Why is Shopify holding my funds for 120 days?

Topic summary

Multiple merchants report Shopify Payments placing 120‑day payout holds, account closures, and “reserve” balances that freeze working capital.

Original poster: Funds were released after shipping, then 30 days later a new 120‑day hold froze about $25,000 until December. Support responses are slow and non‑specific; suggested refunds/cancellations are impractical while funds are held.

Others echo similar experiences: payouts moved to a Reserve Fund with no access, cited risk from returns/cancellations. One merchant says Shopify counted manual cancellations as returns, pushing their return ratio above 1% (self‑calculated 0.3%), leading to a shutdown with no warning.

Actions and advice shared:

  • Seeking lawyers/joint litigation; one UK merchant is contacting Canadian government departments over ~10k held.
  • Switching platforms (e.g., ShopWired) and processors (Stripe or Square), and exporting/backing up themes, transactions, and data.

Outcomes: Mixed. One participant reports not receiving funds back; another later confirms they did receive the money after the full 120‑day period.

Status: Ongoing. Reasons for holds remain undisclosed; no clear way to expedite. Key question—when and how funds are released—often unanswered until the hold period ends.

Summarized with AI on December 16. AI used: gpt-5.

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