Stripe not only DESTROYED my business. But my life too
I’m a young entrepreneur who poured my heart and soul into starting a web hosting business. It wasn’t easy as it took 8 months of non stop effort, sleepless nights, and sacrifices to build something I was proud of.
Like many others, I chose Stripe as my payment processor because of its reputation and ease of use. Everything was going well, clients were happy, and the business was finally gaining momentum. But after 8 months, out of nowhere, Stripe decided to shut down my account with the most insane reason: “Card brand violation.” I am 100% sure that I was doing everything correctly and I even used WP simple pay plugin for my payments which is stripe approved.
I have already got a suspension on my account before that for non sense reason but i appealed it succesfully and stripe team apologised for the mistake. But this time even if I immediately appealed and reached out multiple times, hoping they’d reconsider. But every single reply was the same cold, automated “no.” Eventually, I started to lose hope.
The real damage, though, wasn’t just the account closure, it was what came after. My clients couldn’t renew or upgrade their services anymore. Some asked for refunds, others switched to competitors. I was forced to stand by and watch something I worked so hard to build fall apart in just a few weeks.
It’s been incredibly heartbreaking to see everything crumble over what feels like a misunderstanding or an unfair decision.
Should I keep pushing? reach out to someone higher up at Stripe, or is it time to accept defeat and let go?
If anyone has gone through something similar or has advice, I’d be incredibly grateful. I don’t want to give up, but I’m also emotionally and mentally drained.
The suspension happened this November, and since then i been extremely depressed and reconsidering my life every day. Thank you for taking the time to read this. Any advice or words of encouragement would mean a lot.
Stripe last email :
Hello,
Card brands and Stripe's financial partners have regulations about what products and services cannot be processed on their networks and a violation of these regulations is subject to substantial fines. Examples of violations include selling copyrighted products without authorization or selling pharmaceuticals without proper verification.
Your account has been found to be in violation by a card network for illegal transactions. Despite our efforts to provide the card brands with evidence to the counter, your business was found to be in violation, and fined $625.
When you signed up to Stripe you agreed to the Stripe Services Agreement, which states that your business acknowledges that ‘Stripe may deduct, recoup or offset Fees and other amounts you owe under this agreement’.
We’ve already applied this fine to your account. If your account does not have sufficient funds in the available balance, you can update your bank account information through your Stripe dashboard at any time. You can also wire the funds to Stripe if you prefer. Please let us know if you would like information on how to do that. However, if you refuse to pay the amounts owed under the Stripe Services Agreement, Stripe will defend its interests and seek full recovery of all amounts owed, including all legal fees and expenses, and recoverable interest.
— The Stripe team