Starting your little online store requires more than just investing your money. As a business owner, you would need to invest your time and money. Whether it’s Shopify drop shipping you’d want to try your luck in, or setting up a thrift store of your own, you would need to know whether Shopify is the e-commerce platform for you.
For that, there’s no better way than the Shopify free trials and special offers. Thanks to these trials, it becomes easier for new merchants to analyze and play around with a demo store before signing up for a full year.
Currently, Shopify does not offer any 45 day trial. In this article, we discuss what the 45-day trial was all about and how you can get the longest possible trial as of now.
How does the Shopify free trial work?
It probably feels like you’ve heard ravings about Shopify’s free trial. Or you might have even heard criticisms about it. Whichever Group you belong to, you’d want to be the judge yourself.
How Shopify’s free trial works are forthright and easy to understand. Shopify wants new merchants to feel acquainted with the features and workings of the platform before starting their business on it. Hence, they offer free trials.
These free trials, currently lasting 3 days, may vary from 14 days to 120 days. Shopify changes the duration of this trial period time and again.
During this free trial, you would not have to pay a penny. You would be able to play around with the Shopify store. You could build one up, and customize it to your heart’s content.
There are several basic Shopify features to explore from. You are also allowed to add and import products, with the permission to even add descriptions to them. You would be able to understand analytics, shipping, and third-party apps as well.
What you can do during the free trial
Here are important contents offered in the free trial:
- Create and customize the store
- Familiarize yourself will all Shopify functions
- Add or import product
- Edit product images, descriptions
- Experiment with thousands of themes
- Handle Payment Transactions
- Understand shipping options
- Use third-party apps
- Understand analytics and metrics like taxes, inventory update
- Get insight on customer behavior
What you can’t do during the free trial
Thousands of themes, Gaining customers even in a demo store, Payment gateways and more fulfillments. And it’s all for free. BUT, here’s the catch: You would not be able to make sales from your store until you have sinedg up for one of the paid plans.
But how does that work? Without a priced plan, your customers would be able to window shop for as long as they like.
However, when it comes to adding products to their shopping cart, they would find that it is denied. The checkout would not be activated unless you sign up for one of the plans.
When does the trial begin?
Your trial period begins as soon as you sign up for the program, and not when you set up or start your store.
If it’s a 3-day free trial, you would not be allowed one extra minute for wasting time in taking the take off. Sounds like a ticking clock? That’s why Shopify allows extensions.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
Shopify 45-Day Trial: A Look Back in Time
Currently, Shopify does not offer a 45-day trial. It never did. The 45-day trial never existed in the first place. This was more like a trick that does not work now.
Although you might still see adverts here and there, claiming they can give you the 45-day free trial. The advertisements are either scams or age-old.
With that, there is some truth to the 45-day free trial from Shopify. People have been able to utilize 45 days of trial in the past.
How did that work? It’s simple. Shopify has offered a 30-day free trial in the past. This was one of the most popular free trials to exist and many merchants just couldn’t get enough of it.
Because they wanted to test out the demo store for longer, they contacted Shopify for a possible extension. Likewise, Shopify also had a 14-day free trial, which got replaced by the 3-day one.
Merchants would ask for 31 days of extension, to make the trial last for 45 days in total. That’s how the 45 days free trial myth came about.
Shopify also allowed 14, 30, or 31 days of extension for $1, at the end of the 30-day or 14-day free trial period.
Shopify users love that the self-hosted e-commerce platform is generous enough to let new merchants use their features and functions for free in the trial period. Nonetheless, most wish that these trial periods were longer. Fair enough.
The need for a longer trial duration is for people who want to understand the ins and outs of the platform before committing to it.
You would need some time before you can understand whether Shopify is for your business or you’d need to look someplace else, right?
What’s the Current Offer for 2023?
Since Shopify is never on the most stable grounds when it comes to sticking to the free trial durations, they keep changing the free trial offers. They do this to analyze their customer demand and behavior. They also understand which offer works best for the interest of new merchants.
As of February 2023, Shopify offers a 3-day free trial along with a special offer to access Shopify for 3 months by paying $1 a month. In August of 2022, the standard 14-day trial was replaced by the 3-day trial. The 3 months for $1/month is an exclusive and limited-time offer.
