am assuming you are in the United States with my advice; also, I am not a lawyer, just an enthusiast about business. I have a single-member LLC. Definitely talk to a business law and tax expert to confirm and workshop ideas.
A workaround I could think of is having your parents own and operate the store, then being an “employee” of the store. Unfortunately, this creates tax complications and business structure issues.
Are you registered as an LLC (or something else), or operating as an unregistered sole proprietorship? Keep in mind that if you are trying to do work as a sole proprietorship (or a partnership, if one/both of your parents helped take ownership of the company), your parents can be sued for every penny and item they own if legal troubles come up.
However, having your parent(s) open an LLC creates tax complications. In this case, one or both of your parents might want to own the LLC. But you probably want to be paid for the work you do. I am unsure on how you would be paid “by the book” in this case.
You could be hired as an employee, but then child labor laws would need to be followed to a T. Not only that, but you would also need the LLC to get an EIN from the IRS for very important tax reasons. In theory, you might be able to work as an independent contractor for the LLC, but remember that you cannot spend all money earned; you will need to owe the government taxes on your earnings from being a contractor. I’m not sure if the LLC needs an EIN for this type of payment.
Also remember that if your parent(s) owned the LLC, they have all rights to money it earns. They can do an owner’s draw at any time; you are only obligated to the money you would earn as an employee or contractor.
It would be easier if you were 18 and created a single-member LLC, because you can put that in your tax returns pretty simply (at least in my state). However, some states restrict LLC membership to 18 years old and up.
Still, good luck to you. Some online services will let youth run businesses, I’m sure, but remember that you might run into issues with payment providers for the same reason.
Hello, thank you so much for the reply. From what it seems, I got banned for violating the AUP and age IS NOT in the AUP. I am almost positive I havent done anything bad. I feel like my first ban was because I was too young. They first told me I was too young so they gave me instructions to follow to not get banned: changing owner, payment method, providing documents. But two days later they ban my store and said they cant support my business anymore. So I created a new account and I think this time. they banned me again just because I got banned on the store. And they didnt even instant banned me, they waited for me to get 2 stores and lose all my money before banning it. I worked on it every morning for 3-4 hours, sometimes I didnt have time to eat and sleep during the whole Christmas break. And then after setting everything up from policies to surveys, i decided to launch the ads, got 2 sales and next thing I see is a ban. I genuinely think I didnt do anything bad. I’m just a kid who got stuck in a loop hole and something random triggered the bans. Im sure its a misunderstanding!
Best option is to use other website creators. Shopify are absolute scams banning my account for no reason at all and no explanation given. I have multiple orders to fullfil and I can’t even refund the customers their money back since my account can’t be accessed. This is disgraceful and highly illegal. Anyway best of luck in your E-com path.