Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable lawAs a result, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of ServiceAll users agree to these terms when activating Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms Since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise.During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of ServiceStripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged cardOn DATE, Stripe reached out to the complainant to advise them of our decision and the closing of the accountThe closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of ServiceOur terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason"https:// [redacted] While we will not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing data
Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Theubjist make up things as they go along to suit themThe original email from them clearly states that the payment was high risk or more than likely fraud although it was not Theybencoraged me to not even go througjnwith my buyer and then held my payment after sending those hateful emails Sincerely, [redacted]
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2015/07/14) */ Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable lawAs a result, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of ServiceAll users agree to these terms when activating Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms Since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of ServiceStripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged cardOn June 15th, 2015, Stripe reached out to the complainant to advise them of our decision and the closing of the account The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of ServiceOur terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason" https://stripe.com/us/terms#termination While we will not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing data Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2015/07/15) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Lame responseSeems copy-pasted! Lol What "un-authorized transaction" is stripe referring to? There was NONE! We have not had EVEN ONE chargeback or dispute YesWe got the copy-pasted mail on June 15thThe very same day, we replied requesting info for this supposedly "unauthorized transaction"We have got no response, despite it being a month now The response also does not address our concern about the funds on holdWhen do we get that? Not a single dispute or CB even weeks after we stopped processingWhy is our payment still on hold? Also, we have customers who we need to refundWe mailed you regarding that alsoNo response! How do you expect us to provide refunds if you disable our accounts completely? You are forcing customers to do a chargeback by not providing us with a refund option I would like these issues addressed instead of generic templated responses, that are only beating around the bush!
Below is Stripe's Response to the complaint submitted by Karis [redacted] (herein referred to as the "Complainant") on March 30, 2018.Stripe OverviewAs background, Stripe provides a technology platform that allows merchants selling permissible goods or services online, or through a mobile device, to quickly and simply accept credit card payments.[1] Merchants register for an account by providing contact information, some information about their business and its principals, and bank account informationThis information is submitted through an electronic application process and additional information, such as ID scans, may be requested by Stripe after submissionMerchants have control over what information is provided to Stripe – for credit card charges, this must minimally contain the card number and expiration dateMost merchants also elect to provide the name, CVC, ZIP code as an anti-fraud measure, but are not required toIt is important to note that funds are briefly held in an aggregated clearing account at a bank before being deposited into the merchant's bank account It is important to note that merchants identify the account into which funds are ultimately deposited through the Stripe management interfaceMerchants consent to Stripe’s Services Agreement when establishing their accountA current version of the Stripe Services Agreement is available at [redacted] Merchant Account Overview The Complainant submitted an account with Stripe on March 21, under the name [redacted] Stripe will process payments for the account owner until April 2, 2018, at which point, they will no longer be able to create chargesDuring a routine review, Stripe determined that the complainant's business was at a high risk for disputesOn March 29, 2018, Stripe contacted the Complainant, informing them that we would no longer be able to support their business as we are unable to accept payments for businesses we determine to be at high risk for a dispute rate of over 1%, as mentioned here: "High chargeback rates (typically those exceeding 1%) may result in your inability to use the Payment ServicesFailure to timely and effectively manage Disputes with your Customers may ultimately result in your inability to accept payment cards for your business." [redacted] Reserve TermsThe closing of this account was in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of Service:"may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason" [redacted] In order to mitigate future losses to Stripe as a result of chargebacks on the Complainant's account, a reserve was set in place that will last for daysFunds will be transferred to the complainant's bank account on June 27, This is in accordance to Stripe's Terms of Service:"We may impose a Reserve on you for any reason if we determine that the risk of loss to Stripe, Customers, or others associated with your Stripe Account is higher than normalFor example, we may hold a Reserve if: (i) your or your Customers’ activities increase the risk of loss to us or to your Customers, (ii) you have violated or are likely to violate this Agreement, and (iii) your Stripe Account has an elevated or abnormally high number of Disputes." [redacted] While there is a reserve in place, the Complainant is able to log into their Stripe dashboard, process refunds to the customer's whose funds are held and reprocess these funds with a different processor if they need immediate access to the funds.For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 8, 2015/04/06) */ Stripe has taken this opportunity to further review the state of this user's accountWe found that the account was indeed closed due to a positive by Stripe's fraud tooling In light of our findings, we have reinstated this account; the user is welcome to continue using Stripe and should find that their account will function normallyUnfortunately, because the transactions on this account (though not the account owners themselves) were fraudulently made with stolen credit card numbers, refunds were already issued to protect the cardholdersHad these refunds not been issued, the charges would have been disputed, with the user subject to an additional $dispute fee per transactionHowever, we do now believe that one of the three payments made may not have been fraudulentAs a result, we have issued a credit for the amount of this transaction on the user's Stripe account positives like this are rare, and Stripe takes them very seriouslyStripe is reviewing this case to determine what led to the first decision and how situations like this can be prevented moving forwardIn the meantime, we offer our apologies and invite the user to let us know what if any additional remediation steps they'd like us to take
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2015/09/01) */ The complainant signed up for Stripe on August 15, 2014, with the intention of using Stripe to process payments for an online store selling designer and luxury fashion and accessoriesIt is worth noting that online luxury goods sales are particularly targeted for fraud, especially when the merchandise is so high-value On August 26, Stripe informed the complainant that a dispute had been filed for $The complainant responded asking about the protections provided by Stripe against fraudulent transactions, to which Stripe responded on the same day, beginning a dialog of seven emails over the next two days about this disputed charge as well as the other charges the complainant mentions It was explained by email that Stripe does not provide chargeback protection, and even if the charge passes [redacted] street and ZIP checks as well as Stripe's fraud scoring, it is never possible to be 100% certain that a charge is not fraudulent in online transactionsSince the liability for chargebacks falls to the seller, it is up to the seller to use their judgement to decide whether to honor a suspicious chargeIt was further explained that when a seller chooses to ship to an address other than the verified billing address, banks will likely hold the seller responsible for any chargeback related to fraud because the seller is unable to prove they conducted business with the legitimate cardholder in most casesThe complainant was advised to mark as fraudulent and refund any further transactions that they believe to be illegitimate As a matter of clarification, Stripe is not responsible for fraudulent charges processed by users' accountsWe pass [redacted] relevant information (including the CVC, street check, and ZIP checks the the complainant mentions) to the card-issuing bank, who then authorize or decline the chargeWe have many fraud prevention measures in place, including allowing users the ability to refund suspicious payments even if they are authorized by the bank, and we offer our users detailed information about avoiding fraud and disputes on our support site (https://support.stripe.com/questions/avoiding-fraud-and-disputes)These tools exist to help our users protect themselves Stripe is not in a position to cover the cost of disputed funds for our usersOur terms explicitly state that users are "immediately liable to Stripe for the full amount of payment of the Chargeback plus any associated Fees, fines, expenses or penalties." Our terms further state that "Stripe may provide you with assistance including notifications and software to help you contest your ChargebacksWe do not assume any liability for our role or assistance in contesting Chargebacks." Our users accept these terms when they create their Stripe accountsMore information can be found in our terms of service: https://stripe.com/us/terms#chargebacks Disputes are a frustrating reality of accepting credit card payments, especially onlineWe try to give our users the best chance to avoid these