iDEAL activation stuck — I meet the published criteria but support keeps giving vague, contradictory answers

Shopify Discussion
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Hi all,

I’ve been trying to get iDEAL activated on my store (vandori.nl, targeting the Dutch market, EUR, Netherlands set up as an active market) for weeks now, and I keep hitting a wall with support.

When I check the published eligibility criteria myself, I seem to meet everything:

  • Store is live, not password-protected
  • Refund policy, contact details, and legal notice are all published
  • Netherlands active as a market, EUR currency configured
  • Identity verification was submitted

https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/payments/shopify-payments/local-payment-methods/ideal#eligibility-for-using-ideal

Despite that, across three separate contacts on the two tickets, I’ve only gotten vague answers. One agent mentioned an outstanding verification step tied to my original Shopify Payments signup and said I’d get an email with next steps — that email never came. When I followed up, a different agent told me there was no pending verification on file at all, which directly contradicts what my own admin shows (still listed as “In behandeling” / pending under Settings > Payments). No one has been able to tell me clearly what’s actually blocking activation or what I need to do about it.

I want to be upfront about why I’m pushing on this: I’m trying to grow this business, and iDEAL not being available is a real bottleneck for a store selling to Dutch customers. I’m not asking for a shortcut — I just need someone who can actually look into my account and give me a straight, specific answer instead of a generic response that doesn’t match what I’m seeing on my end.

Has anyone dealt with something similar — meeting all the listed requirements but still stuck, with support unable or unwilling to explain why? How did you get an actual resolution?

Thanks in advance for any insight.
All I want to know is what I need to do differently, however proper guidance seem to be not possible…

Vandori

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Update: Finally got a support agent to be “honest” with me, and honestly, the answer is worse than the vague ones I got before.

She confirmed my store has been reviewed at every level Shopify has, including her team, and that iDEAL eligibility comes down to internal “trust signals” that go beyond the criteria Shopify publishes. No manual override. No appeal process. No escalation path. Just: “the system decided no, and we can’t tell you why.”

I meet every single published requirement — verified Shopify Payments account, no password on the storefront, published legal notice with company registration and VAT number, published return policy, dedicated contact page, active Netherlands market, EUR accepted. All confirmed and screenshotted. And the answer is still “our internal criteria that we won’t disclose say no.”

How is this acceptable? I’m a registered business trying to offer a payment method that’s essentially standard for selling to Dutch customers, and Shopify won’t tell me why I’m blocked or what would change that. This isn’t a minor feature — it’s directly affecting my ability to convert customers.