How to Delete a Shopify Account?
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While Shopify is undoubtedly one of the leading players in the e-commerce market right now, there are plenty of reasons you might want your account removed. Whether you want to stop running an online store for now or want to find a more cost-effective alternative, canceling your Shopify subscription is pretty easy.
So, how to delete a Shopify account, and what should you consider before doing this? Keep reading to find out! By the end of this article, you will know everything you need to close your account, either temporarily or permanently.
Reasons for Shopify Store Deactivation
Everyone has their unique reasons for deleting a Shopify account. Before we proceed, let’s review the main factors that might motivate a business to move on from Shopify.
Why might you want to delete a Shopify account permanently?
Business or Sales Struggles
Suppose your business is not generating the expected income, is experiencing a decline in sales, or even turns out to be unprofitable. While this might be the least of your concerns in this case, you should still close the Shopify account. Sadly, this seems to happen to more and more online stores these days.
Business Transformations and Changes
While redefining your business goals or switching to a different type of business, you may find that Shopify no longer meets your needs. In this case, the right decision is to find another e-commerce platform that fully meets your current needs and new goals.
Taking a Break
Your business may still be running well, and Shopify might still be fitting your goals perfectly, but you may need to take a break as a business owner. This is as good a reason as any may be to temporarily deactivate the Shopify account, and can help you keep sane at times when everything seems overwhelming. Remember, you don’t have to delete your Shopify account permanently. Instead, you can simply pause your subscription for a while and then return when the time is right.
Looking for Better Alternatives
Shopify is a great platform for a variety of reasons, but you may find that the transaction fees are too high for you (this is especially relevant for smaller businesses). Shopify Payments charges a small percentage of the sale price, as well as a flat fee per transaction. If you find this fee policy to be unfavorable, wanting to know how to delete your Shopify account is entirely reasonable.
Limitations in terms of Payment Methods
Shopify is somewhat limited in terms of built-in payment options. If the platform doesn’t support the option you need, you may want to switch to another provider.
What to Know Before Remove Your Shopify Account
Whatever your reasons for deleting your Shopify, there are some things you should consider before deactivating your store. Although removing an account is a simple process that takes just a couple of minutes, you must also take certain preparatory steps.
Below, you will find the top items for your checklist to avoid any problems when canceling your Shopify subscription.
Pay Off All Shopify Debts
It goes without saying that you will not be able to delete your Shopify account until you have settled all pending payments, paid all outstanding invoices, and repaid all debts on your part. Even if you try to ignore this step, Shopify can still bill you even after you’ve deactivated your store. Also, don’t forget to unsubscribe if you’ve been using Shopify on a free trial plan!
Make Sure You Get the Most Out of Your Subscription
You can deactivate your account regardless of the subscription plan you use, but if you have already paid an annual subscription, it might make sense to wait until that period is over. This way, you can still get some money from your investment.
Take Care of Saving Important Data
Always handle data retention with utmost care. Remember that if you choose to permanently delete your store, you won’t be able to get it back, so it’s important to back up all the information you might need later. In the future, you may be required to provide data related to your store, orders, customers, products, payments, etc.—better make sure you don’t lose access to it!
Don’t Forget About Third-Party Integrations
Even after a user decides to cancel a Shopify account, third-party subscriptions and add-ons may still bill them for their services. Remember that deleting your Shopify store does not automatically stop the monthly payments. You should manually cancel all your third-party subscriptions in advance to avoid any unpleasant surprises later down the line.
Keep Your Custom Domain Name
Most users believe that deleting your Shopify account means losing your website domain name, but there are a few ways to work around this limitation. Even if you purchased your domain name through Shopify, you can transfer it to another e-commerce platform.
Consider Selling Your Online Store
If you no longer want to run your Shopify business, somebody else might be interested in doing so. If your business is generating profit, you can sell it and make some money instead of just closing your store. In any case, you certainly won’t lose any money by trying to sell the shop you were planning to abandon anyway.
How to Delete My Shopify Account?
If you’ve done all the prep work and are still convinced that canceling your Shopify subscription is your best bet, here’s how to permanently delete a Shopify account.
Step 1: Open Your Admin Panel
Open your Shopify account and go to the admin panel.
Step 2: Choose Between Deleting or Pausing Your Account
Go to the “Settings” menu and select the “Plan” button. Here, you can choose whether you want to delete your store for good or temporarily pause it.
Step 3: Delete Your Account and Cancel Your Subscription
Now, you can close your Shopify store. Remember, once you delete your account, you can no longer change your mind—this action cannot be undone.
Step 4: Select the Reason for Your Decision
Shopify would like to know why you decided to close your store—if you want to let the platform know what went wrong, select the reason from those provided and proceed to the next step.
Step 5: Confirm Account Closure
You have one last chance to change your mind. If you are sure, confirm the deletion by entering your password again and clicking the “Delete my Shopify account” button.
How to Resume Your Shopify Subscription
As we have already mentioned, you are not required to delete your Shopify account permanently—you can just suspend it and then come back at any time. So, how to recover your account if you decide to give the platform another try? Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Go to your Shopify dashboard.
- Open the “Settings” menu.
- Click on the “Plans” option.
- Find the “Resume” button.
Remember, if you’ve deleted your Shopify account instead of pausing your subscription, you won’t be able to simply reactivate it. In this scenario, you must open a new one.
