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Transferring development stores to clients

After you finish working on a development store for a client, the next step is usually to transfer ownership of the store to them. After you transfer ownership of a development store, the store appears on the Stores page in your Partner Dashboard under the Managed tab.

Development stores have limitations on them to make sure that they are used only for development. In some cases, you might need to set up features for a development store that are available only to stores on a paid plan.

You can't transfer ownership of a development store that has a developer preview activated or generated test data.

On this page

Development store ownership and staff permissions

Development stores can have only one account owner. The Partner team member who created the development store is the account owner of the store until it's transferred to a client. Up to 15 staff accounts can be created for other Partner team members on each development store. When other Partner team members log in to the development store from the Partner Dashboard, a staff account is automatically created for the Partner team member, up to the limit. If you need to add a new Partner team member after the limit is reached, then you first need to remove an existing staff account.

Partner staff accounts are removed from development stores in the following circumstances:

  • When a development store is transferred to a merchant, the Partner loses permissions for accessing the store
  • When the Partner is removed from the Partner organization, the Partner loses permissions for accessing the store and account ownership is transferred to the primary owner of the Partner organization

When to transfer ownership of a store

The following are two main reasons to transfer a store to a paid plan:

  • The work on the store is complete and the store is ready to sell products.
  • The work on the store is not complete, but the store requires a feature that's available only on a paid plan. Learn more about features and limitations of development stores.

When you transfer a development store to a live subscription plan, you need to enter billing information. This billing information must be provided by the store owner.

Transfer ownership of a development store

In this section

Before you start

You should complete the following tasks before you transfer ownership of a development store to your client:

  • If your client intends to use Shopify's Point of Sale (POS) system, then give them access to POS and assign them a POS role when you add them as a staff member to the store.
  • Add your client's address to the store settings, especially if your client is based in a different country than you. In some cases, transferring a store with the wrong address can cause your client to be charged extra taxes on their Shopify invoice. To learn more about changing a store's address, refer to Adding business settings for your store.

Considerations when you transfer ownership of a development store

Review the following considerations before you transfer ownership of a development store:

  • If you switch a store to a paid plan but retain ownership for any reason, then contact Shopify Support to remove the commission on the store. When you log in, select your Partner organization name for questions related to your Partner Account. Learn about switching a development store to a paid plan without transferring ownership.
  • After a development store is converted to a paid plan, either by a merchant after store ownership transfer or by a Partner who is retaining ownership, the store is subject to the Shopify Terms of Service.
  • If you switch to a Shopify Plus plan before changing ownership, then you become the organization owner as well as the store owner. The organization owner can't be changed through the Shopify admin, so you should consider transferring ownership before switching to a paid plan. To transfer organization ownership after switching to the Plus plan, contact Shopify Plus Support.
  • If your client is using Shopify POS and requires POS Pro features, then they need to select a POS Pro subscription for each location that requires these features after they select their ecommerce plan. Learn about managing a store's POS subscriptions by location.
  • If your client intends to sell in person occasionally, POS Lite is included on all Shopify Plans and allows you to sell in person, track sales, and create basic customer profiles.
  • If your client is working with sales to access the Plus plan through a custom contract, do not select the Plus plan at the time of transfer. Contact sales to update to the Plus plan with the correct terms after the development store has been transferred.
  • After you've transferred a development store to a live plan, the store is no longer eligible for promotions or free trials.
  • If you activated Shopify Payments on your client's store using your own information, then you need to update to the client's information. Contact Shopify Support to have the Shopify Payments account updated.

Transfer store ownership using the Partner Dashboard

Steps:

  1. From your Partner Dashboard, click Stores, and click Log in next to your development store.
  2. From your Shopify admin, go to Settings, and then click Users and permissions.
  3. In the Store owner section, click Transfer ownership.
  4. Fill in the new store owner's information and select Transfer store ownership.
  5. If the new owner isn't already a user on your store, you can cancel the transfer until they accept ownership by selecting Cancel transfer under store owner.

Provide information to your client after you transfer store ownership

After you've transferred a store to your client, make sure to provide them with the following information:

  • How they can access the store, including the URL (https://admin.shopify.com/store/{shop})
  • The Shopify plan that you recommend for them. In addition to the Basic, Grow, and Advanced plans, merchants can now also select the standard Plus plan.
  • Where applicable, the Shopify POS offering that you recommend for them. In addition to selling in person occasionally, merchants can also opt for subscriptions that enable them to sell across multiple retail locations or to purchase compatible retail hardware.
  • Anything else that you would recommend (such as apps to download, webinars to watch, or other resources to help them build their business)

Switch a development store to a paid plan without transferring ownership

You can switch a development store to a paid plan but still be the store's owner. You might want to do this if you need to test a feature that's not available in development stores.

Considerations when you retain store ownership

Review the following considerations for retaining store ownership:

  • If you switch a development store to a paid plan, then you can't earn a recurring commission on that store. To comply with the Partner Program Agreement, you need to contact Shopify Support to have the commission removed on the store. You can contact Shopify Support by logging into your Partner account from the Help Center, and then selecting either chat or email support. When you log in, select your Partner organization name for questions related to your Partner Account.
  • If you switch a development store to a paid plan, then you can't transfer it using the Partner Dashboard. If you want to transfer the store to a client later, then you must transfer ownership and remove your payment details manually.
  • The Basic plan doesn't support adding staff accounts to your store. If you put a store on a Basic plan, you'll need to remove all staff from the store before initiating a transfer to a client from the Shopify admin.

Steps:

  1. Log in to your Partner Dashboard and click Stores.
  2. Find the store that you want to transfer, and then click Log in.
  3. From the Shopify admin, click Settings > Plans.
  4. In the Plan details section, click Change plan.
  5. Click Select for the plan you wish to choose.
  6. Select a billing cycle and review the description of the credit card charges that you're agreeing to.
  7. Select a payment method, and then enter your payment method information.
  8. Click Subscribe.

Transfer a third-party theme

If you've built a store for a client and it includes a third-party theme, then you need to transfer the theme to the client. The best way to do this depends on whether the theme still needs code customization when you transfer the development store to your client. Consider the following ways to transfer the theme to the client:

  • If the theme still needs code customization, then you need to buy the theme on behalf of the client and then bill the client for the cost of the theme. When you transfer ownership of the development store, your credit card or PayPal account is automatically removed from the store's billing settings.
  • If the theme doesn't need any code customization, then leave the theme as a free trial. Your client doesn't need to pay for the theme until they want to publish it, or if they want to customize its code. They can do this after you transfer the development store.

Work on and reactivate a paused store

When a store is on the Pause and Build plan, the checkout is disabled, but you can still work on building the store by accessing the admin and editing products. When the store is ready, the store owner can pick a subscription plan to reactivate the checkout and enable customers to purchase products.

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