For ecommerce businesses – whether they’re a dropshipping store or selling custom artwork – finding a platform to host the sales, collect payments, and expand their reach is a challenge. In 2006, two entrepreneurs attempting to sell snowboards online experienced these struggles themselves; there was no ecommerce platform that met their needs, so they created Shopify.
Today, Shopify helps millions of ecommerce businesses scale and succeed. It is used in all industries; everything from your favorite health food stores to clothing suppliers rely on Shopify for hosting sales and processing payments. And compared to other ecommerce platforms like WooCommerce and WixStores, the Shopify platform holds the largest market share.
If you’re looking for a legitimate and trustworthy platform to grow your online business and expand your offerings, Shopify might be just the place. But don’t take our word for it, let’s examine why more legitimate businesses flock to Shopify every day.
Before incorporating any outside platform into your business operating ecosystem, it’s important to understand whether it’s safe, reliable, and functional in the right ways. So, if you’re an ecommerce business leader wondering, “Is Shopify legit?” then you’re not alone.
Shopify is a market leader in the ecommerce space; over the last two decades, it has proven its functionality time and time again. Its offerings include robust marketing tools, detailed analytics, secure payment options, and built-in third-party app integrations.
Beyond what Shopify’s innovative features, it has invested in security and safety for its ecommerce users and their customers. There are five key reasons that Shopify is legitimate – we’ll take you through each one.
Is Shopify legit? We can say “yes” with absolute confidence because:
Shopify provides every single store on its platform with an SSL certificate. SSL stands for a “secure socket layer” certificate, which ensures that the server is authentic and encrypts data flowing to and from the store.
Basically, SSL certificates mean that key data such as login credentials, payment details, and customer information will always be safe. When someone is online shopping, there is a lot of sensitive information passed back and forth between the web browser and the server, and without SSL certificates, that information is at risk of being hacked or stolen.
SSL certificates work because they use encryption to scramble data that is flowing back-and-forth, making it impossible to read even if it is intercepted. Ecommerce stores and customers should never transact in an environment without an SSL certificate, and with Shopify, that’s not even an option.
In 2004, the major credit card companies – Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and JCB – created a set of uniform security standards for credit card payments. Known as “Payment Card Information Data Security Standard,” PCI DSS sets strict requirements around payment data.
If ecommerce stores aren’t compliant with PCI DSS, most credit card companies will prohibit transactions on the site. Taking things further, non-compliance can lead to fines and an erosion of customer trust. With Shopify, sellers don’t have to manage the compliance on their own, and instead, online transactions are automatically protected.
On a site like Shopify, customer support isn’t just for returns or product issues, it’s for store owners, too. Any operational downtime can decrease financial security and erode customer engagement, but with Shopify’s excellent customer service, online businesses can get help the second something goes wrong.
The Shopify support model also helps reduce instances of fraud because of its quick reaction time and continuous monitoring of suspicious behavior. Cyber attackers often depend on going unnoticed for as long as possible, but with Shopify, it’s almost impossible to remain undetected for extended periods of time.
Going above and beyond PCI DSS compliance and SSL certificates, Shopify is constantly improving its ability to ensure secure payments across the platform. The Shopify Payments platform is a proprietary component of Shopify itself, and when required, embeds 3D Secure into the payment process.
3D Secure sends buyers from the payment page to their card provider’s website to enter additional security information, then back to the payment page once that information is authenticated. This creates an additional layer of protection when needed.
Shopify Payments also requires two-factor authentication and provides built-in fraud protection, adding even more security to every ecommerce transaction.
There is a long list of third-party applications available to sellers in the Shopify app store. These third-party apps can add new features to the customer experience and can optimize your experience as a seller. And the best part? Shopify doesn’t allow any third-party applications to integrate with its platform without conducting a thorough review process of each application.
Shopify’s team assesses each application’s user interface, its security measures, and the features it offers. If it doesn’t impress reviewers, it won’t be integrated with the platform. When choosing from Shopify’s list of trust third-party apps, you’ll know you can’t go wrong no matter which one you pick.
Even after a two-decade commitment to security and safety, Shopify, like any other online platform, is still vulnerable to scammers and hackers – it’s part of doing business in the digital age.
We don’t say this to scare you away from the platform, but rather, to ensure you are informed and knowledgeable about potential risks. Here are some Shopify scams to watch out for:
All the hard work you put into designing your Shopify store, all the branding and design work you completed to attract customers, and all the care you’ve put into your online business can be stolen by fake or duplicate stores.
Scammers will recreate your Shopify shop so closely that customers won’t be able to tell the difference between your legitimate Shopify store and duplicate stores. While this is frustrating and disappointing, if you reach out to the customer support team on Shopify immediately, they’ll do their best to help rectify the situation.
Getting Ahead of the Scam: If you want to protect your Shopify account and retain customer trust, search your online store’s name regularly to monitor any duplicate stores that may pop up. If you find a fake Shopify store that’s copying yours, report the store to Shopify support and consider filing a trademark for added legal protections.
This one can be a bit confusing – it’s quite the scheme. In it, fraudsters list your products on third-party websites for a fraction of the price. Then, when a real customer makes the purchase, the scammer will use fraudulent or stolen credit card information to purchase the item from your store and send the product to their customer.
So how does this impact you? Once the owner of the stolen credit card finds the purchase, they may file a chargeback with your Shopify store, causing you to miss out on the funds and product you shipped out.
Getting Ahead of the Scam: Be very cautious with orders that are larger than usual – this can indicate a triangulation scheme happening in real time. To take things further, you can require additional verification information like the buyer’s home address or phone number. Shopify also provides a great fraud prevention tool that can help flag these types of transactions.
Posing as new customers, wholesalers, or business partners, scammers will convince Shopify store owners to take the transaction off the platform to avoid additional transaction fees. They might also ask for free product samples or bulk orders with no intention of sharing payment details.
Getting Ahead of the Scam: To avoid falling victim to a direct client scheme, do your own due diligence as a Shopify seller on new clients asking for bulk orders or customer inquiries that claim to be from “wholesalers.” If they don’t seem like a legitimate business, don’t work with them. Additionally, consider implementing a policy that requires payment upfront for orders over a certain size.
For Shopify merchants that sell luxury or high-price items, this scam can be especially detrimental. But no matter what products your online store is selling, fake return ticket scams are expensive, frustrating, and damaging in the long term.
In these scams, a bad actor will place an order and wait for the product to arrive. Once it does, they’ll submit a return under the guise that the product is defective or damaged. But instead of sending back the actual product, they’ll send back an empty box or a counterfeit product, stealing from your Shopify store in the process.
Getting Ahead of the Scam: Make sure you have a clear and strict return policy listed on your Shopify account. When returns come in, verify that the product is real and undamaged before refunding any credit card payments.
A newer scam in the Shopify ecosystem is one where hackers will attempt to put malicious code into your Shopify store. This is called SEO spam and for most Shopify sellers, it’s hard to detect if they aren’t looking for it.
The code added to your ecommerce store can add spam links to your site, cause your store to drop in rankings, and even direct buyers to fake websites.
Getting Ahead of the Scam: Check your Shopify account regularly – do any of the links seem unfamiliar? If so, go ahead and look at the back-end code. Be sure to only integrate your store with trusted third-party applications and reach out to Shopify if something seems out of place.
At the end of the day, Shopify is a legitimate and trustworthy platform built to support legitimate businesses trying to leave a legacy in the ecommerce space. Whether you’re ready to take your dropshipping store to the next level or attract customers to buy your artwork, the Shopify platform has all the tools you’ll need to succeed.
You’ll always know what you’re getting with Shopify’s transparent pricing plans, but even more importantly, you’ll be able to rely on secure payment gateways, SSL encryption, and Shopify’s stellar customer service when you need it most.
While your online business can’t completely avoid threats like fraudulent transactions, SEO spam, and Shopify store duplicator schemes, Shopify will give you the support and peace of mind that it has been giving other store owners for decades.
When it comes to safeguarding personal and payment information, retaining customer trust, and growing your brand across social media platforms, one thing is clear: you can always trust Shopify.
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