Shopify Collective

Tatjana L
4:54 pm
Hi Ahmet,

I wanted to reach out to you directly to let you know where we're at with your Collective shipping issue.

I'm still actively working on this. I've escalated your case to our Collective team and I'm waiting for their response to confirm exactly what happened with your shipping configuration and why Crystal Quest's shipping rates weren't displaying to your customers.

I know you're waiting — and I know this is costing you real money. The $274 loss you've already absorbed in shipping costs, plus the investment you made in Shop campaigns to drive those sales in the first place, is a significant hit to your business. You trusted Shopify Collective to work as advertised, and instead you've been losing money on every order. I completely understand why you used the word "scam" — when you're told you'll have a 20% margin and you end up losing $40 instead of making $70, that feels like a betrayal of trust.

You were right to be furious. This shouldn't have happened. You set up Collective in good faith, ran campaigns to drive sales for your supplier's products, and the platform failed to pass shipping costs through to your customers. That's on us to investigate and explain.

Here's what I'm pushing the Collective team to confirm:
Why the supplier's "calculated at checkout" shipping rates didn't display to your customers, causing them to check out at $0 shipping
Whether this is a known configuration issue with Collective shipping profiles or a bug in how supplier rates flow through
What the proper configuration should be so this stops happening immediately on future orders
Whether there's any path to recovering the $274 you've already lost — I told you in chat that Shopify can't reverse payments already transferred to Crystal Quest, but I want the Collective team to review whether there are any exceptions or supplier dispute mechanisms available in cases like this where the platform didn't work as expected

I don't have answers yet, but I'm not letting this fall through the cracks. The moment I receive a response from the Collective team, I will update you — you won't have to chase me. I will come to you.

In the meantime, please don't uninstall the Collective app yet. I know you're frustrated and ready to walk away, but if you remove the app before we finish investigating, it may make it harder for our team to review your shipping configuration and order history. I need you to trust me for just a little longer so we can get this fully documented and understood.

I know "I'm still checking" isn't the update you wanted, but I wanted to make sure you knew this case is still active, still a priority, and I'm personally staying on top of it until we have real answers for you.

Thank you for your patience, Ahmet. I'll be back in touch as soon as I have findings from the Collective team.


Best regards,

Tatjana
Money Support Specialist
Shopify
Tatjana L
1:21 pm
Hi Ahmet,

I have answers for you.

I've received confirmation from our Collective team about exactly what went wrong with your shipping configuration, and I want to walk you through it clearly so you understand what happened, why it happened, and how to fix it going forward.

Your store has a flat shipping rate configured in your shipping settings (Settings > Shipping > Delivery profile). This flat rate setting is overriding Crystal Quest's calculated shipping rates at checkout.

Here's what that means in practice:
Your customers are seeing free shipping (or a very low flat rate) at checkout
Crystal Quest is still shipping directly to your customers and charging you their actual shipping costs ($7.95–$122.50 per order)
You're paying the full supplier shipping cost while collecting $0 from customers
Result: You're absorbing 100% of the shipping cost on every Collective order

This is why you lost $274 across those five orders. Your customers paid nothing for shipping, but you still owed Crystal Quest the full amount they paid to ship those orders.

I'm genuinely sorry this happened to you, Ahmet. You were right to call this out.

To ensure your customers are charged Crystal Quest's actual shipping rates at checkout (so you stop absorbing these costs), you need to change your shipping configuration from "Flat rate" to "App calculated shipping."

Here's how:
Go to Settings > Shipping > Delivery profiles
Find the delivery profile that includes your Collective products (likely your default profile)
Click into that profile
Under shipping rates, remove the flat rate you currently have configured
Enable "App calculated shipping" or ensure "Display all available supplier rates" is turned on in your Collective Retailer app settings

Once you do this, Crystal Quest's calculated shipping rates will automatically display to your customers at checkout, and they'll pay the actual shipping cost instead of $0. You'll stop losing money on every order.

I've included a direct link to your shipping profile settings here for convenience:
Your Shipping Profile

I need to be honest with you about this part. The shipping amounts that were debited from your account ($7.95, $14.95, $29.95, $122.50, and ~$99) were already transferred to Crystal Quest to reimburse them for the shipping costs they paid when they fulfilled and shipped those orders to your customers.

