Why was my store deleted by Shopify

Shopify Discussion

Topic summary

Sudden store deletion/suspension for alleged Terms of Service violations, triggered during a rebrand/wireframing. Merchant submitted requested verification within hours but has received no substantive response for 4 days; only generic replies from Risk/Operations (Merchant Trust Team; ticket ID shared).

Requested documents (per Shopify’s email):

  • Proof of address (recent utility bill/lease/insurance)
  • Proof of business association (license/registration/tax filing)
  • Proof of inventory (dated invoices/manufacturing agreements)
  • Social media links or explanation of traffic sources

Another merchant reports identical actions on two stores within 2 days; one is 6 years old with seven‑figure revenue. They report major financial losses daily and harm to SEO (search rankings).

Concern raised about loss of admin access (store backend), blocking access to content, assets, clients, and orders. One participant advises backing up data or considering alternative platforms.

No resolution yet. Merchants await Risk/Operations review and a specific explanation of the violation. Open questions: what policy was breached, expected review timeline, and whether admin access can be preserved during investigations.

Summarized with AI on December 27. AI used: gpt-5.
1

I was wireframing a new store within my current store account with a view to a rebrand. Without notice or specific reason Shopify deleted my site saying I had violated terms and conditions. They then asked me for additional information, which I supplied with hours. Now, radio silence for 4 days. No-one at Shopify risk-operations seem to able to give me an explanation other than generic statements: Baffling and very disappointing. Anybody else have these issues?

Hello,

Thank you for reaching out to us. Please be informed that In order to reconsider your account for eligibility to use Shopify we require some additional information with regards to your business model. You can send the following documents as attachments in response to this email:

* Proof of address - Utility bill (e.g. water, electricity, or gas bill from the past 3 months), lease agreement (dated) or property insurance (dated)

* Proof of business association (i.e. business license, business registration documents (with company number) or business tax filing record).

* Proof of inventory (i.e. dated supplier invoices, dated manufacturing agreements)

* Social media links related to your business (if none, please explain how are you driving traffic to your store)

Please make an effort to provide all of the above. However if one is unavailable, please either provide a relevant substitute and/or an explanation as to why it cannot be provided.

Please provide the above at your earliest convenience so that we can assist you further, in addition to any relevant context on your business model.

If you have any questions regarding this matter please respond to this email.

Thank you,

Shopify Merchant Trust Team

Ticket ID: 63e2f147-5cc7-4a7b-8f08-b89294f53354

2

Same thing happened to us on two stores in a 2 days interval. Waiting their risk and operations team to get back.
One store is 6 years old making 7 figures, we are loosing tens of thousands every day and our SEO efforts are going through the drain.

Blocking access to the website is one thing, blocking access to admin with our own content, assets, clients and orders is very doggy coming from a company as Shopify. I suggest everyone to backup their datas or move to different plateform.