We currently have a Shopify site that is hosted on HFB’s development servers in Utah. We are paying HFB monthly for basically no help and would like to discontinue that. If they just take our site off their servers, our site will crash and burn apparently. I am trying to get someone to explain to me how we can get off their server without having to hire a new agency to put our site on. It was my initial understanding that we did not need an independent agency host for a Shopify site.
We are currently using Shopify for both our website and our brick and mortar POS system.
Any help would be most appreciated. TIA! Allison
Hi, @allison_wilcox !
Welcome to Shopify Community.
We appreciate you reaching out and connecting with our network. Before we dive into your question I want to start with the disclaimer that I am not personally familiar with HFB or their services, and I’m not even entirely sure who they are or what they do.
With that being said, it’s difficult for me to question what you retained their services for or what the initial agreement you had with them was. What I can clarify is that Shopify subscription fees include the cost for hosting your website - if you have a Shopify store, it is hosted on our servers.
Again, perhaps they are referring to other custom changes or subscriptions you have with them that will alter or impact your website if you choose to move away from them. This is something you will need to clarify with them further.
Warm regards,
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Hi Olivia,
I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate your response, and I
apologize for being less than clear! I was trying not to do the TMI thing
but maybe I did not give quite enough information.
We had a Shopify website in 2020. HFB Technologies (website building,
maintenance, hosting company in Utah) reached out to us to redo our site.
We went from Shopify to Wordpress/WooCommerce. Our POS was purchased by a
major company in late 2021 and ceased to keep accurate inventory. HFB then
convinced us to return to a Shopify site in late 2022. The transition was
very messy and hugely difficult, but since about January of this year we
have been back on a Shopify site.
Our addy is ***** This led me
to think that perhaps they built our Shopify site on their development
server?
Excuse my lack of understanding of these things, but at one point we tried
to leave HFB (while still having a WP site) and it was a disaster that
resulted in our having to beg them to get our site restored and functional,
so I am basically terrified of leaving them and having our site go down
again.
I would prefer not to pay them for “high speed hosting and maintenance” in
September although it being the 30th I suspect I’m stuck for another $200
month. I have asked them to detail for me what needs to be done to return
the site to Shopify or an alternate host and have not heard back from them
yet. My “account manager” called me yesterday and when asked if the site
was basically “self” hosting because that’s part of what our fees to
Shopify are for, told me it was too technical of a question, and that they
would not assist or support our moving from the HFB servers (he seemed
pretty convinced they were hosting our site despite not being a technical
person) because that would effectively be supporting us “shopping around”
for a different host. Insert banging head on wall here.
I am really at a loss at the moment.
My biggest question is:
- if there is something we need to do in the Shopify settings that is in
some way equivalent to a migration in order to get our Shopify site back to
being hosted by Shopify? (e.g. does the "sated-sheep-dev designation in
our addy indicate that we are indeed being hosted on HFB’s development
servers?)
I am so sorry for being so long winded. I don’t know how else to provide a
context for my question, and I appreciate your patience and time immensely.
Best,
Allison
I apologize, and I hope you see this. There is apparently something called “Headless Shopify” in which Headless Shopify is an architecture where the front-end (your custom storefront) and back-end (Shopify) of your website are independent. This allows you to create personalized shopping experiences across various platforms. For more details, check the article “Custom shopping experiences”.
I would very much like to know if this means they could be hosting our site, making us beholden to them (we are not under any contract with them at present).
Thank you
Thank you so much for adding that context, @allison_wilcox !
Headless Commerce stores are much different from Shopify stores as they offer increased customization and flexibility not otherwise possible. They do this by taking advantage of Shopify’s front-end and back-end solutions, but through an API layer. While they may look like a Shopify store and take advantage of some of the same functions as one, they are not one.
Headless storefronts are very complex and usually only necessary for stores that require a unique shopping experience that pre-determined pathways may not offer. Costs associated with this type of development along with maintenance and management fees also vary. Hosting fees for these environments depend on the cloud server, therefore, what you have described so far in potentially losing your site is a real possibility.
A few takeaways I can add are that moving to a Shopify store may not be the best fit for any custom needs that are currently being met. To move from your existing architecture to a Shopify-based store would also mean building the store again.
I hope that helps clear up any confusion from our end, but I also invite other community members and developers to add their feedback to this thread to offer you any extra advice.
Warm regards,
Thank you Olivia, I really appreciate it. I do not KNOW if our store is a Headless Shopify store, but I’d bet it is not, and I will be most unhappy if I find out it is, since our business does not require that level of customization and we functioned just fine previously with a regular Shopify store. But the gift of your information is that it gives me a place to start asking these people questions, and I am super grateful for that.
Best,
Allison
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I’m glad I could help from our end, @allison_wilcox !
I really do hope you’re able to find a resolution that works best for your store. If other questions come up, don’t hesitate to reach back out.
Warm regards,