HeldFunds Public record
The Shopify Payments file
When Shopify Payments is disabled on a store, the balance is held. The period merchants are quoted is 120 days — it is the figure in 37 of the 140 accounts below. That figure is not in your contract. It appears nowhere in the Shopify Payments Terms of Service, which set no maximum length for a hold at all. 7
Every entry is something the person it happened to published themselves, under their own posting name, on Shopify's own community forum or on the r/shopify forum on Reddit — a page you can open. They are their reports, not our findings.
The 19 from Reddit were added in October 2026.10 We searched r/shopify for the words merchants use (“payouts on hold”, “funds held”, “reserve”, “payouts paused”, “120 days” and others), read all 148 posts that came back, and recorded one only where the poster describes their own store and gives an amount, a hold period or a date the store was closed. Questions, news round-ups, verification pauses with no amount or period, and billing disputes over Shopify’s own subscription were left out. Two posts were by merchants already in this file and were added to their existing entries instead. Of the 19, 1 later wrote that the money was paid, 1 that part of it was, and 16 that it was still held at their last word; the other 1 do not say.
1. The record
| File | Amount stated | Held since | Hold period quoted | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| HF-2026-0011 Custom jewellery brand | over £900 | June 2026; they say the account had been processing through Shopify Payments since April 2026 and that the post, dated 5 June 2026, describes the current state | Funds held until October 2026, which they count as four months away | HELD |
| HF-2026-0012 Online retail store; product type not stated | Not stated | January 2026; the post is dated 12 January 2026 | 120 days | HELD |
| HF-2026-0013 Online retail store; product type not stated | Not stated | October 2025; they give 19 September 2025 as the date of the warning email and 1 October 2025 as the date Shopify Payments was disabled | 120 days | HELD |
| HF-2026-0014 Online yoga classes | $17,000 | July 2024; they say the account had been pending verification since 23 July | No period given; they say they were told they were no longer authorised to use the platform and were not told where the balance was | HELD |
| HF-2026-0015 Online retail store; product type not stated | $4,800 | June and July 2024; they give 1 June 2024 as their first sale, 10 June 2024 as the day the payout was moved back out of the payout tab, and say by 4 July 2024 the account had been banned with a 120-day hold | 120 days | HELD |
| HF-2026-0016 Not stated | Not stated | Not dated directly; they say on 7 April 2024 that the funds had been held for 120 days, which places the start around December 2023 | 120 days, with 4 April 2024 given as the deposit date | HELD |
| HF-2026-0017 Three online stores; product type not stated | Not stated | Not dated directly; they say the 120-day hold had already run and that the reserve completion date they were given was 3 September 2024 | 120 days, followed by a reserve with a completion date of 3 September 2024 | HELD |
| HF-2026-0018 Online retail store; product type not stated | over 100k | Not dated directly; they say on 13 March 2024 that the 120 days had passed that day, which places the start around November 2023 | 120 days | HELD |
| HF-2026-0019 Not stated | Not stated | November 2023; they say their account was closed down that month | 120 days, which they say expired on 29 March 2024 | HELD |
| HF-2026-0020 Not stated | Not stated | Not dated directly; they say on 26 April 2024 that it had been a little over 125 days, which places the start around late December 2023 | 120 days, with 17 April 2024 given as the date they would be paid | HELD |
| HF-2026-0021 Online retail store; product type not stated | Not stated | Not dated directly; they say on 26 April 2025 that the payout had been on hold for over 220 days, which places the start around September 2024 | No period given; the hold had run over 220 days by the time they posted | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0062 Own-brand consumer product manufactured to the merchant’s own formula | $55,000 | May 2026; the post is dated 15 May 2026 | Frozen until September 2026, which they describe as a 120 day freeze | HELD |
| HF-2026-0063 Online clothing store | $13,000 | A 20% hold was placed in the summer of 2025; the reserve balance at issue accrued between October and November 2025. The post is dated 4 December 2025 | A 20% hold with a stated release date of 25 November 2025 | HELD |
| HF-2026-0064 Online clothing store, unbranded, opened December 2025 | $10,000 | March 2026; the post is dated 31 March 2026 and describes a hold applied that morning | Payouts held until 31 July 2026 if the appeal is unsuccessful | HELD |
| HF-2026-0065 Online store; product type not stated | Not stated | April 2026, when they say the Shopify Payments account was placed on hold | Told by email that payouts would be deposited on 29 August 2026, which they count as 120 days; the date shown to them later changed to 2027 | HELD |
| HF-2026-0066 Online store; product type not stated | Not stated | The account was terminated on 8 July 2025 | 120 days at termination; after the 120 days elapsed they say they were told the payout would be held for a further 365 days, which they count as 485 days in total | HELD |
| HF-2026-0067 Online store; product type not stated | $10,000 | A 20% reserve was applied on 31 December 2024 and was escalated to a full hold before their post of 14 January 2025 | No end date given; they say they were told the matter sat with the legal team | HELD |
| HF-2026-0068 Online store with employees on payroll | $70,000 | They say the affected transactions have been pending since around October 2024; they discovered the balance on 28 February 2025 | No hold period given to them; they say the payouts simply never arrived | HELD |
| HF-2026-0069 Online store; product type not stated | approx AUD$30,000 | They say the shortfall accrued across 2024 payouts and that they identified it in March 2025 | Not a hold with a stated end date. They say the amounts were never paid out at all, and that Shopify disputes that they are owed | HELD |
