We’ve now had a number of storeowners come to us after being hit with a ‘ban’ from Shopify — i.e. Shopify disables their checkout and says they cannot use Shopify Payments (that’s how customers pay for your items via credit card, Apple, Google, etc.) if they’re selling designer/brand name items. They’re asked to contact Shopify Support from within their Shopify Admin portal:
When they do, they’re told it’s due to the type of items/brands they’re selling. It’s typically stores selling designer labels such as Gucci, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, etc. but it’s happened to a variety of other types of stores, selling brand names of various types of items.
Now, to be clear — they are not completely banning you from the Shopify platform, BUT, they are shutting your store down when they disable the default credit card payment system consignment/resale stores use on Shopify.
While I think Shopify is hurting a lot of small businesses by doing this, I do understand their reasoning (they’re trying to minimize charge backs to their processing account, should an item be deemed ‘fake’ + they are likely getting heat from the big name designers).
Also, Shopify is its own system — you play by their rules. The benefit of the ease of use, accessibility, integration, etc. comes with the requirement of following Shopify’s terms.
What Are Your Options?
Fortunately, Shopify Payments isn’t the only way to accept credit card payments on your Shopify website! So, tough on them — they’re losing out on your sales now and you’re free to move on to other payment options offered within Shopify. 🙂
PayPal Express Checkout
It is very easy to enable PayPal Express Checkout on your Shopify site.
First, disable Shopify Payments via Settings > Payments. Next, enable PayPal Express Checkout and you’ll be prompted to enter your PayPal email + password. That’s it!
This does NOT mean your customers have to have a PayPal account to checkout! They can pay with their debit/credit card:
The downside to this is, it’s not always obvious to the shopper that they don’t have to have PayPal and can just click the debit/credit card button.
Amazon Payments
This is also easy to enable and allows your customers to pay with any of the payment methods they have on-file in their Amazon account! Super-handy!
2Checkout
For straight-forward credit card payments on your Shopify website, 2Checkout is another credit card processor option that provides simple credit card payments. They are owned by Verifone and it’s a simple setup process to quickly get credit card payments enabled.
So you’re not screwed if you get hit with this and you have multiple, easy ways to enable credit card payments on your website and cut Shopify Payments out completely.
Dean
I am a Software Developer, System Administrator, and consignment software specialist. I currently manage hundreds of consignment workstations, point of sale systems, and database servers all across North America and I am the developer of Peeps' Software, Peeps2Go, and Peeps' Consignor Login for iOS and Android. I've been helping consignment & resale store-owners since 2003. I started The Computer Peeps in February of 2010. Peeps' Software launched in 2016 and is now on hundreds of systems all across North America. I have successfully converted dozens of stores from all of the major consignment software systems. After 20 years of working with consignment stores, I understand the unique challenges consignment & resale store-owners face. From electrical issues in old buildings or strip malls, to advocating for them when their old consignment software keeps crashing.