Shopify Review 2022: Is Shopify Legit

Shopify is an eCommerce platform for online stores and retail point-of-sale systems. If you have an online business then you must have stumbled across this platform before. More than 600,000 businesses are hosting their online stores through Shopify and the popularity of this platform is growing rapidly. But, despite the rise in popularity, is Shopify a legit platform? Let’s find out below!

What is Shopify?

Shopify is a Canadian multinational e-commerce company that provides everything that you need to create an online storefront. So, Shopify is a hosted eCommerce platform where you will be able to set up an online store and sell your products. This platform was established in 2006 by Tobias Lütke, Daniel Weinand, and Scott Lake. According to recent data, more than 1,700,000 businesses are using the Shopify platform. Moreover, according to BuiltWith, 1.58 million websites run on the Shopify platform and according to W3Techs, 4.4% of the top 10 million websites use Shopify. So, it is fair to say that Shopify is a widely used platform.

Overview of Shopify

Company name	Shopify
Founded	2006
Headquarters	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
CEO	Tobias Lütke
Phone	N/A
Website	Shopify.Com

How Does Shopify Work?

Shopify unifies all of your commerce into a single central command center. With Shopify, you can build and customize an online store and sell on various platforms like web, mobile, social media, online marketplaces, brick-and-mortar locations, and pop-up shops. You will also be able to manage products, inventory, payments, and shipping. The best part of Shopify is, it is a cloud-based platform so you will be able to access your online store from any connected compatible device. Shopify will provide everything that you will need to run a business. There are lots of templates available on Shopify that you can use to look for your store. Other tools you will find on Shopify are tools to sell in multiple places online and in-person, online payment processing system, checkout tool, SEO and marketing tools, etc. These are the core products of Shopify.

Pricing of Shopify

Shopify has five types of plans and pricing so that you won’t have to pay extra money. You only have to pay for what you need. You can choose and pay for the plan that suits your requirement. The plans of Shopify are – 

• Shopify Lite Plan
• Basic Shopify Plan
• Shopify Plan
• Advanced Shopify Plan
• Shopify Plus

1. Shopify Lite Plan

This plan from Shopify will cost you $9 per month and it doesn’t include an online store. If you use Shopify Payments for this plan then the credit card rate is 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions and 2.7% for in-person transactions. If you use another type of payment method then Shopify will charge a 2.0% Shopify transaction fee. Other key features of this plan are – 

• Sell in-person
• Add a “Buy” button to your existing websites
• Sell on social media
• Accept credit card payments
• Create invoices
• Live chat and email support

2. Basic Shopify Plan

This plan will cost you $29/month and it includes an online store. Here, if you use Shopify Payments then the credit card rate will be 2.9% + $0.30 for online transactions and 2.7% for in-person transactions. On the other hand, if you use another type of payment method then Shopify will charge a 2.0% Shopify transaction fee. This plan includes everything in the Shopify Lite plan, plus:

• Online store
• Unlimited products, bandwidth, and storage
• 2 staff accounts
• Up to four inventory locations
• Access to API & app store
• Discount code engine
• Gift cards
• Built-in blogging engine
• Up to 20 themes on your store
• Multiple sales channels
• Manual order creation
• Shipping discounts up to 77% from DHL Express, UPS, and USPS
• Shipping labels
• 133 international currencies and up to 20 languages
• Fraud analysis
• Access to Shopify Fulfillment Network
• Free SSL certificate
• Abandoned cart recovery tools
• Shopify POS Lite
• Access to Shopify POS Pro ($89/month)
• 24/7 multichannel support, including phone  

3. Shopify Plan

The Shopify Plan costs $79/month. If you use Shopify Payments then the credit card rate will be 2.6% for online transactions and 2.5% for in-person transactions. If you use another payment processor, Shopify charges a 1.0% Shopify transaction fee. This plan includes everything of the Basic Shopify plan and the below features – 

• 5 staff accounts (in addition to the owner’s account)
• Up to five inventory locations
• Standard reports
• Discounts up to 88% from DHL Express, UPS, and USPS
• USPS Priority Mail Cubic pricing
• International domains and pricing 

4. Advanced Shopify Plan

This plan from Shopify will cost you $299/month. If you use Shopify Payments, the credit card rate is 2.4% + $0.30 for online transactions and 2.4% for in-person transactions. On the other hand, if you use other payments then Shopify will charge a 0.5% Shopify transaction fee. This plan includes everything in the Shopify plan, plus:

• 15 staff accounts
• Up to 8 inventory locations
• Advanced reports
• Real-time shipping carrier rates (outside of Shopify Shipping)
• Fifteen staff accounts (in addition to the owner’s account)
• Custom report builder
• International pricing (per variant)

5. Shopify Plus

This plan from Shopify is for enterprise businesses. If you want to learn pricing details, then you have to contact Shopify directly. The base price of this plan is $2,000 per month. The best part of this plan is it supports more than 100 payment gateways, including:

• Adyen
• Authorize.net
• Braintree
• PayPal
• Sezzle
• Skrill

Is Shopify Safe and Secure?

Yes, Shopify is safe and secure. In fact, it is one of the safest cloud-based, website-building platforms on the current market. Shopify uses Transport Layer Security (TSL) technology to protect the information of both of its store owners AND shoppers. TSL is the latest security technology for websites and it is the updated version of the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL). Therefore, all the transactions on Shopify are safe and securely protected against various threats from harmful external scripts. Apart from the TSL security other security measures of Shopify are – 

• Two-factor authentication
• Account locking
• Identify confirmation

Is Shopify Legit or a Scam?

Shopify is a legit platform where you can host your online store. In fact, Shopify is a publicly-traded company with audited software and industry-leading security. So, there is no question about the legitimacy of this company. However, there are many scams available on Shopify that you have to be aware of. Usually, most of these scams are shoppers dealing with dropshipping business and chargeback issues. Apart from that Shopify is a safe and legit way to set up your online store.

Customer Reviews of Shopify

Positive Reviews of Shopify

Richy Orozco said – 

“Shopify is an amazing business. I opened an online store using Shopify. Easy to use, top suggestions, and quality support staff. I would highly recommend Shopify as one of the best online business hosting options. Even though I closed my store now, I needed my order records for income tax purposes. My own copies had been lost. I contacted Shopify Support, and through their assistance and the Security area, I was able to retrieve all necessary information without needing to re-open the business. Superb job even after I did not have an active store. 5* plus.”

Aayansh said – 

“I have a store with them the customer service is fantastic. Able to contact someone within minutes and they really try to resolve the problem even if you’re not that computer savvy. So many more apps to use and very easy. I used to be with Squarespace an awful company.”

Keith B said – 

“I’ve used Shopify for years; love it and they support my business well. Don’t fret over the negative reviews, it seems that there are some billing issues but their pricing and fees are always clear and upfront.”

Tanya Kozlova said – 

“I have started multiple shops with Shopify, and honestly considering the community support and number of plugins, I have absolutely loved the experience! Can’t recommend enough.”

Ihor R said – 

“The support was really helpful, friendly, and super-fast when I contacted them about closing my store (as I’m not into e-commerce anymore). They provided me with a refund for the last billing and gave some good tips for creating a store in the future. Very happy!”

Negative Reviews of Shopify

Artem Tomehb said – 

“The shop is 3 years old. At one point, they simply withdrew cash and froze the store. Support ignores. Thousands of people can’t buy the product. I think that this is a terrible company with which you cannot build a business!”

Rahul Goyal said – 

“Difficult to use platform. No support in case of chargebacks. They support the thieves, not their customers. No investigation, nothing. They will charge your account and fees on top of it. Poor customer service. Count me as a lost customer.”

Ache Therapy said – 

“I was customizing my website for 3 days without sleeping. Then, when I will unlock the website. My website has been inactive out of the blue. I contacted the live chat. They told me ” Our Higher team will respond to you via email” They never emailed me and solve my problem. Time waster company. They took my 6 days.”

Elizabeth Juliana said – 

“Very poor, I have not sold a pin on this site, I am a very small business and sell very well on Etsy, I thought opening a Shopify would help it’s been so stressful paying continuously with no results”

Bruce Storm said – 

“Never use a Shopify retailer, I was scammed by Lotoak represented by Shopify. Out of $224.18 junk shipped from China, I never ordered. Look will not assist as a foreign company involved. Reported both Spotify and Lotoak to State Attorney General’s Office.”

Final Verdict

Finally, if you are looking for an all-in-one eCommerce solution for your online store then you won’t find a better platform than Shopify. It’s a 100% secure and legit platform so you can run your online store tension free.

References:

https://apps.shopify.com/product-reviews
https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/shopify-review/

Last Updated on May 16, 2023 by Magalie D.