situations, but ultimately Stripe will not accept responsibility for fraudulent paymentsWe are happy to help the complainant avoid future disputes, and can always be contacted at [redacted] @stripe.com Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2015/09/02) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) According to Stripe's policy, "You or Stripe may elect to contest Chargebacks assessed to your accountStripe may provide you with assistance including notifications and software to help contest your Chargebacks," unfortunately all of the emails that have been sent by Stripe customer support were just general explanation about how hard is to detect fraud and that the company is not responsible for that, nothing in particular to help with the disputed charge After detecting all of the other possible fraudulent transactions, I sent multiple emails to the company asking them to check all of these transactions since they were coming from the same geographic area, and pointing directly to the transaction numbers, addresses, etcUnfortunately, when responding directly to the same customer service representative that is aware of issue already, it seems that they are not getting my emails, so I have to contact Stripe customer support from their website every time explaining my issue again to the new customer service representative, and getting the same response on how to prevent fraudFurther, after all the possible fraudulent transactions have been detected and immediate email sent to the support team, Stripe was still depositing money to my bank account minus their feeAfter being informed by customer service representative that if the transaction did not pass [redacted] and street check it is most likely fraudulent, I went and manually reported and refunded the particular transaction as fraudulentPlease note all of the other three transactions out of passed [redacted] checks Once again, I have done everything correctly on my end, I received an order, checked the transaction, shipped the product, provided with tracking, customer received and signedAfter the first transaction was disputed, I submitted all of the evidence (including tracking, billing and shipping information, as well as a proof of purchase and authenticity of my product shipped) in regards to that transaction the same dayUpon further investigation and detection of other possible fraudulent activities by me, the issue has been reported to stripe On September 2, Stripe informed me that they are not able to accept payments for sites selling brand name products without authorized reseller status, and that these restrictions come from their banking partners, so they have very little flexibility with them, and that they giving me days to find another merchant service companyUnfortunately, my ecommerce website (Squarespace.com) doesn't provide with other merchant services rather than Stripe, and basically Stripe just shutting down my business and tons of work and money I put into my company, including building the website, paying for ecommerce services every month, promoting my website, sending flyers, business cards, and other promotional items to my customersI won't be able to use my website with other merchant service since that is the only platform used and comparable with my e commerce provider, which is absolutely unfair also I replied to Stripe immediately explaining that my company has a legitimate status, and that we buy our inventory from big department stores as well as boutiquesWe are selling online for over years and advertise with all major reseller websitesWe decided to launch our website last year and put tons of work and effort to do thatThe company is registered as llc and has all of the needed documentation to do business and provide services to the customersOur company does pay taxes on all of the products purchased as well as taxes at the end of the year on all of the profitAlso we sell pre-owned items and all of our items both new and pre-owned come with receipt, and we can guarantee authenticity of every single productWe currently have over items in our inventory both new and pre-owned and we will be gladly to provide receipts to your banking partners Resolution seeking: I would like for the company to respond to the disputed transaction made on August 26, for $and provide with the specific solution on how to handle the disputed chargeAlso if it's per company's policy not to handle the disputes, I would like the processing company to provide me with the customer's bank information so I can resolve this issue directly with themMoreover, I would like for my processing company to reinstate my service since as a processing company and as per Stripe policy "we do not assume any liability for the products or services purchased using our Service," the company does not have any ground on questioning the legality of my business as I provided them with my business name, business bank, and my company's EIN number while registering with Stripe and have been approved on August 15, Please note that all of the necessary documents been provided and signed by me to the Florida Department of State, IRS, and my business bank while registering Miami Luxury Boutique as llcHowever, I will be more than happy to provide all of the information, receipts and proofs of authenticity of my products, to Stripe's banking partners directly if requested Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 10, 2015/09/14) */ Stripe provided notifications and software to help the complainant contest this chargebackThe complainant was notified of a chargeback for $on August 26th and given the opportunity to upload evidence to support the legitimacy of this charge through the Stripe DashboardEvidence was uploaded by the complainant on August 26th and forwarded by Stripe to the cardholder's bankThe complainant doesn't need to take any further action to resolve this disputethe evidence is currently under review by the cardholder's bank and the deadline for their response is November 11th, If the cardholder's bank finds in favor of the complainant, Stripe will return the full value of the original charge along with the $dispute fee Stripe also provides a number of resources on how to prevent fraud and chargebacksThese resources include the guide to preventing fraud and disputes (https://support.stripe.com/questions/avoiding-fraud-and-disputes), which was shared with the complainant by email on August 27th, and the ability to mark payments as fraudulent in the Stripe Dashboard, which was used by the complainant on September 1st Stripe is unable to accept payments for sites selling brand name products without authorized reseller status, and these restrictions do come from our banking partners (you can view the complete list of business types prohibited by our banking partners in the United States at the following link: https://stripe.com/us/prohibited-businesses)To clarify: we have no reason to believe that the complainant's business is illegal, we are just prevented by our banking partners from processing payments for unauthorized resellers of brand name productsIf the complainant has certificates to show that they are an authorized reseller for these brands, please share them with Stripe so we can reconsider this classification Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 18, 2015/09/28) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Chargebacks from customers keep coming in, by far every single payment coming through stripe was fraudulentCompany should take responsibilities themselves as I'm no longer using their services, stripe disconnected me, and I do not wish to further deal with this continuous fraud comingI am month pregnant and absolutely don't need this stressOn my end all of the times was shipped in a proper manner with signature conformation, addressees all signed for their parcelsSo it is no longer up to me to investigate who used the disputed party credit cardsOn my end I've done everythingI contacted my lawyer as well as my bank they are confirmed that there are no further actions required by meThe customers bank as well as Stripe should decide on that matterI am a suffering party here and I am not willing to pay out of my pocket for someone's fraud and poor security services
Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (2000, 6, 2014/08/15) */ Client notified me today that they received their funds backThis complaint is now resolved
We are sorry to hear that the complainant has had a negative experience with this businessTo clarify, Stripe is not [redacted] .comStripe is a payment processor, which means we process paymentsIt sounds like the complainant made a purchase with one of our usersWe're unable to disclose any information about our usersHowever, if the complainant has concerns about the integrity about this business, they are welcome to write into [email protected] to articulate their concerns
Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: We have also escalated this complaint to the Attorney Generals office for CaliforniaThere are just too many instances of your company doing this to other SMEs for you to continue un-curtailedYou CANNOT remain in businessStripe IS A SCAM! By any means necessary including a full scale social media campaign WE WILL WARN people away from your "business" You MUST release to our bank account the ***[redacted] balance in my that you are holding hostageYou have provided no evidence to support your claims apart from referring to your nebulous terms and conditionsThis matter will not rest until our funds are released immediately! SimpleYou have done this to 100's of innocent businessesYou WILL NOT do it to us!Sincerely, [redacted] ***
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/07/28) */ On July 19th, we reached out to the complainant to verify that they were an authorized reseller for the goods on their website Stripe must verify this information to stay in compliance with KYC, or Know Your Customer, regulationsWe allow our users to start processing before verification is complete, but will ask for more data or clarification in some casesIf the user doesn't respond within a few days of our message, we will disable their transfers until they are able to send over the requested information This was the case with the complainantThey got in touch with us on July 20th to ask about the specific information we needed to verify their accountAfter some back and forth, we were able verify the information provided by the complainantUnfortunately, we weren't able to complete verification and re-enable transfers until July 27th As of this writing, transfers are being sent regularly, and the complainant's flow of funds is working normally to the best of our knowledge We would like to sincerely apologize for the delay in releasing the complainant's transfersThe verification process is vital to our business, but in this case the time it took adversely effect our user's businessIf the user has any issues or questions we can help with as they continue to process with Stripe, we will do everything possible to respond quickly Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 7, 2015/07/29) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Stripe did reopen our account and release our fundsThey explained they have been overwhelmed with customer service inquiries and admit they need additional staffThank you for doing the right thing
