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I'm considering pausing my Shopify store without incurring charges.

amourenvie
New Member
5 0 0

Hi guys,

My store is currently on the no charge free first 3 months pause plan before it automatically goes to the pause and build plan at $9 a month.

With everything going on we are not in a position atm to get back going yet so wanted to remove our online store for now at no charge.

We will come back in the future hopefully as soon as possible!

Can you assist me on how to do this?

As I don’t have access to my website settings to close it down that way I can’t do it myself, there is an option of ‘remove online store’ on the only page I can get on but nothing happens...

See photo below to show what I mean.

Many thanks,
Liam

AE.
Accepted Solution (1)

Hank
Shopify Staff
1102 128 187

This is an accepted solution.

Hi, @amourenvie,

Hank here from Shopify.

When you are pausing your store, you are given two options to do so. The pause and build, or the full pause plan. With the former, you are able to access the admin to make any additional changes needed to your store, whilst the checkout is disabled.

The latter, which is the option you have described is more for the times when you just need to step away from the store and not worry about the day-to-day running of it, etc. As this essentially closes the store, it removes the access to the admin and there is no charge for this plan. So what you are seeing when trying to select a plan, is a known feature as you would need to access the admin once again.

Being unable to access the admin would be why the option to remove the store would not be available. As once you have access to the admin, you could then proceed to close your store. This can be done if you are moved to the pause and build plan, or if you select a paid plan from the plan screen you are shown. Then once your store is closed, you may be able to receive a refund of the monthly subscription by reaching out to the team, which I can assist you with. So if you were to either choose a plan or wait until you are moved to the $9 plan, we could look at refunding you the cost.

I will mention that it is not possible to refund any domain charges as these are considered a payment for a yearly subscription, and all third-party apps would need to be approved by the app developer, but I may be able to refund your Shopify subscription.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

All the best,

Hank

Hank | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Replies 9 (9)

Hank
Shopify Staff
1102 128 187

This is an accepted solution.

Hi, @amourenvie,

Hank here from Shopify.

When you are pausing your store, you are given two options to do so. The pause and build, or the full pause plan. With the former, you are able to access the admin to make any additional changes needed to your store, whilst the checkout is disabled.

The latter, which is the option you have described is more for the times when you just need to step away from the store and not worry about the day-to-day running of it, etc. As this essentially closes the store, it removes the access to the admin and there is no charge for this plan. So what you are seeing when trying to select a plan, is a known feature as you would need to access the admin once again.

Being unable to access the admin would be why the option to remove the store would not be available. As once you have access to the admin, you could then proceed to close your store. This can be done if you are moved to the pause and build plan, or if you select a paid plan from the plan screen you are shown. Then once your store is closed, you may be able to receive a refund of the monthly subscription by reaching out to the team, which I can assist you with. So if you were to either choose a plan or wait until you are moved to the $9 plan, we could look at refunding you the cost.

I will mention that it is not possible to refund any domain charges as these are considered a payment for a yearly subscription, and all third-party apps would need to be approved by the app developer, but I may be able to refund your Shopify subscription.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

All the best,

Hank

Hank | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

amourenvie
New Member
5 0 0
Thanks for that! Appreciate it.

So what you are saying is the only way to take down my website for good... for now without paying monthly charges again is to wait until the 3 months free pause expires until I then go on the $9 a month plan, I straight away go onto my admin settings and close the website? Then I would contact you ASAP to make sure I am not charged for that month?

Thanks,
Liam
AE.
Hank
Shopify Staff
1102 128 187

Well by definition, that plan would charge you $9USD, but it would grant you access to the admin, to close your store.

Then a member of the support team (including here on the Community Forums), can assist with assisting you with a refund for the amount you have paid if you choose to close your store or assist with any roadblocks that may occur with running a store.

 

Hank | Social Care @ Shopify 
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amourenvie
New Member
5 0 0

Hi there,

 

As we discussed... I've just closed down my store now it changed to the Pause and Build plan this morning, please could you make sure I am not charged for this please and confirm there is nothing outstanding I owe please.

www.amourenvie.co.uk www.amour-envie.myshopify.com

 

Many thank for your help,

Liam

AE.
Hank
Shopify Staff
1102 128 187

Nice to hear from you again, @amourenvie.

Clicking on that link does not bring up a store so it does look like you have closed it, however, in order for me to fully confirm any potential future charges, I need to take a closer look.

Now as this is account specific, I will just need to verify your account. I will send you an email to the email address attached to this forum's account and confirm some security questions about your store.

Once you reply to that email, I will look into this further for you.

Hank | Social Care @ Shopify 
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amourenvie
New Member
5 0 0

Hi @Hank 

Hope you are well! Wishing you a happy new year.

I have just realized after closing down my store that I have (silly I know) not transferred my customer subscribers over with me.

How can I recover them?

 

Many thanks,

Liam

AE.
Hank
Shopify Staff
1102 128 187

Great to hear from you again buddy, and very happy returns to you and yours!

Exporting your customer list via CSV is the most common way to do so, but you will need access to your store to achieve this.

As you mentioned your store is now closed, I may be able to assist with this given that your store was closed recently, the information should still be present.

I will send you an email shortly, and we can continue the conversation there!

Hank | Social Care @ Shopify 
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Pingastore
Visitor
1 0 0

Hello,

My store is on a 3-month Pause plan, which is FREE. I am already making efforts to get right back into active business once again. However, would still want to know in hypothetical terms, if one were to curtail the Pause / Pause and Build plans and get back to a proper $29 subscription, is it possible to opt for a Pause once again in the future, in case the situation demands? If yes, after how long?  

Shay
Shopify Staff
2780 440 566

Hi @Pingastore 

That's a great question to ask! When it comes to our full Pause plan and the Pause and Build plan, both options become eligible after your store has been on a paid plan for a minimum of 3 months total. Once you hit that three month marker, the store is eligible to switch to the available pause plans at any time. You can indefinitely keep the account on Pause if you wanted to at that stage. The initial payment threshold is in place to ensure there is a commitment made to the business moving forward before the pause and build options are offered, that's all. 

Please let me know if there are any other questions about your store plan that I can help with!

-Shay

Shay | Social Care @ Shopify 
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