New company, new merchant account, and you sell CBD and hemp. Migrate everything to a new Shopify store.
You have a terminated merchant account and you are thinking about starting a new company so that you can open a new one. That instinct is not wrong. A new entity is the legitimate answer for real structural reasons: splitting a high-risk product line away from your main brand, formalising a partnership split, moving to a new jurisdiction, acquiring another business. But here is what changes and what does not. Every payment acquirer screens merchants against MATCH — the card networks' terminated-merchant file — which is keyed to the person behind the business, not the business name. MATCH follows you for five years, and it follows everyone listed as a beneficial owner, director or signatory. A new company with you as the owner does not present to Stripe, Square or any other acquirer as a new applicant. They see the same person applying again. If you apply truthfully — naming the termination and your role in the previous business — you have done nothing wrong. If you apply as if the history does not exist, every processor will spot it during underwriting, and that becomes a fraud marker, not a fresh start.
Move all of it into a new store, from $247
One-time packages, no per-record metering, no quotes. The order form unlocks the moment you pay, counts are matched against your old store, and the entire migration then runs a second time — the second pass has to create nothing.
What you are looking at
- "We found a previous merchant account in your name. Please explain the termination" — and your new company's application stalls
- Unable to connect a payment processor because Stripe, Square and others screen the beneficial owner, not the business name
- Advice online suggesting a new LLC is the "workaround" — which makes you sound like you are trying to hide something
- The option to list someone else as the owner to dodge MATCH — which is transaction laundering and criminal
- A legitimate need: you genuinely split from a partner, moved jurisdictions, or want to ring-fence a new product line
The real clock is your runway without payment processing. The second clock is harder to see: every day you delay truthful application is a day closer to the five-year MATCH window closing — but only if the termination reason was legitimate. Running a new company as a shell while the old one's liabilities compound does not help either clock. Truthfulness now is the only move that works later.
Why it happened — specifically for CBD and hemp
Shopify Payments is underwritten by Stripe, and Stripe's policy treats cannabis and its derivatives as restricted — hemp-derived CBD within the legal THC limit sits on the restricted list, and anything over that limit is prohibited outright. So a CBD merchant is not being judged by Shopify at all; they are inheriting a payment processor's category policy. The secondary trigger is claims: CBD marketed as treating a condition reads to a reviewer as an unapproved drug, which moves you from "restricted" to "prohibited" without changing a single product.
Rule out the easy fix first — then deal with the real one
Rule this out first, because it takes an afternoon. Shopify does document a hemp route: US merchants sign the Attestation for the Sale of Hemp and Hemp-Derived Products and connect one of the integrated third-party providers. What merchants get wrong is thinking the attestation is an approval. It is not — it is permission to apply, and the provider behind it runs its own underwriting on your claims, your labels and your history. That second review is where the decline usually happens, which is why most people reading this page have already been through it. Shopify's documentation →
It only helps if all of these are true:
- You are US-based, and every product is within the federal THC limit
- Your store itself was not closed — only the gateway was switched off
- Your product claims survive a compliance review, because the provider will run one
- One of the integrated providers will actually board you, which is a separate decision
If any one of them does not hold, you are where everyone else on this page is: you need a store built around a gateway that will actually accept you — and everything you have built has to move into it without losing the catalog, the customers, the order history or the rankings.
What this means for a business like yours
💊 Sold to be swallowed, inhaled or applied — health claims and product-liability risk
A new entity does not erase your previous underwriting history. MATCH screening follows the person — your name, tax ID and address — for five years, and every acquirer checks it. If your old merchant account was terminated for claims disputes or product-liability concerns, those flags remain. A new company legitimately isolates a reformulated product or a shifted product line, but only if you disclose the termination truthfully on the application. Running the same products through a new entity without disclosure is transaction laundering, prosecutable as fraud. Before you incorporate, get the claims language reviewed independently and ensure your certificates of analysis are audit-ready. Honesty on the application is the only sustainable path.
⚖️ Legal status is genuinely contested or actively changing
A new company does not reset MATCH screening, which follows the person for five years. If your previous account was terminated because the legal status of your products was contested or changing, that underwriting history is visible to every new acquirer. Processors price legislative risk, not just chargeback risk. A new legal entity can legitimately respond to a genuine shift in jurisdiction or product legality — a state ban, a federal reclassification, or a split from a parent company whose other products are restricted. But it only works if you disclose the reason for termination fully and provide evidence that the new structure addresses the legal exposure. Running the same contested products under a new name without disclosure is fraud. Honesty about the legislative risk is your only credible option.
