Is Shopify Legit? Learn if Shopify is Safe for Selling and Buying

Is Shopify legit?

This is a question you’ve probably asked yourself if you’ve ever considered using Shopify to build your online store.

Shopify started in Canada and now has multiple facilities and offices around the globe. It's also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and powering over 4.1 million online stores.

Here at Ecommerce Platforms, we have extensive experience with the Shopify platform. Not only have we produced a ton of content about the service, with hundreds of articles exploring its capabilities and features, but we’ve used the system ourselves over the years. 

We’re experts in Shopify setup, offering services to a wide range of companies, of every size, and we’ve worked on a number of unique Shopify projects with scaling startups. 

Shopify: An Introduction to the Company

Let’s start with a brief introduction to the history of Shopify. As you may already know, Shopify is a renowned global ecommerce platform, first introduced in 2004.

The platform was created by Scott Lake, Daniel Weinand, and Tobias Lütke in Ottawa, Canada. Shopify’s founders wanted to create an all-encompassing toolkit for commerce vendors, and it certainly succeeded.

Over the last couple of decades, Shopify has experienced significant growth, stretching through more than 175 countries, and becoming one of the most successful ecommerce platform providers in the world. It’s well-known for its exceptional ease of use, innovative feature set, and its commitment to delivering customized support and service to business leaders.

Is Shopify Legit?

Shopify have an excellent range of resources for business leaders, as well as a fantastic community of accredited developers, and it also offers fantastic service through Shopify support. What’s more, Shopify has some fantastic built-in security features, as well as the option for users to enhance their safety online using add-ons and plugins. 

Notably, like all digital products and software solutions, Shopify can encounter problems. While it’s a legitimate business overall, it has encountered various issues in the past with data breaches, security problems, and customer service complaints. This doesn’t make it any less “legit”, however. Shopify is still a highly respected platform, with a lot of incredible benefits to offer. 

Additionally, while Shopify is a legitimate and trustworthy platform, it doesn’t guarantee the success of any entrepreneur or business owner. You’ll still need to take measures to promote, protect, and secure your business as you develop it with Shopify. 

Shopify doesn’t eliminate all of the challenges associated with running an online store, but it does make it significantly easier for businesses to get started. With Shopify, you’ll have all the tools you need to safely and securely process payments, share content, and build an online presence, but it’s still up to you to make sure your store is successful. 

Is Shopify Safe?

Shopify currently powers more than 4.1 million online stores, and processes billions of transactions each year. It’s widely considered to be a safe and reliable platform, but like any major SaaS solutions it can encounter security issues from time to time. 

Like many ecommerce and software platforms with a high degree of popularity, Shopify has been targeted by criminals in the past. A data breach took place in 2020 which led to the theft of personal information for around 200 merchants. However, it’s worth noting Shopify was highly transparent about this breach, and has since taken steps to improve security. 

Shopify also offers a range of features and capabilities intended to improve the safety of both sellers and consumers online. The platform offers PCI compliant payment processing, secure point of sale systems for in-person transactions, and encryption for customer data. Some of the key factors that make Shopify a safe solution for retailers include:

• All stores are automatically given an SSL certificate for encryption
• The hosted platform keeps data from product pages and other site assets protected
• Shopify has a “bug bounty” program to help the team uncover potential problems
• Risk analysis tools are used within the platform to help reduce fraud
• Shopify runs all traffic through TLS certificates for improved security
• The Shopify app store offers a range of security tools for enhanced protection

How to Determine if a Shopify Store is Safe and Legit

It can be difficult for a customer using a Shopify store to know whether they’re dealing with a legit vendor, or someone who is simply trying to steal their information. Just as ecommerce vendors need to be wary of issues, customers also need to:

