How to initiate a live chat on eCommerce platforms?

Store Feedback

Topic summary

A user is experiencing difficulty accessing Shopify’s live chat support, reporting a frustrating loop where the help system repeatedly redirects them back to category selection after attempting to connect with support. Despite being tech-savvy and familiar with other platforms’ chat systems, they cannot break through to reach a human agent.

Key Issue:

  • Help page asks for problem category
  • After selection, clicking “connect to support” restarts the process
  • User notes others in the community have reported similar problems

Response & Status:

  • Shopify community moderator requested screenshots/video to investigate potential local issue
  • Provided link to step-by-step support ticket guide
  • User declined to provide additional documentation, citing the process should be simpler
  • Another community member suggested this is a common pattern across eCommerce platforms (using articles to reduce chat volume) and recommended an alternative chat tool

Resolution: Unresolved - technical loop issue remains undiagnosed without user providing requested diagnostic information.

Summarized with AI on October 25. AI used: claude-sonnet-4-5-20250929.
1

Why does it seem so difficult to start a live chat? All sites try and answer your question with articles first but eventually, they let you start a chat. with Shopify I just keep going in a circle. I can’y get it started. Then I see in this community many others had the same issue.

So…what is the trick to actually live chat with a human?

2

Hey, [email removed]ShipdriveR!

I’d love to help you out! You can rest assured that you can connect with our live chat support team as many of our merchants are successfully able to do so. Can you please share a video recording or screenshot of the support page where you seem to get stuck in, or looped back into the first stage of the ticket creation process?

I’ll investigate and find out if you’re experiencing a local issue. In the meantime, you can refer to this general step-by-step guide for creating a support ticket on this page to see if that process will connect you to our support team.

Looking forward to hearing from you!

3

No I will not devote more time to this I’m very tech-savvy I’m on many
community forums I chat many times it shouldn’t be this hard.

The help page asks you to pick a category of the problem then it asks
another question then when you click connect to support it starts you all
over again with the main categories of problems it just goes in a loop.

4

Yeah, that loop can be really frustrating. A lot of platforms push you through articles first to cut down on chat requests, but it often just wastes time when you really need a human. That’s why I like Chatway, it keeps the live chat option visible so visitors can connect with someone right away. Definitely worth checking out.