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A sad story: How Shopify terminated my dropshipping store.
Shopify recently proved to me one old simple truth – the bigger company is, the worse customer service becomes. I’ve actually written an article about it, that smaller companies usually have (or should, if they want a competitive edge) much better customer service. Probably Shopify has reached a level where they just can’t control their customer service any more.
I’ve opened a dropshipping store some time ago. Most of the items were regular China stuff from Alibaba and AliExpress. I’m running Sign & Print company so I’ve listed some products we make for public – vinyl stickers, T-shirts, custom printed mugs etc.
One day I’ve got the following letter from Shopify regarding one of my vinyl sticker image:
Hi there,
We noticed that your store, anysigns.myshopify.com, appears to be selling branded or trademarked products:
Please note that this may not be an exhaustive list of the branded or trademarked products in your store. We’d like to continue supporting your business on Shopify, but first we require that you review and submit the “Attestation for the sale of branded or trademarked products” for all products on your Shopify store.
Please carefully review the attestation to ensure your store’s compliance. If we don’t receive your attestation by March 14, 2022, we may proceed with taking your store offline.
Kindly note that if you decide to remove the branded or trademarked products from your store, you will still need to sign the attestation.
For general information about copyright & trademarks, check out our copyright and trademark page here.
– Shopify Trust & Safety
Regarding their statement that they would like to continue supporting my business on Shopify, it was a lie. I’ve sent Shopify a letter that it is a mistake and this image doesn’t violate anyone rights because I know well where I’ve taken it from. This is NOT trademark image for sure. Besides how Santa Claus could be someone’s trademark? But it really looks like Shopify seriously consider Santa Claus as a someone’s trademark 🙂
I haven’t received a reply from this Shopify Trust & Safety department so I just went through the required Attestation. Probably humans don’t work in this Shopify’s Trust & Safety department. Probably they have hired machines only because I’ve never received any human reply from Shopify, only standard official stamps 🙁
A few days later I have received another e-mail from Shopify:
Dear Account Owner,
We have recently identified additional content on your store, anysigns.myshopify.com, that is in violation of Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) (this may not be an exhaustive list):
Due to your repeated violations of Shopify’s AUP, we are no longer able to host your store on our platform.
At this time, public access to your storefront has been disabled. You may continue to access your admin for one week if you wish to export your store data. On March 17, 2022, your account will be permanently closed and you will have no further access to your store or its data.
Shopify’s Terms of Service can be found here and our Acceptable Use Policy can be found here.
If you require assistance with downloading your content, please contact support here.
I’ve contacted Shopify a few times (maybe I have sent them 4 or 5 letters) but of course haven’t received a word from them. Just NOTHING, can you imagine my frustration?! I was angry with Shopify’s Customer Service. This is the last letter I’ve sent them:
“I require the detail explanation where you have got “gadsden-snake” as “Hateful Content”. I insist on that and I won’t let it go until you prove me that. My sources show me that it doesn’t belong to any hateful content. My sources are Wikipedia, eBay and Etsy (and the whole world internet in general).
For example – Wikipedia:
“The Gadsden flag is a historical American flag with a yellow field depicting a timber rattlesnake[1][2] coiled and ready to strike. Beneath the rattlesnake are the words: “Dont Tread on Me”, all in uppercase letters.[note 1] Some modern versions of the flag include an apostrophe.
The flag is named after politician Christopher Gadsden (1724–1805), who designed it in 1775 during the American Revolution. It was used by the Continental Marines as an early motto flag, along with the Moultrie flag. Its design proclaims an assertive warning of vigilance and willingness to act in defense against coercion.”
Where is hateful content here?
Also there are thousands and thousands of items on eBay and Etsy with this gadsden-snake symbol and words. I want to remind you that Etsy has very VERY strict rules toward inappropriate items. In spite of this fact they DON’T consider this item as Hateful Content and thousands of people are selling their items with this symbol and / or words.
Do you want me to start sending you these thousands of Etsy seller links or you are going there to see them yourselves?
Please explain me where you have got this Hateful Content idea for this item?
And don’t hide behind e-mails. Call me and explain your position clearly. I want to know the name of the person responsible for this decision and I want to talk to this person. I insist.
If you don’t reply my e-mails, does it mean that Shopify has a bad customer service?”
Shopify has never replied my e-mails and I think – yes – Shopify becomes too big to continue provide a fair customer service 🙁
Oh yeah, woo hoo
Too bad, woo hoo
So sad, woo hoo
I’m going through a similar process. Out of the blue, they’ve terminated my account for no reason. There is no recourse when it comes to speaking with someone. They have no phone number for customer support. This is definitely a red flag I didn’t see when I originally signed up.
the best poets of his era and