- Short answer
- Not while it's a client transfer store — real transactions aren't supported; you choose a plan when you accept the transfer, with no free trial.
- Before transfer
- Private mode stays on; test orders run through the Test payment gateway
- At transfer
- You choose a plan, and the store isn't eligible for free trials or promotions
- Billing start
- Not stated on the Shopify pages we read on September 17, 2026
- Other route
- Open the store yourself; your developer requests collaborator access
What stops a client transfer store from taking real orders?
While your developer holds the store as a client transfer store, Shopify's partner documentation lists its limitations plainly: "Real transactions aren't supported." The same list adds "You can't deactivate private mode for the online store."
Until the handover, the checkout can take test orders instead. Shopify's Help Center names the tool the Test payment gateway, while its developer docs call it Bogus Gateway and state: "Unlimited test orders are allowed."
What changes when you accept the transfer?
You become the store's owner, and choose its plan, when you accept the transfer:
You can't directly change the plan of a client transfer store. Transfer the store to your client first. Your client selects a plan when they receive the transfer.
Shopify's partner documentation, the Help Center page linked above, adds: "After transfer to the client, the store isn't eligible for promotions or free trials." So when you choose a plan at acceptance, that plan is a paid plan, not a trial.
The Help Center's test-orders page doesn't match the plan quote from the developer docs above: it tells developers they can switch a client transfer store to a paid plan and stay its owner.
None of the Shopify pages we read on September 17, 2026 — client transfer stores on the Help Center and shopify.dev, and test orders — says when billing starts after you accept.
Can you skip the transfer and own the store from the start?
Yes. Open the store yourself and bring your developer in as a collaborator — a Shopify Partner "who you've allowed to access your store or organization". You share your collaborator request code, your developer submits an access request, and "you receive an email about the request and a notification on your Shopify Home." The setup is covered in how to hire a developer and keep the Shopify trial.
This article was written entirely by AI under human editorial direction. The editor sets the topic and structure, runs multi-stage validation on facts, links, and interactive elements, and verifies the output is useful from a business perspective. All claims are checked against official Shopify sources. Details may change — always confirm critical data at shopify.com.
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