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2014/08/18) */ The complainant submitted a Stripe account application on July for a business that was in violation of our Terms of Service, which are easily accessible and optimized for readability here: https://stripe.com/terms#prohibited-businesses All Stripe users, regardless of business model, are able to begin processing payments immediately upon account activationBecause of this, this user was able to process a number of payments before we closed the accountUpon account activation, the complainant proceeded to enter a significant volume of charges manually in a short time (submitting credit card information on behalf of the customers, rather than having customers pay on their own behalf)Shortly after, we determined that the nature of the transactions, in combination with the elevated dispute risk associated with the complainant's business type, was such that we would not be able to continue supporting this user, and, per our policy, we refunded payments for which we could not confirm cardholder authorizationWe communicated this decision on July This was all clearly articulated to the user, whose questions were all then answered on the same day they were askedWe provided the complainant with the relevant links from which reports and payment data could be downloaded, and continued providing technical support when issues arose; we have not heard back since our last technical support communication on July All refunds were processed on July, approximately a week before this complaint was filedAll refund confirmations have always been and continue to be made available to the complainant through the Stripe dashboard, the direct links to which we provided when asked The bank account debit referenced by the complainant was for fees charged by the 3rd party applications that the complainant had integrated with their Stripe accountAll Stripe transactional fees were refunded along with the payment refunds, as we always do, but the complainant will have to request refunds of platform charges from the specific platforms with which they were integratedAs these are charges initiated by third parties, we cannot issue refunds on their behalfPer the Terms to which the complainant agreed, they are responsible for any owed funds (including platform fees, refunds, or disputes) even after their Stripe account is no longer accepting new payments: https://stripe.com/terms#section_d Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2014/08/20) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) If Stripe had articulated their exceptions for our business model in their advertisements as they do here, we would not have signed up with themIn order to be transparent to all business models I feel that they should be held accountable for making their exceptions crystal clear early and obviously in their business offer to the public I also feel that they are obligated to explain to a customer, whether it is one they intend to keep or one they are separating from service, that third party fees may have to be extracted PRIOR to doing so and not be arrogant about their right to simply take money from other business' accountsBecause they did not do these things, I feel that they are still liable for the $and $ Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 10, 2014/09/05) */ Unfortunately, we have to refer this user once again to our clearly articulated Terms of Service: stripe.com/terms There, we make explicit what business models are prohibited from using Stripe; this complainant's business fell unambiguously into one of these categoriesAlso in our Terms of Service is a clear articulation of the user's responsibility for returnsA quote from Section Creads: "For processed refunds, Stripe will deduct the refund amount (including any applicable Fees) from (i) settlement funds owed to you from processing of other card transactions, or (ii) funds in any Reserve AccountIf these funds are not sufficient, you authorize Stripe to initiate an ACH debit entry to your Bank Account in the amount necessary to complete the refund transaction to the cardholder's cardIn the event Stripe cannot access your Bank Account by means of ACH debit, you agree to pay all funds owed to Stripe upon demandYou are solely responsible for accepting and processing returns of your products and services; Stripe has no responsibility or obligation for processing such returns." If the complainant believes they are owed a refund from a third party, they should contact that third party, as the request falls well outside of the complainant's relationship with Stripe Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (2000, 12, 2014/09/09) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) The situation is an unfortunate one that was not well researched by my company initiallyWhile I am unhappy about the end result, the terms are clear, I believe them to be accurate, and I accept them [redacted]
The inability to call and speak to someone over the phone for a customer service representative is ridiculousAddressing complaints or discrepancy of funds over email, taking days to respond or resolve, is the worst idea of customer service I've ever seen
Stripe operates within the constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks, and applicable lawsTherefore, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of ServiceAll users agree to these terms when activating Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms Because Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe has to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe also periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of ServiceStripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged cardThe majority of the complainant’s business seemed to be driven through unauthorized, fraudulent chargesOn [redacted] **, we reached to the complainant to let them know about our concerns and that we could no longer support their businessWe reviewed the information associated with these charges and after a thorough investigation, Stripe closed the complainant's account The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of ServiceOur terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason" : https://stripe.com/us/terms#termination While we will not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing data
Almost all charges on the complainant's account have been returned to the cardholderThe single charge mentioned by the complainant is due to be refunded to the cardholder as wellAs such there are no outstanding funds to be paid out to the complainant
Below is Stripe's Response to the complaint submitted by [redacted] (herein referred to as the "Complainant") on October 31, Stripe Overview As background, Stripe provides a technology platform that allows merchants selling permissible goods or services online, or through a mobile device, to quickly and simply accept credit card payments.[1] Merchants register for an account by providing contact information, some information about their business and its principals, and bank account informationThis information is submitted through an electronic application process and additional information, such as ID scans, may be requested by Stripe after submission Merchants have control over what information is provided to Stripe – for credit card charges, this must minimally contain the card number and expiration dateMost merchants also elect to provide the name, CVC, ZIP code as an anti-fraud measure, but are not required toIt is important to note that funds are briefly held in an aggregated clearing account at a bank before being deposited into the merchant's bank account It is important to note that merchants identify the account into which funds are ultimately deposited through the Stripe management interfaceMerchants consent to Stripe’s Services Agreement when establishing their accountA current version of the Stripe Services Agreement is available at [redacted] [ [redacted] Merchant Account Overview The Complainant submitted an account with Stripe on October 10, under the name " [redacted] ***" at https:// [redacted] Stripe processed payments for the account owner until October 25, During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the Complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of ServiceSpecifically, Stripe cannot process payments related to marijuanaOn October 26, 2017, Stripe reached to the Complainant to let them know about its concerns and that it could no longer support their businessAfter a thorough investigation, Stripe closed the Complainant's account Stripe clearly states that it is not able to support businesses selling marijuana related products, "Marijuana dispensaries and related businesses; sale of tobacco, e-cigarettes, and e-liquid; online pharmacies; age restricted goods or services; weapons and munitions; gunpowder and other explosives; fireworks and related goods; toxic, flammable, and radioactive materials; products and services with varying legal status on a state-by-state basis" [redacted] The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of ServiceStripe's terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason" [redacted] While Stripe is not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the Complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing dataAll of the Complainant's funds have been transferred to them as of October 24, For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/12/19) */ Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable lawSince Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise After a routine review, Stripe reached out to the complainant via the [redacted] @ [redacted] .com email on November 27, requesting additional information needed to verify the Stripe accountThe email sent was as follows: Hi [redacted] , Thanks for choosing Stripewe really appreciate it We're writing to request some additional information that we couldn't verify using complainant's business URLIn