Shoot I bet that’s what they did with mine too. I can not find any bank accounts that I have that end with the numbers Shopify had showing next to my payout history!! And they won’t give me the full account number!
Topic summary
Multiple merchants report having significant funds frozen by Shopify Payments without clear justification, with hold periods ranging from 90-120 days. Amounts range from $4,000 to over $29,000.
Common complaints include:
- Sudden account suspensions and payment holds despite no fraudulent activity or chargebacks
- Lack of direct human support—only scripted responses and chatbots
- Funds held even after fulfilling orders and providing requested documentation
- Inability to refund customers during hold periods, affecting both merchants and buyers
Specific cases:
- One merchant had $12,661 held after two large orders, threatened legal action within 48 hours
- Another received only half ($16k of $29k) after the 120-day period, with Shopify claiming the remaining $12k is a “glitch”
- One store faced holds for “not fulfilling orders fast enough” despite supplier being unavailable over a weekend
Merchant responses:
- Several threaten or pursue legal action through state attorneys general
- Many vow never to use Shopify Payments, Stripe, or PayPal again
- Complaints about additional fees charged when using alternative payment providers
Status: Most cases remain unresolved, with merchants experiencing severe cash flow problems and business disruption. The discussion reflects widespread frustration with the platform’s payment practices and lack of transparent communication.
No. I still haven’t been paid however the 120 days they said they will hold
my money for ends on June 5th. I did receive a response from Shopify saying
that i will be getting my payout on the 5th but that it might take 10 days
for my bank to process the payment.
This is the email message they sent to me
Dodd (Shopify)
May 13, 2022, 11:55 EDT
Hi,
Dodd here from the Shopify Risk Operations Team.
Thanks for reaching out.
The remaining payout on the account is due to be sent on 2022-06-05 (22 days).
This reserve period was initially advised in the mail from my colleague Diego on Feb 11.
This decision is made inline with the Shopify Payments Terms of Service.
The funds will be sent to the bank account on file once the above reserve has elapsed.
Please note it may take up to 10 days for this to reflect on your end due to bank processing times.
Kind Regards,
Dodd
Was this money held for
No reason ?or they paid someone else
I also have had all of my incoming payments held after one “high risk” transaction in June - they were worried about someone potentially stealing another persons details to purchase the item and then a chargeback resulting from the person themselves saying they never placed the order. I verified the person - got them to send a photo I.D selfie to prove it was them making the purchase. Everything checked out, no problems and customer happy. Since that time every order (including those which weren’t relating to the “high risk” transaction) has been withheld. This has amounted to around £8500 being held by shopify. Not been able to reach anyone to resolve the problem. Of course this is a devastating cash flow problem for the business and it may struggle to survive at this point. I was offered £1200 shopify loan though! … thanks
Im sorry. They took $60000 from me. Very hard to deal w that
I know the feeling and sympathize with all here. I have been charged for months even when they ‘flagged’ me for high risk orders, etc and blocked my account and turned down saying they cannot support the business. It is a shame how they cannot support simple business and loot you when you are making money. They will take their share, charge you monthly and leave you hanging. The customer support took 2-3 months just to verify my own account despite providing all the info. Actions need to be taken against spotify for these nasty service.
Did you get your funds ? Or figure out what lawyers to use ?
This the one !!!
Shopify Payments is literally trying to rob me of $12k+ of my OWN Money! So after my payments being held for 120 days and I managed to make this whole thing work while facing cashflow issues they are still holding a portion of my money. After the full term I contacted them to finally give me my money. So they sent half of it which was around $16k of funds, I found this odd because my total amount on hold was $29k and I contacted them again about the missing $12k that still shows on my account that is owed to me. Their reply is that they don’t have that money they already sent me the full amount that was on hold and that the $12k in balance that they OWE me is a glitch on my end. These guys are literal crooks. I have been trying to get in contact with the payment department for a resolution to this and no one seems to be able to help. This is ridiculous and after reading all these replies it might just be the time to lawyer up.
Shopify regularly withholds payments from me also, this is the 3rd time they withholding funds for no apparent reason, last time it was a struggle to get $14 000 paid out to me which was eventually paid out after 7 days with NO REASON as to why this happened. No Im facing another battle with my account balance saying $6,448.24 and shopifies first response is everything looks up to date on their end. LOL Heads up you need to keep an eye on your balance owed to you.
I am in the same situation right now. I actually barley selling anything online. I have used Shopify payments to charge my customers in my physical shops. Which mean the customers presented their cards face to face.
suddenly I received a message from Shopify that my account is on hold and it is something related to JCB bank requirements (JCB is a Japanese bank that offer credit cards to his customers) however, the parts use from customers used JCB card is only ¥4,000 (about $26) but Shopify is holding the total amount of my payments ¥255,000
The support is useless. They are using scripts. We have provided everything the requested, No one get back to me.
I can’t trust the financial institutions anymore. No wonder everyone moving to crypto. I instructed my shops to go back to accept only cash.
We may decide to use local merchants (we are in japan) which at least charge lower fees.
I too am having my payments held. The numbers being held are enough to put me out of business. I have had no direct communication explanation or communication from Shopify. I can only communicate through a Chatbot who says it will be escalated. 2 days later the chat gets closed and nothing happens. I am going to have no recourse but to close my shop and seek legal redress. 8 years of business thrown away by Shopify without any explanation or relevant communication. I would love to think they will read this and decide to help but I know that they dont care.
I’m sorry to tell you but they will not
Glad you got paid. Im at 3 weeks now and still nobody has reached out or asked for any info.
This is happening to us. Will follow up with responses.
Did you get your payouts? We are going through this now.
Did you ever get your money? I just want to talk to someone.
Did you ever get your money?
I dont have this issue anymore, I was told by shopify that I have to go to my payouts and look for failed payments and manually process it again and that should fix the error which it did.