• Check for contact information: Accurate and valid contact information should indicate you’re working with a genuine store. If you’re not sure the contact information is legit, try reaching out to the company to see if you get a response.
• Examine ToS and privacy policies: Terms of service and privacy policies are required for most legitimate online stores. If a website has these documents, this indicates they’re a real vendor, operating within the compliance guidelines of the industry.
• Check for trust badges: Some Shopify stores can demonstrate their legitimacy by displaying approved trust badges on their websites and checkout pages. For instance, they might have a “verified by Visa” badge, which indicates the payment process is safe.
• Read reviews and ratings: Even if you can’t find customer reviews on the store itself, it’s worth checking for comments from customers on third-party sites like G2 and TrustPilot. These reviews should help you to determine if a store is legit. 
• Examine the design: Since Shopify is so easy to use, and brimming with fantastic templates, there’s really no excuse for a poor store design. An unattractive website with complex pages, or a slow-loading site could be an indication of a fake site. 
• Check social media presence: True Shopify vendors should have an active online presence that goes beyond their ecommerce website. Look for a strong social media presence on channels like X (Twitter), TikTok, Instagram, and even LinkedIn. 
• Contact customer support: Reach out to the customer support team to see if you get a response. If the response seems to be automatically generated, or you don’t get any feedback at all, it’s usually a good idea to avoid using the site.
• Review the product listings: On a legitimate Shopify store, the product listings should be informative and accurate. Avoid any sites that seem to have copy/pasted content from another vendor, or use poor grammar and spelling in their limits.
• Check payment security: Ensure the checkout page on the Shopify site is protected by SSL encryption, and be cautious about the payment methods you use. You should be able to use trusted payment options, such as Shop Pay, or credit and debit card payments.
• Research the company: If you’re not sure about any brand, it’s worth searching for more information about them online. Find out when they were founded, where they operate, and whether they’ve been certified by the better business bureau. 
• Trust your instincts: If something about a store feels off for any reason, it’s usually a good idea to avoid entering any payment details or personal information. Ultimately, the more time you spend shopping online, the easier it will be to pinpoint fake stores. 
• Check return and refund policies: At the very least, a legitimate Shopify store should have clear refund and return policies. The most reputable stores will ensure you can return any products you’re unhappy with easily. 
• Beware of payment requests: If a Shopify company contacts you asking for additional payment for extra things such as advanced shipping or order tracking, this is a clear sign you’re not working with a reputable vendor.

Check the domain age: The longer a store has been active online, the more likely it is to be legitimate. You can research the domain age of a store by looking for “domain age checkers” online, and entering the URL of the website.

Warning: Shopify is Legit, but it's Still Possible to Get Scammed

We'll repeat it once more just to clarify: Shopify is legit, and it's not a scam in any way. It's one of the safest, most robust ecommerce platforms on the market, so we couldn't think of a better place to start an online business.

However, the internet is a tricky place. So even Shopify can't always protect shoppers and merchants from potential scams that linger around.

Top Shopify Scams to Watch For

Let's start with merchants scams. Although Shopify does a great job of protecting merchants, some risks include:

Shopping fraud

There are multiple tactics to look out for, but the main ones involve someone pretending to be someone else, using false payment information, lying that a package wasn't delivered (when it actually was), sending a package to a different address that's not theirs, or even just simple theft of packages from doorsteps. Use Shopify's fraud-protection tools, and common sense when accepting orders, to minimize the amount of fraud and chargebacks that occur.

Website Hacks and Malware

Hacks tend to occur when someone breaks into your login system, so the best course of action is to use a password manager which generates and stores strong passwords for your entire organization. It's essential to check on everyone's password, since one of your workers could cause an attack by using a weak password. In addition, activate security measures like two-factor authentication and hidden login pages.

Transactional Data Theft

This occurs when a bot or person intercepts data passed between the merchant and the customer. Data theft could steal information about your business, but more than likely, it has something to do with acquiring lists of transactional information. For instance, hackers prey on larger businesses because there's a a greater prize: long lists of customers; if they get credit card information, they can try to use the credit cards elsewhere. Luckily, Shopify already has things like TLS and PCI-compliance to fight threats of data theft.

Identity theft

These scams generally happen by sending you a link through text or email. After you click on it, you land on a website that looks relatively legitimate, but it's not. Sometimes the scammers try to duplicate a legit website so that you think you're safe. The goal is to get you to type in your payment information, which gets recorded and stolen.

Insecure Websites

Although Shopify activates things like TLS security, there's no guarantee that a merchant has accidentally, or intentionally, stripped some of the security measures from their website. As a consumer, always look for things like SSL or TLS certificates, an “https” before the domain, or a lock in the URL section of your browser.

Dropshipping Scams

Dropshipping on Shopify is legit—usually. Some more scammy merchants take advantage of this low-inventory process by listing products with no intention of ever fulfilling them. Many people also find some aspects of dropshipping scammy, like how some dropshippers fail to tell you about 30 day shipping periods, or how some will try their very hardest to prevent you from returning items. It all depends on the merchant, but keep an eye out for dropshipping scams.