🔁 Recurring billing is a large share of revenue
A new company does not reset MATCH screening, which follows the person for five years. If your old subscription business was terminated for chargeback rate, disputes or payment method abuse, that underwriting record is accessible to every new acquirer. A genuinely new legal entity — a split, acquisition or ring-fence — is legitimate, but only if disclosed. The hidden dependency is that stored payment methods are held by the processor and cannot be exported to a new one. Restarting subscriptions means either a pre-arranged processor-to-processor migration or asking customers to re-enter payment methods, which recovers poorly. Disclose your previous termination and your chargeback history. Honesty is the only path to an acquirer willing to migrate your existing subscriber base.
What you actually have to fix
Underwriters do not change their minds because you asked. They change them because the facts changed. For CBD and hemp, these are the facts that move the decision:
Strip the drug claims out of every product page
This is the single highest-yield fix and the one merchants resist most, because the claims are what sell. Anything that says or implies your product treats, prevents or cures a condition — anxiety, pain, insomnia, inflammation — reads to an underwriter and to a regulator as marketing an unapproved drug. Structure and function language is defensible; therapeutic claims are not. Audit the descriptions, the blog, the reviews you display and your email flows, because reviewers read all of them.
Put your certificates of analysis where a human can find them in ten seconds
Batch-level COAs from an accredited lab, linked from the product page, with the THC result visible. Underwriters are checking that you can substantiate the legal-limit claim at all, and the merchants who pass are the ones who do not have to go looking. If your COAs live in a metafield your theme renders — as they usually do — that is also the data most likely to vanish in a badly-run store move.
Geo-block where you are not allowed to ship
Hemp legality is not uniform, and shipping into a jurisdiction that prohibits your product is both a legal exposure and an underwriting red flag. Market and ship only where you are compliant, and be able to show the controls that enforce it.
Sign the Shopify hemp attestation before you conclude you need a new store
If you are US-based and the only thing that failed was Shopify Payments, the attestation plus an integrated third-party provider may put you back in business on the store you already have. Exhaust that before migrating anything — a migration is the right tool for a genuinely new store, not a workaround for a form you have not filled in.
What underwriting will ask you for
- Certificates of analysis per batch, from an accredited lab, showing THC within the legal limit
- Supplier and manufacturer agreements
- Product labels for claims review — this is what gets applications declined
- Your Shopify hemp attestation, if you are US-based
- Three to six months of processing statements if you have any history
- Business bank account, formation documents and beneficial-owner ID
Getting underwritten for CBD and hemp
High-risk acquiring is an entire industry that exists for businesses Stripe declines, and several of them publicly underwrite CBD and hemp. What none of them will tell you up front is the number that actually matters: what your business gets offered, once they have seen your volume, your claims and your history. Rate, reserve and settlement terms vary enormously between applicants in the same category.
Get real quotes from high-risk processors that accept CBD and hemp
Six taps and three details. We put it in front of the high-risk acquirers that actually underwrite your category and come back with what they will offer you — rate, reserve and settlement terms — so you are comparing real numbers instead of cold-emailing brokers for a fortnight.
The recovery playbook
- Decide whether a new entity is real or a workaroundNew entity is the right move if you are: splitting a high-risk product line away from your core brand to protect both, formalising a genuine partnership split, moving to a new jurisdiction, acquiring another business, or restructuring for tax or operational reasons. It is not the right move if your only reason is that a payment processor said no. If it is real, proceed. If it is a workaround, that intention will show up in underwriting and you will be declined on fraud grounds — worse than being declined on category grounds. Honesty saves time.
- Get a verified backup of your store out nowBefore you apply anywhere, export and store a full copy of your current Shopify store. This is the step with a deadline you do not control. Shopify's CSV export pulls products, variants and basic order data, but it cannot carry metafields, metaobjects, gift card codes, videos, themes, menus, discounts or redirects. If your store is already flagged or restricted, you may lose admin access without warning. With no admin access, there is no API — and with no API, your catalog, order history and custom data are unreachable. Get the copy out while you can still log in, even if you never use it.
