"Termination of your Shopify Account? - What the ???

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

A user’s Shopify store was terminated before they could complete setup or make any sales. They received a generic email citing violation of Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy, but with no specific explanation of what triggered the closure.

Current Status:

  • Support ticket opened 8+ days ago (ID: b563ea1b-f7e9-400a-9140-b196007603d3)
  • Escalated twice through chat support
  • No resolution or clear timeline provided
  • No phone support available

Suspected Issue:
The user is currently living in Thailand but listed their permanent U.S. address on the account, which may have triggered automated fraud detection systems.

Main Frustration:
Lack of transparency from Shopify support—no specific violation details, no queue visibility, and no direct contact options. The user remains in limbo waiting for email response with no indication of when their case will be reviewed.

Summarized with AI on October 28. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Looking for help from someone, anyone. Thanks in advance.

I opened my Shopify store several weeks ago, and once I got into the tool, it was clear I needed to watch some YouTube videos to help me set up my first store. Many weeks later, when I felt like I knew what I was doing, I went back to Shopify, only to learn my account/store was closed. I was baffled, but I found an email that I previously missed with the verbiage below.

The email was of NO help, as it didn’t explain why my store was closed. It just said I was in violation of Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy, which is hilarious, because I never hadn’t set up my store yet and never sold anything.

I’ve been going back and forth with support via chat for 8 days now, and all they can tell me is that a ticket has been opened (ticket b563ea1b-f7e9-400a-9140-b196007603d3), and it has been escalated. Twice.

Has anyone else had this issue and had trouble getting a straight answer from support? I’ve worked in customer support most of my life, and this is about the worst I’ve seen. You can’t call a person, you’re just at the mercy of the next support person telling you your ticket is in queue and you’ll receive an email when your ticket is being worked, with no idea of how many tickets are in queue, or when I will actually get some help.

We have reviewed your account and determined that it is in violation of Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). As a result, we are no longer able to host your store on the Shopify platform and your account has been closed.If you believe that your account was terminated in error, as a first step, please use this form to appeal the decision.
Please note that this email address is not monitored. Any responses submitted will not receive a reply.
Shopify’s Terms of Service can be found here.
Thank you,
Shopify Merchant Trust Team
Ticket ID: b563ea1b-f7e9-400a-9140-b196007603d3

2

Thanks for the response, appreciate you. I’ll hang out & continue to wait (my only option). Take care.

3

Thanks for the offer to help. Looking at your bullet points above that may trigger issues for Shopify, the only think that comes to mind is the fact that I’m living in Thailand now, but have my physical address listed as my permanent home in the U.S. So I’ll need to talk with someone with Shopify to explain this so they don’t cancel my store again. That is, assuming a support person ever gets back with me, which is questionable at this point.