today I had a discussion with friends (who also have long-term websites) about the truth of who owns the content which I put in Shopify. I mean all the pages, all the blog articles.
In this discussion the majority have the opinion that the content in Shopify is notowned, as it’s the Shopify engine. What’s the truth?
Perhaps someone can explain in comparison with Wordpress.
What happens with my content if (theoretically) I say, I want to stop with Shopify?
Where is my content o going to?
We may need to shed a bit more light on your question as it is not very clear what exactly you mean. Are you asking if Shopify owns your content, such as your blog content? Do you mean that if you close a shop Shopify will continue to own your content?
Let me clarify that for you here. I also see you have engaged in online forums where you say “In this discussion the majority have the opinion that the content in Shopify is notowned, as it’s the Shopify engine.” This isn’t very clear and you must always be careful with what people say on the Internet, and take it with a pinch of salt.
In general, when using Shopify, you have full ownership over your brand, shop content, and domain name – as this applies to IP and Copyright Laws and your are the sole owner of your intellectual property and Trademark. If Shopify wanted to use any of your content or IP, of course they would always contact you first to ask for your permission.
You can end your subscription at any time, and Shopify will delete the store and all data after about 30 days to give you a grace-period in case you have a change-of-mind.
While it is difficult to transfer your shop from Shopify to another platform (you’d have to completely start over with set up and marketing on a new platform), the ownership of that shop is entirely your own.
@Gabe
Hi Gabe,
thanks a lot for your response! Much appreciated.
The coherency with the copyright etc. is clear.
In this discussion I mentioned above it was more about the data back-up sovereignty and this was meant with “owned content”. So it seems this wording lead to the unclarity. Sorry for that.
As it’s possible to ‘download the Theme file’, what advantage does this have in the sense of back-up the entire shop including blog?
If not for back-up reasons, what is the sense behind?
Also in the coherency with a new shop (moving/transferring), … so I can’t export (download) and import the data, right? Because you wrote, a complete new set-up is required.
Hypothetically , if tomorrow Shopify brakes down then my back-up helps me nothing as I can’t transfer my back-up to anywhere, right?
Pretty sure, this won’t happen, it’s just to understand correctly.
It’s a different matter when transferring a Shopify shop to say, Woocommerce, or Magento, or Etsy, as they will not recognise the theme for example…but from one Shopify store to another it is just a few clicks. However, most of your store data is in the form of .csv (orders, products, customers etc.) which is an open standard (fun fact: invented by IBM in 1972 for the use with FORTRAN) and used by most platforms.
Wohooo 1972!! But that also means, it’s really good!! Otherwise it would not have survived so long time!
OK for products and customer related stuff. Thank you!
But I don’t find it for the blog posts, where is this?
Then we are done I think .
Yes indeed, an old tech that has stood the test of time, even if not the most user-friendly tech!
Regarding blogs, I’m afraid that’s where you will need to back them up manually on your own computer in your writing files and Google Docs, as if you were writing your next book. I presume that with your excellent blog pieces you will no doubt publish these as a book in the near future?
There is, however, an app that backs up your entire store, including your blogs(!). That app is called Rewind and you can see what it backs up in the screenshot down below:
Would be a good improvement suggestion to have csv for blog posts! Making it manually is not really modern .
I think now it’s all clear now. And I understand much better / see the obstacles (also in coherency with the other question post) with changing the domain. In my case I see SEO as key point against changing.
I have to rethink. Perhaps indeed best to have a second website (not a shop) for carving out the other business ideas.
But regarding rethinking, this is the place to do that! We are here to help you rethink and carve out your great business ideas for 2023 in order to make lots of money!
But that also means, it’s really good!! Otherwise it would not have survived so long time!
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Making it manually is not really modern 