- Prepare a truthful application with full termination disclosureGather the termination letter from your previous processor, and the reason code if you have it. When you apply to the new processor — Stripe, Square, Shopify Payments or any other — disclose the termination and your role in the previous business. Do not wait for them to find it. Every processor checks MATCH as part of underwriting. They will see the listing. If you have already disclosed it clearly, they move forward. If they discover it from the MATCH file, the application flags as fraud — deceptive application — and you are declined. Truthfulness is not a disadvantage; it is the only way through.
- Research processors that underwrite your product categoryNot all processors underwrite all categories. Some categories are on some processors' prohibited lists entirely. Before you apply, check whether your product category — not just your new company name — can be underwritten by the processor you have chosen. Publicly advertised category pages on Stripe, Square and others show which businesses they take. This is not a guarantee of approval; it is a filter to avoid wasting time and creating another declined application on your record.
- Move your store to a processor who will underwrite youOnce you have a new merchant account approval, migrate your store to a payment gateway that the new processor supports. This means moving your Shopify store to a new store configured with a compatible gateway. Moving means rebuilding your catalog, re-uploading images, re-adding descriptions, SEO data, metafields, product options, videos, customers, order history, discounts, menus and redirects. Shopify's CSV export cannot carry most of this — so the verified backup you took in step 2 is what lets you do this without losing data. Once the new store is live, you have a working business again. The old store can stay or close; the new processor does not care about historical platform, only about current and ongoing risk.
And then there is the part that actually loses businesses
If you do need a new store, the payments problem turns out to be the easy half. This is what is sitting in your current store right now, and what happens to each piece when someone tries to move it by hand:
Why this category in particular
A CBD store's data is unusually dangerous to move by hand, for one specific reason: the compliance content lives in metafields. Batch COAs, THC results, cannabinoid breakdowns and lab-report file references are all reference-type or file-type metafields that a CSV round-trip cannot carry at all — and if they are copied naively they keep pointing at files in the old store, so the page renders and the lab results are silently blank. On a regulated product, that is not a cosmetic bug.
| What you own | How much of it | What breaks doing it by hand | What we do instead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Product images | 720images≈ 3 hrsbulk re-upload, ~15 sec each | By handthe CSV carries image URLs and alt text, but they point at your OLD store's CDN — so the moment the old store goes, every image 404s. Re-upload and Shopify appends a dedupe suffix to the filename, which breaks every theme section and product description that referenced the original URL | Automatedevery file re-uploaded through the API with its alt text and variant attachment intact, its content type preserved so image-restricted fields still accept it, and every reference to the old URL rewritten |
| Product descriptions | 120descriptions≈ 2 hrsone pass to repair inline image links — the CSV carries the text | By handdescriptions are full of inline images and links pointing at the old store's CDN. Paste them into the new store and the text survives perfectly while every embedded image quietly dies — which you usually discover from a customer, not from a report | Automatedbodies copied verbatim, then a second pass rewrites every source-CDN URL inside them to the re-uploaded file on the new store |
| Product attributes & variants | 480variants≈ 45 minthe CSV carries these; the time is verifying option order | By handoption ORDER is part of the product's identity. Rebuild "Size, Colour" as "Colour, Size" and every theme swatch, saved customer URL and app that keys on variant position breaks — silently, because the product page still renders | Automatedvariants upserted by SKU with option names and order preserved, so swatches, deep links and app data keep working |
| Metafields & metaobjects | 1,200metafields≈ 8 hrsonly the reference, JSON and metaobject fields, ~1 min each | By handthe product CSV carries simple text and number metafields — but not metaobjects, and not reference or JSON types, which is exactly where app data and theme content live. Reference fields are the real trap: copy the value and it still points at objects in the OLD store, so the page renders and the custom block is silently empty | Automatedwritten in dependency order after their targets exist, with embedded references re-pointed at the new store's objects — and any value whose reference cannot be resolved is dropped rather than written broken |
| SEO data & redirects | 249records≈ 2 hrsredirects one at a time, plus a handle audit | By handany handle that changes becomes a dead URL with no redirect, and existing 301s are not in the product CSV at all. Years of accumulated ranking and backlinks end up pointing at pages that no longer resolve — the most expensive thing on this page to get wrong, and the slowest to notice | AutomatedSEO titles, meta descriptions and handles carried across, and every existing 301 recreated, so nothing that used to rank starts 404ing |