Remember the current offer has two sides to it. When you are signed up on the 3-day free trial, you would be offered to sign up for any of the priced plans offered by Shopify.
Now, when you have a special offer, you can select the Basic plan. But the difference is, you would only have to pay $1 each month. You will be able to make full use of all the functions of the plan for 90 days for only $3 in total.
What do you get?
You would be allowed to make sales with this offer as well. You would be able to maximize your use with over 40000 Shopify themes and endless advanced features such as inventory and shipping procedures.
Being on this offer also gives you an insight into sales tax, sales funnel, and fraud analysis. You’ll also be allowed to take up free courses, with the benefits of having an account manager to assist in your workings.
Who’s eligible for the current offer?
Anyone with a Shopify account is eligible to take advantage of the current offer. Regardless of whether you have a separate or business account, this offer is up for grabs. The size of your business or the category of products you offer will not be a hindrance.
What Happens After the Free Trial?
There’s a lot of curiosity about what happens after the free trial period ends. If you are too engrossed in working in your store and Shopify stops your progress? What do you do?
After your free trial ends, your account will be locked or frozen until you have selected a paid plan. If you have already selected a paid plan during your trial, you will be billed the subscription fee at the end of the trial.
If you don’t intend to choose a paid plan or extend your Shopify trial, you simply wait for the trial period to end. You don’t have to cancel the trial manually.
At the end of the trial, you would be barred from entering the admin page if you don’t have a paid plan.
However, Shopify does not delete your store’s information or progress immediately. They would hold up the account for about 30 days and they allow you to reactivate the paused account by selecting and paying for a paid plan.
Plans currently offered on Shopify
Starter: The starter plan is currently the cheapest plan on Shopify and is particularly designed for social media or influencer marketing. This plan cost $5 per month with a 5% and 30 cents of transaction fee billing per sale. The starter plan can be upgraded to other plans easily.
Basic: The Basic feature is the most popular plan for small and new businesses where you can use Shopify’s prefatory and basic features. This costs $25 per month, in addition to 2.9% and 30 cents transaction fees.
Shopify: The next to the entry-level plan is the Shopify plan costing $65 per month with a transaction fee of 2.6% and 30 cents. This plan includes supplementary operations and features.
Advanced: The advance plan costs $399 with a transaction fee of 2.4% and 30 cents. The advanced plan allows for more staff accounts and a custom report builder.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
Is Switching to a Paid Plan Worth It?
You could be using Shopify’s Free trial time and again. After getting acquainted with the platform using the free trial, the best route is to switch to a paid plan.
If you’re flinching to spend $29 per month for an entire year, you would take up the special offer of 3 months at $1 per month. In 3 months, you would be able to test the waters.
You would not only be more informed about the core Shopify features, but you would also be able to learn all about your analytics and metrics.
Shopify allows its merchants to grow, especially for new and smaller businesses. It is scalable to any size. With Shopify, the entry fee is the lowest in the market and the platform entails nullable additional fees.
Why switching to a paid plan would be worth your time and money is the platform’s eagerness to support you as well.
They encourage and instruct new merchants every step of the way. With numerous design options to customize from, affordable pricing options to choose from, and in-built SEO and customer support, a paid plan for anyone looking to start a business online would be worth the shot.
Can You Sell During Shopify Free Trial?
You can only sell during your Shopify free trial if you have signed up for a priced plan. If you don’t select a priced plan during your signup for the free trial, your trial is not fully activated.
Although you would still be able to do most of what the plan entails, you’ll be locked out of the checkout page. This means, your customers would be barred from making any purchases from your store.
When you are on the free trial and select one of the paid plans, you will be asked for the payment process and billing information. With that, you would be able to sell items during a free trial and even make money out of them.
How To Maximize Your Trial Experience
Shopify Trial Experience can be quite fulfilling if you know what features to utilize. Even if you don’t sign up for the priced plans, there are a few things you must do so that your Shopify trial experience is maximized.
Here’s how you can make the most of the trial period:
- You would want to go all out when creating the store. Forget that your trial period would end if you don’t have a subscription. You could utilize the inbuilt website builder to create a professional looking store, without the need to have coding knowledge. Focus on the look of the webpage to see what you want your store to look like
- Explore the various available themes. You can choose one or more themes to see which one suits you better. Customize these themes to get the look you desire
- Play around with the product page. You would want to use the free trial to understand how you can price, segment, and describe your products to your customers so that they are eager to spend on them. Learning to categorize your products during the free trial can be valuable.