order to continue transferring funds to you on time, we need to be able to verify: - what you're selling, and - how your customers might get in touch with you in case of issues (having contact information is also a great way for you to avoid possible disputes) Would you mind sending over a working URL that includes this information1? Alternatively, we'd be happy to take a look at your business' social media profile (e.g., an established LinkedIn or Facebook business page that includes a description of the products or services you use Stripe for and your contact information)If you don't have an active online profile for your business, an itemized invoice for a recent payment on your Stripe account could also work If your website is simply under construction (we understand that these things can take time), do you know when you're planning to make it available? As soon as we can verify these details, your account will be all set to again automatically transfer funds to your bank account Best, Stripe Team Member https://support.stripe.com/questions/do-i-need-a-website-to-use-stripe Since previous emails to this complainant had been failing since November 20, 2015, after this email request for additional info initially bounced, the system did not retry sending itThe complainant received a dashboard notification reading "Before we can continue sending funds to your bank account, we need some additional informationWe've sent an email to you at [redacted] @ [redacted] .com with detailsIf you have any questions about this, don't hesitate to contact us." On December 1, 2015, the complainant responded to this dashboard notification by writing three emails to [redacted] @stripe.comThe complainant had not received the original email and requested that Stripe re-send the messageA Stripe team member replied to this email that same day, explaining why Stripe needed to verify the URL of the complainant's business and copying the original email for referenceThis email, like the ones prior to it, bounced again From December 2-3, 2015, the complainant continued to reach out to Stripe and received replies from Stripe team members within the dayStripe's replies to the complainant continued to bounce, and the complainant grew frustrated, believing that Stripe was ignoring them The last reply the complainant received was on December In this reply, the Stripe team member referred back to the multiple replies sent to the complainant and that Stripe hadn't heard back from the complainant in turn Stripe has investigated the issue with the bounced email and has cleared the previous email failures in the system that were preventing Stripe emails to the complainant from being re-triedProvided that the complainant's email account is viable and able to receive emails, the complainant should now be able to receive emails from StripeIf the complainant can provide a valid URL for the site they are accepting payments on, this should resolve the issue verifying their account detailsWe apologize for the frustration and distress that the complainant has experiencedPrior to posting this response, we have emailed the complainant directly on December explaining the source of the confusion and confirming the steps needed to verify their business
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2015/08/26) */ Stripe provides a service between banks and our usersIn order to provide service to our users, we are urged by our banking partners to keep an eye on all accounts that sign up for our services After routine monitoring of this account, we've noticed that the complainant has processed many charges that seem to be unauthorizedIn order to make charges with credit and debit cards, the owner of the card must consent to the chargeThe majority of charges on the account do seem to lack this consent, which means that we are no longer able to offer service to web-one.com We're also compelled to keep the balance on on this account, as this account has a high risk of incurring chargebacks due to the unauthorized charges Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2015/08/27) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I have wrote Stripe many times and have explained, that is untrueEvery client I have chage has giving us authorization to run there cards, I have signed service ahreements for all my clients as wellI have asked for what charges that are "not authorized" or in question, and they refuse to supply me with that informationthey give that generic answer and ignore the emailsAny other processor, would contact and speak to you about the chargesthy do not have phone suppot eitherI just want the in my account asapo the chance to rufnd itbetter yetthe chages that ae in questionI am more then happy to suppl all customer service agreements as wellthet are signed as well
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/05/23) */ The seller signed up for a Stripe account on 4/23/On May 7th, we identified the account running charges without authorization from card ownersAt that point, we contacted the merchant to let him know that we would not be able to process payments on his behalf going forward and refunded the credit cards to prevent future disputesBy the time we closed the account, the merchant had incurred a dispute rate significantly higher than the threshold tolerated by the credit card networksThe merchant can refer to the relevant part of our terms of service here: https://stripe.com/us/terms#a-idsectiondasection-d-license-termination-and-other...⇄ We believe that the merchant in question is fraudulent, and will not be able to process funds on his behalf in the future
Below is Stripe's Response to the complaint submitted by [redacted] (herein referred to as the "Complainant") on June 13, 20** Stripe Overview As background, Stripe provides a technology platform that allows merchants selling permissible goods or services online, or through a mobile device, to quickly and simply accept credit card payments.[1] Merchants register for an account by providing contact information, some information about their business and its principals, and bank account informationThis information is submitted through an electronic application process and additional information, such as ID scans, may be requested by Stripe after submission Merchants have control over what information is provided to Stripe – for credit card charges, this must minimally contain the card number and expiration dateMost merchants also elect to provide the name, CVC, ZIP code as an anti-fraud measure, but are not required toIt is important to note that funds are briefly held in an aggregated clearing account at a bank before being deposited into the merchant's bank account It is important to note that merchants identify the account into which funds are ultimately deposited through the Stripe management interfaceMerchants consent to Stripe’s Services Agreement when establishing their accountA current version of the Stripe Services Agreement is available at https://stripe.com/us/legal [1] https://stripe.com/us/payments Merchant Account Overview The Complainant submitted an account with Stripe on June 4, [redacted] under the name "EVERGREENOFGR"Stripe processed payments for the account owner until June 7, 20**During a routine review, Stripe was not able to verify sufficient information about the Complainant's businessOn June 9, 20**, Stripe reached to the Complainant to let them know about its concerns and to get additional information As of June 13, 20**, Stripe has received additional information from the Complainant and completed it's review of their businessThe Complainant's funds have been released and they are welcome to continue processing on Stripe For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless
Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable lawAs a result, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of ServiceAll users agree to these terms when activating Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms Since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise.During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of ServiceStripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged cardOn DATE, Stripe reached out to the complainant to advise them of our decision and the closing of the accountThe closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of ServiceOur terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason"https:// [redacted] While we will not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing data
Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Theubjist make up things as they go along to suit themThe original email from them clearly states that the payment was high risk or more than likely fraud although it was not Theybencoraged me to not even go througjnwith my buyer and then held my payment after sending those hateful emails Sincerely, [redacted]
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2015/07/14) */ Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable lawAs a result, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of ServiceAll users agree to these terms when activating Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms Since Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of ServiceStripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged cardOn June 15th, 2015, Stripe reached out to the complainant to advise them of our decision and the closing of the account The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of ServiceOur terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason" https://stripe.com/us/terms#termination While we will not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing data Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2015/07/15) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Lame responseSeems copy-pasted! Lol What "un-authorized transaction" is stripe referring to? There was NONE! We have not had EVEN ONE chargeback or dispute YesWe got the copy-pasted mail on June 15thThe very same day, we replied requesting info for this supposedly "unauthorized transaction"We have got no response, despite it being a month now The response also does not address our concern about the funds on holdWhen do we get that? Not a single dispute or CB even weeks after we stopped processingWhy is our payment still on hold? Also, we have customers who we need to refundWe mailed you regarding that alsoNo response! How do you expect us to provide refunds if you disable our accounts completely? You are forcing customers to do a chargeback by not providing us with a refund option I would like these issues addressed instead of generic templated responses, that are only beating around the bush!
