A small B.C. business is speaking out after it says for weeks the Canadian e-commerce platform, Shopify, put its payout funds on hold. “They are charging us fees, taking the money. They are just not putting any of the money we’ve collected from our customers back in our bank,” said David Polack.
The North Saanich. B.C. business owner and his wife Julie Polack own Higgie’s Pet Mercantile. The couple opened their doors in early December 2024 and use Shopify to track store inventory and as a point-of-sale platform.
Initially, the Polacks say they were satisfied with Shopify until they were notified their payout funds were being held. Despite providing all the necessary documentation, the Polacks say Shopify kept requesting they verify their business. “We have re-uploaded the documents, we’ve emailed the documents, we’ve chatted multiple times to try and get help,” Julie said.
“We need the money to pay the bills, to pay the staff and to stock the store.”
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Julie says adding to her frustration is the lack of customer service and human-to-human contact with Shopify when seeking help. “You can’t speak to anybody on the phone,” she said.
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The Better Business Bureau lists similar complaints from frustrated business owners upset over Shopify holding payout funds and getting little help from the company.
Some retail analysts say the world of automation is a growing problem that’s not being addressed.
“How do we make that a good experience for our shoppers and our business clients? We are not doing it. That’s a huge miss right now. We are even moving away from phone support – that’s getting reduced,” said retail consultant David Ian Gray.
Consumer Matters reached out to Shopify on behalf of the Polacks.
The next day, Julie and David Polack received confirmation from Shopify that their account was verified, in good standing, and they would be receiving their funds.
However, Shopify ignored Global BC’s request for comment. “Everything had been verified in our account and they were going to start paying us our money,” said Julie.
The Polacks have since received $26,735.55.
“Honesty, integrity, and support of your clients is what matters today, but obviously, in this case, perhaps Shopify is so big that they’ve forgotten it’s folks like us and other small businesses that actually pay their bills,” said David.
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