| HF-2026-0070 New perfume business | $40 | They say the payouts had been on hold for over a month when they posted on 7 February 2025, placing the start in January 2025 | No hold period given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-0071 New store; service not stated | nearly £2000 | They say the store was opened just over two weeks before their post of 20 October 2025 and was closed within 24 hours of opening, placing the closure in early October 2025 | No hold period given to them; they say support would give no timescale at all | HELD |
| HF-2026-0072 Online store selling gift cards among other products | $1,500 | They say the account was terminated on 7 March 2025 | No hold period given to them; they say no reason for the termination was given either | HELD |
| HF-2026-0073 Online store; product type not stated | Over €5,000 | They say payouts were frozen on 3 January 2026 | No hold period given to them; they quote a support agent as saying "We currently do not have any maximum wait time" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0074 Online store operated through an LLC | $1,178 | They say payouts were paused on 24 February 2026, the day they opened the store, and were still locked when they posted on 31 May 2026 | No hold period given to them; they say they were told in March 2026 there was no timeframe because of a "unique review process" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0075 Online store; product type not stated | $499 | They say the store was deactivated more than 120 days before their post of 6 July 2025, placing the deactivation no later than March 2025 | The 120 days they were told to wait had already elapsed; no new date was given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-0076 Shopify Plus merchant; product type not stated | $200,000 | They say payouts had been paused for 12 days when they posted on 29 July 2026, placing the start around 17 July 2026 | No hold period given to them; documents were requested on 18 July 2026 with a deadline, which they say they met | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0077 Online store run through an ERP system | $361 | They say the account was restricted in June 2026 | No hold period given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-0078 Online store | Over £10k+ | No start date given; posted 1 May 2026 | No timeframe given; they say frontline support could not give one | HELD |
| HF-2026-0079 Online store | $17,000 | They say the payout hold was placed in March 2026 | They say the verification page said they would get a reply within a week | HELD |
| HF-2026-0080 Bricks-and-mortar boutique selling through Shopify | $70,000 | They say the account went under review on 17 April 2024 | No hold period given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-0081 New online shop selling a single t-shirt product | $26,000 | They say the payout account was put on hold on 26 June 2024 | They say support called it a standard review and promised an email that never came | HELD |
| HF-2026-0082 Online store | $4,350 | They say the store was frozen over an unpaid subscription invoice; posted 11 September 2026 | No hold period given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-0083 Online store, still open and shipping | 4700 EUR | They say payouts have been stuck since a failed payout on 16 January 2025 | No hold period given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-0084 New candle business | $2,000 | They say payouts were paused after they entered a wrong bank account number; posted 26 September 2025 | No timeframe given; they describe it as an indefinite wait | HELD |
| HF-2026-0085 Second business website added to a ten-year-old Shopify account | $1600 | They say payments were held from about 23 September 2025; posted 30 September 2025 | No hold period given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-0086 Store selling second-hand designer clothing and shoes | Not stated | They say the account was deactivated on 25 August 2023 | A moderator account answering for Shopify told them in the thread that payouts may be held up to 120 days and are then deposited to the bank account on file | HELD |
| HF-2026-0087 Clothing label designing and assembling its own garments, three years on the platform | $13,000 | They say all payouts were put on hold on 1 December 2023 | No period was given to them. An account answering for Shopify in the thread (it belongs to the forum’s Shopify-staff group and today carries the title "Retired") said reviews generally take between one and three business days | HELD |
| HF-2026-0088 Online store | $10,941.33 | They say the payout has not been released since 24 April 2025 | No period was given to them; they cite two open support tickets, #57121008 and #57425991 | HELD |
| HF-2026-0089 Small business trading for almost five years on the platform | $3,000 | They say the payout account had been on hold for three weeks when they posted on 8 December 2022 | An email they quote, signed by a Shopify risk analyst, says the hold was requested to be removed and that the payouts screen "should refresh in the next 2-5 business days"; a later email from the same person says the release had been asked of the banking partners "on Friday" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0090 New store, first orders | $1,330.02 | They say a temporary new-account payout hold was placed on their first orders, which were paid on 3 and 4 July 2026 | They were given 6 July 2026 as the expected lift date, and support quoted them estimated payouts "around July 10, 2026" and "around July 11, 2026" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0091 Store buying from a supplier | Not stated | They say the payouts were put on hold without warning; by 4 January 2024 they date the hold at more than two weeks, which places its start in the second half of December 2023 | A support agent told them they would receive an email from the payments team in three business days | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0092 Store not described | Not stated | They say their payouts were deactivated in the system and that the fault was escalated in January 2026 | No period was given to them; they say four or five support advisors promised a follow-up that never came, across six tickets, the most recent numbered 65574666 | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0093 Online store; products not described | $1,500 | July 2022; they say a sale of 15 July 2022 was scheduled for payout on 18 July and was still marked pending on 28 July | No hold period was given to them. They list four scheduled payout dates that came and went — 18, 26 and 28 July and 2 August 2022 — and say support told them the delay was caused by their own change of payout date, "which was not the case" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0094 Store selling items from the owner’s personal collection | $7,000 | February 2023; the post is dated 9 February 2023 and puts the hold at 72 hours old | They say a company representative told them the payout hold "would only last a few minutes" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0095 Automotive retailer, in business since 2017 | $6,000 | March 2023; the post is dated 14 March 2023, the day they say the store was closed | They say they were told the funds would be held for 120 days to cover the risk of chargebacks | UNKNOWN |