Below is Stripe's Response to the complaint submitted by Karis [redacted] (herein referred to as the "Complainant") on March 30, 2018.Stripe OverviewAs background, Stripe provides a technology platform that allows merchants selling permissible goods or services online, or through a mobile device, to quickly and simply accept credit card payments.[1] Merchants register for an account by providing contact information, some information about their business and its principals, and bank account informationThis information is submitted through an electronic application process and additional information, such as ID scans, may be requested by Stripe after submissionMerchants have control over what information is provided to Stripe – for credit card charges, this must minimally contain the card number and expiration dateMost merchants also elect to provide the name, CVC, ZIP code as an anti-fraud measure, but are not required toIt is important to note that funds are briefly held in an aggregated clearing account at a bank before being deposited into the merchant's bank account It is important to note that merchants identify the account into which funds are ultimately deposited through the Stripe management interfaceMerchants consent to Stripe’s Services Agreement when establishing their accountA current version of the Stripe Services Agreement is available at [redacted] Merchant Account Overview The Complainant submitted an account with Stripe on March 21, under the name [redacted] Stripe will process payments for the account owner until April 2, 2018, at which point, they will no longer be able to create chargesDuring a routine review, Stripe determined that the complainant's business was at a high risk for disputesOn March 29, 2018, Stripe contacted the Complainant, informing them that we would no longer be able to support their business as we are unable to accept payments for businesses we determine to be at high risk for a dispute rate of over 1%, as mentioned here: "High chargeback rates (typically those exceeding 1%) may result in your inability to use the Payment ServicesFailure to timely and effectively manage Disputes with your Customers may ultimately result in your inability to accept payment cards for your business." [redacted] Reserve TermsThe closing of this account was in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of Service:"may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason" [redacted] In order to mitigate future losses to Stripe as a result of chargebacks on the Complainant's account, a reserve was set in place that will last for daysFunds will be transferred to the complainant's bank account on June 27, This is in accordance to Stripe's Terms of Service:"We may impose a Reserve on you for any reason if we determine that the risk of loss to Stripe, Customers, or others associated with your Stripe Account is higher than normalFor example, we may hold a Reserve if: (i) your or your Customers’ activities increase the risk of loss to us or to your Customers, (ii) you have violated or are likely to violate this Agreement, and (iii) your Stripe Account has an elevated or abnormally high number of Disputes." [redacted] While there is a reserve in place, the Complainant is able to log into their Stripe dashboard, process refunds to the customer's whose funds are held and reprocess these funds with a different processor if they need immediate access to the funds.For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 8, 2015/04/06) */ Stripe has taken this opportunity to further review the state of this user's accountWe found that the account was indeed closed due to a positive by Stripe's fraud tooling In light of our findings, we have reinstated this account; the user is welcome to continue using Stripe and should find that their account will function normallyUnfortunately, because the transactions on this account (though not the account owners themselves) were fraudulently made with stolen credit card numbers, refunds were already issued to protect the cardholdersHad these refunds not been issued, the charges would have been disputed, with the user subject to an additional $dispute fee per transactionHowever, we do now believe that one of the three payments made may not have been fraudulentAs a result, we have issued a credit for the amount of this transaction on the user's Stripe account positives like this are rare, and Stripe takes them very seriouslyStripe is reviewing this case to determine what led to the first decision and how situations like this can be prevented moving forwardIn the meantime, we offer our apologies and invite the user to let us know what if any additional remediation steps they'd like us to take
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2015/09/01) */ The complainant signed up for Stripe on August 15, 2014, with the intention of using Stripe to process payments for an online store selling designer and luxury fashion and accessoriesIt is worth noting that online luxury goods sales are particularly targeted for fraud, especially when the merchandise is so high-value On August 26, Stripe informed the complainant that a dispute had been filed for $The complainant responded asking about the protections provided by Stripe against fraudulent transactions, to which Stripe responded on the same day, beginning a dialog of seven emails over the next two days about this disputed charge as well as the other charges the complainant mentions It was explained by email that Stripe does not provide chargeback protection, and even if the charge passes [redacted] street and ZIP checks as well as Stripe's fraud scoring, it is never possible to be 100% certain that a charge is not fraudulent in online transactionsSince the liability for chargebacks falls to the seller, it is up to the seller to use their judgement to decide whether to honor a suspicious chargeIt was further explained that when a seller chooses to ship to an address other than the verified billing address, banks will likely hold the seller responsible for any chargeback related to fraud because the seller is unable to prove they conducted business with the legitimate cardholder in most casesThe complainant was advised to mark as fraudulent and refund any further transactions that they believe to be illegitimate As a matter of clarification, Stripe is not responsible for fraudulent charges processed by users' accountsWe pass [redacted] relevant information (including the CVC, street check, and ZIP checks the the complainant mentions) to the card-issuing bank, who then authorize or decline the chargeWe have many fraud prevention measures in place, including allowing users the ability to refund suspicious payments even if they are authorized by the bank, and we offer our users detailed information about avoiding fraud and disputes on our support site (https://support.stripe.com/questions/avoiding-fraud-and-disputes)These tools exist to help our users protect themselves Stripe is not in a position to cover the cost of disputed funds for our usersOur terms explicitly state that users are "immediately liable to Stripe for the full amount of payment of the Chargeback plus any associated Fees, fines, expenses or penalties." Our terms further state that "Stripe may provide you with assistance including notifications and software to help you contest your ChargebacksWe do not assume any liability for our role or assistance in contesting Chargebacks." Our users accept these terms when they create their Stripe accountsMore information can be found in our terms of service: https://stripe.com/us/terms#chargebacks Disputes are a frustrating reality of accepting credit card payments, especially onlineWe try to give our users the best chance to avoid these situations, but ultimately Stripe will not accept responsibility for fraudulent paymentsWe are happy to help the complainant avoid future disputes, and can always be contacted at [redacted] @stripe.com Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2015/09/02) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) According to Stripe's policy, "You or Stripe may elect to contest Chargebacks assessed to your accountStripe may provide you with assistance including notifications and software to help contest your Chargebacks," unfortunately all of the emails that have been sent by Stripe customer support were just general explanation about how hard is to detect fraud and that the company is not responsible for that, nothing in particular to help with the disputed charge After detecting all of the other possible fraudulent transactions, I sent multiple emails to the company asking them to check all of these transactions since they were coming from the same geographic area, and pointing directly to the transaction numbers, addresses, etcUnfortunately, when responding directly to the same customer service representative that is aware of issue already, it seems that they are not getting my emails, so I have to contact Stripe customer support from their website every time explaining my issue again to the new customer service representative, and getting the same response on how to prevent fraudFurther, after all the possible fraudulent transactions have been detected and immediate email sent to the support team, Stripe was still depositing money to my bank account minus their feeAfter being informed by customer service representative that if the transaction did not pass [redacted] and street check it is most likely fraudulent, I went and manually reported