Move your store. Own it this time.
Some merchants come to us because whoever built their store still holds the domain, the hosting and the logins, and won't let go. Others come because their host quietly forbids what they sell. Either way the job's the same: get everything into your name, onto infrastructure that won't drop you, without the store going dark.
Two ways this usually goes.
Someone else is holding your store
You paid for the build. The site went up. But the domain is registered to them, the hosting account is theirs, and your store login is a limited user, or there's no login at all.
Requests for access get slow answers, or none. The monthly fee keeps going out for work you can't see. And if you stop paying, the site goes dark, because the switch was never in your hand.
This happens more than most merchants realise. In most cases, far more of it is recoverable than you'd expect.
You're on the wrong host and nobody's told you yet
Nothing dramatic has happened. The store works. But the acceptable-use policy you agreed to forbids your category. Your card processing is a workaround with no real merchant account behind it, and it only holds while nobody looks closely.
Or the platform won't let you build what your category needs. No age gate worth the name, no room for research-use labelling, and a checkout that drops the payment methods your customers pay with.
Moving before a suspension is cheap. Moving afterwards, with your funds held, is not.
Signs you don't own your store.
You don't need to send us anything. This list is enough to work out where you stand.
- Domain renewal notices go to somebody else's inbox.
- You've never logged into the registrar, only into the site.
- Your store login isn't a full administrator.
- You can't download a complete backup by yourself.
- The payment processor account is in the developer's business name.
- Nobody's ever sent you the hosting account credentials.
- Cancelling the monthly fee would take the site offline.
Any one of these on its own is fixable in an afternoon. Several together mean your business is running on somebody else's permission.
The audit comes first, before any invoice.
We won't quote a recovery blind, because the price depends entirely on what turns out to be in your name. So the first thing we do is find that out and tell you, even if it doesn't lead to work for us.
Talk, then check what you own
A call first, about what you sell and what's already gone wrong. Then we check the registrar record, the hosting account, the store admin and the merchant account, and tell you which are in your name and which aren't. You get that answer before you commit to anything.
Recover what can be recovered
If an account is legitimately yours, we go through the provider's own transfer and account-recovery process to get control back. If it can't be recovered, we'll tell you early instead of billing you to chase it.
Move or rebuild the store
The store goes onto hosting in your name. If it can be exported, we export it. If access is blocked, we rebuild the catalogue and content from what you hold and what's public, and you end up with a cleaner store than the one you lost.
Reconnect payments
Processing is set up in your business name, and we prepare the underwriting with you. If your category is why you got stuck in the first place, this is the step that gets you moving again.
Hand over the keys
Every account is in your name and you hold every credential. You could stop working with us the next day and your site wouldn't notice.
What's in your name when we finish.
Every one of these is an account you can log into, move, or take to another agency without asking us.
The registrar account
The domain is registered to you, renewal notices come to your inbox, and you can move it anywhere.
The hosting account
Opened in your name, billed to you, with full access. A limited user seat doesn't count.
The store admin
A real administrator login, plus a backup you can download yourself whenever you like.
The merchant account
Processing underwritten to your business. It doesn't sit inside somebody else's account.
Business email
On your domain and under your control, so password resets never go through a third party.
The compliance layer
Age gates, disclaimers and product copy built to the standard your processor expects.
What we can't promise.
You've already been told what you wanted to hear once. We'd rather be the ones who told you the awkward part on the first call.
We don't break into accounts.
Everything we do goes through the provider's own transfer and recovery process, with your written authorisation as the owner of the business. If a provider won't release an account to you, we won't go around them.
A domain held in someone else's name may not come back.
If it's registered to them and they refuse to release it, that's a dispute between you and them. It may need the registrar's dispute process or a lawyer. We'll tell you that at the audit, before you've paid us anything. Meanwhile we can get you trading on a new domain quickly, which is usually the faster way back into business.
We can't guarantee a processor will approve you.
Acquirers and banks make underwriting decisions. We don't. We prepare your application properly, advocate for you, and set up a backup where the category warrants it. The full position is in section 07 of our terms.
Some data doesn't travel.
Order history and customer records come across when we have access to the database. When we don't, we can usually still bring products, content and images. We'll tell you what's realistically coming with you before the work starts, so nobody finds out halfway through.
The full terms set out where responsibility sits on both sides.
The questions we get asked every time.
Will my store go offline during the move?
The new site is built and tested in full before anything points at it. We move the mail records first so email keeps flowing, then cut the web records over once the store is verified. Downtime is measured in minutes, and in practice customers don't notice.
What happens to my search rankings?
We keep your URLs where we can and redirect the ones that have to change, so the links pointing at you still land where they should.
My developer has stopped replying. Is that still workable?
Usually, yes. Most of what you need is recoverable directly from the providers. Registrars and hosts care who's on the billing and the account record. They don't care who built the site. A developer going quiet is common, and it isn't the end of it.
Can you keep my current platform, or does everything change?
If your platform can do what your category needs, we keep it and move it. We change it when the platform is the problem, which usually means it forbids what you sell or blocks the checkout you need. We'll tell you which one you're dealing with.
What does a migration cost?
It's quoted fixed-scope like every other build. A clean move where you hold the accounts costs less than a new build. A recovery, where access is missing and parts have to be rebuilt, depends on what the audit turns up, and you get the number before any work starts.
Find out what's really in your name.
Send us your web address and tell us what you can and can't log into. We'll tell you where you stand before you spend anything with us.
Start a migrationWe reply to every enquiry, including the ones we can't help with.