| HF-2026-0096 Individual selling collectible golf putters from a 20-year personal collection | $8,000 | March 2023; they say the store opened on 2 March 2023, the payout hold was notified on 20 March and the account was terminated on 23 March, the day of the post | No hold period was given to them; they say the termination email cited the acceptable use policy without identifying the violation | HELD |
| HF-2026-0097 Store not described | $3,200 | November 2023; they say the store was terminated for an acceptable use policy violation about a week after the payout hold began, and on 17 March 2024 they counted the wait at 113 days | 120 days | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0098 Newly opened store; products not described | a couple thousand in sales | March 2024; they say they logged in on a Saturday to find the next payment field showing $0, and posted about it on 13 March 2024 | Two different periods were given to them by support: the first agent said payments would likely be back on the Monday, and a second said "it typically takes 3-5 days.. but most times it’s done in 3 days" | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0099 Seller of ebooks delivered instantly by email | Not stated | March 2024; the account went under review and payouts were held from 21 March 2024 | They say a company representative told them the review should take 3 business days | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0100 Family business with two physical stores and one online store, three years on the platform | £3,000 on hold | April 2024; they say the hold appeared without warning, their first post being on 2 April 2024, and that writing on 4 April their last payout had been "THURSDAY LAST WEEK" | No period was given to them; they say they received no email asking for information and were told three times by chat that the case had been escalated | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0101 Shopify Plus merchant; revenue doubled between February and April 2024 | Not stated | May 2024; they say a 10 per cent reserve was placed on the account on 6 May 2024 and that payouts were held at 100 per cent about ten days later | A 10 per cent reserve for 90 days, placed on 6 May 2024 | HELD |
| HF-2026-0102 New store, terminated before its first payout | Not stated | August 2025; they say the store was terminated on or just before 26 August 2025 | The termination email they quote says: "The full amount of your store’s pending payouts are typically held for 120 days by the processor." | HELD |
| HF-2026-0103 Online store; products not described | $5,000 | Around late June 2024; on 18 July 2024 they say they had been waiting three weeks for the payout | No period was given to them; they say the eventual explanation was that the bank account details on file did not match theirs and had to be corrected manually by an accounting team | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0104 Online store; products not described | 6-figures stuck in Shopify Payments | Around late April 2024; on 29 May 2024 they say they had been messaging support for over a month about a hold that had not been removed | They say support repeated the same answer each time: "Please wait 3 business days" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0105 Dropshipping store selling branded merchandise | Not stated | They say the payouts had been on hold "since June" 2022; first posted 17 July 2022 | On 19 July 2022 they say Shopify told them that, because the store was being closed, "my funds since they are closing my store will be released in 2/3 business days" | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0106 Store selling custom-made hoodies and shoes | Not stated | They say they were told on 13 July 2022 that the store was under review; first posted 17 July 2022 | Two different figures in their own account of the same week: support told them on 13 July 2022 to "give them 24-72 hours", and, in a post the same day on a second thread, that support said "2-4 business days I’ll get an update" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0107 High-end watch dealer, about three years on the platform | $30,000 | They say the money had been held "for over 2 weeks" when they posted on 16 January 2024 | They say support told them four times that it "will be resolved in 48-72 hours" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0108 Online boutique | $1,200 | They say the account was frozen and that they then received an email saying the balance account had been closed; posted 22 May 2024 | No hold period given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-0109 Small online store | $7,000 | They say they had been going back and forth with support "for about a month and some days" when they posted on 3 June 2024, which places the start around late April 2024 | They say support told them they "should be receiving payouts by the end of the following day"; that day passed with nothing | HELD |
| HF-2026-0110 Store about a week old, taking over 100 orders a day | $13,000 | They say the payouts had been on hold for three days when they posted on 5 June 2024, which places the start around 2 June 2024 | They say support told them each time to "wait 24-48 hours" and that their case was prioritised | HELD |
| HF-2026-0111 Online store | Not stated | They say they were emailed on 14 August 2024 asking for identity documents, and that the payouts due for 9 and 10 August 2024 were then shown as failed | They say that after they submitted the documents they were emailed that the money would be held in reserve for 120 days | HELD |
