Understanding billing implications before pausing or deactivating your Shopify store

If you're thinking about pausing or completely deactivating your Shopify store, then it's important to understand the billing implications involved. These considerations help you transition smoothly and manage the financial risks linked to altering the status of your store.

What happens to your subscription when you deactivate your Shopify store

If you're the store owner and your store is eligible for deactivation, then you can use your Shopify admin to cancel your subscription and deactivate your store completely.

Deactivating your Shopify store will automatically cancel your existing Shopify subscription.

If your store is on the Plus plan, then contact a Merchant Success Specialist to proceed with the cancelation.

Handling post-deactivation invoices

After deactivating your store, you might still receive invoices for the following reasons:

Third-party charges: Charges from third-party services such as apps or domains that are billed externally.
Chargebacks: Possible chargebacks from past transactions.
Other Shopify stores: Charges from another Shopify store that you might own. Learn how to investigate unknown charges.

Handling pending Shopify Payments payouts after store deactivation

Even if you deactivate your Shopify store, any pending payments from Shopify Payments will continue to be processed. These funds will be sent to the bank account on file according to your selected payout schedule.

Should these payouts fail for any reason after your store has been deactivated, you won't have access to your Shopify admin to address the issue. This includes any negative payouts that might occur as a result of chargebacks. In such cases, reactivating your store is necessary to troubleshoot or modify payout settings.

Handling chargebacks in deactivated Shopify stores

Even after deactivating your Shopify store, chargebacks can still be filed against transactions made before the deactivation.

If your store is deactivated, then you lose access to your Shopify admin, preventing you from submitting evidence to contest chargebacks.

To address any chargebacks effectively, you would need to reactivate your store to gain the necessary admin access to submit your defense.

Steps to reactivate your Shopify store

To reactivate your Shopify store after resolving billing issues or to unfreeze your account due to a payment issue, follow these steps:

As the account owner or store owner, log into your Shopify admin account.
Before you can proceed with reactivation, ensure that all outstanding charges are paid.
During the reactivation process, you'll need to choose a Shopify plan suitable for your business needs.
Add or update your payment method to continue with the reactivation of your store.

Reviewing outstanding balances before deactivating your Shopify store

It's important to review any outstanding balances, including transaction fees, shipping label charges, or app subscriptions, before deactivating your store. This step prevents unexpected charges in the future.

For a detailed view of your current financial obligations, check your current Shopify bill. When using the Shopify app, the total outstanding balance displays before cancelation.

If no outstanding charges are found, then no final invoice is issued upon deactivation.

Managing third-party app subscriptions when deactivating or pausing your Shopify store

Deactivating or pausing your Shopify store doesn't automatically cancel any third-party app subscriptions that use your payment information. These apps will continue to bill you unless you take action.

To avoid ongoing charges from these third-party services after store deactivation or pausing, you need to manually cancel each subscription. Ensure that you follow the specific cancelation procedures advised by each app provider.

For guidance on how to uninstall apps from your Shopify store, which might be necessary before canceling some subscriptions, visit uninstalling apps.

Learn more about deactivating a store with pending app charges.

Effect of store deactivation or pausing on Shopify financial products

If you're using any Shopify financial products such as Shopify Balance, Shopify Capital, or Shopify Credit, then deactivating or pausing your store will impact your ability to access and use these products.

You might lose access to these financial tools while your store is paused or deactivated. Usability of these financial services might also be restricted or unavailable during this period.

Understanding billing on Shopify's Pause and Build plan

The Pause and Build plan allows you to temporarily pause your store operations while maintaining an active storefront. However, the sales function is deactivated, which means customers cannot complete purchases during this period.

You pay a reduced monthly fee under this plan, making it a cost-effective option if you're not fully operating your store. When deciding to resume full operations, you will need to select a new Shopify plan because the previous subscription agreement will no longer be applicable.

When your store is on the Pause and Build plan, third-party apps that were active prior to pausing your store might continue to incur charges. To prevent unwanted charges, it's important to review and possibly cancel individual third-party app subscriptions that you don't need during the pause period.

Export your billing and payout histories

You can export your billing history directly from the Shopify admin. This action allows you to save and review all bill-related transactions associated with your account.

If you use Shopify Payments, then you can export your payout history and transaction details for your records.

Managing domains when deactivating your Shopify store

If you have a third-party domain linked to your Shopify store, and you'll no longer be using the domain, then visit your domain provider's website and manually turn off the auto-renewal feature. This prevents the domain from being automatically renewed and billed to you after deactivating your store.

If you purchased your domain through Shopify, and you want to maintain ownership of the domain, then you should transfer it to a third-party domain provider.

Managing gift cards and advanced purchase options in deactivated Shopify stores

Continuing obligations might exist for gift cards sold before deactivating your store. To manage outstanding gift cards, export the gift card CSV file from your Shopify admin. This file provides all necessary details to resolve any remaining balances or issues with the cards.

Products sold under subscriptions, preorders, or similar arrangements might also have unresolved orders after store deactivation. Address these outstanding orders and issue any refunds promptly.

Erasing personal data from a deactivated store

If you choose to deactivate your store, then your store's information is guaranteed for 2 years, in case you decide to re-open your store. However, you can request the deletion of the personal data of your customers from your deactivated store before that timeframe.

Review the following considerations before requesting that your data be deleted:

Data can only be deleted from a deactivated store.
Deleting data applies to only the store you request to be deleted. If you have other active or inactive Shopify stores, then data in those stores isn't deleted.
After data is deleted, it isn't recoverable and the store can't be re-opened.
Only the store owner can request the deletion of a store's data. No other staff member can submit the request on the store owner's behalf.

To submit your request to delete your store's personal data, contact Shopify Support. Data is deleted within 14 days after a request is completed.