~18 months back, when we are (www.webminal.org/flexi) launching our paid feature and looking for
payment gateways like Paypal,Stripe. Stripe is not supported in my country(India). Some users asked for Paypal alternatives. So we found Gumroad (gumroad.com). Their api are developer friendly, so we integrated it. Though many users use paypal, few users used Gumroad for their payment.
Everything looked fine. Last week customer reported he can't use Gumroad payment. While checking
their link, we found it gave 404 error message! We are little confused and asked the Gumroad support team about this broken link. Received below mail:
<snip>
Our risk models detected behaviors in your Gumroad account that are considered, in the payment processing industry, to be fraudulent or correlated to fraud – to be sure, we apologize for the negative connotation that the word “fraud” has.
You can learn more about how we handle fraud here:
https://help.gumroad.com/11169-Creator-FAQ/what-is-considered-fraud-on-gumroad
Due to the strict regulations by our business partners, we have suspended your account and will not be able to continue working with you. I would recommend contacting your clients to find a different means of payment.
All payments in your balance will be refunded to your customers.
We are constantly working on expanding the array of industries we can service. It is our hope that in the future we can help business such as yours.
For more context please look into our terms of service and list of prohibited items:
www.gumroad.com/terms
https://gumroad.com/terms/prohibited
</snip>
Thats crazy. They suspended account without any notification to us. And also claimed to refunded the amount
without telling us! Those customers are using our paid features until today for free without our knowledge!
Though we lost only less than 50$ its hard to believe their attitude. - If you are using Gumroad, please beware of their attitude.
UPDATE:
I wrote reply asking details like
</snip>
Even though you apologize for negative connotation for the word
'fraud'. Let me ask you, how do you feel if repeat the same word for
your business.
--
I read the links I can't figure-out why my project suspended with out
even notice. How you refund the money without discussing with me
at-least? Great! Now I gave 'paid' features for free to users.
Believing that they purchased for it.
Here are the questions:
1- When did you decide to suspend my account?
2- Why its not communicated to me?
3- What exactly the factor behind suspension?
4- How much money refunded to customers and when & to whom?
</snip>
Gumroad response:
<snip>
Hi
In order for us to be committing “fraud” we would have to be taking other people’s money, which we’re not doing. So, while I appreciate the stretch of the imagination, it’s incorrect.
1- When did you decide to suspend my account?
>>> Because your account was showing strong indicators of fraud.
2- Why its not communicated to me?
>>> This is policy. We don’t send fraudulent accounts “a heads up” so they can create a new account.
3- What exactly the factor behind suspension?
>>> The majority of your purchases were suspicious. Your account was actually suspended in September.
4- How much money refunded to customers and when & to whom?
>>> All of it has been refunded, to all customers.
I hope that answers all of your questions, as I will be discontinuing communication henceforth. As it stands:
1) We’ve refunded all of your sales
2) You are not getting your account back
</snip>
UPDATE2: (my reply)
<snip>
>In order for us to be committing “fraud” we would have to be taking other people’s money
Thats funny, you took money from us. User enjoyed our free service for
paid account thanks to you.
That's fraud in my context.
>So, while I appreciate the stretch of the imagination, it’s incorrect.
So as your imagination.
>>> This is policy. We don’t send fraudulent accounts “a heads up” so they can create a new account.
This happened on Sep. didn't sent notification at all. So you ack.
that your system , so called 'fraud' detection flawed?
>>> The majority of your purchases were suspicious. Your account was actually suspended in September.
God's sake. Do you even know what you are talking about? There is
exactly 2 users are using your payment in
last 6 months. Its funny you blame them.
>>> All of it has been refunded, to all customers.
That's not the answer to question,"How much money refunded to
customers and when & to whom?"
1. When did you decide to suspend my account?
<Seems like Sep.>
2. Why its not communicated to me?
“a heads up” excuse is a joke. Its been 3 months now.
3- What exactly the factor behind suspension?
"purchases were suspicious". What you mean by this. Its laughable to
put generic term like this.
4. How much money refunded to customers and when & to whom?
No answer, not even bothered to do some basic research & provide the
user mail-id and date of refund.
As it stands:
I never need your useless service & I don't want the account back.
Considering the fact, your are unwilling to appropriate/reasonable
answer, there is no point to continuing discussion with you.
</snip>
Be thankful it was only $50. However, this is not uncommon and is the nature of the payments industry in general. When you sign-up you are agreeing to their terms of service. Those terms typically state, very clearly, that they can cancel your account at any time for almost any reason and without notice (see Section 8 in Gumroad terms). There are ways to help mitigate getting cut off but even then there is no guarantee.
Yes,Its less than $50. Thankful, we didn't push customer towards only 'gumroad'.
