Perhaps you’re ready to walk away from Shopify, or you’re are too preoccupied with something else at the moment that you cannot focus on it, and you’ve been asking yourself questions about the possibilities of stopping the monthly membership payment since you’re not using it.
While Shopify remains one of the most popular e-commerce sites with excellent reviews, it is important to note that it is not for everyone. If you just found this out and thinking of what to do next, then you should read on to get an idea of how to either delete or pause your store.
Well, read on, you just might have found the answer to your questions.
Deleting Your Shopify Store
As you may already know, Shopify is a great platform, but the flow keeps dropping as if you’re running into unwanted issues. So, what can you expect to prevent this from happening and find a new path for yourself? Or what can you do if you want to move your store from Shopify to another website or other eCommerce platform?
A Few Things To Keep In Mind Before You Delete Your Shopify Account
It simply takes only a few minutes to close your Shopify business, but there are a few things to keep in mind before you do that.
You’ll be responsible for any unpaid fees.
Before you can close your Shopify account, you’ll need to pay off all of your outstanding bills.
Shopify doesn’t give refunds.
Regrettably, the service’s policy has this spelled out clearly. There is, however, a free trial that does not need a credit card, so you won’t be charged if you cancel within the trial time.
Your Shopify store can only be manually closed.
Your store can only be closed by you because the Shopify support team cannot do so for you.
All of your apps will have to be deleted.
You must contact and terminate all third-party providers associated with your Shopify account. If you don’t cancel any apps with recurring charges, you may be invoiced even after your store is closed.
Custom Domains Should Be Removed
Transfer any Shopify-purchased custom domains to another domain registrar. You can also choose to have the domain removed from your account. If you don’t remove your custom domain before pausing or canceling your Shopify subscription, you can lose access to your store.
Simple Steps To Delete Your Shopify Account On PC
Step 1: Select Account Settings from the drop-down menu.
Log in to your Shopify admin panel as the account owner to delete and close your account. Select Settings from the admin menu, then Plans and Permissions.
Step 2: Click on the “Plans and Permissions” interface and from the drop-down menu that comes up, choose “Close Your Store”.
To sell or close your store, scroll to the bottom of the page. Then click on the option ” Close store.”
Step 3: Pick a reason.
Then you’ll notice a pop-up window with the option to contact Shopify customer care as well as a drop-down list where you can select the primary cause for the store’s closure. After selecting the reason, click Close Store.
Step 4: Verify
It displays on the screen, confirming that your business has shut down. If you try to login into the Shopify administration panel again, you’ll be presented with a screen where you must select a new plan to revive your business.
Simple Steps To Delete Your Shopify Account On Mobile
Step 1: Make sure you have the Shopify App on your mobile phone.
Step 2: Locate “settings” by navigating the store and clicking on it.
Step 3: You will be directed to a page where you scroll down to the options of closing your store. Click on “close store”. Enter your password to gain access to this option.
Step 4: You will be taken to another page where you have to choose a reason to close your store. Pick a reason from the drop-down menu and then click on “close store”, and you’re done.
Pause Rather Than Shutting Down
There is another option than shutting down Shopify’s whole store. If you need to take a vacation from selling for a short period, pausing your Shopify account is probably the best solution. You can still shop online on your Shopify store when you choose to pause your account, allowing you to keep working on it while preventing customers from completing the checkout process. You will still have access to the administration panel when you pause a shop.
What To Know Before Choosing To Pause Your Store
Shopify phased out the Pause plan on December 15, 2021. Those already on the Pause plan before December 15 can stay on it for 90 days from the date the Pause Plan was started. After 90 days, they will be automatically promoted to the Pause and Build a plan, which costs USD 9 per month.
If you want to qualify for the “pause your business option” which allows you to choose between the “Pause and Build” plan, your store must meet two conditions—operate on a paid plan, as well as passing the free trial period for more than 60 days. Without these conditions met, you cannot put your store on pause.
However, you’ll have to part with a monthly charge even if your business is on hold. It costs around half of what Shopify Basic costs.
You’ll still need to delete all applications with recurring payments if you wish to put your shop on hold. There is no way to stop paying for apps.
Steps To Put Your Shopify Store On Hold
- As the account owner, log in to your account.
- In the lower left-hand corner of the screen, click the Settings button.
- Choose “Plan and permissions.”
- .You will see a drop-down menu on the “Store status” interface. Click on the “Pause and build” option.
- Accept the agreements before choosing the “Pause and build” option again.
- After verifying your billing cycle adjustments, click “Confirm changes” to pause your store.
You will be charged a reduced subscription price of $9 per month while your store is in “Pause and build” status. During this time, you can add or edit things in your store and then reopen it when you’re ready. However, if you want to pause your store and make it fully inaccessible to everyone, including yourself, for editing, you can do so by selecting “Pause Storage” instead of “Pause and Build.”
How To Reopen Your Store After Pausing And Stepping Away
When you’re ready to reopen your shop, log in and choose the best new plan for you.
Steps To Reopen Your Store
- Log in to your store as the store owner.
- Navigate to Settings > Plan in your Shopify admin.
- Choose a plan, then Choose a plan for the plan you desire.
- Examine the plan details carefully before clicking Start plan.
Before you can re-enable the store’s cashier, you’ll need to set up a new plan and confirm information for the next payment cycle. You can resume selling once you’ve decided on a plan.
Shopify’s Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
- Is the Shopify domain also canceled when you cancel the Shopify account?
Not outrightly. You will still have access to your OpenSRS account (hosting domain names purchased from Shopify). You can then transfer your domain to another provider as soon as you log in.
If you need help with this, you can be sure to contact the Shopify support team and the support team will help you easily.
How to cancel a custom domain?
To delete a custom domain;
- Sign in to the Shopify admin panel.
- Click on Domain.
- In the Manage Domains section, click on the Delete Domain icon next to the domain you want to delete.
- Confirm the domain deletion.
- How to sell your Shopify store instead of canceling?
When your goal is no longer to run a Shopify store but more interested in selling your business, Shopify’s Exchange Marketplace can help you. Listing your business on Exchange is a convenient way to sell online, and Exchange has partnered with Escrow.com to make payment, listing, and transfer processes simple and secure.
- How to close the Shopify store for the holiday?
While Shopify does not have a holiday setting, there are two ways to temporarily close your store to the public.
- Workaround: Password Protect your store
- Long Term Solution: Pause and Build
You can choose to password-protect your store if you want to temporarily prevent visitors from accessing your store. Password protection means that without a password, customers won’t be able to:
Visit your website, View products, Complete your order. When customers visit, they will be greeted with a password page and a notice explaining why the store is temporarily closed.
A long-term solution of Pause and Build plan keeps your store online and available to visitors, but disables checkout. You can access your Shopify admin to edit products or your online store, but customers can’t make purchases. You can pause your store on the Plans page of your Shopify admin’s Settings section. Suspending the store lowers the subscription fee to $9/month.
- When can you not Pause your Shopify store?
To qualify to access the pause plan on a Shopify store using the Pause and Build feature, the store must have a paid plan and at least 60 days must have passed after the free trial ends. If a store does not meet these criteria, it cannot use the Pause option.
- How to reactivate the Shopify store?
If you reactivate your account within 30 days of the pause, your original billing cycle will resume when you choose a plan, so if you choose the same plan as before you cancel, payments will automatically be credited to your account so you can pick up exactly where you left off.
It is important to understand that a Shopify store can only be reopened if it has been paused. Closed stores cannot be reopened (the closure action is irreversible!).
So, when you are ready to resume a paused store, you can resume it by following these steps:
- Sign in with your Shopify admin account.
- Go to Settings > Accounts.
- Click Compare Plans.
- Choose a plan. (It does not automatically switch to the plan before suspending the store).
It’s not that hard to delete or pause your Shopify account if you’ve taken the time to go through this piece. Hopefully, you also get to share the knowledge with others with the same problem.