Shopify ID Verification Endless Loop - Customer Support Contacted 3 Times

Shopify Discussion
1

Hello all Shopifiers (is that what we are called?),

I want to start off with a little bit about myself and the issue I am encountering. I just started my business in October of 2025 and things got off to a great start. I have a franchise with over 150 location that is interested in my product. So, I created my first Shopify store in order to be able to keep up with the new demand for my products.

Well, as it turns out, Shopify has completely kneecapped my business. Let me explain.

I opened my Shopify shop about 2 or so weeks ago. I am a teacher in a school district in upstate New York and just had my first kid (he’s 1.5 years old and in spite of a small hiccough, he is doing great!) and began my business to supplement the peanuts that my district pays me. I opened my Shopify shop after the largest children’s hair salon company in the U.S. contact me about selling my products in their stores. Of course, as any small start up would, I hurriedly began to fill out my catalog (not even done yet, but close) and made a sale quickly on my account. Unbeknownst to me, Shopify directs payouts to their own banking system. So, I simply switched my banking to my personal bank account (which has a partition for my business account which I linked to Shopify). Well, I get an e-mail that I need to verify my identity. So, I with my documents in hand, log into my e-mail account and click the link provided in my e-mail.

I click on the link in my e-mail and it takes me to my payouts page. There is a notification that I need to verify my identity, I try clicking on it and, of course, it is not hyperlinked. So, I click on view payouts and there is a button entitled ‘Resume Payouts.’ I click on the ‘Resume Payouts’ button and instead of giving me an option to upload my documents for verification, it takes me straight back to the payouts section of the website. If I continue on and try to view payouts, I see the same options ad nauseum and am NEVER given an opportunity to verify my ID.

I have reached out to the support team 3 times so far and each member has said that they have ‘escalated my ticket’, but I have not gotten an answer in a week. I am very concerned because as I read online forums, it has become increasingly clear that many people have had this issue and few seem to have indicated that their issue has been resolved.

Right now I am at a loss. I have the LARGEST children’s hair salon franchise in the USA interested in buying my products and I am struggling to get Shopify to address my issue. I have even gone so far as to offer my personal ID documentation to the online chat agents including: NYS Driver’s License, US Passport, and 3 years worth of utilities bills. Every agent has refused to accept my offer for manual review.

My entire life I have been behind the eight ball, I have always been the underdog. This is the first time in my life that I have an opportunity to get ahead. I have poured my EVERYTHING into this business and I am on the precipice of a payoff. Currently, my wife is struggling with a screaming toddler for the umpteenth time as I fight tooth and nail with Shopify to allow me to verify my OWN IDENTITY to sell products on their platform.

This is the ticket number as listed on the ID verification e-mail that Shopify sent me: 8271d8ff-94d6-4110-9916-a9a2568d464c

I am almost to the point where I am ready to spend even more of my free time to set up a new account an a competing e-commerce site. Any help AT ALL would be highly appreciated. Thank you all for your time and I look forward to your responses!!!

2

Couple things you should know.. and it’s not really about Shopify itself, but rather industry-wide security and authenticity checks.

A merchant opens their Shopify account, quickly adds lots of products, and gets sales right away.

This is probably the worst way to start a business. Sure it can happen. But think about it. You rushed into it not even learning how things work. You haven’t spent the time to test anything. Did you order anything and make sure everything was correct? Did you send yourself the product to test the flow? Did you check the email notifications and what they look like, and test how they look to the customer? You didn’t take time to learn about Shopify Payments? What about shipping? You got all the shipping figured out? Ecommerce is a lot of work. A lot of time planning and testing. Can you sell right away? Sure. But that’s almost certainly cause for a whole bunch of red flags.

Hope you get it sorted. But in the meantime, if you choose another platform, it’s not going to be any different. Signup is easy as pie, so there must be some kind of flagger in place. Go slow, plan, test, change, and re-test.

3

Hi @matklab,

What you are experiencing is a classic security loop. When you switched to a personal bank account right after a quick sale, it triggered Shopify’s automated compliance system. The front-line chat agents you spoke with literally do not have the system tools to accept your ID or bypass the system; only the specialized Risk and Compliance team can do that, which is why your ticket was escalated.

To break this loop, do not open a new store, as that will only flag you for fraud and get you banned. Instead, find the original verification email Shopify sent you and reply directly to it, attaching your NYS Driver’s License and utility bills so they are linked straight to your active ticket. Next, go to X (formerly Twitter) and send a direct message to @ShopifySupport ; their social media team is highly effective at pushing stuck files to the front of the line. Your money is completely safe and Shopify cannot keep it, so keep pushing forward.

4

Well I would do that, however that email clearly states that it is not monitored (doesn’t accept responses). So, how would that help me in this case?

5

And now I have to make an X account to talk to customer support? I don’t even use that platform, I’ll have to bite the bullet and make one, how easy is it to delete an X account after it is created?

6

Thank you for educating me. For the record, I had been working on my shop for a couple of weeks uploading products as I had them. Yes, I did do some tests, and yes, you are correct that I am new to this and was eager to get started so I opened my shop to allow a current client of mine to make a purchase. I understood going into this that there would be a learning curve, I was unaware that I was going to trigger their system like this. I am willing to learn and spend the time to do so. I have already logged tens of hours in 2 weeks trying to get my shop open so that I can sell products. I am not ignorant of my own ignorance, I do not require others to remind me of this.

Your post does nothing to direct me as to how I can get this resolved, but that thank you anyway for pointing something out to me that I was already away of.

7

Hello @matklab
Have seen that loop happen with verification frame not loading properly in the admin. Try signing in through an incognito window, different browser, or disable any ad blockers or privacy extensions. Delete cookies on your browser for Shopify domains, and enable third party cookies. If you have the option, you can switch to the Shopify app on your phone, and go to Settings then Payment and that should reinitiate the verification process. Don’t use a VPN while doing this. Occasionally, re-updating payout information can cause the verification process to properly re-launch.