Solved

Why is Shopify's risk operation team holding my account?

Bornfemales
Tourist
4 1 6

I’ve always spoke so highly of Shopify until today . Unfortunately , I will be forced to take my business elsewhere . I usually use Stripe as a payment processor considering that I’ve had friends that spoke so negatively about Shopify’s Payment Processor and their funds always being held on hold . However , a few days ago I spoke to a Shopify Representative and they asserted me that the hold that most people are placed on is normal as it is a standard review done by Shopify to get customers to provide more information. 
WELL .....

Today was like the end my business ( BornFemales.com ) met ! After seeing that my account was placed on hold last night I contacted support and got a follow up email saying that I should provide additional documents for my business .... thinking that it was just a “standard review” I gladly provided my documents , did I mention that I paid my $29 monthly bill yesterday for a new cycle ? Few minutes after providing my documents I tried to access my account because my customers notified me that they weren’t able to get on the website...

I WAS LOCKED OUT OF MY ACCOUNT .... 

Confused and frustrated , I checked my email to see why I wasn’t able to access my account and neither were my customers (bare in mind that when my funds were on hold by Shopify Payments , their verbatim mentioned that my payments wouldn’t be affected) . I didn’t get an email , update or anything of the sort so ofcourse I contacted Shopify support again . 
The first representative said she spoke to the accounts team and they wanted to talk to me via email so she’d escalate the chat over to them . 
Barely relieved, I awaited an email from the accounts team . 2 hours later and I haven’t gotten an email so I contacted them again , this time another representative told me that it is normal for accounts to become unavailable while they do their standard review so I felt relieved. 

I awaited my email from the accounts team patiently because I assumed they’d have reviewed my account in a few minutes and it would be ready for my customers and myself to access it again ! 
Lord knows I waited patiently ..... it’s now 12 hours later , I’ve contacted support 6 times , everyone provided me with different information and I’m yet to receive an email from the Shopify Risk team . I don’t even know why my account was escalated to the “Risk team” ! Upset is barely a word to describe how I’m feeling and I will definitely be taking my business elsewhere as this is highly unprofessional and unacceptable. You log me out of my account and left me in the middle of the ocean to swim with the sharks ? I feel like this risk team is the end that my business will meet!

Accepted Solution (1)

Bornfemales
Tourist
4 1 6

This is an accepted solution.

After hours of waiting and speaking to atleast 7 Shopify Customer Service Representatives about why my payment was on hold and I was unable to access my account I finally got a worthless piece of email from a Shopify guru, here’s what he said: 

Hello there,

Finn here from the Risk Operations Team at Shopify. We are writing to you in regards to your account bornfemalesco.myshopify.com 

This email is to inform you that after reviewing your information and website we believe your business presents a level of risk that we will be unable to support with Shopify. I know this is not ideal, however we won't be able to help with your business.

At this time since Shopify has been deemed not a good fit for your business you will need to research other e-commerce platforms to find one that will be suitable. Regrettably we are not able to make recommendations to merchants.

Additionally, our banking partners determined that there was a high risk of chargebacks for the orders that were placed and have placed a 120 day reserve on the account. If there are no chargebacks in this time the full amount will be released to the bank account on file on 2020-11-06.

Please note that your last month's subscription and or domain you purchased has been refunded to the credit card used at the time. It might take a few days for refunds to show on your credit card statement, depending on your bank's processing times.

Please note that for security and privacy reasons we are unable to divulge the results of our reviews and investigations. Once an account has been declined the decision is final.

Thank you and I wish you all the best with your business going forward!

Kind regards.

 

I had so many orders to fulfill and send out to my customers and now my account is closed out and deemed “high risks” as well as my funds will be held captive for 120 days by Shopify ? Worst part is , my funds are needed to pay my virtual assistant , pay my bills and order ingredients to make more products . I spoke so highly of Shopify until

View solution in original post

Replies 31 (31)

Bornfemales
Tourist
4 1 6

This is an accepted solution.

After hours of waiting and speaking to atleast 7 Shopify Customer Service Representatives about why my payment was on hold and I was unable to access my account I finally got a worthless piece of email from a Shopify guru, here’s what he said: 

Hello there,

Finn here from the Risk Operations Team at Shopify. We are writing to you in regards to your account bornfemalesco.myshopify.com 

This email is to inform you that after reviewing your information and website we believe your business presents a level of risk that we will be unable to support with Shopify. I know this is not ideal, however we won't be able to help with your business.

