Preparing a public app for App Store review. Consumers buy a merchant’s products on an independent third-party platform. Payment completes on that platform, never on the merchant’s Shopify storefront, and there is no path from the Shopify storefront into the platform’s purchase flow. The app imports each completed order into the merchant’s store as PAID via orderCreate and reads back fulfillment status.
The API terms compliance guidelines appear to require exactly this: “Orders from a product listing on a third-party platform” says such orders must be imported “using the orderCreate mutation.” Meanwhile App Store requirement 1.1.2 prohibits apps that “bypass checkout or payment processing, or register any transactions through the Shopify API in connection with such activity.”
Is it permitted for Shopify App Store apps to have an already completed/paid transaction from a third-party platform initiate an order to be created in Shopify for fulfillment?
What separates the required third-party order sync from a prohibited checkout bypass? Is the line whether the buyer started in the merchant’s own Shopify purchase flow?
Pointers to specific requirement text would be much appreciated. Thanks!
There seems to be an important scope distinction in the docs here. The API terms page says orders from a merchant’s product listing on a third-party platform should be synced with orderCreate, but App Store requirement 1.1.2 prohibits public apps from registering transactions connected to an offsite checkout. Shopify staff also clarified in May that, for public App Store apps, checkout currently has to happen through the merchant’s Shopify checkout. I’d get App Review to confirm your exact flow before relying on the orderCreate language.
Shopify docs: API terms compliance
AlogramAI is right to treat these as two separate layers.
The API terms compliance page explains how an app must synchronize an order from a third-party product listing when that order flow is otherwise permitted. It does not override App Store requirement 1.1.2 or independently authorize an offsite checkout.
Requirement 1.1.2 says public apps must use Shopify Checkout and prohibits registering API transactions connected to an offsite or third-party checkout.
Shopify staff gave a direct “No” in a closely related public-app case involving orders already paid outside Shopify and then imported for fulfillment:
So I would not describe this flow as clearly allowed or required for a normal public App Store app. orderCreate supports external-order imports technically, but API capability, synchronization requirements, and App Store eligibility are separate questions.
Even the current sales-channel requirements say customers must be taken to Shopify Checkout, so I would not assume sales-channel classification automatically resolves it.
Before building around this model, get written confirmation from App Review and describe:
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where product discovery happens;
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where checkout and payment happen;
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whether the app directs a buyer away from a Shopify storefront;
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whether the imported order includes a successful transaction or is marked paid;
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whether Shopify expects the integration to be reviewed as a sales channel.
Unless App Review confirms a permitted path for this specific model, the current public-app guidance points toward routing the buyer through Shopify Checkout.