Why did Shopify suspend my store?

Shopify suspends stores for violating their Acceptable Use Policy or Terms of Service. The most common triggers are a chargeback rate above 1%, refund rates exceeding 10%, prohibited keywords in product listings such as trademarked brand names or restricted health claims, fulfillment latency over 5 days, identity or banking information mismatches, and sudden order volume spikes that trigger fraud detection. Reinstate monitors all 8 of these risk signals in real time.

How do I appeal a Shopify store suspension?

To appeal a Shopify store suspension, you must submit a Plan of Action (POA) to Shopify's Trust & Safety team in reply to the original suspension email. A successful POA has three sections: the specific root cause of the violation, corrective actions you have already taken, and preventive measures you will use to ensure it does not recur. Reinstate's AI Appeal Generator creates a compliance-optimized POA in 60 seconds when you paste your suspension email.

What is Shopify's chargeback threshold?

Shopify's internal chargeback threshold is approximately 1% of total orders. At 0.5% you are in a yellow warning zone, at 0.8% you are likely being monitored, and at 1% or above you face an immediate risk of payment processing restrictions or account suspension. The rate is calculated as chargebacks divided by total orders processed over a rolling 30 to 60 day window.

What is a Shopify Store Health Score?

A Shopify Store Health Score is a 0 to 100 composite rating that measures how well your store complies with Shopify's Acceptable Use Policy and payment gateway risk requirements. Reinstate calculates your score using 8 weighted signals: chargeback rate, refund velocity, fulfillment latency, tracking coverage, order volume anomalies, keyword violations, identity consistency, and multi-store risk. A score above 90 is excellent, 70 to 89 is good, 50 to 69 is moderate, and below 50 indicates high risk.

Can Reinstate prevent my Shopify store from being suspended?

Yes. Reinstate provides 24/7 automated monitoring of the same compliance signals Shopify uses to evaluate merchant accounts. When any signal enters a high-risk zone you receive an instant alert with a specific recommended action. Merchants who act on these alerts can resolve issues days or weeks before Shopify's Risk Operations team initiates a review.

How much does Reinstate cost?

Reinstate offers four pricing options. The Basic plan is $9 per month with weekly automated scans. The Standard plan is $29 per month with daily scans. The Pro plan is $49 per month with scans every 6 hours and on-demand manual scans. There is also a one-time $99 Emergency Appeal option for merchants who are already suspended and need an immediate AI-generated appeal letter without a subscription.

Is Reinstate safe to connect to my Shopify store?

Yes. Reinstate uses official Shopify OAuth with read-only scopes. We never have permission to modify your store, fulfill orders, or change product data. Access tokens are stored encrypted with AES-256. We comply with all mandatory Shopify GDPR webhooks including customers/data_request, customers/redact, and shop/redact. All store data is permanently deleted within 30 days of app uninstall.

What are the prohibited keywords that get Shopify stores suspended?

Shopify scans product listings for several keyword categories that trigger automated flags. The main categories are medical and health claims such as cures, treats, or FDA approved language; trademark and counterfeit references such as Nike style or Rolex inspired; age-restricted product language without proper verification; and references to prohibited product categories including replica goods, weapons, certain CBD or vaping products, and unsubstantiated health benefits. Reinstate scans every product listing in your store for these categories.

How long does Shopify take to respond to a suspension appeal?

Shopify's Trust & Safety team typically responds to appeal submissions within 3 to 7 business days. For billing and identity verification issues, reinstatement can happen within 24 to 72 hours once you provide the missing information. For Acceptable Use Policy violations or duplicate-shop reviews, expect 7 to 14 days. Sending repeated follow-up emails does not speed up the process and can be marked as harassment.

What is a Shopify Plan of Action?

A Shopify Plan of Action (POA) is a structured document that you submit to Shopify's Trust & Safety team when appealing a store suspension. An effective POA has three required sections: a clear statement of the root cause of the violation, the specific corrective actions you have already taken with measurable details, and the preventive measures you will use going forward. Vague apologies or emotional appeals are rejected; concrete, factual responses get approved.

How Long Does a Shopify Appeal Take? Full Timeline + What to Expect

After you submit a Plan of Action to Shopify's Trust and Safety team, the waiting is the hardest part. This guide gives you the exact timeline to expect for each type of suspension, what it means when you don't hear back, and how to follow up without hurting your case.

Standard Response Times by Suspension Type

Shopify's Trust and Safety team processes hundreds of appeals per week. Response times vary significantly depending on the type of violation and the current volume of cases.

Identity or billing verification issues: 24 to 72 hours after providing the required documents
Chargeback rate violations: 3 to 5 business days for a first appeal with strong documentation
Product listing / keyword violations: 3 to 7 business days
Acceptable Use Policy violations (prohibited products, trademark issues): 7 to 14 business days
Repeat violation reviews or escalated cases: 14 to 30 business days
Permanent termination reviews: No guaranteed timeline; some go unresolved

What to Do Right After Submitting

After you submit your Plan of Action, do nothing. Do not send a follow-up email the next day. Do not open a chat with Shopify Support. Do not post about your suspension publicly and tag Shopify. Trust and Safety queues are worked in order, and repeated contact does not move you up the queue.

You will receive an automatic acknowledgment email confirming your appeal was received. This is not a response to your POA; it is just confirmation that it went through. The actual review begins after that.

What It Means If You Haven't Heard Back

If you haven't received a response after 7 business days, a single follow-up email is appropriate. Reply to the original suspension thread and write: 'I submitted a Plan of Action on [date]. I am following up to confirm it was received and to ask if any additional information is needed. I remain committed to meeting Shopify's standards and am available to provide any documentation requested.'

Do not express frustration, make threats about legal action, or ask why it's taking so long. Keep the tone professional and the follow-up brief.

What a Rejection Looks Like

A rejection typically arrives as an email saying your appeal has been reviewed and the account action will remain in place. Rejection emails often include a reason, though sometimes they are vague. Common rejection reasons include: the root cause section didn't identify the specific violation, the corrective actions were described as future plans rather than completed steps, or the preventive measures lacked specificity.

A first rejection is not the end of the road. Read the rejection carefully, address every specific point mentioned, add evidence you didn't include the first time, and resubmit. Most merchants who get reinstated after a rejection do so on their second or third attempt.

What an Approval Looks Like

An approval email from Trust and Safety will confirm that your store has been reinstated and payouts have been restored. In some cases, reinstatement comes with conditions, such as maintaining your chargeback rate below a specific threshold or completing a product listing audit within 30 days. Read the approval email carefully — failing to meet stated conditions can lead to an immediate re-suspension.

Once reinstated, set up proactive monitoring so you know the moment any risk signal starts trending in the wrong direction. Reinstate's automated scans run on your plan's schedule and send instant alerts so you have days or weeks of lead time before any metric reaches a threshold that would trigger another Trust and Safety review.

Timeline Summary

To summarize: submit your POA via email reply to the suspension notice. Wait 7 business days before following up. If you receive a rejection, revise and resubmit within a week addressing every specific concern. If reinstated, read the approval conditions carefully and set up ongoing monitoring to avoid a recurrence.

Reinstate's Emergency Appeal service ($99 one-time) drafts a complete three-part Plan of Action in 60 seconds based on your specific suspension type. Merchants typically submit within the hour of receiving their suspension email rather than spending days writing and rewriting their appeal.