| HF-2026-0112 Boutique that went viral, over 1,000 orders | Not stated | They say the funds had been held since July 2024; posted 8 October 2024 | They say that when the payouts account was closed they were told the funds would be held "for another three months", on top of the hold that had run since July | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0113 Store run on the platform for 10 to 15 years | $1,200 | They say the misdirected payouts ran through November and December 2024 and that they discovered the problem in early January 2025 | They say that in March 2025 they were told to "wait another 30 to 90 days and perhaps we might get our money" | PARTIAL |
| HF-2026-0114 Small business, self-described | 9x | They say a refund posted after they had moved funds out, that it rolled for two weeks, and that the same message then repeated daily from 11 September 2025 | They say the on-screen status named a specific payout date each day — 11, 12, 13, 14 and then 15 September 2025 — and that support said each time that "it will happen with the next payout" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0115 Online store | Not stated | They say Shopify Payments was disabled "a month and half" before their post of 22 January 2026, which places it around December 2025 | They say support told them refunds could not be processed because of the payouts hold, and that the negative balance had to be under $5,000 before anything could be processed | HELD |
| HF-2026-0116 Online store | $4,762.08 | They say the five refunds were initiated on 29 May 2026 and failed on 14 July 2026 at 10:03 PM | They say each failure record states that the amount "will be returned to you in your next payout", and that payouts are on hold, so those credits cannot post | HELD |
| HF-2026-0117 Seller who moved to Shopify from eBay and Amazon | $8,800 | They say the order was flagged as high risk about a month after they opened the account, that they were told they could not use Shopify Payments, and that they issued the refund on 18 October 2023 | They say they were told the funds would be held for 120 days. They quote a support advisor writing that on that date "the refund can be processed", and suggesting they email the Trust and Safety team "requesting to enable the funds just for processing the refund, so you don’t have to wait for such a long time" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0118 Small online store, self-described | 30,000€ in payouts frozen | They say the payout freeze and the restrictions began more than ten days before their post of 12 June 2026 | They say no period was given at all: "No clear explanation. No proper resolution. No meaningful support. No timeline. No access to the funds." | HELD |
| HF-2026-0119 Florist selling gift baskets containing wine | Not stated | They say notice arrived on 24 November 2023, the day before Black Friday, and that their last payout was 23 November 2023 | They say no timeline was ever given, only repeated emails saying the banking partners were reviewing. A Shopify account with a staff badge replied on the thread that "There is no guaranteed turn around time in reviewing these cases" | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0120 Store selling licensed character products | Not stated | They say the email questioning their products arrived on 30 November 2023, that payouts were stopped the same day, and that the website was shut down on 5 December 2023 | They say no period was given; the answer was "the same blah, blah, blah" from support every day | UNKNOWN |
| HF-2026-0121 Wine seller, online and point of sale | Not stated | They say the compliance review and the payout hold began on 2 December 2023 and that Shopify Payments was disabled on 4 December 2023 | They say they were told only to wait for the review to be complete, and that they got one day of warning before the shutdown | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0122 Authorised retailer of running shoes, apparel and nutrition; they say the shop would gross about $700,000 in 2023 | Not stated | They say an email from the risk management address on 14 December 2023 told them payouts were on hold because of branded products on the site | They say they were told the next day that the information had been sent to the banking partners for review, with no period given | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0123 Online store, several years on the platform | Not stated | They say their last payout was about six weeks before 15 January 2024, which places the start of the hold in early December 2023 | They say they were told the review was complete and the hold would be removed in "24-48 hours" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0124 Online store using the platform’s own money account | $3,037 | They say the account was blocked and payouts paused on 21 May 2024, after two payouts had been made | They say the notice in their admin read "It takes 2 business days to verify the info". They say that three weeks later nothing had happened | HELD |
| HF-2026-0125 Consumer goods company; they describe themselves as a top ten per cent performing store on the platform | a very big amount on hold | They first posted about the hold on 6 March 2024, saying the amount locked was growing | Not stated in their posts | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-0126 Online store | $7,000 | They say the payouts had been pending for over a week when they posted on 12 August 2024 | They say nobody had emailed them about the additional documentation they were told to submit | HELD |
| HF-2026-0127 Online store | over $400k is being held | They say the money had been held for 21 days when they posted on 23 August 2024, and that the hold relates to chargebacks | They say that in over 21 days the only answer from the company has been "we’re working on it" | HELD |
| HF-2026-0128 Online store; they say it takes about $1,500 a day | Not stated | They say payments were suspended and documents demanded shortly before their first post on 8 August 2024 | They say no timetable was given. A Shopify account with a staff badge replied on their French-language thread on 19 August 2024 that "Il est difficile de vous donner un calendrier précis concernant le traitement de ce type de demande" — it is difficult to give a precise timetable for this kind of request | HELD |
