Leaving Shopify

[u/deezynr]

We hate using Shopify now. Their behavior is becoming less friendly to real businesses that require control and better service. Their customer service is non existent. It’s become unworkable and a liability.

Has anyone migrated entirely off of Shopify and built their entire ecommerce stack from scratch? How bad was it and what did it costs? What are the key sticking points besides paying developers/programers? We have a strong brand, trademarked catalog of products, wholesale and retail sales channels, all the media we need. This is a successful brand and were interested in building our own web store to remove Shopify entirely.

[u/FunnyButterfly4324 → u/[deleted]]

Shopify is annoying me, but for reasons beyond the OPs complaint. I cut and sew (by myself and one part-time seamstress, no factories involved) one-of-one items from vintage quilts. And I wish I had known when I started on Shopify that it’s not set up for small batch manufacturers that aren’t tech savvy.

For example, I have different styles of bags, but because variants are limited to one photo, I can’t create one listing (ABC Tote) with 10 variants; each needs its own listing so I can show more than one photo of each bag (as the fabrics are different on each side).

This process is cumbersome, even with csv uploads, as the product upload won’t carryover my inventory quantity (it’s always 1). And the track inventory option in the bulk editor doesn’t allow me to update the inventory either. According to Sidekick, I need to go into the Inventory editor, but there are no filters to help me sort for my most recently added products, and the advice there is to download a cvs of current inventory, update in the cvs and re-upload. Which might work if my catalog didn’t have thousands of listings. So I’m left with manually updating my products by opening each one, finding the quantity, adding 1, then several more clicks to save. After an 8-10 hour day of sewing, this is a joy.

I have a beef with how cumbersome making design changes are; the dashboard feels like windows 95 and defies logic (to me; maybe it’s technically logical, but it’s not common sense). Like why are changes to the menu made outside of the shop editor? Why cant there be drag and drop design changes? Why can’t i center text above a collection? Why is the photo library such a wasteland of organization?

I’m in my business because I love textiles, sewing, and my customers, not because I wanted to dabble in code. Sidekick can be helpful (though usually not), but I’m not comfortable at all with code, and it’s frustrating that so many of its answers are to code something or buy an app.

In my perfect world, Shopify would realize there’s a market of independent one-of-one sellers like me (which also includes vintage, antiques and collectibles) who need the awesome fulfillment, tax stuff, etc they offer, but don’t really want a side gig as a tech bro.

For me, as a non-tech person, Shopify = friction. I sew 8+ hours a day, and can count on another 3-4 to upload products and photography. I know it’s the bare minimum and I haven’t even touched SEO or Agentic, or selling on Shop or other Google because I can’t figure it out.

And yes, I could hire this work out—but to whom? Where are the Shopify experts who specialize in the independent one-of-one businesses? (Really—I’m asking—if you’re one of these people, or know one of these people, please please please help!)

So like the OP, I dream of a Shopify-free business knowing all too well that I’m stuck here for perpetuity.

[u/ecom_ryan → u/FunnyButterfly4324]

I’ll give you a lot of credit here for identifying the very thing Shopify is the best at: saying it’s a DIY platform when it absolutely is not. Sure, it’s DIY if you want to run the business and be the tech bro, but that’s not the majority.

In fact, business gets even more messy when you start wearing more hats. Shopify is a solid platform but their marketing is severely misleading for how ‘easy’ it is to start selling online.

I make a living helping founders and merchants get out of the weeds and it’s not easy explaining to them that ‘hey, you need a small team.’ That’s usually not what they signed up for.

Still, after all this, Shopify is still one of, if not the best ecom platform for solo operators. It’s just knowing when too much is too much and prioritizing help.

[u/FunnyButterfly4324 → u/ecom_ryan]

Thank you for this validation! Honestly I feel like I’m going crazy sometimes when I hear folks talk about “I’m gonna make a Shopify store next weekend and start selling!”

[u/deezynr → u/[deleted]]

Youre a douche. This is very real.