Shopify cannot reverse or refund those payments because they've already been paid out to your supplier. Any reimbursement or compensation for those past losses would need to be negotiated directly with Crystal Quest. I know that's not the answer you wanted, and I wish I could tell you something different.

What I can tell you is this: you have every right to contact Crystal Quest and explain what happened. You were operating under the assumption that your customers were being charged for shipping, you were not aware of the configuration issue, and you absorbed $274 in costs that should have been passed through to buyers. Whether they're willing to reimburse you or issue a credit is up to them, but you absolutely have grounds to ask.

What happens now:
Immediate action: Update your shipping configuration using the steps above to stop this from happening on future orders
Verify the fix: Place a test Collective order or ask a friend to check out—you should see Crystal Quest's calculated shipping rates displaying at checkout now
Contact Crystal Quest: Reach out to them directly about the $274 loss and request reimbursement or credit

I know you said you were ready to delete the Collective app, and I completely understand why. If you decide Collective isn't worth the risk after this experience, that's a valid business decision and I respect it. But if you're willing to give it one more shot with the correct shipping configuration in place, you should finally see the 20% margins you were promised.

I'm truly sorry this happened, Ahmet. Thank you for your patience while we investigated this, and thank you for being honest about how angry you were—that feedback matters, and I've made sure it's been heard by our Collective team.


Best regards,

Tatjana
Money Support Specialist
Shopify

Ahmet Kara
2:28 pm
some how you are making shopify collective app mistake mine thats not acceptable by any means. Shopify collective suppose to have their rates overriding my current setup which they failed to do so. how is this my problem why am i forking the $274 loss whis is not small amout. Im deleting collective to never to be used ever again

They don't allow us to write proper reviews on Suppliers. Majority of the suppliers don't respond to your emails especially when they are supposed to fulfill return labels. Suppliers can also cancel your customers orders without giving any context. I strongly advise not to use collective

Absolute Garbage payout nightmare!!!!! If your a small business and do not hold enough capital in bank account then FORGET THIS APP! Shopify pulls out the total sale capital first , then puts it back into your account. So if you sell a item worth $2k you better have $2k in your bank account before hand. They should be handing the sale money over to supplier first, then providing you with your commission from the sale directly bank account. Otherwise your left with them continuingly pulling account weather money is there not causing several NSF fees to your business. ABSOLUTE RUBBISH!!!

We need to be able to upload bulk mutiple different suppliers at the same time and see the catelog size not just 10k

Die Idee hinter dieser App bzw. dem gesamten System ist grundsätzlich interessant, in der Praxis sehe ich jedoch einige deutliche Nachteile.

Das größte Problem sind die Versandkosten: Bestellt ein Kunde sowohl eigene Produkte als auch importierte Artikel anderer Lieferanten, fallen oft doppelte Versandkosten an. Das sorgt schnell für Unzufriedenheit beim Kunden. Die einzige Alternative besteht darin, die zusätzlichen Versandkosten in den Verkaufspreis einzurechnen – dadurch werden die Produkte jedoch häufig zu teuer und verlieren ihre Wettbewerbsfähigkeit.

Hinzu kommt, dass die Margen in vielen Fällen ohnehin sehr gering sind. Kunden vergleichen Preise heute sehr genau und merken schnell, wenn ein Produkt deutlich teurer angeboten wird als anderswo. Dadurch wird es schwierig, dauerhaft profitabel zu arbeiten.

Außerdem entsteht der Eindruck, dass viele der angebundenen Lieferanten selbst lediglich Zwischenhändler oder weitere Dropshipper sind. Dadurch wird die Lieferkette unnötig verlängert und die Kalkulation noch schwieriger. Manche Lieferanten mit identischem Angebot wie ich verlangen das 3 bis 4fache meiner Verkaufspreise ohne einen Mehrwert. Wie soll man da kalkulieren?

Meiner Meinung nach wäre das System deutlich attraktiver, wenn verstärkt direkte Hersteller eingebunden würden, anstatt weitere Zwischenhändler.