Physical Theft

Consumers, regardless of where they live, are regularly at risk of losing packages that get swiped from their doorsteps. Shopify has nothing to do with this, so you must keep an eye on your packages by sending them to your office, installing a video doorbell, or making sure the delivery gets dropped in a secure location.

Fake Apps

While Shopify’s app store is a fantastic resource if you’re hoping to expand the functionality of your store, not all apps are guaranteed to be legit. Virtually any company can submit an app to the marketplace, and some solutions aren’t as effective as they claim to be. It’s worth double-checking the reviews on each integration before you buy anything. 

Influencer marketing scams

Influencer marketing scams are becoming increasingly common in the modern world, even for Shopify vendors. It’s important to ensure you’re working with a genuine influencer who not only has a large number of followers, but an actively engaged audience. Make sure you learn as much as you can about each influencer before committing to a contract.

Fake Job Offers

If you’re looking to work at Shopify, be wary when applying for potential roles. Make sure you only seek opportunities on the official Shopify website. There are plenty of companies out there who may attempt to get your contact details and other personal information by promising you an opportunity to work with one of the biggest brands in the business.

Fake Purchase orders

With fake purchase orders, scammers acting as customers create copies of a seller’s Shopify checkout sheet and then alters the submit button link for your site. Using this code, they connect to software and save all of the data from the checkout process. They can then send the fake checkout sheet back with lower prices. You might end up approving the transaction without realizing it’s a scam.

Chargeback Fraud

Chargeback fraud is unfortunately common in all aspects of the ecommerce landscape. Customers make a purchase using their own credit card, then immediately disputes a charge with their brand and credit card company. Although you can seek assistance from Shopify to deal with these issues, it can take a while for the problem to be rectified, so you can receive the money you’re owed.

Subscription traps

Some of the apps and add-ons available for Shopify will require you to pay an extra fee to access the services. Unfortunately, not all of these companies offer flexible plans. Some will require you to commit to years of purchasing a service before you’ve had a chance to test the functionality. Always be wary of subscriptions which require long-term purchases up-front.

How to Secure Your Shopify Store: Best Practices

As mentioned above, Shopify is a secure and reliable platform over all. It processes everything from transactions to refunds using the highest security standards possible. However, there are still steps you’ll need to take as a Shopify store owner to protect your website, such as:

• Using two-factor authentication: Shopify pros and store owners can leverage multi-factor authentication to reduce the risk of third parties accessing their accounts. Two factor authentication can also be used to secure customer accounts. 
• Invest in admin security: As a Shopify admin, you’ll be able to create various accounts with different permission levels for your team members. It’s best to avoid giving employees access to excessive data whenever possible. 
• Use fraud protection: The Shopify Protect feature offered on most Shopify pricing plans helps to guard your store against fraudulent chargebacks. This can be a useful tool to eliminate potential risks. 
• Leverage strong passwords: Make sure everyone using your Shopify admin account uses the strongest possible password to protect against hackers. You could consider using a password management tool to help you. 
• Use add-ons: Plugins and addons can help make your store more secure, by providing you with access to additional privacy, security, and compliance features. Make sure you research each plugin before adding it to your store. 

So Shopify Isn't a Scam? What About Hidden Fees?

Absolutely not. Shopify runs a sound business, and it has become one of the most prominent solutions for building online stores.

There's not really even a way to lose your money unintentionally with Shopify, considering the entire subscription process is so transparent. Shopify makes money by charging for subscriptions, where store owners pay a monthly fee (usually around $29 per month, but it ranges from $9 for Shopify Lite to $299 per month for Shopify Advanced) then cancel whenever they want. The Shopify website is filled with information on what you receive after signing up for a subscription, and you can also sign up for a 14-day free trial to test out the SaaS (software as a service) without having type in any credit card information.

Each Shopify store owner receives invoices in their dashboard and email, meaning you're not thrown off guard by monthly charges. Furthermore, Shopify does a wonderful job of itemizing your charges, and there are no hidden fees outside of the usual taxes you should expect to pay. But in our experience using Shopify, they never tack on any “service” or “admin” fees, so it's a nice reprieve from some other companies you see that with.

Keep in mind, however, that the monthly ecommerce subscription isn't the only way Shopify makes money; far from it.