| Your custom theme | 1theme≈ 6 hrs2–10 hrs depending on how customised it is | By handa theme is not just its files. The settings, section content and block ordering are stored against the store, so a file copy gives you the layout and none of the content. Hardcoded asset URLs and tracking snippets also still point at the old store | Automatedyour live theme pulled and pushed as-is, then scanned for tracking snippets and hardcoded URLs that need re-pointing |
| Product videos | 10videos≈ 40 minre-upload and re-attach, ~4 min each | By handthe product CSV does not carry video or 3D media, so every one is a manual re-upload. They also cannot be pulled straight from a remote URL — the bytes have to be downloaded and staged first, and a wrong content type lands the file as a generic attachment that media-restricted fields then reject | Automatedvideo bytes downloaded, staged through a proper upload target, re-attached to the right product, and verified as processed rather than silently failed |
| Customers | 4,200customers≈ 2 hrsCSV import, then cleaning up the rows that fail | By handthe importer works, but marketing consent is the exposure: the CSV carries the current opt-in state and NOT the timestamp or source behind it. Re-opting someone in is a compliance breach, dropping them burns list revenue you paid for, and you cannot prove which happened afterwards. Default-address designation is also lost | Automatedcustomers upserted by email with every address, the default-address designation, and email and SMS consent states and timestamps preserved exactly as they were |
| Order history | 9,400orders≈ 8 hrsa paid third-party importer, plus a day of mapping and reconciliation | By handShopify's own CSV importer cannot create orders at all, so the hours here assume you buy a third-party importer — key them in by hand instead and 9,400 orders is closer to 390 hours, which is why nobody does that and why order history is simply abandoned in most DIY moves. Then support cannot answer a warranty claim, repeat-purchase segments are empty, and every returning-customer flow starts from zero. Getting the mapping wrong duplicates orders or re-dates them to today, and both are worse than not importing at all | Automatedfull order history recreated through the API with line items, properties, customers re-associated, original dates and tracking numbers intact |
| Navigation menus | 3menus≈ 1 hrsabout an hour to rebuild and relink them all by hand | By handmenu items store resource IDs, not paths, so nothing about them is portable — every link has to be re-pointed at the equivalent collection, page or product on the new store | Automatedmenus rebuilt with their nesting, and every item re-pointed at the equivalent object on the new store |
| Discount codes | 30discounts≈ 1 hrsabout 1 hr via the discount CSV, or ~3 hrs rebuilt by hand | By handthe discount CSV covers basic codes, but automatic discounts, quantity breaks and combination rules are not in it and have to be reconstructed by hand. A subtly wrong rule is worse than a missing one, because nobody notices until it has been over-discounting for a fortnight | Automateddiscounts recreated through the API with their rules, usage limits and dates intact, including automatic and free-shipping types |
| Gift card balances | 45gift cardsno manual routecannot be moved by anyone | By handthis is the one thing on this page that truly cannot be moved by anyone. Gift card codes are unreadable through EVERY Shopify API, by design — no tool, ours included, can copy them. Those balances are real money you owe real customers, and abandoning the old store does not abandon the liability: the customers still turn up expecting you to honour it | Automatedwe re-issue each card with an identical balance, customer and expiry date, and hand you the new codes as a CSV with customer email copy ready to send — the only honest way to move them |
| Blogs & pages | 59articles & pages≈ 4 hrsrecreated one at a time, ~4 min each | By handno CSV route for either. Articles also have no SEO fields of their own — their title and description tags live in metafields — so a hand-rebuilt blog loses its SEO even when every word of the text is right | Automatedarticles and pages recreated with authors, tags and publish dates, their SEO written to the metafields Shopify actually stores it in, and inline image URLs rewritten |
| Apps & app data | 10apps≈ 10 hrsabout 1 hr per app to reinstall, reconfigure and re-test | By handmost app data lives in metafields on your products and customers, so reinstalling the app gets you an empty app: reviews gone, subscription plans gone, loyalty balances gone, bundles gone. Flows and automations have to be rebuilt by hand and re-tested, and anything with its own billing has to be re-subscribed | Automatedthe metafield data your apps rely on migrates with the products and customers it hangs off, so a reinstalled app finds its data waiting instead of an empty store |
See these numbers for YOUR store, free
The figures above are a typical store in your category. The demo scan connects read-only to yours and counts the real thing — every product, variant, image, customer, order and metafield — then tells you exactly what a migration would carry across. No card, and it never writes to your store.
▶ Run the free demo scanDoes this need a new company?