Viel Arbeit für nichts eigentlich.

AWFUL. Absolutely zero understanding from Shopify on how UK VAT and Tax works. Listing collective suppliers that offer 10% margin on goods, yet really there charging you 10% to sell there product! So yeah amazing business model, losing money for selling suppliers products because at the last minute they add 20% vat onto the charge to the retailer. What on earth is going on. Its disgusting that they have no solution in place for this. Sam Hampton of shopify support suggested we paid for a bulk editor like "Matrixify" or "Bulk Price Editor" that might be able to solve the issue. So shopifys are basically telling you collective in the UK is a broken model. I cannot believe they have not fixed this issue and automatically added 20% on the price to any store that is collecting tax.

In response to Shopify response -
I can confirm this issue is not resolved, you built this with USA in mind and not the UK. Its a mess. Fix it.

The difference between cost and retail of one product is 20 % which is exactly what the supplier charges... so I sold an item and made a loss as they took 20% plus extra on postage......RIP OFF

After implementing Shopify Collective and starting real sales, a fundamental accounting and tax problem appears that Shopify does not clearly communicate, and which in practice makes this model unworkable for EU businesses.

Once you connect to a supplier:

you sell products directly to end customers,

payments are received by your store,

Shopify automatically splits the revenue based on a predefined “margin”,

but you do not receive any purchase invoices from the supplier that would document the cost of goods sold.

Key tax consequence

From a tax authority’s perspective:

a cost exists only if there is a valid invoice,

no invoice = no deductible cost.

As a result:

100% of the sales revenue is treated as taxable income,

authorities assume the goods were acquired “for free”,

income tax is calculated on the full turnover, not on the margin.

The margin in Shopify Collective is an illusion

The margin shown in Shopify Collective:

has no tax or accounting validity,

is not recognized as a cost,

is only an internal platform settlement.

In practice:

you transfer part of the revenue to the supplier,

you still pay fees, payment costs, ads, etc.,

but income tax is charged on the full sales amount.

This means the merchant ends up subsidizing each sale instead of making a profit.

High risk for EU merchants

Shopify Collective operates like dropshipping or a marketplace, but:

provides no supplier purchase invoices,

offers no self-billing mechanism,

does not issue consolidated monthly cost invoices,

shifts all tax risk onto the merchant.

Under EU tax rules:

Without a cost invoice, there is no cost of goods sold — regardless of real money flows.

Conclusion

Shopify Collective may look attractive from a technical standpoint, but:

it is not aligned with EU tax and accounting requirements,

it prevents proper income tax reporting,

it creates serious financial and compliance risk for merchants.

I strongly discourage using Shopify Collective if you operate a business in the EU and want to stay compliant and profitable.

Asunto: CRÍTICO - Collective bloqueado "Nicht berechtigt" - Semanas sin solución

Hola equipo de Shopify Collective,

Escribo directamente porque llevo SEMANAS con Collective bloqueado.

PROBLEMA:
Apps > Collective > Einstellungen muestra:
- Status: "Nicht berechtigt" (No autorizado)
- "6 von 7 abgeschlossen"
- NO indica cuál es el 7º requisito

LO QUE TENGO COMPLETADO:
Shopify Payments activo y verificado
Cuenta bancaria conectada (OLDENBURGISCHE LANDESBANK)
Registro fiscal verificado
ID verificada
Dirección en país soportado (Alemania)
Moneda soportada (EUR)
Plan Shopify activo (Basic)

HISTORIAL DE SOPORTE:
- 21 enero: Jordan prometió solución en 48h
- 22 enero: Jourdan escaló a equipo técnico sin plazo
- Resultado: SEMANAS bloqueado, CERO soluciones

NECESITO:
1. Identificar el 7º requisito faltante
2. Solución en 24 horas máximo
3. Autorización manual si es necesario

URGENTE: Estoy en periodo de prueba y no puedo usar Collective.

Jorge Sarmiento
la-tienda-de-pepe-aguirre-2.myshopify.com
22 enero 2026

very bad experience not eligibile, shopify customer care promise to repsond but It did not, app itself seems useless , nobody anwer for conenction , waste of time