Practical guide

Plan a store move without losing the purchase story

Last materially reviewed 2026-09-27

Quick answerA new store does not automatically inherit old orders, access rights or communication permissions.
What to know

Start with the reason to move

Identify the limitation the new platform must solve and check whether a smaller repair would suffice. A catalogue move creates work beyond uploading files. Include old product links, descriptions, purchase options, customer support and any outstanding corrections in the transition plan.

What to know

Keep old and new orders distinct

Record which checkout owns each historical purchase. Do not assume that importing a customer list recreates file entitlements or permits marketing. Use only authorised exports and appropriate private storage. This guide does not ask you to provide customer data or connect your merchant accounts to our site.

What to know

Prepare a continuity explanation

Tell buyers where legitimate support remains available and which product location applies to new purchases. Avoid publishing personal download links as a shortcut. Keep the prior package and promise recoverable so questions about an older purchase can be answered accurately.

What to know

Verify before retiring

A successful new upload is not proof that historical buyers are supported. Check the specific continuity requirements you wrote down and retain the old arrangement while material questions remain unresolved. Do not close an account or delete old files merely to make the migration look finished.

What to know

An original working example

Use an original transition ledger with columns for old location, new location, owner, historical buyer obligation and verification evidence. Include public product links as well as private order-support responsibilities, but do not publish customer records in the ledger. A fictional move might transfer new sales first while keeping the old receipt route available for existing purchases. That staged arrangement needs to be supported by the actual services and commitments; it is not a universal migration recipe. Record unresolved dependencies before retiring the former store. A new homepage displaying correctly is only one observation and does not prove that every previous purchase remains usable.

Continue when useful

Next: When keeping your current store is the right decision

Do not migrate a working catalogue when a clearer package or support page can fix the real problem.

Open When keeping your current store is the right decision →

Sources used for this page

These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.

  1. Adding a digital product — Merchant documentation · help.payhip.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-27
  2. Customer did not receive email — Merchant documentation · help.payhip.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-27
  3. Digital product variants — Merchant documentation · help.payhip.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-27