They are holding $7000 USD I have been a customer since Sep, 2018. I have used the same bank account for payouts.
I have contacted Shopify 4 times now and have been left with the same response regarding the " banking partners".
Their most recent email on the 31st of January said"I reached out to our banking partners about this, and they have informed me that they emailed you about this on the 11th of January 2023."
No one has contacted me with anything new. Even if they supposedly did; they had the chance during the last 4 times I contacted them; the first being on the 12th of January.
This seems to be quite an issue with the payouts. I do not know how they can hold that much money for so long and get away with it.
Yes, as a seller who has been selling for 8 years, I also have recently been treated unfairly by Shopify and had my Shopify Payment suspended. Most shamefully, they hold my Payouts at the same time. I hope to let you know everything here and remind you to make necessary backups for your business. Here’s the case:
My company has been selling products on Shopify for a while, our customers are satisfied with the products and services, and we have not had any chargebacks using Shopify Payment in the last 1 year. One month ago, due to the change of company registration information, I planned to change the company information I submitted to Shopify when registering for Shopify payment (we could have continued to use Shopify Payment to collect payments without doing this). With the account and sales all normal, we contacted Shopify Support and asked them to assist in changing the company information. Shopify Support then asked me to provide information, including the new business registration documents, legal person identity documents, bank utility bills, etc., to help them review my account.
After several submissions, Raoul from the Trust & Safety team contacted me via email and told me, “Upon review of your Shopify account and the details that you have submitted, we will be unable to provide you with access to the Shopify Payments gateway for your store". He thought I was in a country that Shopify Payment doesn’t accept, and he didn’t tell me what specific rules I violated. In the email, he still told me that “Any outstanding payouts will be deposited on schedule to your bank account on file.” However, my company is registered in a country accepted by Shopify Payment, and some of my team members are also working in this country. I really don’t understand this.
After this, my Shopify Admin page has been notifying me to submit further documents, but every time I submit the required documents, the system always tells me that "The document you sent could not be read. You need to upload a clear photo of your document.” I have uploaded at least 10 documents and made sure there is no problem with the readability of the documents. I think this is some kind of Shopify ruse.
Yes, after two or three days, a notification in Shopify Admin told me that “Your payouts from Shopify Payments are on hold”. My funds are on hold. It is not like Raoul told me in the email that I would receive my Payouts as scheduled.
I contacted Raoul from the Trust & Safety team and told him that I don’t need to use Shopify Payment anymore, but I need my money back; it doesn’t belong to Shopify, and those orders have been delivered successfully. And the man just replied to me that “For assistance with accessing your Shopify Payments funds, please contact Shopify support: help.shopify.com/en/questions”. Yes, he asked me to contact Shopify Support again.
So, I contacted Shopify Support, and the new customer service staff told me that she would take my case seriously, and has submitted it to a higher authority department, and asked me to send my Ticket ID 2b083027-d576-4109-92ee -efd963578b34 to Raoul and told me that Raoul was in charge of this. So, I emailed Raoul again to ask him to handle my case.
After another 5 days, Raoul replied to my email and told me that “For assistance with accessing your payouts, please contact Shopify support”. Yes, that’s right, I was kicked around by them like a football.
I believe that no matter how many times I contact Raoul or Shopify Support again, they will let me wait for several days, and the problem will not be resolved in the end. I believe this is Shopify’s trick. What they did was totally inconsistent with what they promised. This is very disappointing.
What I’m trying to say is that as sellers who rely on Shopify to sell products, we don’t really own our own website. No matter how much effort and money you put into it, you will be subject to Shopify. You will be required for account verification and review frequently. Even if the verification fails or the account is suspended, they will not tell you the reason. It was like a well-behaved citizen who was suddenly taken away and finally sentenced to death, and he didn’t know the reason the moment his heart stopped beating.
I don’t know whom to turn to or ask for help. If my case is not resolved in the end, I will move the business to another platform that allows sellers to actually own their website (I am not going to mention it here lest it seems like an advertisement). I also remind sellers to prepare Plan B for their business before things get bad.
So far I have had no real reason for why they have held the payouts. Aparently its just a “Standard review” and should have taken “72 hours”. Seems like they have different stalling tactics. I even contacted Stripe for guidance; they just told me to contact Shopify. looks like I will just have to disable shopify payments and fight them within my countries legal system.
Update 20th February 2023: Stripe has said that it is Shopify’s responsibility and Shopify says it is Stripe’s…
Stripes response: “Shopify is responsible for all customer service enquiries related to their connected accounts. Unfortunately, Stripe does not have the authority to intervene as this matter relates to the relationship between you and Shopify.”
Shopify’s Response: “I have not heard anything back from Stripe since they notified me that they are looking into your account, so I have reached out to Stripe again this morning for an update”
I never received a payout on Jan28. It said bank failed to complete payout even after I just received a payout a few days before. My account information never changed. I was told to wait 3-5 days and it would be in. It is now about a month since no payout. I’ve contacted them multiple times and on the 4th time of waiting they finally told me that THEY had an error with their payouts. Shopify admitted to having an issue and after I proved it wasn’t me and I didn’t receive the payout they still have yet to give me any information as to when I’d receive my money. To run salt in the wound they sent me and email saying they got my request to release payments but still never said when or what I’ll be compensated with. This is absolute trash that a company who makes millions and preaches that they help small businesses is now holding out money. What legal action can we take?
It has something to do with Stripe as well. For legal action, it really depends on what country you are in and what lawyer you can get. I am currently going through the process in my country. I will let you know how I go.
Update 28th April. Shopify took 3 months to let me know why my account was frozen. Turns out there is an ongoing copyright lawsuit from a patent troll; they had only notified me about last week. And guess what the case had ended. Stripe and Shopify had 3 months to notify me about this and failed to do so. Extremely poor communication from Stripe and Shopify. Honestly, I cannot comprehend how Stripe and Shopify failed to communicate with me for 3 months on a legal court case!