Can an app block a store if there are signs of email abuse?

Hi everyone,

I’m working on an app in the Email Marketing category, and I’m wondering what the best practice is when a store shows signs of abusing email features.

From my experience, apps with email features can attract stores that install only to look for sending loopholes. In a previous app, a test email feature was abused to send tens of thousands of gambling promotion emails.

Now, in my current app, I’m seeing a few stores that seem to only focus on the email template and test email features. Some templates contain suspicious URLs that look like phishing links, for example:

hxxps://www[.]albergo-blancos-morciano[.]it/wp-content/languages/https/brobizz/
hxxps://happilymag[.]com/wp-includes/Requests/bro/brobizz/
www[.]laboratoriodiconsapevolezza[.]it/wp-admin/includes/dk/brobizz
hxxps://secure[.]zervant[.]com/DraftPreview

My question is: are app developers allowed to block or suspend a store from using the entire app when there are clear signs of abuse?

For example, instead of only disabling email sending, the app would show a blocked/suspended notice when the merchant opens the app.

I want to prevent phishing/spam abuse, but I also want to make sure this is handled correctly according to Shopify’s expectations.

Has anyone dealt with this before?

We have had a similar experience for our app Pixi Order Printer PDF Invoice - Invoice generator for PDF invoice receipt, quote, packing slip | Shopify App Store

Looping in @Liam-Shopify because I’m not sure what to do here.

We get installs every week from a store on Shopify trial, use our apps trial plan to send out bulk email about Amazon gift cards and Spotify free plans. We got our AWS SES account paused multiple times.

They setup an email automation with order created and create 1000s of orders on Shopify using API. Using our app for spam.

Currently what we have done is this:

  • Setup an AI review of the template
  • If it smells like spam we put a hold on the account and ask them to contact us.

But I fear if I do this this will result in a negative review from a store.

We have had many bad stores throughout the years. We contacted Shopify about one that kept creating new stores and and over to bypass our filters and and guess what they said: your problem not our problem!

So block away!

So you’re the reason we can’t get SES approved for our Shopify Apps! :joy: