How to Close or Pause Your Shopify Store (+1 Extra Option)

There are 2 ways to stop using Shopify:

With the first option, you will eliminate your site with no chance of coming back under the same Shopify URL.

The second option allows you to take a break from your business or do some maintenance.

When paused, your store will still be accessible online.

Customers can enter your store and see your products, but can’t buy anything.

However, we recommend reading this whole post before you close your Shopify store completely.

Now, there are a few things you must know and do before you cancel your Shopify subscription.

Pay close attention to these, because it will save you a lot of the troubles most people experience when closing their Shopify account.

Things like losing your custom domain name or getting charged by add-ons you no longer use are some examples.

The moment you delete your account, you will lose all the store data you had unless you backed it up.

Thankfully, Shopify allows you to manually export your database into a CSV file, in case you want to migrate your store.

Keep in mind that you won’t be able to copy the store’s design, but you will get all of the information about:

Each ecommerce platform has its own migration process, so it will vary based on which one you’ve chosen to move to.

Also, you have to disconnect your custom domain name, or you’ll lose it.

To do this, follow these steps:

Then, you’ll have to change the DNS settings with your domain registrar.

If you purchased your domain name through Shopify, you need to transfer its management to another hosting platform.

Your data and configurations will remain stored for 30 days, in case you change your mind.

Lastly, you have to make sure that the platform you are migrating to uses HTTPS.

If not, Shopify’s HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) policy will generate a message to anyone that enters your website.

The message will tell them that your new online store is not safe.

This is a policy made to protect the information of businesses and customers and will remain active for 90 days after you cancel your Shopify account.

Shopify doesn’t do refunds.

This is specifically mentioned in their Terms of Service.

Also, you won’t be able to close your store if you haven’t paid all of the outstanding fees.

Paying these fees is necessary to avoid getting charged in the future.

If for some reason, you can’t pay all the fees, it would be better to change to a Pause and Build plan that only charges $9/month until you have the money for it.

This way, once you have enough for everything, you can pay them and cancel your subscription.

Before permanently deleting your Shopify account, you have to cancel all third-party apps and add-ons.

Otherwise, you might still get recurring charges even after you close your Shopify account.

This has to be done individually, just uninstalling the application is not going to cancel Shopify’s service.

You’ll have to be careful and patient, especially if you use apps or add-ons with a monthly fee.

Depending on how many apps you were using, this can be the most time-consuming part of the shutdown process.

It’s also the most important and the one the majority of people tend to overlook.

If you're uncertain whether or not to permanently delete your store or pause it instead, then pausing might still be the better option.

Let's find out why.

This is the best option if you are not entirely sure about canceling your subscription completely.

It’s also the right option if you want to do maintenance or take a break from your business.

Nonetheless, to be eligible, you need to be on a paid plan and 60 days must have elapsed since the end of your free trial.

Also, as mentioned before, while you pause your store customers can still visit it, but can’t purchase anything.

To improve the user experience while your store is paused, it would be best if you hide the prices and “Add to cart” buttons.

This will prevent users from trying to buy something.

To pause your store, follow these 5 steps:

Keep in mind that pausing your Shopify store doesn’t mean that you won’t pay any monthly fees.

More about that is below.

When you pause your store, you are still going to pay a reduced subscription fee — $14/month, almost half the price of the basic plan.

You will still need to uninstall all apps and add-ons, since pausing your business won’t pause their subscription fees.

There is also the Pause and Build plan.

This option allows you to keep working on your online store while it’s paused, for $9/month.

With this, you can still access your Shopify admin profile, edit your products and see your performance reports.

If you don’t want any visitors to see your products at all, then you can use a password to stop them from accessing your store.

You can also add a message to tell customers why you are paused or when you will open again.

When you’re ready to start selling again, you can do it like this:

Once you choose a pricing plan, your store will automatically reopen, and you can get back to business.

Don’t forget to let your customers know that you are active again.

Whether you decide to start a new online store or migrate your existing business, you are going to need a platform for it.

That’s why we’re presenting you with some alternatives to Shopify that we know will give you everything you require.

You can test these features during their 30-day free trial. After that, you’ll have to purchase their Standard Plan for $29.95/month.

Then, when the sum of the sales volume processed over the last 12 months passes the limit of your current plan, you’ll be automatically upgraded.

There are 4 plans to choose from:

Just like with BigCommerce, the moment you pass the maximum number of annual sales, you automatically get upgraded to the next plan.

The features you get with Shift4Shop are:

If what you want is to take a break from your Shopify store, then pausing it is the right choice.

On the other hand, if you want to say goodbye to your store, then you can either close it or sell it.

Closing it will only shut it down, while selling it allows you to profit from it one last time.

There are also plenty of ecommerce platforms where you can build and grow your online business.

For a website where you can mix blogging and selling, Shift4Shop is a great choice.

For selling goods, BigCommerce is a solid option that offers security, assistance, and several add-ons at a reasonable price.

Lastly, systeme.io is a powerful all-in-one platform for managing all kinds of online businesses, while saving a substantial amount of money.

With our platform, you can also build email lists and use them to bring visitors back every time you launch a new product, article, discount, etc.

And you can start using it for absolutely free with our Freemium plan.

Sign up now and start growing!