Table of Contents
Last updated on: March 1, 2023
Welcome to Shopify! By signing up for a Shopify Account (as defined in Section 1) or by using any Shopify Services (as defined below), you are agreeing to be bound by the following terms and conditions (the “Terms of Service”).
As used in these Terms of Service, “we”, “us”, “our” and “Shopify” means the applicable Shopify Contracting Party (as defined in Section 13 below), and “you” means the Shopify User (if registering for or using a Shopify Service as an individual), or the business employing the Shopify User (if registering for or using a Shopify Service as a business) and any of its affiliates.
Shopify provides a complete commerce platform that enables merchants to unify their commerce activities. Among other features, this platform includes a range of tools for merchants to build and customize online stores, sell in multiple places (including web, mobile, social media, online marketplaces and other online locations (“Online Services”) and in person (“POS Services”)), manage products, inventory, payments, fulfillment, shipping, business operations, marketing and advertising, and engage with existing and potential customers. Any such service or services offered by Shopify are referred to in these Terms of Services as the “Service(s)”. Any new features or tools which are added to the current Services will also be subject to the Terms of Service. You can review the current version of the Terms of Service at any time at https://www.shopify.com/legal/terms.
You must read, agree with and accept all of the terms and conditions contained or expressly referenced in these Terms of Service, including Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”) and Privacy Policy, and, if applicable, the Supplementary Terms of Service for E.U. Merchants ("EU Terms"), the Shopify API License and Terms of Use (“API Terms”) and the Shopify Data Processing Addendum (“DPA”) before you may sign up for a Shopify Account or use any Shopify Service. Additionally, if you offer goods or services in relation to COVID-19, you must read, acknowledge and agree to the Rules of Engagement for Sale of COVID-19 Related Products.
Everyday language summaries are provided for convenience only and appear in bold near each section, but these summaries are not legally binding. Please read the Terms of Service, including any document referred to in these Terms of Service, for the complete picture of your legal requirements. By using Shopify or any Shopify services, you are agreeing to these terms. Be sure to occasionally check back for updates.
2.1 Store Owner
2.2 Staff Accounts
2.3 PayPal Express Checkout and Shopify Payments Accounts
2.4 Shop Pay
2.5 Apple Pay for Safari Account
2.6 Google Pay
2.7 Meta Pay
2.8 Domain Names
8.1 Your Materials
8.2 Shopify Intellectual Property
9.1 POS Services
9.2 Shopify Shipping
9.3 SMS Messaging
9.4 Theme Store
9.5 Shopify Email
You may generate or send email from your Account using the Shopify email services (the “Email Services”). In addition to the terms applicable to the Services generally (including Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy), the following terms apply to your access and use of the Email Services:
9.6 Shop App
9.7 Third Party Services, Experts, and Experts Marketplace
9.8 Beta Services
9.9 Shopify Pixel Manager
Shopify allows you to add pixels to your Shopify Store to enable you or a third party to track customer events (the “Shopify Pixel Manager”). You may manage your pixels from within the user interface in the administrative console of your Shopify Store.
In addition to the terms applicable to your use of the Services generally (including these Terms of Service, Shopify’s Acceptable Use Policy, and Privacy Policy), the following terms apply to your access to and use of the Shopify Pixel Manager; a. You will comply with all applicable laws and obtain all necessary consents from every site visitor and customer whose events you track; b. If you provide Shopify with any data collected using pixels, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, or other data that personally identifies an individual, you will obtain all necessary rights and consents prior to providing Shopify with the foregoing information; c. You agree that Shopify may disable any pixels that Shopify identifies as malicious, in Shopify’s sole discretion; and d. You will not, and will not allow any third parties to, use pixels; i. to engage in or promote any unlawful, infringing, defamatory or otherwise harmful activity; or ii. to disable, interfere with or circumvent any aspect of the Services.
Shopify may collect information associated with the Shopify Pixel Manager, such as how pixels are used, and how and what scripts are added. Shopify may use this data to improve, maintain, protect and develop the Shopify Pixel Manager.
Shopify welcomes any ideas and/or suggestions regarding improvements or additions to the Services. Under no circumstances will any disclosure of any idea, suggestion or related material or any review of the Services, Third Party Services or any Third Party Provider (collectively, “Feedback”) to Shopify be subject to any obligation of confidentiality or expectation of compensation. By submitting Feedback to Shopify (whether submitted directly to Shopify or posted on any Shopify hosted forum or page), you waive any and all rights in the Feedback and that Shopify is free to implement and use the Feedback if desired, as provided by you or as modified by Shopify, without obtaining permission or license from you or from any third party. Any reviews of a Third Party Service or Third Party Provider that you submit to Shopify must be accurate to the best of your knowledge, and must not be illegal, obscene, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, infringing of intellectual property rights, or otherwise injurious to third parties or objectionable. Shopify reserves the right (but not the obligation) to remove or edit Feedback of Third Party Services or Third Party Providers, but does not regularly inspect posted Feedback.
Shopify supports the protection of intellectual property and asks Shopify merchants to do the same. It’s our policy to respond to all notices of alleged copyright infringement. If someone believes that one of our merchants is infringing their intellectual property rights, they can send a DMCA Notice to Shopify’s designated agent using our form. Upon receiving a DMCA Notice, we may remove or disable access to the Materials claimed to be a copyright infringement. Once provided with a notice of takedown, the merchant can reply with a counter notification using our form if they object to the complaint. The original complainant has 14 business days after we receive a counter notification to seek a court order restraining the merchant from engaging in the infringing activity, otherwise we restore the material. Learn more at Reporting Intellectual Property Infringement.
Shopify is firmly committed to protecting the privacy of your personal information and the personal information of your customers. By using the Service, you acknowledge and agree that Shopify’s collection, usage and disclosure of this personal information is governed by our Privacy Policy.
To the extent that Shopify processes personal information of your customers as a “data processor” or “service provider” under certain data privacy or protection laws, including the EU or UK General Data Protection Regulation and the California Consumer Privacy Act, Shopify’s collection and use of personal information is also subject to our Data Processing Addendum.
If the billing address of your Store is located in the United States or Canada, this Section 13(1) applies to you:
“Shopify Contracting Party” means Shopify Inc., a Canadian corporation, with offices located at 151 O’Connor Street, Ground floor, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2L8.
The parties irrevocably and unconditionally submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of the Province of Ontario with respect to any dispute or claim arising out of or in connection with the Terms of Service. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods will not apply to these Terms of Service and is hereby expressly excluded.
If the billing address of your Store is located in the Asia Pacific region (including Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, Singapore), this Section 13(2) applies to you:
“Shopify Contracting Party” means Shopify Commerce Singapore Pte. Ltd, a corporation formed under the laws of Singapore, with offices located at 77 Robinson Road, #13-00 Robinson 77, Singapore 068896.
The parties irrevocably agree that the courts of Singapore are to have exclusive jurisdiction to settle any dispute which may arise out of or in connection with the Terms of Service and that accordingly any proceedings arising out of or in connection with the Terms of Service will be brought in such courts. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods will not apply to these Terms of Service and is hereby expressly excluded.
If the billing address of your Store is located in EMEA region or other jurisdictions not listed in Section 13(1) or 13(2), including Europe and Russia, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Caribbean, or Mexico this Section 13(3) applies to you:
“Shopify Contracting Party” means Shopify International Limited, a private company limited by shares, incorporated in Ireland under registration number 560279, with its registered offices located at 2nd Floor Victoria Buildings, 1-2 Haddington Road, Dublin 4, D04 XN32, Ireland, VAT number IE 3347697KH and its website is at https://www.shopify.com/.
You irrevocably and unconditionally agree to submit to the jurisdiction of Irish courts, which have jurisdiction to settle any disputes which may arise out of or in connection with the validity, effect, interpretation or performance of these Terms of Service and you similarly irrevocably and unconditionally waive any objection to any claim that any suit, action or proceeding has been brought by Shopify in any other jurisdiction. The United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods will not apply to these Terms of Service and is hereby expressly excluded.
The term of these Terms of Service will begin on the date of your completed registration for use of a Service and continue until terminated by us or by you, as provided below (the “Term”).
You may cancel your Account and terminate the Terms of Service at any time by contacting Shopify Support and then following the specific instructions indicated to you in Shopify’s response.
Without limiting any other remedies, we may suspend or terminate your Account or the Terms of Service for any reason, without notice and at any time (unless otherwise required by law), including if we suspect that you (by conviction, settlement, insurance or escrow investigation, or otherwise) have engaged in fraudulent activity in connection with the use of the Services. Termination of the Terms of Service will be without prejudice to any rights or obligations which arose prior to the date of termination.
Upon termination of the Services by either party for any reason:
Shopify will cease providing you with the Services and you will no longer be able to access your Account;
unless otherwise provided in the Terms of Service, you will not be entitled to any refunds of any Fees, pro rata or otherwise;
any outstanding balance owed to Shopify for your use of the Services through the effective date of such termination will immediately become due and payable in full; and
your Shopify Store will be taken offline.
If you purchased a domain name through Shopify, upon cancellation your domain will no longer be automatically renewed. Following termination, it will be your sole responsibility to handle all matters related to your domain with the domain provider.
