How do you make an existing staff member the owner of a Shopify store?

Where do you change the store owner in the Shopify admin?

On plans other than Shopify Plus, Shopify offers two routes: a person who already has access to your store through Settings › Users, and a new owner outside your business through Settings › General — the route for transferring a store to a buyer.

Only the store owner can change ownership. An Administrator or any other role doesn't make someone the owner, because Shopify doesn't let you assign the owner role the way you assign other roles, and you can't transfer ownership to a collaborator. On non-Plus plans the dialog accepts only someone already in Users, so invite them as staff first if they aren't.

1. Go to Settings › Users.
2. Click the name of the current store owner — you must be the store owner. The Change ownership button at the top of that profile sits in its Organization owner section, not beside the Store owner role (seen in our development store on October 18, 2026).
3. In the Roles section, open the menu button beside the Store owner role and click View stores.
4. In the View stores dialog, select the store.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Settings
2. Users

Zoom

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Settings
2. Users

Zoom

5. In the Store owner section, click Change ownership.
6. Enter the new owner's email address — they must be an existing user in Users.
7. Click Change store ownership and re-authenticate if asked.

In Shopify adminOpen in your store

1. Settings
2. Users

Zoom

On the outside route the new owner accepts by email; the steps for an existing user mention no acceptance email or waiting time, and the acceptance section on Shopify's ownership page doesn't say which route it covers.

What should you settle before you change the owner?

With Shopify Capital or Shopify Credit, Shopify says you're unable to transfer your store, and with an active Shopify Balance you must empty it and contact Shopify Support. The page we read ties these conditions to preparing a transfer outside your business; its steps for an existing user don't mention them.

If your store uses any of them, ask Shopify Support before you change the owner — our advice, not a rule Shopify states for this route.

With Shopify Payments, check these before you confirm:

• Only the store owner can edit Payments banking information — after the change, the new owner.
• Changing the legal entity name, tax ID or business type creates a new legal entity; business information changed as part of a transfer outside your business goes through Support.
• Switching payouts to a new external bank account pauses them for 3–5 business days, but not payouts into Shopify Balance.

What happens to you after you hand over ownership?

Six actions stay with the store owner alone, whatever another user's permissions — so they move with the role (see who can hand out access):

• managing Shopify Payments;
• creating and managing a Shopify Balance account;
• accessing Shopify Capital settings;
• pausing or deactivating the store;
• transferring or changing ownership;
• some optional or early-access features requested by the owner.

Email messages from Shopify go to the store owner's address — after the change, the new owner's.

For a store in an organization, Shopify's ownership page says users keep store permissions but lose organization permissions, so review staff permissions afterwards.

For a transfer outside your business, Shopify says your login loses owner permissions and payment and billing information becomes restricted to you. No page we read says what role a former owner keeps after a change to an existing user, so check your login in Settings › Users afterwards.

Is it different on Shopify Plus or in an organization?

In an organization, each store can have its own owner. The organization owner has complete access but can't change store ownership unless they also own the store; organization ownership is a separate change.

On Shopify Plus, stores are transferred in the admin, and Plus Support helps with complex cases. A changelog post of February 7, 2024 says the self-serve transfer of organization ownership goes only to another internal user. The Help Center we read gives no Plus step-by-step, so ask Plus Support first.