Thanks for pointing out Section 8 in Gumroad terms. I overlooked it, was hoping they will target only illegal business & I was wrong. Please see my update & their response. I interacted with lot of customer services, Gumroad is one of the worst.
Everything looked fine. Last week customer reported he can't use Gumroad payment. While checking their link, we found it gave 404 error message! We are little confused and asked the Gumroad support team about this broken link. Received below mail:
<snip> Our risk models detected behaviors in your Gumroad account that are considered, in the payment processing industry, to be fraudulent or correlated to fraud – to be sure, we apologize for the negative connotation that the word “fraud” has.
You can learn more about how we handle fraud here: https://help.gumroad.com/11169-Creator-FAQ/what-is-considered-fraud-on-gumroad
Due to the strict regulations by our business partners, we have suspended your account and will not be able to continue working with you. I would recommend contacting your clients to find a different means of payment.
All payments in your balance will be refunded to your customers.
We are constantly working on expanding the array of industries we can service. It is our hope that in the future we can help business such as yours.
For more context please look into our terms of service and list of prohibited items: www.gumroad.com/terms https://gumroad.com/terms/prohibited </snip>
Thats crazy. They suspended account without any notification to us. And also claimed to refunded the amount without telling us! Those customers are using our paid features until today for free without our knowledge!
Though we lost only less than 50$ its hard to believe their attitude. - If you are using Gumroad, please beware of their attitude.
UPDATE:
I wrote reply asking details like
</snip> Even though you apologize for negative connotation for the word 'fraud'. Let me ask you, how do you feel if repeat the same word for your business.
-- I read the links I can't figure-out why my project suspended with out even notice. How you refund the money without discussing with me at-least? Great! Now I gave 'paid' features for free to users. Believing that they purchased for it.
Here are the questions:
1- When did you decide to suspend my account?
2- Why its not communicated to me?
3- What exactly the factor behind suspension?
4- How much money refunded to customers and when & to whom?
</snip>
Gumroad response:
<snip> Hi
In order for us to be committing “fraud” we would have to be taking other people’s money, which we’re not doing. So, while I appreciate the stretch of the imagination, it’s incorrect.
1- When did you decide to suspend my account?
>>> Because your account was showing strong indicators of fraud.
2- Why its not communicated to me?
>>> This is policy. We don’t send fraudulent accounts “a heads up” so they can create a new account.
3- What exactly the factor behind suspension?
>>> The majority of your purchases were suspicious. Your account was actually suspended in September.
4- How much money refunded to customers and when & to whom?
>>> All of it has been refunded, to all customers.
I hope that answers all of your questions, as I will be discontinuing communication henceforth. As it stands:
1) We’ve refunded all of your sales
2) You are not getting your account back </snip>
UPDATE2: (my reply)
<snip> >In order for us to be committing “fraud” we would have to be taking other people’s money
Thats funny, you took money from us. User enjoyed our free service for paid account thanks to you. That's fraud in my context.
>So, while I appreciate the stretch of the imagination, it’s incorrect.
So as your imagination.
>>> This is policy. We don’t send fraudulent accounts “a heads up” so they can create a new account.
This happened on Sep. didn't sent notification at all. So you ack. that your system , so called 'fraud' detection flawed?
>>> The majority of your purchases were suspicious. Your account was actually suspended in September.
God's sake. Do you even know what you are talking about? There is exactly 2 users are using your payment in last 6 months. Its funny you blame them.
>>> All of it has been refunded, to all customers.
That's not the answer to question,"How much money refunded to customers and when & to whom?"
1. When did you decide to suspend my account?
<Seems like Sep.>
2. Why its not communicated to me?
“a heads up” excuse is a joke. Its been 3 months now.
3- What exactly the factor behind suspension?
"purchases were suspicious". What you mean by this. Its laughable to put generic term like this.
4. How much money refunded to customers and when & to whom?
No answer, not even bothered to do some basic research & provide the user mail-id and date of refund.
As it stands: I never need your useless service & I don't want the account back. Considering the fact, your are unwilling to appropriate/reasonable answer, there is no point to continuing discussion with you. </snip>
Be thankful it was only $50. However, this is not uncommon and is the nature of the payments industry in general. When you sign-up you are agreeing to their terms of service. Those terms typically state, very clearly, that they can cancel your account at any time for almost any reason and without notice (see Section 8 in Gumroad terms). There are ways to help mitigate getting cut off but even then there is no guarantee.
Yes,Its less than $50. Thankful, we didn't push customer towards only 'gumroad'.
Thanks for pointing out Section 8 in Gumroad terms. I overlooked it, was hoping they will target only illegal business & I was wrong. Please see my update & their response. I interacted with lot of customer services, Gumroad is one of the worst.