and refunded the particular transaction as fraudulentPlease note all of the other three transactions out of passed [redacted] checks Once again, I have done everything correctly on my end, I received an order, checked the transaction, shipped the product, provided with tracking, customer received and signedAfter the first transaction was disputed, I submitted all of the evidence (including tracking, billing and shipping information, as well as a proof of purchase and authenticity of my product shipped) in regards to that transaction the same dayUpon further investigation and detection of other possible fraudulent activities by me, the issue has been reported to stripe On September 2, Stripe informed me that they are not able to accept payments for sites selling brand name products without authorized reseller status, and that these restrictions come from their banking partners, so they have very little flexibility with them, and that they giving me days to find another merchant service companyUnfortunately, my ecommerce website (Squarespace.com) doesn't provide with other merchant services rather than Stripe, and basically Stripe just shutting down my business and tons of work and money I put into my company, including building the website, paying for ecommerce services every month, promoting my website, sending flyers, business cards, and other promotional items to my customersI won't be able to use my website with other merchant service since that is the only platform used and comparable with my e commerce provider, which is absolutely unfair also I replied to Stripe immediately explaining that my company has a legitimate status, and that we buy our inventory from big department stores as well as boutiquesWe are selling online for over years and advertise with all major reseller websitesWe decided to launch our website last year and put tons of work and effort to do thatThe company is registered as llc and has all of the needed documentation to do business and provide services to the customersOur company does pay taxes on all of the products purchased as well as taxes at the end of the year on all of the profitAlso we sell pre-owned items and all of our items both new and pre-owned come with receipt, and we can guarantee authenticity of every single productWe currently have over items in our inventory both new and pre-owned and we will be gladly to provide receipts to your banking partners Resolution seeking: I would like for the company to respond to the disputed transaction made on August 26, for $and provide with the specific solution on how to handle the disputed chargeAlso if it's per company's policy not to handle the disputes, I would like the processing company to provide me with the customer's bank information so I can resolve this issue directly with themMoreover, I would like for my processing company to reinstate my service since as a processing company and as per Stripe policy "we do not assume any liability for the products or services purchased using our Service," the company does not have any ground on questioning the legality of my business as I provided them with my business name, business bank, and my company's EIN number while registering with Stripe and have been approved on August 15, Please note that all of the necessary documents been provided and signed by me to the Florida Department of State, IRS, and my business bank while registering Miami Luxury Boutique as llcHowever, I will be more than happy to provide all of the information, receipts and proofs of authenticity of my products, to Stripe's banking partners directly if requested Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 10, 2015/09/14) */ Stripe provided notifications and software to help the complainant contest this chargebackThe complainant was notified of a chargeback for $on August 26th and given the opportunity to upload evidence to support the legitimacy of this charge through the Stripe DashboardEvidence was uploaded by the complainant on August 26th and forwarded by Stripe to the cardholder's bankThe complainant doesn't need to take any further action to resolve this disputethe evidence is currently under review by the cardholder's bank and the deadline for their response is November 11th, If the cardholder's bank finds in favor of the complainant, Stripe will return the full value of the original charge along with the $dispute fee Stripe also provides a number of resources on how to prevent fraud and chargebacksThese resources include the guide to preventing fraud and disputes (https://support.stripe.com/questions/avoiding-fraud-and-disputes), which was shared with the complainant by email on August 27th, and the ability to mark payments as fraudulent in the Stripe Dashboard, which was used by the complainant on September 1st Stripe is unable to accept payments for sites selling brand name products without authorized reseller status, and these restrictions do come from our banking partners (you can view the complete list of business types prohibited by our banking partners in the United States at the following link: https://stripe.com/us/prohibited-businesses)To clarify: we have no reason to believe that the complainant's business is illegal, we are just prevented by our banking partners from processing payments for unauthorized resellers of brand name productsIf the complainant has certificates to show that they are an authorized reseller for these brands, please share them with Stripe so we can reconsider this classification Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 18, 2015/09/28) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Chargebacks from customers keep coming in, by far every single payment coming through stripe was fraudulentCompany should take responsibilities themselves as I'm no longer using their services, stripe disconnected me, and I do not wish to further deal with this continuous fraud comingI am month pregnant and absolutely don't need this stressOn my end all of the times was shipped in a proper manner with signature conformation, addressees all signed for their parcelsSo it is no longer up to me to investigate who used the disputed party credit cardsOn my end I've done everythingI contacted my lawyer as well as my bank they are confirmed that there are no further actions required by meThe customers bank as well as Stripe should decide on that matterI am a suffering party here and I am not willing to pay out of my pocket for someone's fraud and poor security services
Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (2000, 6, 2014/08/15) */ Client notified me today that they received their funds backThis complaint is now resolved
Please update your complaint with the email address that you've been reaching out from, as there are no emails from [redacted]
We are sorry to hear that the complainant has had a negative experience with this businessTo clarify, Stripe is not [redacted] .comStripe is a payment processor, which means we process paymentsIt sounds like the complainant made a purchase with one of our usersWe're unable to disclose any information about our usersHowever, if the complainant has concerns about the integrity about this business, they are welcome to write into [email protected] to articulate their concerns
Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: We have also escalated this complaint to the Attorney Generals office for CaliforniaThere are just too many instances of your company doing this to other SMEs for you to continue un-curtailedYou CANNOT remain in businessStripe IS A SCAM! By any means necessary including a full scale social media campaign WE WILL WARN people away from your "business" You MUST release to our bank account the ***[redacted] balance in my that you are holding hostageYou have provided no evidence to support your claims apart from referring to your nebulous terms and conditionsThis matter will not rest until our funds are released immediately! SimpleYou have done this to 100's of innocent businessesYou WILL NOT do it to us!Sincerely, [redacted] ***
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/07/28) */ On July 19th, we reached out to the complainant to verify that they were an authorized reseller for the goods on their website Stripe must verify this information to stay in compliance with KYC, or Know Your Customer, regulationsWe allow our users to start processing before verification is complete, but will ask for more data or clarification in some casesIf the user doesn't respond within a few days of our message, we will disable their transfers until they are able to send over the requested information This was the case with the complainantThey got in touch with us on July 20th to ask about the specific information we needed to verify their accountAfter some back and forth, we were able verify the information provided by the complainantUnfortunately, we weren't able to complete verification and re-enable transfers until July 27th As of this writing, transfers are being sent regularly, and the complainant's flow of funds is working normally to the best of our knowledge We would like to sincerely apologize for the delay in releasing the complainant's transfersThe verification process is vital to our business, but in this case the time it took adversely effect our user's businessIf the user has any issues or questions we can help with as they continue to process with Stripe, we will do everything possible to respond quickly Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 7, 2015/07/29) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Stripe did reopen our account and release our fundsThey explained they have been overwhelmed with customer service inquiries and admit they need additional staffThank you for doing the right thing