| HF-2026-1063 Online store | ~€2,000 | About March 2026: the post is dated 16 March 2026 and gives no earlier date for the reserve | A 365-day reserve, in their words "a 365-day reserve by Shopify Payments". They say the same store had been reinstated before "after 120 days" | HELD |
| HF-2026-1064 Fishing, camping and outdoor gear store | $7,584.92 | They say card payouts have been withheld "since December 23, 2025" | None stated. They say the explanation given was "that my available balance is negative", which their own exported data contradicts | HELD |
| HF-2026-1065 Shopify store; business not described | $500,000 | About September 2026: the post is dated 20 September 2026 and gives no earlier date | None stated. They say their appeal was denied | HELD |
| HF-2026-1066 Online store on Shopify Plus; they say they have sold on Shopify for years | $18,000 | They say "On March 24, 2026, a 30% reserve was placed on my payouts" | They say they were told the reserve "would be lifted once my chargeback rate stayed under 1% for 30 consecutive days", and that their rate had been under 0.50% for 48 consecutive days | HELD |
| HF-2026-1067 Shopify store; business not described | $40,000 | They say "July 2024, my shopify account was terminated" | They say the funds were "set to be released November 14th" and were "over 2 weeks LATE" when they posted on 29 November 2024 | PARTIAL |
| HF-2026-1068 Shopify store on the standard plan; business not described | $14,000 | They say "April 8, 2026: 30% Shopify Payments reserve applied following a temporary card-testing/chargeback event" | They say Shopify told them the reserve could be released early if their chargeback rate stayed below 1% for 30 consecutive days while they kept processing through Shopify Payments, and that they met those conditions on 15 May 2026 | HELD |
| HF-2026-1069 Shopify store with office staff; business not described | $116,826.91 | They say the payouts "were completely paused after a single automated deposit of $704.84 failed on September 25" (2026) | No period given; they say support told them the block needs Shopify’s risk and underwriting team to clear it manually | HELD |
| HF-2026-1070 Shopify store; business not described | Not stated | They say that on 1 February 2023 Shopify’s Trust & Safety team wrote that the shop’s chargeback rate was 1.69%, and that reserved funds have been held since February 2023 | They say "the money is being unfairly held until early June 2023" | UNKNOWN |
| HF-2026-1071 Shopify store that ran paid ads; business not described | Not stated | They say a reserve was "implemented 90 days ago" when they posted on 20 October 2023 | They say the reserve was "scheduled to be fully paid out next week", then a new email said "half of my funds will be held for an additional 90 days, that is 6 months of my money being held" | UNKNOWN |
| HF-2026-1072 Online store running ads; business not described | My pending balance is now £2,780.00 | They say payouts "have been on hold since Sep 25" (2026) under a manual account review | No timeframe given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-1073 Online store; business not described | more than HKD 78,000 remains inaccessible | They say their case was escalated on Monday, 28 September 2026, after the admin said their bank details were incorrect and payouts were paused | No timeframe given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-1074 High-volume online store; they cite 11,800+ fulfilled orders | $90,000 | They say the reserve was placed "nearly two weeks ago" when they posted on 5 April 2025 | No timeline given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-1075 Online store fulfilling orders daily; business not described | $2,998.19 | They say identity verification went to manual review on 16 April 2026 and payouts have been frozen since | They say they were told the specialist team would contact them "within approximately 48 hours", and later, on 6 May, that the credit risk team would respond in 1–3 business days | HELD |
| HF-2026-1076 Online store running ads; paid out to a USD checking account | $77.49 | Not dated; they say payments stayed paused after their identity verification was approved on 3 February 2026 | No timeframe given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-1077 New online store; closed after its first sale | Not stated | They say the shop was closed "more than three months ago", about a day after its first sale; they posted on 6 December 2024 | "the funds will be held in a reserve for 120 days" | HELD |
| HF-2026-1078 Two online stores | £3,580 | Not dated; posted 1 January 2025. They say the second store was flagged after seven days | A 120-day reserve on the first store | HELD |
| HF-2026-1079 Small business selling since 2021; new Shopify store | $800 | They say they received the account closure email on the morning of 21 March 2024 | "MY CUSTOMERS FUNDS ARE BEING HELD FOR 120 DAYS" | HELD |
| HF-2026-1080 Online store | Not stated | They say the store "got closed for no reason in october 2023" | They say they were told the payout "would be released on feb 22nd 2024, 120 days to be exact" | HELD |
| HF-2026-1081 Online store; business not described | $7,000 | They say payments had been held "for weeks" when they posted on 29 December 2023 | No timeframe given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-1082 Online store; on Shopify for about a month, with an account open over two years | $20,000 | They say it "started on a payout in-transit on the 22nd" of December 2023 | No timeframe given to them | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-1083 Online shop over two years old | $10,000 | They say payouts have been on hold "since Dec 27 4pm (PST)" (2023) | No timeframe given in their posts | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-1084 Online store; business not described | $210,000 | They say the money has been held "since July" (2024); they posted on 4 October 2024 | No timeframe given | HELD |
| HF-2026-1085 Online store; closed | the full amount of 801.9 EUR | They say the store was closed with a 120-day reserve; the release date given was 30 July 2023 | They quote a Trust & Safety email: "If there are no chargebacks in this time the full amount of 801.9 EUR will be released to the bank account on file on July 30, 2023." | HELD |