At this time since Shopify has been deemed not a good fit for your business you will need to research other e-commerce platforms to find one that will be suitable. Regrettably we are not able to make recommendations to merchants.

Additionally, our banking partners determined that there was a high risk of chargebacks for the orders that were placed and have placed a 120 day reserve on the account. If there are no chargebacks in this time the full amount will be released to the bank account on file on 2020-11-06.

Please note that your last month's subscription and or domain you purchased has been refunded to the credit card used at the time. It might take a few days for refunds to show on your credit card statement, depending on your bank's processing times.

Please note that for security and privacy reasons we are unable to divulge the results of our reviews and investigations. Once an account has been declined the decision is final.

Thank you and I wish you all the best with your business going forward!

Kind regards.

 

I had so many orders to fulfill and send out to my customers and now my account is closed out and deemed “high risks” as well as my funds will be held captive for 120 days by Shopify ? Worst part is , my funds are needed to pay my virtual assistant , pay my bills and order ingredients to make more products . I spoke so highly of Shopify until

collinsatedlins
Visitor
1 0 2

I was searching the platform and came across your ordeal with shopify. They have done exactly the same thing to me. The support team have been very helpful but are useless in this case. 

There have been only three chargebacks on my account. The first two came from the same customer and who said someone used her card to make purchase on my store.

I sent an email to the recent costumer when shopify notified me it my be a high risk order. She replied that she made the purchase on my store. If shopify knows this is always a problem, they still leave the final decision to me who is not very experienced as a small business startup to either accept the order or reject it. I accepted the order since, I had an email confirming the purchase from the customer. 

The money was placed on hold for 120 days and later, they paid the money into my account. A week later, the risk team sent me an email saying there have been a chargeback on the purchase and are investigating. 

I waited patiently and paid the money back to shopify recovery team. My store was closed without notice and they sent me an email saying my store is high risk and cannot support my business and further. I sent all my business operation documents and bank statements to the risk team. I have sent emails upon emails to the risk team and am still waiting for their feedback. I have a full container load of stock but no platform to sell. I wanted to connect my stripe account to a new eCommerce platform. Stripe wrote to me that they can't support my business because it is a high risk. Obviously shopify had slapped a judgement on my store and given me a high risk business rating without even listening to me. 

What did I do wrong to deserve this horrible treatment?

zessmax
Tourist
5 0 3

They don't give a damn about the small business that just getting started. Like how we suppose to prevent this false customer scamming on our website. They should provide us with a solution to prevent it from happening again but no they don't care at all. 

TomicaMotors
Tourist
5 0 0

Same, our situation is even more perplexing.

Wonder07
Visitor
2 0 0

Thats a real joke.

what risks are they taking ? not being paid 30 dollars? 

Mrslindoshan
Visitor
1 0 0

They told me my account is high risk and closed it i have a business registration for my business and i was using stripe as payment and paypal too even amazon pay. I lost my account that I spent hundreds of dollars to create and design.

Matthew_Mariano
New Member
5 0 0

im having the same issue as all of you, they are holding over $40k and i cant even access the stores because they are inactive... and even after the 120 days they say the payout failed and i get no further responses from risk

TomicaMotors
Tourist
5 0 0

So you are completely unable to access the account?

See, we have had 0 chargebacks and no high risk payments but got the same reply, excluding that part about the chargeback risk, etc.

 

Did you ever regain access to the store?

Matthew_Mariano
New Member
5 0 0

Nope never did and they never respond... We did have quite a bit of chargebacks but thats because we didn't ship quarter of the orders when the held the payments because we weren't getting paid

FrustratedCust
Visitor
2 0 0

Please add me to the list.  This is excruciating.  We are a liquor store, so yes I understand you have extra risk analysis to perform, but its not ok to 

 

1. Not tell the customer that the money is being held

2. Not tell the customer why the money is being held or that more information is needed

3. After customer sends you response to request within 2hrs, it's not ok to ignore them for 3 days, and THEN FORWARD THE ORIGINAL REQUEST back again as if you never read the reply.

4. After responding yet another time, it's not ok to then ignore the customer forcing them to just hope you respond.

 

Hours, and days waiting.  $25,000 held by Shopify payments.  We called 4 or 5 times over 6 days, we were polite... we answered all requests - but the risk team goes silent and does not have a phone number.  How can you call yourself a payment processor and not offer phone support for this function.  It's ludicrous.

