Shopify Project Stuck With an Agency? How to Take It Back
Your Shopify build is late, the agency won't show a preview, or the theme is a cloned copy. What to secure first, what to check, and how to get it finished.
Some of the most-read Shopify threads on Reddit this year are founders describing a build that went wrong. One agency, months past the launch date, called the store "a blob of code" when the owner asked for a preview. Another owner found their developer had delivered a cloned theme. A third paid for a semi-custom store that still didn't do what was promised. If you're in a similar spot, this is how to get control back and finish the job, without starting again unless you have to.
Secure what you own first
Do this before any difficult conversation with the agency.
- Make sure you are the store's account owner, on your own email. If the agency created the store from their partner account, ask them to transfer ownership to you now.
- Look at Settings > Users. Agencies usually work as collaborators. A partner needs your store's 4-digit collaborator request code to ask for access, and generating a new code stops the old one working. Collaborators must use two-step authentication, and they lose access after 90 days without logging in.
- Check that the domain, Meta Business Manager, ad accounts, Google Analytics and Search Console are in your name, with the agency added as a user and not as the owner.
- Download a copy of the current theme from Online Store > Themes.
Our post on what you should own has the full list.
Check what you've actually got
Look at three things, or ask for them:
- The theme. A theme bought from the Shopify Theme Store is licensed to the one store it was bought for. Shopify flags themes it considers unlicensed. An unlicensed theme can't be customised or published until the licence is sorted out, and it gets no support or updates. Copies of paid themes resold cheaply, sometimes sold as "GPL" themes, fall into this.
- The code. If the work is custom, ask for the theme code in a Git repository you own. If an agency won't share the code or a preview of a store you're paying for, take that as your answer.
- The apps. List every installed app, who installed it and who pays for it. Apps billed to the agency's card stop working when the agency stops paying.
Finish, fix or restart
| What you find | What usually makes sense |
|---|---|
| Licensed theme, mostly done, some features missing | Finish it, with a fixed scope for the gaps |
| A working store that's slow or converts poorly | Fix speed, checkout and tracking on what's there |
| Unlicensed or cloned theme | Move to a licensed theme, then carry over content and settings |
| No code access and nothing you can verify | Restart, with ownership set up properly from day one |
Restarting feels like losing what you paid for. Usually the products, collections, content and customer data carry over, and the theme is the only part you replace.
What it looked like for Vanalaya
Vanalaya came to us with a partly built Shopify store on a generic purchased theme. We didn't start from zero. We redesigned the homepage, collections, product pages and cart around a clearer path to purchase, added GoKwik checkout and payment integrations, set up cross-sells and upsells, and fixed metadata and SEO, all without custom backend work. Sales grew 92% and purchases 80%, with ads we managed running at a 6.4x ROAS.
Before you hire the next team
Ask for weekly previews on a duplicate theme you can open yourself, code in a repository you own, and payments tied to delivered milestones. An audit before you sign gives you a written view of the store from someone who isn't pitching for the next contract. Our audit post explains what a good one covers. If you need the gaps closed quickly, our Fix Sprint (₹1.5 L + GST) covers speed, checkout, tracking and technical SEO in two to three weeks.
