"Stripe, on behalf of Shopify and/or Wells Fargo reserves the right to change the Payout Schedule or suspend payouts to your Bank Account should we determine it is necessary due to pending disputes, excessive or anticipated excessive Chargebacks or refunds, or other suspicious activity associated with your use of the Service or if required by law or court order."
"Further, if we reasonably believe that a Chargeback is likely with respect to any transaction, we may withhold the amount of the potential Chargeback from payments otherwise due to you under this Agreement until such time that: (a) a Chargeback is assessed due to a customer’s complaint, in which case we will retain the funds; (b) the period of time under applicable law or regulation by which the customer may dispute that the transaction has expired; or (c) we determine that a Chargeback on the transaction will not occur."
"Funds held in reserves are amounts of money set aside to cover Chargebacks, refunds, or other payment obligations under this agreement (a “Reserve Account”). We, in our discretion, will set the terms of your Reserve Account and notify you of such terms, which may require that a certain amount (including the full amount) of the funds received for your transaction is held for a period of time or that additional amounts are held in the Reserve Account"
These are the three parts in the Shopify Payments terms that concern the current discussion.
The first, I believe to be misleading because the payout was held back but not for none of the listed reasons. That cannot be it.
For the second part, to support Shopify's move, it would means that Shopify Payments believed that 100% of the transactions were going to result in a chargeback since they were freezing 100% of the funds. Again, the terms of the presale mentioned no refunds after September 29th, 2017 making the case for chargeback very easy to win for the payment processor. That cannot be it.
Which leaves the third "god" part which I'm sure Shopify would use to defend their move. Which brings me back to the title of this post: don't use this payment processor for presale/crowdfunds...it's asking for trouble. True story. Hope this helps someone in the future.
1 - Are communications easy, fast and meaningful? That's the first step. Contact more than one supplier (on a initial round, think 10 to 20). Make small challenges like posting design files on a secure site that requires the supplier to create an account...you'll get rid of a lot of unworthy suppliers that won't bother and therefore are not going to be proactive in the future.
2 - Invest in requesting prototypes (or samples if making more than one prototype does not make sense) from more than one factory ahead of time (top 3 of the step above). The good factories will perform well at this task...bad ones will deliver half-baked stuff.
With time, the very good suppliers that really want to build a business relationship with you will become obvious and you can reuse them in the future...making your life easier. Don't be lazy when looking for suppliers...that's the biggest pitfall. Invest time and money...it's important.
This sounds more or less like the process I've gone through. I have yet to explore the option of manufacturing in China....have you done this? Is the process more or less the same?
Given the importance of good communication, there are obvious additional challenges to manufacturing in China. Take baby steps and get small components, small orders first to establish trust. Finding an agent who will handle sourcing and communication can be a big help.
I completely agree. As a hardware maker (e-watches) with KS experience (2 campaigns), I find it frustrating that hardware projects on KS start with a negative perception from the public. It seems to me that a track record indicator is missing on KS. Like ebay feedback or a star-rating system...something that people can quickly look at and determine the level of reliability of a returning hardware maker. The number of project created is not enough...it does not speak about level of satisfaction.
"Stripe, on behalf of Shopify and/or Wells Fargo reserves the right to change the Payout Schedule or suspend payouts to your Bank Account should we determine it is necessary due to pending disputes, excessive or anticipated excessive Chargebacks or refunds, or other suspicious activity associated with your use of the Service or if required by law or court order."
"Further, if we reasonably believe that a Chargeback is likely with respect to any transaction, we may withhold the amount of the potential Chargeback from payments otherwise due to you under this Agreement until such time that: (a) a Chargeback is assessed due to a customer’s complaint, in which case we will retain the funds; (b) the period of time under applicable law or regulation by which the customer may dispute that the transaction has expired; or (c) we determine that a Chargeback on the transaction will not occur."
"Funds held in reserves are amounts of money set aside to cover Chargebacks, refunds, or other payment obligations under this agreement (a “Reserve Account”). We, in our discretion, will set the terms of your Reserve Account and notify you of such terms, which may require that a certain amount (including the full amount) of the funds received for your transaction is held for a period of time or that additional amounts are held in the Reserve Account"
These are the three parts in the Shopify Payments terms that concern the current discussion.
The first, I believe to be misleading because the payout was held back but not for none of the listed reasons. That cannot be it.
For the second part, to support Shopify's move, it would means that Shopify Payments believed that 100% of the transactions were going to result in a chargeback since they were freezing 100% of the funds. Again, the terms of the presale mentioned no refunds after September 29th, 2017 making the case for chargeback very easy to win for the payment processor. That cannot be it.
Which leaves the third "god" part which I'm sure Shopify would use to defend their move. Which brings me back to the title of this post: don't use this payment processor for presale/crowdfunds...it's asking for trouble. True story. Hope this helps someone in the future.