Alex Tamano

Helping founders make payments and subscriptions less fragile. Working with PaymentKit |

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

this week alone i've seen a $2M/month shopify brand get every store shut down over one failed verification, a store hit with a 179-day payout hold with ads still running, and a founder slapped with a reserve after winning the chargeback.

none of them did anything wrong. they just had everything running through one provider right before Q4.

holds and reserves aren't rare edge cases. they're part of how processors manage risk, and they usually land right when volume spikes, which for most stores is exactly now.

the merchants who get through it have a second processor ready to route payments to, and their customers' card tokens stored somewhere they control, so switching doesn't mean starting over.

that's what we built PaymentKit for: https://t.co/ZPAa0wwnjL

#paymentkit #ecommerce #payments

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

179 days right before Q4 with ads live is about the worst timing possible. first thing i'd check is whether it's only payouts on hold or whether shopify payments is still taking orders. if it's still processing, the immediate risk is cash flow for ad spend, not lost sales. if payments got switched off, you need another payment provider connected before you burn more ad budget sending traffic to a checkout that can't take cards. roughly what are you doing per month? that changes which options are realistic

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

once a limitation is marked permanent, the 180-day hold is basically their standard process, so support will keep repeating the same line no matter what you upload. two things worth doing: file a formal complaint with paypal india in writing and keep the reference number, and if there's no proper resolution within 30 days you can escalate through the RBI's complaint portal (https://t.co/bwKSd8nd5e) since you've already tagged them. and for the next client invoices, i'd set up a second way to get paid now, so this one account doesn't hold up everything for six months

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

winning the dispute and still getting a reserve is one of the most frustrating parts of stripe's model. the dispute itself goes into their risk score, and the outcome mostly doesn't undo it. worth asking them directly for the reserve terms in writing: the % held, the release date, and what would get it lifted early. they'll sometimes shorten it if you show a clean history before that one dispute. how long have you been processing with them?

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

a month of automated replies on a hold that's hitting live customers is rough. one thing that sometimes breaks the loop: reply on the existing ticket asking them to name the specific requirement or document still outstanding, and say you'll provide it same day. it forces a human to answer something concrete instead of sending another template. did they ever tell you what triggered the review in the first place?

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

a failed verification on one entity change taking down every connected store is brutal, especially at $2M+/month. in the appeal i'd lead with a single clear document showing the same beneficial owners on both entities, plus the date of the change, since "misrepresentation" usually means their system saw a mismatch it couldn't connect. is it the whole store that's locked or just shopify payments? if the stores are still live, adding another payment provider gets you selling again while the 120 days plays out

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

@sohaibgou best of luck!

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

support response time is so underrated until you're the one with $100k frozen and nobody answering. but whop isn't immune to this either. i've seen whop accounts get suspended and funds held in reserve this month alone. it's the same pattern with a faster support team. any single provider can pull the plug once your volume spikes, so having a second processor ready to route through is what actually keeps you from going back to square one

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

"available but can't withdraw" usually means there's a limitation on the account, not just a hold on those orders. worth checking the resolution center for an open limitation, since that's often where the real requirement is listed and support just loops on generic replies. if you're in the EU and it keeps dragging, a formal complaint to paypal europe and then the luxembourg regulator (CSSF) tends to get a real answer. and for Q4, i wouldn't route everything through them while this is open, even a second checkout option keeps sales coming in

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

saw a lot of the same story this week. a gateway cut someone's USD processing with no email. an MoR added a whole category to its prohibited list a week before launch. stripe closed a startup as "restricted" days before go-live.

different processors, same problem: when your whole payment setup lives inside one provider, their policy change becomes your outage.

the fix isn't finding a processor that will never say no. it's making sure one "no" can't take your whole business offline. that means keeping your billing, routing and customer card tokens in a layer you control, so you can switch or fail over to another processor without asking customers to re-enter their cards.

that's what we built PaymentKit for: https://t.co/ZPAa0wwnjL

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

the "barely any explanation" part is what makes these so hard to fight. if you haven't already, get your complaint in writing and ask them to name the exact check or document that triggered the freeze. a petition gets attention, but a formal complaint is what actually starts the clock with the regulator

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

from what i've seen wise freezes are usually tied to a verification or source-of-funds check, so it's worth asking them exactly what document they need instead of waiting on generic replies. if that goes nowhere, file a formal written complaint. that starts the clock on escalating to the financial ombudsman/regulator where you are, and that's usually when things finally move

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

@sfwduckie sorry you're dealing with that, getting shut down with no real explanation and losing the money on top of it is a gut punch. hope you get the funds back or at least a straight answer on why. glad the people here are showing up for you

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

a week before launch is brutal timing. platforms where fans pay creators usually get flagged because they're really a marketplace with payouts to third parties, not a simple checkout, so stripe treats it differently. i'd go to the next provider with that model explained upfront and get it approved in writing before building anything else around it

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

that's so stressful when you've got bills to pay. worth checking the bank's status page or their support account on here, outages usually get acknowledged there before the phone lines catch up. if anything's due today i'd give the people you owe a quick heads up so it doesn't turn into late fees

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

congrats on getting through it, a year is a long time to sit on a finished product. after the last MoR added trading to their prohibited list right before you launched, i'd get the new one to confirm in writing that a rules/risk tool like this is specifically covered, not just approved at signup. curious what angle finally made it click

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

@ohakwengr cutting USD processing with zero email is wild. at least you're not stuck on one gateway now. running stripe and bachs side by side means one of them pulling the plug again doesn't stop you getting paid

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

saw 3 shopify stores this week get their payments disabled.

one had $135k frozen with a 0.22% chargeback rate and every order fulfilled.
one had $200k+ held right after changing bank details, on top of a 10% reserve shopify was already holding.
one got a 365-day payout hold.

none of them looked like bad actors. the common thread is that every one of them ran 100% of their revenue through a single processor.

the one that hurt most wasn't even the frozen money. it was 12 days of customers not being able to check out while they scrambled to set up a new processor.

if you're doing real volume, a few things worth doing before you need them:
- have a second processor approved and ready, not just "i'll apply if something happens"
- know what triggers reviews: sudden spikes, bank detail changes, unusually large orders
- keep fulfillment proof organized so an appeal takes hours, not weeks
- make sure your customers' card data isn't locked to one provider

processors will always do risk reviews. the goal is making sure one review can't take your whole store offline.

that's the problem we work on at paymentkit: billing and payments that sit above your processors, so you're not stuck when one of them pulls the plug.

https://t.co/lqlwxHioJY

[Alex Tamano @AlexTamano]

that email reads like an automated risk flag. the triggers they list (same customer charged multiple times, unusually large payments) are what their system checks for, so if you had a sales spike or a few customers buying several times, that alone can trip it. i'd still appeal and ask which of those it actually was. for alternatives it depends on what you're selling: are these memberships/subscriptions or one-time products? and what kind of monthly volume are you doing? that changes a lot about which options make sense and how likely the next provider is to flag you the same way.