How much time do I have after my 14 day free trial to reactivate my store before permanent deletion?

coff001
Excursionist
39 0 4

Had 14 day trial then my 14 day extension of the free trial ends tomorrow. I am not ready to launch the store yet and would like to work on other aspects of setup outside of Shopify, then only once I'm done with that, come back to work on Shopify-related things. 

I basically don't want to start paying for Shopify until I absolutely have to since I have a lot of setup to do. So how long can I wait after my trial is over to avoid deletion, or what is the best thing I can do in this situation?

Replies 7 (7)

Don
Shopify Staff
2762 199 388

Hi there @coff001!

Don here from Shopify.

Thanks for taking the time to reach out to us here on our Community forums for more info on this.

Generally speaking, whenever a Shopify store is closed for whatever reason, you would have at least 90 days during which you can return to your store and your data will be guaranteed to be held on our servers.

You can see this info and more here on our guide to pausing or closing your store.

It is also possible to backup and duplicate some info from your store so that you have local copies of that data.

You mentioned you had a lot of work to do in this 'downtime', but that's great that you have got your project mapped out and planned like that!

Would you have a business plan in place or one for marketing yet?

If you find you need even more time to get things up and running for your store you can look into our options for pausing your store, as outlined on this guide I shared above.

Best of luck with everything and let us know if you have any other questions!

 

Regards,

Don

Don | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

coff001
Excursionist
39 0 4

Let’s say I pause indefinitely, will this get the system to not delete my store until further notice?

Or, if I start the pause and build plan (can I even start that right now? I don’t know if I can safely wait 60 days/losing access that long is inconvenient),

Do I retain all features of the free trial (aside from “online store checkout, POS, discounts, abandoned checkout recovery, gift cards, and third-party integrations, such as publishing your products to Facebook and Google.” listed on that link)? I can’t think of every capability I need right now, but I do need the ability to change my theme and the options within my theme, add apps and use them/sync things from them (which seems to be not allowed), add info pages, and add products/prices descrips. 

 

I need to be able to see live changes on the site when I add products and change the site layout. It seems like I can still add products (can I do this through Oberlo? Let me know), but one thing that worries me about this plan is the inability to use an app  called Mega Menu to get my store nav ready which is a big prelaunch problem, let me know if there’s a workaround without purchasing Shopify.

Don
Shopify Staff
2762 199 388

Hi again @coff001!

Don here from Shopify once more.

As per the guide we have been working with here, it would only be possible to access the pause options where your store has been on a paid plan for 60 days:

_21-01-f005j-5i3qr

In the cause of the pause plan (no build/access) it would only be possible to use this pause plan for three months and you would not have access to your store or admin at all:

_21-01-71uyb-9gszz

The main functional difference with your store being on the pause plan is that access to the checkout and the other stated functionality is removed from your store and account.

Your admin would otherwise be unaffected, allowing you to continue to work on building out your store, etc.

In terms of any apps being used, those apps that work around your checkout would likely not work (or at least in the same way) but I can confirm that the pause and build plan would work with the Oberlo app and allow you to continue to add products that way.

For any third-party mega menu type apps, my understanding is that these would also continue to function on a pause and build plan.

However, as these are external, non-Shopify apps I would advise you to reach out to the developers of the app you are using for 100% confirmation on how to would work in this situation.

You can click on 'Get support' next to the name of any app installed in the Apps menu in your admin or you can use the contact details listed on the app store page.

Check out the info above, think about what would suit your business development needs, and feel free to ask whatever else you need to know here at any point!

 

Regards,

Don

 

 

Don | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

coff001
Excursionist
39 0 4

Thanks for the info, so it seems both plans have that 60 day payment prereq, does this mean I'm basically forced to pay before I can either simply pause or pause&build?

 

Seems either is pointless since the 60 day prereq is ridiculous on your company's end, considering I'd supposedly have the store ready to run for 60 days before any option is possible.

 

What functionality, if any, do I have before paying? Do I have zero access to anything after my trial is up today? You said that I have "at least 90 days during which you can return to your store and your data will be guaranteed", does this mean 90-28 = I have 62 days from today to go without paying, if I choose to wait to pay?

 

 

Don
Shopify Staff
2762 199 388

Hi again!

Don from Shopify once again.

That's correct!

As per the guide to the paused plans your store would need to have been on a paid plan for 60 days before these options are available.

Should you choose not to select a paid subscription plan for Shopify when your trial times out you will no longer have access to the service.

Stores that are not yet ready to launch and continue to be under construction past the initial free trial period would usually keep their password page in place while they work on building out their store before opening to the public.

Your store data will be guaranteed to be held on our servers for 90 days from that point (it can often be longer, but we can only 100% guarantee the 90 day period) so if you choose to use Shopify within that period you can return to your store and select a paid plan to reactivate it.

Best of luck with whichever decision you make for your business!

 

Regards,

Don

Don | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog

coff001
Excursionist
39 0 4

So to be clear, for the pause plan, would my password-locked front page still be available and functioning (collecting emails)?

How about for the pause and build, is the above still going to work for my potential customers? Just want to be sure I can capture emails even if I choose to pause with one of these ways in the future.  I ideally want to customize my front page then pause things while still having this accessible for customers to sign up to email.

Don
Shopify Staff
2762 199 388

Hey again @coff001!

Don from Shopify once more.

With the fully paused plan, you would be able to set up and customise your store's password page before you pause your store, but once you pause it you would not have access in any way until you reactivate your store:

_21-02-kp9fy-qy5d2

So you could set this page up to your liking before you pause your store so that you show your customers your preferred holding page.

You can see how to activate and customise your store's password page here on our help site.

Check it out and see what you'd like to make of it and then think about what's best for your needs among the available options.

All the best!

 

Regards,

Don

Don | Social Care @ Shopify 
 - Was my reply helpful? Click Like to let me know! 
 - Was your question answered? Mark it as an Accepted Solution
 - To learn more visit the Shopify Help Center or the Shopify Blog