A charge starting with SP, SP * or SHOPIFY* on your statement

There are two different charges here. SP followed by a name is a purchase from an online shop that uses Shopify to take cards; the name is the shop. SHOPIFY* followed by a 9-digit number is a bill for someone’s own Shopify store subscription.¹² Who you ask for your money back depends on which one you have.

What it looks like on a real statement

The State of Delaware publishes every purchase its employees make on state cards, with the merchant name as the bank received it. These lines are copied from that data as published.³

Delaware’s data has more than 7,000 lines starting SP , back to June 2017, when we checked on 26 September 2026. Up to March 2022 they read SP * NAME, with a star; from April 2022 every one reads SP NAME, without it.³ Long shop names get cut off mid-word, so search for the start of the name, not the whole thing.

The SHOPIFY* lines above are one store’s bill, taken every July from 2018 to 2026. Before 2021 the number had 8 digits, not 9.³ An account answering for Shopify on its forum put it as "8-10 numbers after the asterix".⁴ Some banks also cut the number short; Shopify says your bank can give you the full number.¹² Cardholders outside the US may see the country too: one in 2025 reported a line reading "SP shopify uae whoop", for AED 220.⁵

If it says SP and a shop name

1. Search your email for the shop name and the amount Search every address you use, including spam, for the first word after SP and for the exact amount (for example 44.39). Shopify’s advice is to "check your receipts for your recent purchases and contact the store".¹
2. Type the name into a search engine An account answering for Shopify on its forum said the default is for a shop’s line to carry its business name, and that shops can change it.⁴ The shop’s own website has its contact details and refund policy.
3. Ask the shop for the refund, in writing For a purchase from a shop, Shopify’s answer is to contact the store.¹ Keep the reply. You may need it in the next step.
4. If you cannot find the shop, or never bought anything, go to your bank Bring the statement line exactly as printed, the date and the amount, and what you already tried. Ask your bank what its deadline is for disputing a charge. It depends on the bank, the card network and the reason, and missing it can end your options.

If it says SHOPIFY* and a number

This is a subscription to Shopify itself, the fee someone pays to run a store. Shopify’s own page for people who find it on their statement suggests you "ask around the office or people close to you", because someone may have signed up with your card.¹

1. Check every email address you have for a store Shopify’s Forgot your store? tool emails you a list of stores attached to an address. Shopify suggests trying a different address if the first one finds nothing.²
2. If you find a store, close it Log in and deactivate the store from its settings. Shopify says that once you cancel "you won’t be charged again, but you are responsible for all previously incurred charges".¹
3. If there is no store, contact Shopify and your bank Shopify’s help article asks for the 9-digit bill number, a screenshot of the charge, the first 6 and last 4 digits of the card, and the email addresses you already checked.² You do not need a Shopify account to reach support: an account answering for Shopify on its forum sent a cardholder without one to this contact page.⁶ If you never agreed to the charge, Shopify also tells you to contact your bank or card provider directly.²

Can I get a refund from Shopify?

For a store you did sign up for and forgot about: probably not. Shopify’s page for cardholders says "Charges are non-refundable, but once you cancel you will never be charged again."¹ Cancel first, so the next bill does not come.

For a charge nobody you know made: Shopify’s help article has a section on requesting a refund "for unauthorized or incorrect charges", and lists the card and bill details you need to send.² A dispute through your bank is the other route. One cardholder with an unexplained $402.99 charge wrote in November 2023 that after they opened a dispute in their card’s app, the bank told them a credit had been posted by the merchant.⁷ That is their report, not our finding.

Is this fraud?

An SP line is usually a real purchase under a shop name you did not recognise. A SHOPIFY* line on a card that has never been used to open a store is different: Shopify’s own forum staff have told cardholders in that position that their card details may have been compromised and to report it to their bank.⁴⁸

These charges can be large and can repeat. On Shopify’s forum, one cardholder reported three charges of $433.99 in September 2023, showing only "SHOPIFY and a nine digit number".⁶ Another, in April 2025, reported being charged "almost $50 a month" for a store they did not know existed.⁹ If you see a SHOPIFY* charge you cannot place, ask your bank to replace the card as well as dispute the charge, so the next bill has nothing to land on.

Why this page is on a site about held money

The shops behind SP lines are paid by Shopify Payments, and sometimes Shopify holds their money. The Shopify Payments file collects what sellers report about that, and one page covers what it means for a shopper waiting on a refund. If your line says SQ * instead, that one is Square. Other lines are in the table of statement names.

Sources

1. Shopify, "What is this charge for?". shopify.com/charge. Read in full on 26 September 2026.
2. Shopify Help Center, "Resolving unknown charge issues on your Shopify bills". help.shopify.com. Read in full on 26 September 2026.
3. State of Delaware Open Data, State Employee Credit Card Transactions, fields "merchant", "trans_dt" and "merchandise_amt". Lines starting SP · lines starting SHOPIFY. Queried and counted on 26 September 2026.
4. Reply from the account Shay, 16 November 2023, on gmeni, "Finding out which Vendor charged my credit card", Shopify Community. community.shopify.com. The account is labelled "Retired" on the forum today. Verified 26 September 2026.
5. lgregori, "Unknown charge on my credit card", Shopify Community, 20 February 2025. community.shopify.com. Verified 26 September 2026.
6. Mikedg1347, "Why am I seeing three charges of 433.99 from an unknown source?", Shopify Community, 21 September 2023, and the reply from the account Shay the same day (labelled "Retired" today), which links the contact page. community.shopify.com. Verified 26 September 2026.
7. MotleyHatchet, 3 November 2023, on njollerich, "Why do I have an unknown $402.99 charge on my credit card?", Shopify Community. community.shopify.com. Verified 26 September 2026.
8. Reply from the account Shay, 14 March 2024, on Trebor817, "How did a Shopify charge appear on my bank statement?", Shopify Community. community.shopify.com. The account is labelled "Retired" on the forum today. Verified 26 September 2026.
9. Madashellish, "I am being billed for a phantom online store that I don’t even know about", Shopify Community, 18 April 2025. community.shopify.com. Verified 26 September 2026.