i believe shopify is holding that money because they're fed up with the number of cancelled orders. if i were shopify i'd monitor the cancellation ratio, the timeframe between orders and shipments, etc. it's the very same concept as multiplayer gaming, several users reported you? then you'll play with users with the same behaviour or you'll get a cooldown period, etc. to be honest i'm glad that shopify have these safety measures. this action is not related to the group buys, that's a big lie, it's related to all the other orders, the tons of cancellations and the unsatisfied customers.
and what about mkultra? the guy got what he deserves. after years of constant lying it's time to vanish from this hobby. i'm not a hater, i ordered from him a few months ago. he did not ship for two months or more, i went to his discord to personally ask him about it, promised a date, missed it, u asked again, promised another date, missed it as well, shipped another 2 weeks later. and all these after he admitted on r/mechmarket that his business sucks and his communication is rude or just doesn't exist at all. i believed him for the first few times but now it seems repetitive, lying for months then admits it, promises to change everything then goes back to lying again.
people in us: tell the gb organizers to choose a different vendor and don't buy anything from mkultra. that's all.