14 questions to ask before hiring a Shopify developer

You've got three quotes for the same job, and they're thousands of dollars apart. Every portfolio looks polished. Everyone says they're a Shopify expert. So how do you tell who'll actually do the work well?

You ask better questions before you sign. A good developer will be glad you asked. Someone who gets vague, defensive or pushy at this stage will be harder to work with once you've paid. For the red flags that tend to show up before you even get to a call, see how to spot a Shopify expert scam.

Here are 14 questions, grouped by what they protect: proof, process, what "done" means, ownership and life after launch. For each one, there's why it matters and what a good answer sounds like. Ask us the same questions. That's the point.

Proof: can they show you numbers, not just screenshots?

A screenshot shows that someone can make a nice-looking page. It doesn't show whether the store sold more afterwards, loads quickly on a phone, or still works 6 months later. Start here.

1. Can I see live stores you built, and what you did on each one?

Screenshots and mock-ups can be anything; a live store is something you can open on your own phone, tap through and test. A good answer is 2 or 3 links, plus a clear note of what they did on each: the whole build, a redesign, or a few custom sections on someone else's theme.

2. What changed after launch, and how did you measure it?

"Conversions went up" means nothing without the number, the period and where it came from. A good answer names a metric (conversion rate, average order value, mobile speed), the before and after, and the report it came from in Shopify analytics. If they're quoting conversion rate, ask whether bot sessions were filtered out, because bots can drag that figure around. Our guide to your real conversion rate shows where that filter lives.

3. Where can I read reviews you don't control?

Testimonials on someone's own site are picked by them. Shopify runs a Partner Directory where you can filter partners by service, price and location, and read reviews and work samples. Shopify notes that listed partners work independently, so still check the work yourself. A good answer points you somewhere public, or offers to put you in touch with a past client.

4. Have you worked on a store like mine?

A store with 20 products and one with 2,000 variants are different jobs, and so are a simple theme and one held together by 12 apps. A good answer asks you questions back: how many products, which apps, which theme, which markets you sell to. If they quote without asking anything, they're guessing.

Process: will you see the work, and who's doing it?

A lot of what goes wrong comes down to process: work happening out of sight, on the live store, by someone you never spoke to.

5. Will I get a preview link while you work?

You should see the work as it happens, not at the end. Shopify lets anyone preview an unpublished theme and copy a link to it from the preview bar. Shopify's visitor preview links expire after 2 days, so a good answer is "yes, and I'll send fresh links at each check-in", ideally on a regular day you both agree.

6. Will you work on a copy of my theme, not my live store?

Editing the live theme means customers see half-finished changes and mistakes. In Online Store, any theme can be copied with the ⋯ menu → Duplicate, and the copy appears as "Copy of" the original name. A good answer is "always on a duplicate or a new draft theme, and nothing gets published until you've approved it".

7. Who actually does the work?

Some agencies sell the job and pass it to subcontractors you never meet. That isn't wrong on its own, but you should know. A good answer names the people: who designs, who builds, who you'll talk to, and whether anyone outside the team will touch your store.

8. How will you get access to my store?

The right answer is a collaborator request, never your password. You find a 4-digit collaborator request code under Settings → Users & permissions → Security (or Settings → Users → Security if your store is part of an organisation), give it to them, and accept their request. Shopify lets you choose their permissions, and Shopify's advice is to grant only what the partner needs. Collaborators don't count towards your store's user limit, and you can remove them when the work is finished.

9. How and when will I hear from you?

Silence for 2 weeks, then a surprise launch, is how projects go wrong. A good answer is specific: one channel (email, a shared doc, a weekly call), a regular update day, and one named person who replies.

What does "done" look like, as a number, by a date?

"We'll make it look amazing" is not a finish line. You need something you can check.

10. What does "done" mean, written down, with a date?

Ask them to describe done as things you can test: every page on the agreed list built, the store passing a test order on a phone, mobile speed at a figure you both agree, all by a date. A good answer turns your goals into a checklist and a launch date, and says what happens if either side slips.

11. What's in the price, and what counts as extra?

Plenty of disputes start with "I thought that was included". A good answer is a written scope: the pages, sections and features, how many rounds of changes, and how extra work is priced before anyone starts it. Fixed, public prices make this easier to compare. Ours are on our pricing page: $4,500, $6,000 or $12,000, depending on the plan. For what moves a price up or down, see what a Shopify store costs.

12. How and when do I pay?

You want payment tied to work you've seen, against an invoice, through a method that gives you some protection. A good answer explains the schedule, what each payment is for, and which method they use. Be wary of anyone who wants everything up front with nothing in writing.

Ownership and after launch

The job isn't over when the store goes live. Make sure you can keep running it, and walk away with everything you paid for.

13. Will the store, theme, apps and accounts all be in my name?

Everything should belong to you: the store, the domain, the theme licence, every app subscription. A theme bought from the Shopify Theme Store is licensed only to the store where it was bought, and Shopify won't let you customise or publish an unlicensed theme until the licence is sorted. If a developer builds a new store for you, Shopify has client transfer stores for that, so ownership moves to you when it's ready to go live. A good answer is "it's all yours, and I'll show you where everything is". Before the final payment, you can also take your own copy of the theme from the ⋯ menu → Download theme file; Shopify emails a zip to the address on your staff account.

14. What happens after launch, and what does support cover?

Small things often turn up in the first weeks: a broken link, an app conflict, a page that looks odd on one phone. A good answer says how long support lasts, what it covers, how to reach them, and how fast they'll reply. All three of our plans include 30 days of post-launch support.

What to do next

Before you sign with anyone, including us:

• Open their live stores on your phone and ask what changed, with numbers.
• Agree on preview links and work on a duplicate theme, never the live one.
• Give access through a collaborator request code, not your password.
• Get "done" written down: a checklist, a scope and a date.
• Keep the store, theme and apps in your name, and download the theme before the final payment.

If you're not sure what a developer should fix first, our store review checklist is a good place to start. And if you want a second pair of eyes on your store, or on a quote you've been sent, talk to us.