Feature request: Extend "Development stores — Free for partners and developers" to Client transfer stores

Technical Q&A
1

Summary

Thank you for shipping the Development stores — “Free for partners and developers” option in Shopify App Pricing last month. It solved the exact problem I raised in my earlier post:

Feature request: Add partner-friendly app support to Shopify App Pricing — auto-waive billing for partner development stores

With this option enabled, other Partners can now install and evaluate an app that uses Shopify App Pricing on their development stores without subscribing and without any manual domain allowlisting. This is a huge improvement.

However, after testing, I’ve confirmed that the waiver applies to only one of the store types offered at store creation. There is still a gap for Client transfer stores, and I’d like to request that the requirement be extended to cover them as well.

The remaining gap

On the Create store screen, a Partner chooses between two store types:

  • Dev — Testing, dev, or staging environments
  • Client transfer — Manage and transfer stores for clients

The new “Free for partners and developers” waiver currently applies only to Dev stores. For Client transfer stores, nothing has changed: the app’s paid plans are not automatically free, so we still have to fall back to the old workaround — creating a $0 private test plan and pre-registering each store’s domain in advance.

This is the same manual, per-store allowlisting burden that the new feature was designed to remove, and it’s impractical for uncontrolled Partner installs on Client transfer stores.

The request

Please extend the “Development stores — Free for partners and developers” requirement so that it also covers Client transfer stores, not just Dev stores.

Concretely, one of the following would resolve it:

  • Treat Client transfer stores as eligible for the “Free for partners and developers” waiver while the store is still under the Partner’s organization (i.e., before it is transferred to the client), or
  • Provide a plan-configuration option that lets app developers opt these stores into the same fee-waived testing behavior — without requiring per-domain pre-registration through a private plan.

This would make the pre-launch testing experience consistent across all Partner-owned stores and fully remove the manual domain-allowlisting workaround for apps that have adopted Shopify App Pricing.

2

@bonjour_ken

It solved the exact problem I raised in my earlier post:

Are you trying to take credit for something numerous others before you have complained about :roll_eyes:

location location location, do you see any shopify staff interacting with any type of feature request posts, if you did any research at all that is

For development issues use the actual dev forums , come correct and search first and join existing posts

For merchant feature requests have merchants contact a human support advisor directly on the help chat

Be effective when seek change.

3

@PaulNewton

You’re right — the developer forum is clearly the more appropriate place for this post.

I hadn’t fully understood the different roles of the two community platforms, so thank you for pointing that out.

I’ll admit the wording felt a little harsh, which was a bit disappointing, but the advice itself is completely fair. I’ll check the relevant discussions on the Developer Community and join the conversation there.