A Shopify checkout compliance checklist

Shopify expects merchants to put certain information in front of customers before they pay, and payment providers look at the same details when they review a store. Under Shopify's Terms of Service, you agree to publish public-facing contact information, terms of service, a refund policy, and shipping policies that include order-fulfillment timelines. Contact details should include your name, address, telephone number, and email address. If a third-party supplier fulfills orders, customers should be told that as well.

This checklist is a practical starting point, not legal advice. Laws, card-network rules, and acquirer reviews can be stricter depending on where you sell and how you get paid. Use it to make sure the basics are visible, accurate, and consistent with how you actually operate.

Put contact information where customers can find it

A contact form alone is not enough. Reviewers and customers both look for a real way to reach you: a working email address and phone number, your business name, and a physical business address. This information should be current, accurate, public, and easy to access.

Add a Contact page and repeat the essentials in the footer. Fill in contact information under Settings → Policies so Shopify can surface it in checkout, then check the live store—not just the admin preview—to confirm it appears. If you change legal entities, addresses, or support inboxes, update every place the old details still appear.

Make the refund and return policy visible before purchase

A refund policy that exists only in a help-center article or a returns app can be hard for customers, crawlers, and underwriters to find. Publish it as plain text on your store, ideally at Shopify's standard /policies/refund-policy path, and link it in the footer. Policies you add under Settings → Policies also appear as links in Shopify Checkout, which is where they need to be: before the customer completes the purchase.

The policy should describe how your process really works. At a minimum, spell out:

• The window in which a product must be returned, in days.
• The address where a return should be sent.
• Who pays for return shipping, and any restocking or other fees, with amounts or percentages.
• How refunds are issued (original payment method, store credit, or a mix) and that timing can vary by location or bank.
• How a customer can contact you if a refund does not arrive in a timely way.
• Conditions that apply (unused, original packaging, final-sale exceptions) and how to start a return.

A blanket "all sales final" or "no refunds" line, with no path for defective or not-as-described items, is a common source of disputes. If some products are non-returnable, say so clearly on the product page and in the policy, and still explain what happens when an item arrives damaged or is materially different from the listing.

Keep terms of service accurate and easy to open

Terms of service belong in Settings → Policies and in the footer, just like refunds and privacy. Shopify's generated template can be a reasonable starting point, but only if you edit it so it matches your business: who is selling, what you sell, and how cancellations work. Short placeholder terms, or terms that still mention another brand, look unfinished to a reviewer. Keep a public privacy policy next to your other policies so customers can see how you handle payment and shipping data before they order.

Disclose pricing, shipping, and fulfillment clearly

Customers should see the price of goods, the currency, and the additional amounts they may owe—shipping, taxes, duties, or handling fees—before they pay. If a fee exists, state the amount or the percentage, not just the word "fee." If shipping or duties are calculated at checkout, say that on product and shipping pages so the total is not a surprise at the last step.

Your shipping policy should separate two timelines that often get mixed together: how long you take to process or hand off an order, and how long transit usually takes after it ships. Give ranges you can meet. Tell customers when an order is delayed, when import fees may apply, and when a third party will ship from a different location. If you cannot ship everywhere, list the regions you serve before checkout rather than declining the order after payment.

Collect clear consent for subscriptions and other recurring charges

If you sell subscriptions, memberships, or other recurring charges, the checkout must make the ongoing nature of the purchase obvious. Before the first charge, the customer should see the price, the billing frequency, what happens at renewal, and how to cancel. Consent should be affirmative—an unchecked box, a clear checkout term, or an equivalent explicit step—not hidden in a long paragraph or pre-selected for the customer.

Cancellation instructions belong in the checkout disclosure, the order confirmation, and an easy-to-find account or policy page. If a free trial converts to a paid plan, say when the trial ends and what will be charged. Unclear consent for recurring charges is difficult to defend later.

Check consistency, then look at the store the way a reviewer would

Policies only help if they agree with one another. If the refund policy says 30 days and a product FAQ says 14, fix one of them. If the shipping page says two business days to fulfill and the product description says "ships next day," pick the timeline you actually use. Inconsistent windows confuse customers and make weak evidence if a dispute is filed.

Finally, walk through your own checkout on a phone and a desktop. Confirm that policy links open readable pages, not empty templates or JavaScript-only widgets that fail without a special app view.

If you want a faster pass over the public pages of your store, run a free compliance scan on the Laminar Checkout homepage. Paste your storefront URL, and you will get a readout of contact details, refund and shipping policy coverage, pricing signals, and other common gaps—without installing an app.