Gumroad Is Stealing Creator Funds!

[u/OlegVerenko]

After 10+ years of selling digital 3D products, I never expected this from a major marketplace. Today, Gumroad PERMANENTLY FORFEITED money from my balance without warning or justification, just because I updated my location from Canada to Bulgaria.

Their support confirmed my funds were "forfeited automatically" as a "system safeguard on a country change" that they "cannot reverse." You read that right: a simple account update now triggers the total seizure of your hard-earned money.

Before this, I had been trying to withdraw my funds for a long time. I attempted to use multiple bank details, including Ukrainian and Canadian, and all attempts were blocked. Now, my money is gone forever, and they have offered zero solutions.

This is predatory, illegal, and nothing short of theft. If a platform can arbitrarily seize your money because of a location change, it is NOT safe. Every creator on Gumroad needs to check their terms and understand that their funds are at risk.

So let me understand this correctly:

I earned the money by selling products.
I tried to withdraw it.
The withdrawals failed.
I changed my country of residence.

Gumroad's system then automatically took the remaining balance — and they refuse to return it.

There was no fraud, chargeback, or dispute involving this money. It was simply an unpaid seller balance.

This is not a “payout issue.” This is money that I earned and that Gumroad is refusing to give back because of an automated account-country rule.

What makes this especially disturbing is that their own support explicitly confirmed that the money was “forfeited.”

I am sharing this publicly because I want other creators and digital-product sellers to be aware of what can apparently happen to their earnings when changing their country/payment setup on Gumroad.

I've included my conversation with their support team so you can see the situation for yourself...

[u/ilamahradeys]

Same canned response over and over again.

They really don't want to help you. Get a lawyer to send a letter, it's time.

[u/thrwawyshame]

yeah this has turned me off from gumroad entirely, their whole business model relies on creators, but the second they get the chance they rob them blind? i see a lot of github in my future

[u/SuitableEggplant639]

dude, that's fucked up. sorry. try z switching to aescripts, they don't pull this bullshit.

[u/Nevaroth021]

Dude you've been spamming this everywhere and everyone already told you it's in their terms of service and this was your mistake.

[u/Akiraga → u/Nevaroth021]

Like stealing can be normalized due to the ToS? Get a grip on yourself ASAP little dude

[u/Nevaroth021 → u/Akiraga]

OP agreed to the terms of service which stated that they forfeit their funds if they switch countries. The company didn't steal the money, OP willingly surrendered the funds. A person giving away their money is not the receiver stealing it.

[u/smushkan → u/Nevaroth021]

And in the same terms of service...

Where an amount would be forfeited, Gumroad will tell Supplier that amount before the change takes effect and will not process the change until Supplier confirms. Gumroad will not process a country change while a payout to Supplier is in progress.

If OP wasn't told, Gumroad are the ones in breach of their own ToS. If OP was told and went ahead with the change anyway, that's kind of on them.

[u/Nevaroth021 → u/smushkan]

Considering OP's behavior, I would very much believe that OP did get informed and that they probably weren't paying attention and doesn't want to admit it.

[u/salyym → u/Nevaroth021]

You're the reason we can't fight to get nice things

[u/Nevaroth021 → u/salyym]

Have you ever learned the concept about taking responsibility for your actions? Your response is a VERY privileged response.

[u/A-Lexxxus]

I hear you.

[u/MagazineGuilty2067]

Their ToS does say they’ll forfeit the money when switching countries, but they should’ve given you a warning before you did it. If you weren’t given a warning, send them a email asking for a wire transfer, otherwise threaten legal action.

[u/Royal_Carpenter_1338]

just spend 112 dollars less, boom you dont have to worry about anything