If there are any outstanding Fees owed by you at the date of termination of the Service, you will receive one final invoice via email. Once that invoice has been paid in full, you will not be charged again.
We reserve the right, in our sole and absolute discretion, to update or change any portion of the Terms of Service at any time. We will provide you with reasonable advance notice of changes to the Terms of Service that materially adversely affect your use of the Services or your rights under the Terms of Service by sending an email to the Primary Email Address, providing notice through the Shopify administrative console, or by similar means. However, Shopify may make changes that materially adversely affect your use of the Services or your rights under the Terms of Service at any time and with immediate effect (i) for legal, regulatory, fraud and abuse prevention, or security reasons; or (ii) to restrict products or activities that we deem unsafe, inappropriate, or offensive. Unless we indicate otherwise in our notice (if applicable), any changes to the Terms of Service will be effective immediately upon posting of such updated terms at this location. Your continued access to or use of the Services after we provide such notice, if applicable, or after we post such updated terms, constitutes your acceptance of the changes and consent to be bound by the Terms of Service as amended. If you do not agree to the amended Terms of Service, you must stop accessing and using the Services.
Shopify may change the Fees for the Services from time-to-time. We will provide you with 30 days advanced notice prior to any changes in Fees by sending an email to the Primary Email Account, providing notice through the Shopify administrative console, or by similar means. Shopify will not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, price change, suspension or discontinuance of the Services (or any part thereof).
The Terms of Service, including the documents it incorporates by reference, constitute the entire agreement between you and Shopify and govern your use of the Services and your Account, superseding any prior agreements between you and Shopify (including, but not limited to, any prior versions of the Terms of Service).
The failure of Shopify to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms of Service will not constitute a waiver of such right or provision. If any provision of the Terms of Service, including all terms and conditions and other documents it incorporates by reference, is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be contrary to law, such provision will be changed and interpreted so as to best accomplish the objectives of the original provision to the fullest extent allowed by law, and the remaining provision of the Terms of Service will remain in full force and effect.
Save for Shopify and its affiliates, you or anyone accessing Shopify Services pursuant to these Terms of Service, unless otherwise provided in these Terms of Service, no person or entity who is not a party to these Terms of Service will have any right to enforce any term of these Terms of Service, regardless of whether such person or entity has been identified by name, as a member of a class or as answering a particular description. For the avoidance of doubt, this will not affect the rights of any permitted assignee or transferee of these Terms.
The Terms of Service will be governed by and interpreted in accordance with the laws of the Province of Ontario and the laws of Canada applicable therein, without regard to principles of conflicts of laws.
The Terms of Service may be available in languages other than English. To the extent of any inconsistencies or conflicts between these English Terms of Service and Shopify’s Terms of Service available in another language, the most current English version of the Terms of Service at https://www.shopify.com/legal/aup will prevail. Any disputes arising out of these Terms of Service will be resolved in English unless otherwise determined by Shopify (acting in its sole discretion) or as required by applicable law.
All the terms and provisions of the Terms of Service will be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties to the Terms of Service and to their respective heirs, successors, permitted assigns and legal representatives. Shopify will be permitted to assign these Terms of Service without notice to you or consent from you. You will have no right to assign or otherwise transfer the Terms of Service, or any of your rights or obligations hereunder, to any third party without Shopify’s prior written consent, to be given or withheld in Shopify’s sole discretion.
If any provision, or portion of the provision, in these Terms of Service is, for any reason, held to be invalid, illegal or unenforceable in any respect, then such invalidity, illegality or unenforceability will not affect any other provision (or the unaffected portion of the provision) of the Terms of Service, and the Terms of Service will be construed as if such invalid, illegal or unenforceable provision, or portion of the provision, had never been contained within the Terms of Service.
On termination, all related rights and obligations under the Terms of Service immediately terminate, except that (a) you will remain responsible for performing all of your obligations in connection with transactions entered into before termination and for any liabilities that accrued before or as a result of termination; and Sections 1 (Account Terms), 5 (Payment of Fees), 6 (Confidentiality), 7 (Limitation of Liability and Indemnification), 8.1 (Intellectual Property and Your Materials), 9.7(8)-(10) (Third Party Services, Experts, and Experts Marketplace), 10 (Feedback and Reviews), 12 (Privacy and Data Protection), 13 (Shopify Contracting Party), 14 (Cancellation and Termination), 15(1) (Modifications), and 16 (General Conditions) will survive the termination or expiration of these Terms of Service.
Shopify Inc.
151 O’Connor Street, Ground floor
Ottawa, ON K2P 2L8
Canada