Ever logged in to your Shopify Payments account and got the message that your payout is on hold as a greeting? Not the best thing to encounter, especially when you’re in need of urgent cash. You can’t think of anything you might have done to incur this wrath from Shopify, which makes it even worse. Why exactly is Shopify holding your payout?
There could be a number of reasons. Let’s find out what these scenarios are and see what the solution is, shall we?
1 . A Formality
Yes, your payout could be on hold because of a formality from Shopify’s side. In other words, it could be because they are taking care of everything right now to sidestep any complication in the future.
The Business Operation team from Shopify performs a review of different Shopify stores and their payment accounts. The review is done so in the future when you have to use the payment gateway, you don’t encounter issues with security or bank approval.
If the review turns up satisfactory, it can take 1 to 3 days to release the hold. Longer than that and it means the Operation team has stumbled upon some issues. In that case, they might need more documents and they will send you an email with a request for the same. Once the documents verify what they need to know, your account would be released from hold immediately.
This hold doesn’t hurt anything else in your account other than your payment. Once they approve your account again, you should receive your payment immediately. So, unless you are in need of urgent payment, this shouldn’t pose to be a big issue.
Even your customers won’t have any problem ordering from your store. You’ll just receive the payment at a later time.
2. Failed Document Submission
So, the issue didn’t stop at document submission. Even after you submitted legit documents, it was met with rejection, thanks to an email that was sent to you stating that your ID is invalid. You won’t get the option to submit those documents again. However, instead, you will be requested to upload a utility bill. This can possibly happen if what you have submitted as an address in your account doesn’t line up with other details you have in your ID.
This entire process can create a loop. A situation where you are either submitting your document or your utility bills continuously and your applications are met with rejection each time. If you happen to be in this pickle, check all your account details yourself. Make sure there are no discrepancies in your documents and then hit submit. If it is the same case again, it is time to make use of that Contact support button. At this point, the Shopify team is the only one that can help you out.
3. Regular Document Submission
So, your payout hold is released but they keep on asking you for document submission now and then. This could be dependent on which country your store is based in and where your store’s operations are taking place. They could also ask you to submit documents every and now and then in that case.
It could be you did this a couple of days ago. It doesn’t matter, they might ask you again. The cause is either the banking partner, who wants the documents to be up to date so there’s no chance of fraudulent behavior, or that the banking regulations of the country being changed recently. So naturally, Shopify wants the documents to be up to date.
Basically, make sure all the information you upload on Shopify is always current and matches up with each other.
4. Lack Of Documentation
So, in this scenario, you don’t have any of the updated documents. Even if you can get it, you can’t access it right now and you can’t wait for Shopify to clear your release. In such a situation, you will simply have to relay your concern to Shopify. Since Shopify can’t approve of your account, it is time to accept that Shopify Payment is not the provider you want to rely on for your situation.
While Shopify Payment is easily the first choice for most store owners, this is an unfortunate situation where nothing can be done. You will just have to make sure Shopify knows you won’t be using Shopify Payment anymore and will use another Payment Gateway instead. Meanwhile, after a certain time, your collected payout will be released back to you. Still, you won’t be able to use the account as freely.
What Other Options Do You Have?
For Shopify Payouts, only Shopify Payment can be used. If you change the Payment gateway, then all your payments will go to that account. Say, you are using Paypal, the payouts will be transferred to your Paypal account. There are plenty of payment processors that can be linked to Shopify. You just have to choose among many of the ones available in your country for Shopify.
If you want to see what options are available to you, go to your Shopify Payment Gateway page and then choose the country your store is set in.
Final Thoughts
All in all, there’s no need to panic in case of a payment holdout. Even if your payment account is never released from hold, as long as you inform Shopify you are severing the Shopify payment link, they will release the payout to you in a couple of days.
The best way to deal with all these issues from Shopify is to use apps like Jag&Wolf which are already partnering with Shopify. They can help you build Shopify stores and take care of all these pesky details like document submission which you might have otherwise grappled with.
Well, here’s to hoping your Shopify journey is smooth sailing and if you are a new shop owner, your payout never gets put on hold.
If you need help building and scaling your online store, we reccomend Pathway, which will keep you on track, give you monthly goals, dashboards, tips and the ability to spy on your competitors. Pathway will also serve as your educational and operational dashboard.
Click the link below if you use Shopify https://apps.shopify.com/pathway
Click the following link for any other e-commerce solution including Amazon. https://pathwaycommerce.com