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2014/08/18) */ The complainant submitted a Stripe account application on July for a business that was in violation of our Terms of Service, which are easily accessible and optimized for readability here: https://stripe.com/terms#prohibited-businesses All Stripe users, regardless of business model, are able to begin processing payments immediately upon account activationBecause of this, this user was able to process a number of payments before we closed the accountUpon account activation, the complainant proceeded to enter a significant volume of charges manually in a short time (submitting credit card information on behalf of the customers, rather than having customers pay on their own behalf)Shortly after, we determined that the nature of the transactions, in combination with the elevated dispute risk associated with the complainant's business type, was such that we would not be able to continue supporting this user, and, per our policy, we refunded payments for which we could not confirm cardholder authorizationWe communicated this decision on July This was all clearly articulated to the user, whose questions were all then answered on the same day they were askedWe provided the complainant with the relevant links from which reports and payment data could be downloaded, and continued providing technical support when issues arose; we have not heard back since our last technical support communication on July All refunds were processed on July, approximately a week before this complaint was filedAll refund confirmations have always been and continue to be made available to the complainant through the Stripe dashboard, the direct links to which we provided when asked The bank account debit referenced by the complainant was for fees charged by the 3rd party applications that the complainant had integrated with their Stripe accountAll Stripe transactional fees were refunded along with the payment refunds, as we always do, but the complainant will have to request refunds of platform charges from the specific platforms with which they were integratedAs these are charges initiated by third parties, we cannot issue refunds on their behalfPer the Terms to which the complainant agreed, they are responsible for any owed funds (including platform fees, refunds, or disputes) even after their Stripe account is no longer accepting new payments: https://stripe.com/terms#section_d Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2014/08/20) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) If Stripe had articulated their exceptions for our business model in their advertisements as they do here, we would not have signed up with themIn order to be transparent to all business models I feel that they should be held accountable for making their exceptions crystal clear early and obviously in their business offer to the public I also feel that they are obligated to explain to a customer, whether it is one they intend to keep or one they are separating from service, that third party fees may have to be extracted PRIOR to doing so and not be arrogant about their right to simply take money from other business' accountsBecause they did not do these things, I feel that they are still liable for the $and $ Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 10, 2014/09/05) */ Unfortunately, we have to refer this user once again to our clearly articulated Terms of Service: stripe.com/terms There, we make explicit what business models are prohibited from using Stripe; this complainant's business fell unambiguously into one of these categoriesAlso in our Terms of Service is a clear articulation of the user's responsibility for returnsA quote from Section Creads: "For processed refunds, Stripe will deduct the refund amount (including any applicable Fees) from (i) settlement funds owed to you from processing of other card transactions, or (ii) funds in any Reserve AccountIf these funds are not sufficient, you authorize Stripe to initiate an ACH debit entry to your Bank Account in the amount necessary to complete the refund transaction to the cardholder's cardIn the event Stripe cannot access your Bank Account by means of ACH debit, you agree to pay all funds owed to Stripe upon demandYou are solely responsible for accepting and processing returns of your products and services; Stripe has no responsibility or obligation for processing such returns." If the complainant believes they are owed a refund from a third party, they should contact that third party, as the request falls well outside of the complainant's relationship with Stripe Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (2000, 12, 2014/09/09) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) The situation is an unfortunate one that was not well researched by my company initiallyWhile I am unhappy about the end result, the terms are clear, I believe them to be accurate, and I accept them [redacted]
The inability to call and speak to someone over the phone for a customer service representative is ridiculousAddressing complaints or discrepancy of funds over email, taking days to respond or resolve, is the worst idea of customer service I've ever seen
Stripe operates within the constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks, and applicable lawsTherefore, Stripe must fully understand its users to ensure their businesses are consistent with Stripe's Terms of ServiceAll users agree to these terms when activating Stripe accounts, and the terms are posted here: https://stripe.com/terms Because Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe has to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe also periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of ServiceStripe cannot process payments that appear to be unauthorized by the owner of the charged cardThe majority of the complainant’s business seemed to be driven through unauthorized, fraudulent chargesOn [redacted] **, we reached to the complainant to let them know about our concerns and that we could no longer support their businessWe reviewed the information associated with these charges and after a thorough investigation, Stripe closed the complainant's account The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of ServiceOur terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason" : https://stripe.com/us/terms#termination While we will not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing data
Almost all charges on the complainant's account have been returned to the cardholderThe single charge mentioned by the complainant is due to be refunded to the cardholder as wellAs such there are no outstanding funds to be paid out to the complainant
Below is Stripe's Response to the complaint submitted by [redacted] (herein referred to as the "Complainant") on October 31, Stripe Overview As background, Stripe provides a technology platform that allows merchants selling permissible goods or services online, or through a mobile device, to quickly and simply accept credit card payments.[1] Merchants register for an account by providing contact information, some information about their business and its principals, and bank account informationThis information is submitted through an electronic application process and additional information, such as ID scans, may be requested by Stripe after submission Merchants have control over what information is provided to Stripe – for credit card charges, this must minimally contain the card number and expiration dateMost merchants also elect to provide the name, CVC, ZIP code as an anti-fraud measure, but are not required toIt is important to note that funds are briefly held in an aggregated clearing account at a bank before being deposited into the merchant's bank account It is important to note that merchants identify the account into which funds are ultimately deposited through the Stripe management interfaceMerchants consent to Stripe’s Services Agreement when establishing their accountA current version of the Stripe Services Agreement is available at [redacted] [ [redacted] Merchant Account Overview The Complainant submitted an account with Stripe on October 10, under the name " [redacted] ***" at https:// [redacted] Stripe processed payments for the account owner until October 25, During a routine review, Stripe identified strong signals that the Complainant's account was in violation of the Stripe Terms of ServiceSpecifically, Stripe cannot process payments related to marijuanaOn October 26, 2017, Stripe reached to the Complainant to let them know about its concerns and that it could no longer support their businessAfter a thorough investigation, Stripe closed the Complainant's account Stripe clearly states that it is not able to support businesses selling marijuana related products, "Marijuana dispensaries and related businesses; sale of tobacco, e-cigarettes, and e-liquid; online pharmacies; age restricted goods or services; weapons and munitions; gunpowder and other explosives; fireworks and related goods; toxic, flammable, and radioactive materials; products and services with varying legal status on a state-by-state basis" [redacted] The closing of this account is in accordance with the following section of the Stripe Terms of