Shopify, Cratejoy, and other ecommerce platforms don't let you take your payment tokens with you if you choose to leave.
Whilst selling you on the benefits of their own payment solutions (Shop Pay, Cratejoy Payments, Wix Payments, etc), you have unknowingly given up control of your business.
Edit: turns out it's not limited to white-labeled gateways on Shopify either, but also including when you use your own Stripe account.
As platforms move towards whitelabeled gateways and consumer facing wallet products, they have silently enforced policies to prevent you moving away
Businesses evolve and change over time and so do your technology requirements, not being able to leave is a major concern.
Running a business is stressful enough as it is, and problems happen, and when you decide it's best to switch platforms this blocker will not be a very welcome one.
Holding your data hostage is anti-competitive and restrictive, it should be illegal.
Payment tokens are the lifeblood of a subscription business, without them you can't charge customers.
But I don't care, it doesn't affect me right now
I hear you, you might be busy, focused on surviving or this current next objective, then you can think about it?
Well, we had 1 merchant with 80,000 subscribers want to move to us, and another with 50,000 subscribers.
They were shocked to find out they couldn't, and pissed off as you can imagine. So don't skip over yet.
Ok, so now what?...
First, you should get familiar with your current situation, I made a simple health-check quiz to figure out your current "status". Link below.
Next, you should absolutely complain and make a noise.
Regardless if you are thinking about switching or not, you should consider your future state and your fellow business owners.
And if you are thinking about switching you will need to do a “subscription switch” protocol, we developed an effective one with special tools at Subbly.
And just to be clear... my stance on this topic is absolute and clear – we don't hold your data hostage at Subbly.
As a subscription-first platform, we build both our tech AND our policies around subscription businesses. So you're in safe hands.
I may be a CEO of a competitor, but this has become a major overreach by tech platforms and it needs to stop.
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Stefan Pretty stands at the forefront of the subscription commerce industry as the founding CEO of Subbly, a cutting-edge Software as a Service (SaaS) platform designed specifically for subscription-first businesses. With an unwavering commitment to innovation and excellence, Stefan has spearheaded Subbly's journey to become a pivotal player in the subscription market, empowering businesses to seamlessly integrate and manage subscription models.
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