Most CBD merchants do not need a new company — they need a different gateway on the store they already have. A new entity earns its keep when you are separating a cannabinoid line from a mainstream brand so one cannot take the other down, or when you are moving jurisdiction for genuine regulatory reasons. It does not reset a MATCH listing.
Frequently asked
Can I sell CBD on Shopify at all?
Yes — Shopify permits hemp and hemp-derived CBD sales where they are legal, and documents the process. What you cannot use is Shopify Payments, because it is underwritten by Stripe and inherits Stripe's cannabis policy. US merchants sign Shopify's hemp attestation and connect an integrated third-party payment provider; the store, theme and checkout stay exactly where they are.
Which payment gateway works for CBD on Shopify?
The honest answer is that the gateway is the easy part and the merchant account behind it is the decision. Several high-risk acquirers publicly underwrite hemp and CBD, and they front it through gateways Shopify supports natively — but which one will take you, at what rate and with what reserve, depends entirely on your volume, your product claims and your processing history. Rather than send you to cold-email a dozen brokers, use the quote form on this page: we put your details in front of the acquirers that actually underwrite your category and come back with what they will offer.
What reserve should I expect as a CBD merchant?
The high-risk norm is a rolling reserve of roughly 5–10% held for 90–180 days, with settlement slower than the next-day you may be used to. Cannabinoid categories with contested legal status sit at the upper end or above it, because the acquirer is pricing legislative risk as well as chargeback risk. Reserves are negotiable over time as you build clean processing history.
Will my lab results and COAs survive a move to a new Shopify store?
Not through a CSV export, which cannot carry metafields or metaobjects at all — and that is where COAs, THC results and lab-report file references live. Copied naively they keep pointing at files on the old store, so your product pages render with the compliance section silently empty. An automated migration writes them in dependency order after the files exist and re-points every reference, and drops any value it cannot resolve rather than writing one that is broken.
Will a new LLC get me approved when my old company was terminated?
Only if you apply truthfully and disclose the termination. Every processor screens beneficial owners against MATCH, the card networks' terminated-merchant file, keyed to the person — not the company name. They will find your previous termination during underwriting no matter what you call the new entity. If you disclose it upfront, showing the reason and your account in it, that is legitimate and they evaluate based on facts. If they discover it from MATCH without you mentioning it, the application flags as fraud, which is much harder to recover from. The new company is real if you need it for structural reasons; it is not a way to look like someone else.
What is MATCH and why does it follow me to a new company?
MATCH is the card networks' terminated-merchant file, screened by every payment processor during underwriting. It is keyed to the person — name, Tax ID, address — not the business name, and it persists for five years from the termination date. When you apply to a new processor with a new company, they check MATCH as part of standard risk review. Your name and TIN appear in the file, showing a previous termination and the reason code. Every processor sees this. A new LLC with you as the owner does not hide it; it makes the situation clearer, because you are the person applying again.
Can I put someone else's name on the new company to avoid MATCH?
No. Using another person as a nominee or straw owner to obscure your involvement is transaction laundering, classified as MATCH code 03, and it is criminal fraud. Payment processors detect this during underwriting through UBO (ultimate beneficial owner) verification. If discovered, you are not just declined; you face fraud investigation. The legitimate move is to apply in your own name, disclose the previous termination, explain the reason, and show why the new company structure is necessary for real business reasons.
What happens if I apply and hide the previous termination?
The processor will find it. Every major processor screens applicants against MATCH during underwriting. If your name or TIN appears in the file and you do not mention it, the application flags as deceptive application — fraud code 08 or similar — and you are declined. That declined application stays on your record and makes future applications harder, because processors see that you concealed a material fact. Truthful disclosure of a termination is not disqualifying on its own; concealment is.
If I open a new company, can Shopify turn my payments back on?
No. Shopify cannot reinstate a terminated account, and opening a new company does not change that. What you do instead is: build a new Shopify store, connect it to a payment processor willing to underwrite your category and your termination history, and run the business from there. This requires migrating your catalog, images, customers, order history, and custom data to the new store — which is why the verified backup you took before the first store closes is critical. You cannot move gift card codes through any API, so those must be re-issued to affected customers. The new company is legitimate if you need it for structural reasons; the new store is how you keep selling.
Move everything, verified twice, from $247
Pick a package and the migration order form unlocks immediately. Your existing store is only ever read from — we never write to it, so nothing you still have can be made worse. How the migration runs, step by step →