How to Pause Your Shopify Store (and When You Should)

Shopify allows store owners to take a break by pausing their store for a while or deactivating it completely. If you own a Shopify store, it is important to understand how pausing works and what effect it can have on your customers, orders, and store access.

When should you pause your Shopify store? Does pausing your Shopify store affect potential customers and orders? And how can you return to your Shopify store when you are ready to start selling again? This guide explains the main options and steps.

A step-by-step guide for pausing your Shopify store

The first thing to know is that you cannot pause your Shopify store unless you have been on a paid plan for at least 60 days after the end of your free trial. You need an active subscription plan if you want to pause your store but continue working on it.

Ways to deactivate your Shopify store

Shopify gives store owners two main options if they want to stop running their store:

Sell the Shopify store.
Cancel the subscription and deactivate the store.

You cannot use these options to pause or deactivate your Shopify store if you have not selected a paid pricing plan yet. Shopify does not allow you to pause your store during the free trial.

Things to consider before pausing your Shopify store

Before pausing or deactivating your store, make sure you understand the terms, billing impact, and feature limitations. These are the main things to keep in mind:

Shopify Plus stores cannot access Shopify’s Pause and Build plan.
The Pause and Build plan is only available if you have been on a paid plan for at least 60 days.
If you have active Shopify Capital, pausing your store can affect your remaining advances.
You should uninstall third-party apps before pausing your Shopify store if you do not want to keep paying for them.

The Pause and Build plan

Shopify’s Pause and Build plan can be a useful option if you need to take a break from selling but still want to work on your store.

The Pause and Build plan runs at a reduced monthly cost and allows you to access your Shopify admin and edit your products. However, checkout is disabled, which means customers can browse your products but cannot buy them.

This plan also limits access to some features, including discounts, POS, third-party integrations, and abandoned checkout recovery. You can send draft order invoices to potential customers, but those draft orders cannot be converted into live orders through the disabled checkout.

The Pause and Build plan gives you access to:

Your online storefront
Your Shopify admin
Reports about your site’s performance

You may want to use the Pause and Build plan if you run a seasonal Shopify store or only want to sell during specific periods of the year.

Steps to pause your store with the Pause and Build plan

1. Log in as the store owner: Access your Shopify store using the store owner account.

2. Open Shopify admin: Go to your Shopify admin dashboard.

3. Go to Settings: Click Settings.

4. Open Plan: Click the Plan option.

5. Choose pause or cancel subscription: Select the option to pause or cancel your subscription.

6. Select Pause and Build: Click the Pause and Build plan.

7. Review the plan details: Check the plan details carefully before confirming the switch.

Once you have chosen the Pause and Build plan, your store will be paused but will remain available at a reduced subscription fee. You can reopen your Shopify store later by choosing a new active plan.

Considerations before switching plans on Shopify

Before switching to the Pause and Build plan, keep the following points in mind:

The plan includes one staff account.
It is only available as a monthly plan.
You must pay any outstanding invoices before switching plans.

Getting your Shopify store ready to pause

Once you have decided that the Pause and Build plan is right for you, prepare your store so visitors understand what is happening.

Hide your “Add to cart” button and product prices to avoid customer confusion.
Use storefront password protection if you are redesigning your store and do not want customers to see work in progress.
Add a message to your password page so customers know your store will not be available for some time.

To enable storefront password protection, go to your Shopify admin, open Online Store, then go to Preferences. In the Password protection section, enable the password and add a message for visitors.

Reopen your Shopify store

You can reopen your Shopify store whenever you are ready by selecting a plan that fits your needs.

1. Log in to your store: Access your Shopify admin.

2. Open Settings: Go to Settings.

3. Open Plan: Click Plan.

4. Pick a plan: Click Pick a plan and then choose the plan you want to use.

5. Review the plan details: Check the plan details carefully.

6. Start the plan: Click Start plan.

Once you have selected your desired plan, you can start selling again. If you added a storefront password while the store was paused, remember to remove it before reopening the store to customers.

Deactivating vs pausing

If you only want to take a temporary break, pausing your store may be the better option. If you want to close your Shopify store completely, you can cancel your subscription and deactivate your account.

Before deactivating your store, download any important store data and transfer your domain if needed. After deactivation, you will lose access to your Shopify admin.

Steps to deactivate your store

1. Open Shopify admin: Log in to your Shopify admin.

2. Go to Settings: Click Settings.

3. Open Plan: Go to Plan.

4. Choose Deactivate store: Click Deactivate store.

5. Review your options: Review the options for Pause and Build or canceling your subscription.

6. Select a reason: Choose a reason for deactivation and click Continue.

7. Confirm deactivation: Enter your password and select Deactivate now.

You can also sell your Shopify store to an interested buyer directly, through OpenStore, or by using a trusted website marketplace such as Flippa.

FAQs

Does deactivating Shopify stop payments?

Yes, deactivating your Shopify account stops ongoing Shopify billing, although you may still need to pay any outstanding charges. Pausing your Shopify account is different because it lets you keep limited access to your store while paying a reduced subscription fee.

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Schedule your free call with us today and let’s supercharge your Shopify store.