Not receiving payouts, chat refuses to do anything

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A merchant has been unable to receive payouts for over 30 days after a chargeback-related debit initially failed but was successfully processed on the second attempt. Despite resolving the payment issue immediately, their account remains on hold.

Core Problem:

  • Support agents consistently claim no holds exist on the account
  • Screenshots show pending payouts dating back to September 1st
  • The merchant has contacted support over 20 times across 4+ agents with no resolution

Recent Developments:

  • After 30 days, the account was transferred to the Risk Team for review
  • Merchant has now waited 48+ hours without updates (total: 1 month, 5 days)
  • No clarification provided despite continuing to pay subscription fees and fulfill orders

Merchant’s Position:

  • Threatens to file complaints with BBB and CFPB
  • Warns others against using Shopify at scale
  • Expresses concern that a small business cannot sustain operations without payouts for this duration
  • Questions how to fix problems when support refuses to acknowledge they exist
Summarized with AI on November 5. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Hello, this is my last attempt to ask your support for some sort of assistance, if I cannot get help my next step is filing a complaint with BBB and CFPB then closing my account. I cannot trust to use this at scale if this is how you conduct business, it’s dangerous.

I have contacted in regards to holds on my payouts for over 1 month now, and your support continually says the same thing, that I have no holds on my payouts when I clearly do. I am new to Shopify therefore I was not educated on the chargeback policy, I received a few chargebacks early on and these were debited from my checking account. However one of the debits failed as I had another bill processed at the same time. Following this I received an email stating my payouts would be placed on hold until I rectified this.

The following Monday I was debited the amount, and I contacted your support the same day notifying you of this. However following this debit, my payouts have remained on hold for over 30 days. I have explained this to your support with over 4 agents, all saying I have no holds on my payouts then proceed to claim they are escalating this to a support team who has never once contacted me. I genuinely do not know what else I am supposed to do for your support to offer a fraction of professionalism. If I was operating my business at full scale, there is no feasible way this is acceptable. I have waited 1 month and have gotten nowhere.

Below is my most recent interaction with your support tonight, again refusing to acknowledge I have holds on my payouts even though I have a order on Sept 1st that clearly shows pending without a payout.

I feel helpless at this point. I wish someone from your support could do their job and fix my account. I have just spoken to two agents again tonight and they continually say I have no holds on my payouts. How am I suppose to fix something if your customer support refuses to acknowledge this problem? I can show them screenshots that have a payment on Sept 1st pending still and they somehow conclude I have no holds on my payouts.

This is a public company in the United States Stock Market. Please act one.

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2

Still no help from Shopify Payments, Shopify twitter doesnt respond. This is truly crazy. I hope anyone interested in using Shopify for their business reads this as a warning because I have literally waited now 1 month without any assistance. All that happened was a charge bounced, and I immediately paid it the 2nd attempt. When contacting Shopify support they tell me I have no holds on my payouts yet I clearly have 4 pending payouts, one since Sept 1st.

How do you fix a problem if you refuse to acknowledge there is one?

This company is dangerous. I cannot imagine using this at full scale and relying 100% on the income if this is how Shopify handles customer service.

3

Now as a resolution Shopfiy support after 30 days decided to transfer my account Risk Team. I spoke to over 20 agents via chat and all told me to wait for Shopify Payments to respond, it took them 1 month, and then someone via chat takes it upon herself to send my account under review. Now I have waited 48 hours without any idea what is going on.

It has been 1 month and 5 days, nobody from Shopify has ever given me clarification regards to my payouts. I continue to pay a Shopify subscription fee, and receiving orders shipping them out. Nobody is here to help! Shopify recent valuation is $101.48B with a B as in Billion. I’m at a point now where I spent so much money building my website I have no other option but to pray someone at some point decides to actually help me. I just strongly suggest anyone reading this to think twice about Shopify for your business needs.

I only set up my website thinking I would have complete control over things, and yet I have less control compared to eBay, Depop, Poshmark pick any marketplace. They at least respond to your concerns, don’t just go silent. If I had my business fully operational here, they would have ruined me. A small business cannot sustain itself without receiving payouts for over 1 month, and continue to process orders without any type of assistance or clarification regards to why this is happening.