 

Finally I got a polite person on the phone and let her know that I understand she's supposed to tell me that no managers exist to answer escalated calls, and that the risk team only communicates over "email" (obfuscated zendesk ticket notes via email) - and that I would not hang up until she was able to make some kind of progress.. After 40 minutes on the phone with her, she was able to get our ticket re-assigned to a different rep on the risk team.  That rep reached out within 40 minutes and let us know she was submitting our information to the correct banking team and that we should have an answer in 24-72 hrs.

 

This is still a nightmare.  Be Warned!!!

FrustratedCust
Visitor
2 0 0

Has anyone in this thread made any progress getting to speak with a higher-up or manager about issues like this.  This can't be ok.

 

Also how did this thread get marked Solved? There is clearly no solution to this issue.

Lukas9
Visitor
1 0 0

We are small business and have a balance of $89k on Hold which its a lots of money for us. We need to pay our employees and suppliers from money what we earn. We have 0 chargebacks as we already ship all the products. We need to wait 90 days… For What??? This is ruining our business... If it's 30 days, it's understandable because it's a period when still some chargeback can show up... But 3 months?Its Corona Time what is bad for business, but Shopify make it even worst. We are without products and without funds for 3 months… We still dont know a reason. Shopify is quiet, risk operation does not respond, also they dont respond here on their own forum… 

Why? 

Sheabenson
New Member
4 0 0

Message me at infinitycastlebar@gmail.com I will try to help you 

Sheabenson
New Member
4 0 0

Message me at infinitycastlebar@gmail.com I can try to help you

darian3155
Tourist
5 0 0

How long did you end up having to wait for the payout?

 

zessmax
Tourist
5 0 3
They never send it. GONE!
darian3155
Tourist
5 0 0

Have you contacted any attorney's?

zessmax
Tourist
5 0 3
No, not worth the fees.

Garypaul
Visitor
1 0 2

I have a similar story like you and also my shop is closed. The risk team never told the reason and how to fix it.

Bornfemales
Tourist
4 1 6

It’s so frustrating and now my money is still held on reserve . 

dannycohen81
New Member
26 0 0

Hi,

 I work with Best Merchant Services, here we help merchants from Shopify get up and running by leveraging our relationships with banks to help high risk merchants get approvals. 

Email me if you have any questions:

danny@bestmerchantservices.com

Regards,

Danny 

zessmax
Tourist
5 0 3

I ask them: "Why is my account on HOLD? As soon I start receiving orders, all of sudden my account on HOLD. Why is that?"

Next thing you know I receive an email saying my account is closed.

dannycohen81
New Member
26 0 0

Hi,

 I work with Best Merchant Services, here we help merchants from Shopify get up and running by leveraging our relationships with banks to help high risk merchants get approvals. 

Email me if you have any questions:

danny@bestmerchantservices.com

Regards,

Danny 

Bornfemales
Tourist
4 1 6
No! ❤️

Elvenagri
Visitor
1 0 0

We had same issue and not getting any response from shopify. We have just started shop and showing same message "Your Shopify Payments account is on hold". Its very frustrating and annoying shopify is doing. Even not giving valid reason.

zessmax
Tourist
5 0 3
They going to shut down your whole store without an explanation watch. I
will never be in business with them. I swear.

elmoutamassik0
Tourist
5 0 0

Hi dear, 

I would like to know how it went, did you solve the problem? 

Sheabenson
New Member
4 0 0

Experiencing the same thing now waiting for them to get back to me its such a pain

BorneBotanicals
Visitor
1 0 1

These clowns are still at it.  We've decided to bail and go to a different platform due to the hostile Shopify team.  

Our story is similar to yours; feels like we've been lied to, used and stolen from.  Yucky.  

elmoutamassik0
Tourist
5 0 0

I'm going through the same process & I've no idea where this is going to lead me. this is not professional at all.

sleekhun
New Member
7 0 0

same here. I haven't even made sales yet they say my business is high risk and declined my account.

Risk Operation Team: We are the only truth. 

 

Ella (Shopify)

Jun 21, 2022, 08:47 EDT

Hello there,

Ella here from the Risk Operations Team at Shopify. We are writing to you in regards to your account sleekhun.myshopify.com

This email is to inform you that after reviewing your information and website we believe your business presents a level of risk that we will be unable to support with Shopify. I know this is not ideal, however we won't be able to help with your business.

At this time since Shopify has been deemed not a good fit for your business you will need to research other e-commerce platforms to find one that will be suitable. Regrettably we are not able to make recommendations to merchants.

Please note that for security and privacy reasons we are unable to divulge the results of our reviews and investigations. Once an account has been declined the decision is final.

Thank you and I wish you all the best with your business going forward!

Kind regards,

Ella
Risk Analyst | Shopify