ServiceStripe's terms very clearly state that Stripe "may suspend your Stripe Account and your access to the Service and any funds in your Stripe Account, or terminate this Agreement, if we determine in our sole discretion that you are ineligible for the Service because of the risk associated with your Stripe Account, including without limitation significant credit or fraud risk, or for any other reason" [redacted] While Stripe is not be able to continue processing transactions on the account, this does not preclude the Complainant from signing into Stripe and accessing any of the account's existing dataAll of the Complainant's funds have been transferred to them as of October 24, For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/12/19) */ Stripe operates within a variety of constraints imposed by our banking partners, credit card networks and applicable lawSince Stripe bears financial responsibility for all accounts using Stripe to accept payments, Stripe needs to have a high degree of confidence about their legitimacy, and their likelihood of delivering promised goods and servicesStripe periodically reviews accounts to verify that they meet these standards, and reaches out to merchants should any issues arise After a routine review, Stripe reached out to the complainant via the [redacted] @ [redacted] .com email on November 27, requesting additional information needed to verify the Stripe accountThe email sent was as follows: Hi [redacted] , Thanks for choosing Stripewe really appreciate it We're writing to request some additional information that we couldn't verify using complainant's business URLIn order to continue transferring funds to you on time, we need to be able to verify: - what you're selling, and - how your customers might get in touch with you in case of issues (having contact information is also a great way for you to avoid possible disputes) Would you mind sending over a working URL that includes this information1? Alternatively, we'd be happy to take a look at your business' social media profile (e.g., an established LinkedIn or Facebook business page that includes a description of the products or services you use Stripe for and your contact information)If you don't have an active online profile for your business, an itemized invoice for a recent payment on your Stripe account could also work If your website is simply under construction (we understand that these things can take time), do you know when you're planning to make it available? As soon as we can verify these details, your account will be all set to again automatically transfer funds to your bank account Best, Stripe Team Member https://support.stripe.com/questions/do-i-need-a-website-to-use-stripe Since previous emails to this complainant had been failing since November 20, 2015, after this email request for additional info initially bounced, the system did not retry sending itThe complainant received a dashboard notification reading "Before we can continue sending funds to your bank account, we need some additional informationWe've sent an email to you at [redacted] @ [redacted] .com with detailsIf you have any questions about this, don't hesitate to contact us." On December 1, 2015, the complainant responded to this dashboard notification by writing three emails to [redacted] @stripe.comThe complainant had not received the original email and requested that Stripe re-send the messageA Stripe team member replied to this email that same day, explaining why Stripe needed to verify the URL of the complainant's business and copying the original email for referenceThis email, like the ones prior to it, bounced again From December 2-3, 2015, the complainant continued to reach out to Stripe and received replies from Stripe team members within the dayStripe's replies to the complainant continued to bounce, and the complainant grew frustrated, believing that Stripe was ignoring them The last reply the complainant received was on December In this reply, the Stripe team member referred back to the multiple replies sent to the complainant and that Stripe hadn't heard back from the complainant in turn Stripe has investigated the issue with the bounced email and has cleared the previous email failures in the system that were preventing Stripe emails to the complainant from being re-triedProvided that the complainant's email account is viable and able to receive emails, the complainant should now be able to receive emails from StripeIf the complainant can provide a valid URL for the site they are accepting payments on, this should resolve the issue verifying their account detailsWe apologize for the frustration and distress that the complainant has experiencedPrior to posting this response, we have emailed the complainant directly on December explaining the source of the confusion and confirming the steps needed to verify their business
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 6, 2015/08/26) */ Stripe provides a service between banks and our usersIn order to provide service to our users, we are urged by our banking partners to keep an eye on all accounts that sign up for our services After routine monitoring of this account, we've noticed that the complainant has processed many charges that seem to be unauthorizedIn order to make charges with credit and debit cards, the owner of the card must consent to the chargeThe majority of charges on the account do seem to lack this consent, which means that we are no longer able to offer service to web-one.com We're also compelled to keep the balance on on this account, as this account has a high risk of incurring chargebacks due to the unauthorized charges Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 8, 2015/08/27) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I have wrote Stripe many times and have explained, that is untrueEvery client I have chage has giving us authorization to run there cards, I have signed service ahreements for all my clients as wellI have asked for what charges that are "not authorized" or in question, and they refuse to supply me with that informationthey give that generic answer and ignore the emailsAny other processor, would contact and speak to you about the chargesthy do not have phone suppot eitherI just want the in my account asapo the chance to rufnd itbetter yetthe chages that ae in questionI am more then happy to suppl all customer service agreements as wellthet are signed as well
Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2014/05/23) */ The seller signed up for a Stripe account on 4/23/On May 7th, we identified the account running charges without authorization from card ownersAt that point, we contacted the merchant to let him know that we would not be able to process payments on his behalf going forward and refunded the credit cards to prevent future disputesBy the time we closed the account, the merchant had incurred a dispute rate significantly higher than the threshold tolerated by the credit card networksThe merchant can refer to the relevant part of our terms of service here: https://stripe.com/us/terms#a-idsectiondasection-d-license-termination-and-other...⇄ We believe that the merchant in question is fraudulent, and will not be able to process funds on his behalf in the future
Below is Stripe's Response to the complaint submitted by [redacted] (herein referred to as the "Complainant") on June 13, 20** Stripe Overview As background, Stripe provides a technology platform that allows merchants selling permissible goods or services online, or through a mobile device, to quickly and simply accept credit card payments.[1] Merchants register for an account by providing contact information, some information about their business and its principals, and bank account informationThis information is submitted through an electronic application process and additional information, such as ID scans, may be requested by Stripe after submission Merchants have control over what information is provided to Stripe – for credit card charges, this must minimally contain the card number and expiration dateMost merchants also elect to provide the name, CVC, ZIP code as an anti-fraud measure, but are not required toIt is important to note that funds are briefly held in an aggregated clearing account at a bank before being deposited into the merchant's bank account It is important to note that merchants identify the account into which funds are ultimately deposited through the Stripe management interfaceMerchants consent to Stripe’s Services Agreement when establishing their accountA current version of the Stripe Services Agreement is available at https://stripe.com/us/legal [1] https://stripe.com/us/payments Merchant Account Overview The Complainant submitted an account with Stripe on June 4, [redacted] under the name "EVERGREENOFGR"Stripe processed payments for the account owner until June 7, 20**During a routine review, Stripe was not able to verify sufficient information about the Complainant's businessOn June 9, 20**, Stripe reached to the Complainant to let them know about its concerns and to get additional information As of June 13, 20**, Stripe has received additional information from the Complainant and completed it's review of their businessThe Complainant's funds have been released and they are welcome to continue processing on Stripe For the reasons explained in detail above, Stripe acted in accordance with its terms of service in the handling of this merchant account and the Complainant's claim for damages is baseless