In fact, Shopify gets revenue from payment gateway fees, hardware sales, app store sales, referral fees, theme sales, the Exchange Marketplace (a place to buy and sell established ecommerce stores), email marketing, domain sales, Shopify Capital, fulfillment, and investments.

So, is Shopify legit in the way it handles its additional products and services? Are you going to get hit with some extra transaction fees or be required to purchase apps in order to run your store?

Well, it's a guarantee that you have to pay credit card transaction fees; all online stores do. But Shopify doesn't take any additional transaction fees, which is rare considering you see that with many competitors. It's the credit card companies taking the processing fees, usually around 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction.

Yet, Shopify explains these fees on their pricing page, so it's tough to argue that they're anything but transparent.

Is Shopify Legit with its Apps and Themes?

Many people feel it's “scammy” to sell a software or app only to pretty much require the use of add-ons, extensions, or plugins that cost more money.

Luckily, there's absolutely no requirement to buy an app or theme for Shopify to run properly. You receive all the essential ecommerce tools with your subscription, including:

• Hosting
• Integrations with payment providers like Shopify Payments and PayPal
• Support for unlimited products
• Dropshipping options
• Multi-channel selling on sales channels like Amazon and eBay
• Shipping and tax settings
• Domain name services (although you still have to pay to buy the domain names)
• SEO tools
• Social media marketing options
• A full checkout and shopping cart for your ecommerce website
• SSL certificates
• Storefront product galleries
• Page templates
• Customer support
• Protection from fraudsters
• PCI compliance
• Inventory management
• A free Myshopify.com subdomain
• Real-time stats

So, there's not really a need for beginner merchants and smaller stores to even mess with the app store. Having said that, it's not required to opt for paid apps when you go to the app store. Shopify offers hundreds of free apps, many of which are categorized and easy to find in the marketplace, helping you expand upon the built-in features and improve your store in the process.

The same goes for themes. Shopify offers a handful of beautiful free themes to keep things affordable for all merchants. There aren't nearly as many free themes as they used to have, but that's hardly a reason to consider them scammers. Just remember that at some point you'll probably want to opt for a premium theme and some paid apps. Why? Because many of them are designed to boost your revenues, so you can make back your money in no time.

Most of the premium apps range from $5 to $100 per month, depending on the type of product and service offered. Shopify templates get a little pricey, but they're only one-time costs ranging from $50 to $300.

And business owners can rest easy knowing that this pricing is close to the industry standard; you won't find any cheaper theme or app pricing from the likes of Bigcommerce, Wix, or WooCommerce (in fact, WooCommerce requires far more premium plugins to run an actual online store).

So, none of the extra Shopify fees are hidden, and you can choose to opt out of most of them.

Here are the optional Shopify fees that you may never need to pay in the first place:

• Shopify apps
• Shopify themes
• POS hardware
• Extra processing fees for third-party payment gateways (if you don't go with Shopify Payments)

And here are the guaranteed fees you'll incur (some of which require some sort of action to happen):

• Your monthly Shopify subscription
• Credit card transaction fees
• Chargeback fees (only if a customer makes a chargeback on their credit card)
• Domain name pricing (usually around $10 per year)

What About Those Credit Card Fees? That's a Lot of Extra Money!

You're right. Credit card processing fees usually start at around 2.9% + $0.30 for every transaction you process. That becomes expensive if you sell high-priced items, but it also cuts into your margins if using the ecommerce solution to sell lower-priced items, since you're probably processing more transactions and not getting as much money per sale.

Regardless, this is an industry standard as well. It's how credit card processing companies like Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, and Square have always made their money, and it helps them uphold the infrastructure required to keep your transactions secure.

The good news is that Shopify is clear about its credit card processing fees. Not to mention, you receive the same Stripe functionality you would get with any ecommerce platform, except with no extra transaction fees through the ecommerce platform. In addition, payment processor fees decrease as you upgrade your Shopify plans. For instance:

• The Shopify Basic plan sells for $29 per month with a 2.9% + $0.30 online credit card fee per transaction
• The Shopify plan sells for $79 per month with a 2.6% + 30% online credit card transaction fee
• The Advanced plan sells for $299 per month with a 2.4% + $0.30 online credit card transaction fee

As you can see, the credit card fees go down as you upgrade—as your business grows. Sure, you're paying more money for the subscription, but a thriving business should also make more money. And Shopify is one of the few ecommerce platforms that offers this type of structure. It's very rare to get any type of discount on payment processing fees other than with the Shopify platform. The Shopify Plus plan users (for enterprises) even get more customized transaction fees.

