I want to close down my account entirely, and open a new one. I have 4 inactive stores that can’t be closed and will remain deactivated for 2 years. My OCD won’t allow me to log in each and every time, and see that. Its literally throwing me into a fit of rage. Support says deactivating an account will also keep it for 2 years, but I want to delete it. Perhaps the person I spoke to didnt understand me, or was feeding me bull****. There’s no way that you ask your account to be deleted and it cant be done. Any help? I would honestly have this account closed and open a new one with the 1 store I need and go from there. And there’s not a single proper answer on Google or Shopify support either, everything just either points you to closing a store, or something to do with customer accounts. Never ran into so much trouble to just close an account in my life. We are in 2023 for crying out loud.
Topic summary
Request to permanently delete a Shopify account and start fresh with one store. User has 4 inactive stores that can’t be closed and remain deactivated for 2 years per support, causing frustration; seeks full deletion rather than deactivation.
Staff response focuses on standard closure: follow pausing/deactivating steps (link provided). Pre-closure actions include paying outstanding charges, cancelling third‑party apps with external billing, transferring Shopify-purchased domains, and turning off domain auto‑renewal.
For data deletion: personal information can be removed per shop by contacting Shopify Support via the Help Center. The account owner must authenticate and provide a PIN for each shop; authentication cannot be done in the forum.
Outcome/status: No direct method confirmed to permanently delete the entire account in the thread. Guidance centers on deactivating stores and requesting per‑shop personal data removal through support. Discussion remains open; the key question of full account deletion vs. 2‑year retention is unresolved. Links to resources are central to the response.
Hi, @WhoCares1 .
Welcome to the Shopify Community and thanks for sharing your feedback here.
I’m sorry you haven’t had the most ideal experience with closing your store, as I understand you’d like to close your store entirely.
To confirm, you’ve already followed the steps in our pausing or deactivating your store resource? Prior to closing your store, I would recommend going through the pre-store closure steps to ensure you’re not billed by any third-party apps after closing your store. For better visibility, I’ll share the pre-closure steps below.
Before closing your Shopify store:
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Make sure that you pay any outstanding charges that you might have. If you have no outstanding charges against your account, then you won’t receive a bill after deactivating your store.
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If you have any third-party apps that have your payment information outside of Shopify, then cancel your service with those apps to avoid being billed externally after you deactivate your store.
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If you have a custom domain that you bought through Shopify, then you can transfer it to a third-party domain provider.
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Make sure to turn off auto-renewal for your custom domain on your registrar’s website to avoid unexpected charges.
If you’d like to delete your personal information for a specific shop, you’ll need to reach out to our support team via the Shopify Help Center. This is recommended as we’re unable to authenticate your account(s) through the community forums. When contacting support to make this request, please ensure the account owner is reaching out. For each shop you’d like to have your personal information removed from, you will need to provide a PIN of authentication for each shop.
Let us know if you have additional questions.