| HF-2026-1086 Online boutique on Shopify for close to four years | $13,000 | They say the site was deactivated and the money frozen as soon as three new sales were deposited; they say they disputed it the week before posting on 29 January 2024 | No timeframe given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-1087 Store on Shopify for almost three years; they say the sale was a point-of-sale transaction | Not stated | They say they got the closure email on 19 May 2023 | "funds will be held for 120 days then after 120 days payment released to me" | HELD |
| HF-2026-1088 Online store run under two LLCs; they say 11 people depend on its payouts | $11,000 | They say payouts were held on 11 July 2026, hours after they deactivated and reactivated Shopify Payments on support’s instructions to switch it to a new company | No timeframe given to them | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-1089 Small business | $1,100 | They say payouts have been paused "since April 5th" (2025) | No timeframe given to them | HELD |
| HF-2026-1090 Online store; business not described | over 10k | They say they had not had a payout "for two weeks" when they posted on 19 May 2025 | No timeframe given | HELD |
| HF-2026-1091 Custom leatherwork and vintage handbags; in business since 2014, as they state | $1,200 | They say there had been a hold "since July 14th", the second hold that July | No timeframe given | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-1092 Shop selling licensed branded goods and drinks; one product, a gin, was questioned as a CBD product | 5000 GBP | August 2022; the emails they quote are dated 19 and 20 August 2022 | They say they were given 48 hours to submit documents | UNKNOWN |
| HF-2026-1093 Online store; business not described | $2,000 | Held when they posted on 16 September 2022 | No timeframe given; the notice called it a "standard review" | HELD |
| HF-2026-1094 Online stores, inactive at the time of posting | $40,000 | Held for more than 120 days when they posted on 4 August 2021 | 120 days | HELD |
| HF-2026-1095 Liquor store | $25,000 | Held when they posted on 12 August 2021, after about six days of calls | They say a risk team member told them to expect an answer in 24 to 72 hours | UNKNOWN |
| HF-2026-1096 Small business selling goods online; they state employees and suppliers depend on the payouts | $89,000 | Held when they posted on 24 August 2021 | 90 days, as they state | HELD |
| HF-2026-1097 Online store; a Shopify customer since September 2018, as they state | $7,000 | They say payouts were on hold from 11 January 2023 | They say it was described as a "standard review" that "should have taken 72 hours" | UNKNOWN |
| HF-2026-1098 Honey producer; four months on Shopify, the same website for 25 years, as they state | $2,600 | 28 March 2023, the day they saw the hold notice | They say support told them a manual review takes 24 to 72 hours | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-1099 Online store using Shopify Payments for two years, as they state | $7,000 | Held when they posted on 28 June 2023 | No timeframe stated in their first post | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-1100 Online store; held at its first payout, as they state | $4,000 | On hold for "6+ days" when they posted on 3 January 2024 | No timeframe given | HELD |
| HF-2026-1101 Online store on Shopify since 2018; newly switched from eWAY to Shopify Payments | about $700 | Held when they posted on 1 August 2024, after three days of chat support | No timeframe given | HELD |
| HF-2026-1102 Online store making its own products, as they state | Not stated | Payouts put on hold on the night of 9 July 2020; the store was locked and closed on 10 July 2020, as they state | A 120-day reserve; the email they quote says the full amount "will be released to the bank account on file on 2020-11-06" if there are no chargebacks | HELD |
| HF-2026-1103 Small online store, started recently, as they state | Not stated | Before August 2020; they do not give the month the hold began | 120 days | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-1104 Selling used and new video games locally, using Shopify to take card payments, as they state | Not stated | Payouts put on hold on 17 August 2022; an email on 18 August 2022 said the account was terminated, as they state | A 120-day reserve; the email they quote says the full amount "will be released to the bank account on file on 2022-12-16" if there are no chargebacks | HELD |
| HF-2026-1105 Clothing store on Shopify for three years, using Shopify Payments and Shopify Balance, as they state | $30,000 | Mid-August 2022: on 24 August 2022 they wrote that a Risk Agent asked for documents "last week" and then declined Shopify Payments | No timeframe given | UNKNOWN |
| HF-2026-1650 Online store selling physical products | Not stated | April 2024 | A 20% reserve for 120 days | HELD |
| HF-2026-1651 Online store; product type not stated | Not stated | June 2024 | Not stated; described to the poster as a standard review | RELEASED |
| HF-2026-1652 Online store using a third-party supplier | Not stated | Not stated; reported on 14 September 2024 | 120 days | HELD |
| HF-2026-1653 Online store about a month old, run by two partners | Not stated | Late November or early December 2024, after Black Friday | A 20% reserve for 120 days, after a full freeze of payouts | HELD |
| HF-2026-1654 Registered company selling phones, earbuds, computers and game consoles | Not stated | 13 December 2024 | Payouts “within 120 days”, per the Merchant Trust Team | HELD |
| HF-2026-1655 Brick-and-mortar retailer of about 20 years with an online store | Not stated | January 2025 | Not stated; support said the review form would take a month to look at | HELD |
| HF-2026-1656 Reseller of sports and Pokémon cards, on Shopify for two months | Not stated | March 2025; payouts paused first, the account disabled on about 20 March | Not stated | HELD |
| HF-2026-1657 Online store selling meerschaum pipes and products from AliExpress | Not stated | 4 September 2025 | 120 days, per the termination email | UNKNOWN |
| HF-2026-1658 Online store launched 19 September 2025 | $10,000 | 19 November 2025 | Not stated; Shopify Payments to be disabled in three days | HELD |
| HF-2026-1659 New online store | $1,000 | Not stated; reported on 8 December 2025 | Not stated | HELD |
| HF-2026-1660 Small business selling Bible products for children | $3,500 | 25 November 2025 | 120 days | PARTIAL |