The only additional fee that comes with payment processing is if you opt for a third-party payment gateway that's not Shopify Payments. Our past Shopify reviews have shown that third-party transaction fees range from an additional 0.5% to 2% depending on your subscription plan. That may look like a slight hidden fee, but at least Shopify displays it on their pricing page.

We'd argue that it's annoying, and somewhat forceful, to push all Shopify users to one payment gateway, but it's part of their business plan to get more customers using their own processing tools. But we definitely feel for some merchants, because not everyone can use Shopify Payments (because of industry or location-based restrictions), and it's not always the most economical choice depending on your operation.

Is Shopify Legit When it Comes to Safety?

For small businesses and large enterprises, one of the main concerns when talking about ecommerce is safety. We're talking safety for the customers that go to Shopify stores, as well as protection from fraud and back-end attacks for merchants.

To begin, Shopify has a strong selection of tutorials on its website to guide you on how to protect your website as a merchant. What's even better is that you don't have to worry about much to begin with. An ecommerce business that uses Shopify removes the hassle of overall security, because it's all built into the system.

To begin, Shopify maintains a robust security infrastructure to block fraudsters, backend attacks, malicious software, and everything from malware to viruses.

Some of the elements that work in the background of every Shopify store include:

• Automated Shopify account locking when a person or bot tries to access your website in an unusual nature, or if they try to break in multiple times.
• Two-factor authentication, where online business owners receive security notifications with codes to log into their accounts. This means you must log in with two devices, but it's an easy way to block intruders.
• Identity confirmation tools which send out notifications to ecommerce site owners when something suspicious occurs, or if there hasn't been a login to the account for over three months.
• SSL (secure socket layer) certificates: A free certificate that adds HTTPS protocol to your site, encrypting all transactional data that passes through. This is essential, and often legally required, in order to run an online store with payment processing. Therefore, Shopify owners can add a Buy button within seconds without having to worry about SSL.
• TLS (transport layer security): This is actually a replacement for SSL, since it's a newer form of protocol for online stores. Most newer Shopify stores implement this type of transactional protection because of its ability to block malicious external scripts, and because it's easier to protect both the shopper and merchant.
• Cloud-based hosting and website building: Everything from Shopify is run using state-of-the-art cloud-based technology, meaning you don't have to manage your own server, worry about flaws in the ecosystem, or even think about speed. Not to mention, the ease of use of the website builder is difficult to beat.

Haing said that, it's still possible for some intruders to find their way into your website. It's very rare, but as your business grows, you're more likely to become a target.

This has nothing to do with whether or not Shopify is legit, however. It's merely a reality of doing business on the internet.

Therefore, we recommend following these procedures to ensure the safety of your customers and your overall business:

• Schedule automated backups: Shopify automatically stores database and website backups, but there are other ways to include multiple backups for added protection. You can install a backup app or even run an external backup to secure locations, or directly onto your own cloud system or office-based server. Regardless, start with the auto-backups from Shopify so that you always know that your inventory, designs, customers, and content are saved in case something happens to your website.
• Block the public from sensitive content: Shopify offers a few apps to block certain parts of your website, whether those pages include sensitive business information, or they're used by admins who need access to certain parts of the website.
• Use a password manager, and regularly change your password: This is particularly important if you have multiple users on the same Shopify website. One user with a bad password could give a hacker access. Overall, we recommend using a password manager so as not to reuse a password you use on multiple sites. Password managers also generate extremely strong, unique passwords for your store that you never have to remember. Finally, it's not a bad idea to change those passwords from time to time, making it extremely difficult for someone to hack your site.

FAQ

Conclusion: Shopify is Legit

Shopify has its pros and cons, but overall, you can rest easy knowing Shopify is legit, with high-quality products for building ecommerce sites.

As with anyone building a website, you still have to think about fraud, hackers, and potential websites built for scams, but overall, Shopify offers several tools to minimize these threats, and you must go through certain procedures on your own end to ensure as little interaction with those problems.

What are your thoughts on Shopify? We know Shopify is legit, but share if you've had any qualms with the company in the past. Also share instances where Shopify has impressed you.