- If you don’t up your payment options and explore the payment gateways, you haven’t made most of your Shopify free trial. Along with that, you could make use of the POS system. Syncing your inventory management could be a learning experience too.
- If you want to maximize your trial experience, learn more about the shipping options.
- You can also check out and learn about other metrics like taxes. Shopify gives information about metrics like customer reviews and feedback to its users even in the trial period.
- Promote through multi-channel sales. Use social media, email marketing, and blogging to promote your product to the right audience. Marketing and promotions also help you understand who your target audience should be.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
How Do I Get An Extended Free Trial On Shopify?
A 3-day free trial is surely too short to be true. There are several features and themes to explore and merely 72 hours of trial cannot cut it.
If you’re thinking of an extension, you would be able to get it through the special offer. You would simply claim the 90 days for a $ 1 a month extension to your 3-day free trial. In this trial, you would be able to sell your products as well.
Other than that, many people have, in the past, been able to claim 44, 45, and even 60 days of a free trial. How so? They contacted Shopify customer support directly. You could do that too.
You would have to write an email to Shopify’s customer support asking them for an extension. You may want to state why you want the extension. Remember to be reasonable and concise about it.
The chances of getting the latter requested extension today are slim. The offer of 3 months is what Shopify encourages people to use when they find the 3-day trial period to be too short.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
How To Sign Up For A Free Shopify Trial & Activate It
Signing up for a Shopify Trial, activating it, and claiming an offer is all simple work. Follow the steps given to ease through the signup process.
- You can start by going to this page, where you would be greeted with two options for signing up. You can either enter your email address in the middle. Click on Start Free Trial to get started. You can also click on the tab at the top of the same page and press on the link Sign up now. This will directly land you on the special offer page.
- The next page is skippable. Here, you would be asked to enter some basic information about your niche of products you wish to sell, your industry of operation, current revenue, and other similar questions. Not answering these will directly take you to the personal information page.
- On the next page, you would need to enter your details. Once done, you can click on Enter my store.
Congrats! You have signed up for the free Shopify trial.
Your trial period is effective from this very moment. So you wouldn’t want to waste any second from this minute on.
How To Activate Shopify Free Trial:
Now it’s time to activate the free trial with a plan. Here’s what you need to do.
- Once you click on Enter My Store, your Shopify demo store is ready to be set up. Before that, you would want to select a plan.
- Now you would need to click on Select a Plan. Remember a 3-day trial will expire in no time.
- Shopify currently offers 3 priced plans to choose from. You will be allowed to choose from Basic, Shopify, and Shopify Advance. Without having to pay anything at that moment, you would need to click on one of the plans to proceed.
- You will then be asked to enter your credit card information to complete the free trial with a paid plan.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
FAQs
Does Shopify charge you after a free trial?
Shopify does not charge you after a free trial. If you have selected a priced plan during the free trial, you would be billed the subscription free at the end of the trial. If you make sales during the free trial, you would be charged for the transaction fees.
How much does Shopify cost after a free trial?
After the free trial, Shopify’s cost will depend on the paid plan you choose. It will also include transaction fees per sale.
Is Shopify trial limited?
The Shopify trial is limited to 3 days currently with the possibility of an extension which would cost $3 in 3 months.
Can I cancel my Shopify plan at any time?
If you have signed up for a paid plan, you would be able to cancel your Shopify at any given point. However, your payments and outstanding dues should be cleared prior to cancellation. This will include all payments in third party apps as well.
Can I pause my Shopify store and not pay?
If you have a selected paid plan, you are allowed to pause any time you want. However, you would need to clear the payments due if you plan to deactivate the store.
Final Thoughts
Shopify’s extended trial periods can sometimes be misleading. The other day, I came across a 45-day free trial and it turned out to be a scam.
In the past, people have been able to avail of a 45 day free trial by extending their 14-day trials. Currently, there is no such duration available to users.
The longest period of trial that you can take on is 3 days plus 90 days for $1.
Click Here to Get The Longest Available Shopify Trial (To Date)