| HF-2026-1661 New online clothing store | $2,000 | March 2026 | 120 days | HELD |
| HF-2026-1662 Online store; product type not stated | $3,700 | May 2026 | Not stated; support said escalation would take five business days | HELD |
| HF-2026-1663 Authenticated luxury resale and sourcing business | Not stated | 29 July 2026 | Not stated | HELD |
| HF-2026-1664 Online store selling home products, open over a year | Not stated | August 2026 | 365 days | HELD |
| HF-2026-1665 Online store with orders waiting to ship | Not stated | August 2026 | Until December 2026 | HELD |
| HF-2026-1666 Online store about 30 days old, registered as a US LLC | Not stated | September 2026 | A 10% reserve on all sales for 120 days, to about 6 January | HELD |
| HF-2026-1667 New online store selling high-ticket items | Not stated | September 2026 | A 10% reserve on every order until 27 January | HELD |
| HF-2026-1668 Online store; product type not stated | Not stated | Not stated; the 120-day period they were told of ended on 24 September 2026 | 120 days, with release “after September 24, 2026” | HELD |
Only 69 of the 140 entries put a dollar figure on the balance, and those 69 add up to $1,928,085.94. Another 19 state a figure we have not counted in dollars — in another currency, or with no currency named — and the rest never say how much was held at all — which is itself worth noticing, because a merchant writing in the middle of this tends to lead with the delay, not the amount. Read each entry in full, with its source and archived copy →
2. What the reports have in common
37 of the 140 entries were quoted the same period: 120 days. In at least nine of them the merchant says a specific date came and went — the day the 120 days expired, or a release date Shopify put in writing — and the money did not arrive. In two others the date itself was replaced by a later one. 12
One merchant says they were told the funds would be deposited on 4 April 2024, and that three days later the only answer to their email was "we have escalated this for funds to be released".2 Another says their account was closed in November 2023, that the 120 days expired on Friday 29 March 2024, and that a week later they had spoken to "like a hundred different agents" without being paid.1 A third says they were sent a written reserve completion date of 3 September 2024 and that the date passed with nothing deposited.2 What merchants say follows a date like that — including two who say the 120 days were replaced by a further 365 — is set out in when the 120 days are up. Four of the merchants in this file were held behind a verification step they were unable to complete at all — a blank page, a dead button, an email that never arrived — which is set out in when the only way out of the hold is broken. For another group the hold begins at the payout bank account itself, and Shopify’s own stated figure for that is four days: see when changing your bank account stops your payouts. Four days is one of at least seven lengths the company has stated in public, including a 21-day hold on new stores that a member of its staff has called an experiment; they are collected with their sources in how long a Shopify payouts hold is meant to be. Fifteen of the holds in this file ended; what each of those merchants says ended it — a second ticket, a second email thread, a public question session, a newspaper reporter, a complaint filed elsewhere, or closing the store themselves — is set out in what got Shopify to release these payouts. And while a hold runs, the Shopify bill does not stop: merchants report stores frozen over unpaid fees far smaller than the sums being held, which is set out in they are holding your payouts and still billing you. Nor does the hold stop at the merchant: refunds owed to that store’s customers can fail or sit unpaid for months inside it, which is set out in when the hold catches your customer’s refund.
The stated reason is nearly always disputes, and the merchants nearly always dispute the arithmetic. One puts their store at more than 2,500 orders with 10 chargebacks — about 0.4% — and was told the account carried an "elevated risk of customer disputes".3 One says a single chargeback of £74.49 was ruled in their favour by the customer's own bank within days, and that over £900 is being held until October 2026 anyway.4 One says they had no chargebacks, no returns and no complaints when $4,800 went on a 120-day hold.2
105 of the 140 entries are recorded here as still held and 23 as released. That is not a finding about how these end. It is a finding about what people post: a merchant writes the day the money does not arrive, and then, paid or not, stops writing. Where the last thing a person said was that the balance was unpaid, this record says held, as of that date, and does not guess at what happened next.
The one merchant here who came back to say they were paid
A merchant posting as AtteS wrote in April 2025 that their payout had been held for over 220 days and that they had contacted support 30 to 40 times. Six months later they replied to someone else on their own thread: "Yes I got my money couple months ago. One day I just got an email from Shopify that said that my money is being released and I will receive my payout on the following days." No reason was given for the release, and by their own account the total was somewhere near a year.5
3. What the contract says
The accounts above are one person's word each. The contract is not. The Shopify Payments Terms of Service are published by Shopify, and the clause that governs a payout hold is called Reserves.7
On holding your balance
"We, in our discretion, will set the terms of any Reserve Account and notify you of such terms, which may require that a certain amount (including the full amount) of the funds received for a Transaction are held for a period of time … We, in our discretion, may elect to change the terms of a Reserve Account at any time, for any reason, based on your payment processing history or as requested by the Payment Processors."
On whose money it is while it is held
"You agree that: (i) you are not entitled to any interest or other compensation associated with the funds held in the Reserve Account; (ii) you have no right to direct that account; (iii) you have no legal interest in those funds or that account; and, (iv) you may not assign any interest in those funds or that account."
