Key takeaways
- A payments shutdown and a store shutdown are different events. Find out which one you have before you decide anything.
- Export products, customers, orders, pages and images today. Access after a closure varies, and image links on the old platform may stop working.
- Your domain carries your customers, your email links and your search rankings. Make sure you control it before anything else.
- Most Shopify URLs follow a few patterns, so they can be redirected to a new store with permanent redirects and keep their search value.
- Wherever you move, the reasons a reviewer found move with you unless you fix them. Run the free processor check before you relaunch.
Work out which shutdown you have
Merchants say “Shopify shut me down” about several different things, and the right next step depends on which one it was. Read the email again and check what still works in your admin.
| What happened | What usually still works | First move |
|---|---|---|
| Shopify Payments turned off, store still online | Storefront, admin, apps, exports | Keep the store selling on another payment method while you decide; export everything anyway |
| Store closed or frozen by the platform | Sometimes limited admin access, sometimes none | Export whatever you still can, today; ask support in writing for your data if you are locked out |
| A review or information request, nothing closed yet | Everything | Fix what a reviewer would find on the live site before you answer |
| Payouts paused | Storefront and admin | Read the notice for the reason and the hold terms; keep shipping paid orders |
Why the difference matters
If only payments are off, you still have a working store, a catalog and your URLs, and you can choose calmly. If the store itself is closed, the priority is saving your data before access narrows further. In both cases the platform’s decision is its own, and this guide is general information rather than legal advice.
Save everything you can, today
Exports are quick while the admin works and hard to reconstruct afterwards. Do all of them in one sitting and keep the files in two places.
- Products. Export all products as CSV. The file carries titles, descriptions, variants, prices, SKUs and the addresses of your product images.
- Images. The image addresses in that CSV point at the old platform’s servers and may stop working once the store is gone. Download the images themselves if you can.
- Customers. Export customers as CSV, including the marketing-consent columns. Consent is what lets you email them legally later; do not lose it.
- Orders. Export order history. Most platforms, Torva included, do not import past orders, so this file becomes your record for refunds, disputes and taxes.
- Pages, policies and posts. Copy the text of your About, FAQ, lab-testing and policy pages and any blog posts. Save the theme file too if the admin offers a download.
- URLs. Save your sitemap and note your product, collection and page addresses. The product handles in the CSV give you most of them.
- App data. Reviews, subscriptions, affiliates and loyalty points usually live in third-party apps. Export each one from the app itself.
Keep control of your domain
The domain is the one asset customers, search engines and your old emails all point at. A new store on the same domain inherits all of that; a new domain starts from nothing.
If you registered the domain somewhere else and only pointed it at the old store, you already control it and can point it at a new host later. If you bought it through the platform, check today whether you can still manage it. Moving a domain to another registrar needs it unlocked and a transfer code, and registrars generally block a domain from moving again for 60 days after it was registered or transferred, so start early. Whatever you do, do not let it expire.
Your options for where the store goes
There is no single right answer. The table sets out the four realistic paths, and the two gates, platform policy and payments, apply to every one of them. Does Shopify allow peptides? explains both gates.
| Path | What it takes | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Stay, with another payment provider | Only possible if the store itself is still open | Shopify charges an extra transaction fee when you use a provider other than Shopify Payments; check your plan. The platform policy gate still applies. |
| Self-host on WooCommerce | Hosting, a theme, plugins for gating and payments, and someone to maintain it | You own every update and every security patch, and payments are still the hard part. |
| A platform built for research supply | Moving your catalog, pages and URLs | Compare what is built in against what you would add by hand. See Shopify alternatives. |
| Pause, sell to existing customers by app | A customer list and a pay-by-app routine | Fewer new customers while you rebuild. See accepting Zelle, Cash App and Venmo. |
Keep your search traffic when you move
Shopify addresses follow a small number of patterns: products at /products/handle, the same products again under /collections/name/products/handle, collections at /collections/name, pages at /pages/name and posts under /blogs/. That regularity is good news, because every one can be mapped to its new address with a permanent redirect.
Build the map before you switch the domain, test a sample of old links the day you switch, and watch for “not found” errors for a few weeks afterwards. The step-by-step version is in moving without losing SEO and the SEO migration map.
Fix the reasons before you relaunch
A new platform does not change what a reviewer reads. If the old store had products under restricted names, claims language in descriptions or no research-use gate, the new one will be reviewed on the same things unless you fix them in the move.
Run the free processor check on your current site if it is still online. It lists the things reviewers commonly look at that it finds on your public pages, such as names, claims language, the 21+ research-use gate, policies and contact details, so you can fix them in the new store rather than copy them across.
How a move to Torva works
Torva reads your public site and builds a preview of the new store from it. If it cannot read your catalog there, it offers to take the product CSV you just exported instead. Products, variants, prices and photos come across, and the photos are copied into Torva, so the old platform’s image links dying cannot break your new product pages. Certificates are filed against their products, and your policies come across with claims wording taken out.
When your domain points at Torva, old Shopify links, including /products/ and /collections/…/products/ addresses, are sent to the matching new pages with permanent redirects, and you can see and change every redirect in the Desk. Customers import from the CSV with marketing consent kept only where your export shows it. Past orders do not import, which is why you keep that export. See moving your store.
Start with the free preview. It takes a few minutes, needs no card, and nothing on your current site changes.
Frequently asked questions
Can I get my data if Shopify locked my admin?
Ask Shopify support in writing for an export of your products, customers and orders, and keep the reply. Meanwhile, save what is still public: your sitemap, product pages and policy text.
Will my old Shopify product links keep working after I move?
Only if the new store redirects them. Map each old address to its new page with a permanent redirect before you switch the domain, then test a sample of old links on the day.
Can I keep Shopify and use a different payment provider?
Only if the store itself is still open, and the platform’s own policy still applies. Shopify also charges an extra transaction fee when you do not use Shopify Payments; check the rate on your plan.
Do I lose my customers’ email consent when I move?
Not if you export it. Shopify’s customer CSV carries marketing-consent columns; import them with the list and email only the customers who agreed.
Preview your store on Torva OS — no card needed — or explore the Desk demo, the eight themes and the plans. Questions: hello@torvaos.com.
General information for merchants, not legal, tax or financial advice. Check the rules in your jurisdiction and with your providers.