Read those two together and the 120 days is missing from both. "A period of time" is the whole of the limit the agreement places on the length of a hold, and the next sentence reserves the right to change the terms at any time, for any reason. We searched the full text of the agreement on 11 September 2026: the numbers 120 and 180 do not appear in it anywhere, and neither does any other count of days applied to a reserve.7
This is where Shopify Payments differs from the other files on this site. PayPal's user agreement does state a number — a 180-day ceiling on risk-related holds, with holds arising from legal process carved out of it.8 Stripe's general terms, like Shopify's, define a reserve and cap nothing.9 Shopify's clause goes one step further than either: it has you agree you hold no legal interest in the money while it sits there.
So where does 120 days come from? On the same forum threads, Shopify staff have explained the practice in public. One staff reply says the hold is imposed by the banking partners behind Shopify Payments, that the decision "cannot be overturned by our support", and that at the end of the period the reserve is deposited to the merchant's account.6 Another, answering a merchant who was past day 120 and unpaid, draws a distinction worth writing down before you count on a date: "while the payment is released after 120 days, that is not the deposit date."1
4. If your Shopify Payments account has just been disabled
This site is a record, not a law firm, and nobody can promise you a way to make a hold end early. Three things are worth doing on the day it happens, because each gets harder later.
- Export everything while the admin still opens. Payouts, balance history, the disputes list with reason codes, order and tracking records, and the risk team's emails. Whatever route you take later runs on documents you may not be able to download once the account is restricted.
- Get the release date in writing, and keep the message. Ask, in a written channel, the exact date the hold ends, whether a reserve continues after it, and what would extend either. Five entries above turn on the gap between a date Shopify gave in writing and what then happened — and that gap is only provable if you kept the original.
- Connect a second gateway before you need it. Shopify Payments being disabled does not close your store, but it does stop your checkout. Every merchant above was dealing with the hold and a dead checkout at the same time.
Then file the case here. A held balance that only exists in your inbox is invisible; the same balance in a record with a date, a figure and a source is countable.
5. If you are choosing a provider
This file makes no recommendation and nobody has paid for a mention on it. Compare it with the Stripe file, the PayPal file and the Paddle file — different companies, different models, and one question that is worth asking all of them in writing before you integrate: if you disable my account, how long is the balance held, what extends that period, and what is the written process for getting the money at the end of it? Shopify Payments is Shopify's own gateway and the answer for it is set by the Reserves clause above, not by the 120 days you will be quoted later.
Sources
- AndreEcom, "Shopify Payments don't relase funds after 120 days", Shopify Community, 13 March 2024, and the replies on the same thread from Kyyun (3 and 6 April 2024), RetroTrapHouse (26 April 2024) and two Shopify staff members. community.shopify.com · archived copy. All 18 posts read in full and verified 11 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0018, HF-2026-0019 and HF-2026-0020.
- lifeboosstsss, "Shopify Holding ALL Funds over 120 Days due to "Risk of Chargeback"", Shopify Community, 5 March 2024, and the replies on the same thread from Risktakerzz21 (7 April 2024), Lucas7 (30 August 2024), KrayzieBone420 (29 August to 2 September 2024) and farihin (6 September 2024). community.shopify.com · archived copy. All 15 posts read in full and verified 11 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0014, HF-2026-0015, HF-2026-0016 and HF-2026-0017. KrayzieBone420's dates come from their own earlier thread, "Payout Nightmare", 19 June to 4 July 2024.
- InfiniteLuxur, "Shopify Payments disabled + 120-day payout hold, only 10 chargebacks on 2,500+ orders (0.4%)", Shopify Community, 12 January 2026. community.shopify.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 11 September 2026, including the two requests for an update that went unanswered. Filed here as HF-2026-0012.
- HugoWilma, "Shopify Payments disabled after 1 fraudulent chargeback — bank ruled in our favour, funds held until October", Shopify Community, 5 June 2026. community.shopify.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 11 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0011. The stated release month, October 2026, is still ahead; this entry is due for recheck then.
- AtteS, "Payout has been on hold for over 220 days!", Shopify Community, 26 April 2025, and their own reply of 9 October 2025 confirming they were paid. community.shopify.com · the reply · archived copy. Read in full and verified 11 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0021.
- Rudiments00, "Shopify Payments disabled", Shopify Community, 3 October 2025. community.shopify.com · archived copy. Read in full and verified 11 September 2026. Filed here as HF-2026-0013. The staff explanation of who imposes the hold is quoted from the reply of 8 March 2024 on the thread at source 2.
- Shopify Payments Terms of Service, published by Shopify, at shopify.com/legal/terms-shopify-payments · archived copy. Quotations from the Reserves clause. Retrieved and searched in full on 11 September 2026: the strings "120" and "180" return no match anywhere in the agreement, and no count of days is applied to a reserve. That search is scoped to this document as published on that date; the terms you agreed to when you signed up may be a different version, and the Payment Processor Terms for your country are separate documents.
- PayPal User Agreement, holds and limitations. Summarised on the PayPal file, where it is quoted and cited in full.
- Stripe Services Agreement — General Terms, definition of "Reserve". Summarised on the Stripe file, where it is quoted and cited in full.
- r/shopify on Reddit, the posts linked from each entry. Found with the forum’s own search and read in a browser on 16 October 2026. Reddit answers the web archive with a bot-check page, so no archived copies could be made.
Every factual claim on this page is sourced below. Last verified against primary sources on 16 October 2026.