Shopify store management services
Shopify store management services cover the daily running of a Shopify store.
We run the daily operations of yours: orders, stock, customer messages, apps, checkout settings and the numbers, at fixed published prices, through collaborator access you control.
Store Care from $399 a month · Ops Desk from $1,499 a month · Shopify Launch $999 · Month to month after the first 3 months
Daily store checks
Orders · stock · payouts · apps
- Order exceptions cleared Every business day
- Stock synced with marketplaces and the 3PL Continuous
- Payout and chargeback review Weekly
- App and checkout checks Weekly
Quick answer
Shopify store management services cover the daily running of a Shopify store: order exceptions, inventory, customer messages, apps, payment issues and reporting. Ecom Relays runs this work through Shopify collaborator access, never your password, for a fixed monthly fee: Store Care from $399 a month, Ops Desk from $1,499 a month.
Starting a new store? See Shopify store setup.
What does Shopify store management include?
It includes eight areas of daily and weekly work, each with a clear line on what you approve. A Shopify store can go live in a day. Running it every day is the harder part: orders that get stuck, stock that drifts out of sync, inboxes full of "where is my order?", apps nobody remembers installing.
| Area | What we do | How often | What you approve |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orders and exceptions | Clear stuck, unpaid, high-risk and unfulfilled orders; chase 3PL exceptions | Every business day | Refunds and cancellations above a limit you set |
| Inventory and reorders | One stock count across Amazon, Walmart, Shopify and your 3PL; reorder alerts with a suggested quantity | Daily checks, weekly reorder plan | Every purchase order |
| Customer messages | Order status, delivery and product questions answered; shipping updates sent before customers ask | Every business day | Message templates and refund rules |
| Return and exchange handling | Return rules by reason, exchange offered first, restock checks | Daily | The return policy itself |
| Catalog upkeep | Products, variants, prices, collections and SEO fields kept current | Weekly | New products and price changes |
| Apps and settings | App audit, Shopify Flow workflows, notifications, shipping profiles, taxes | Monthly audit; fixes as needed | New paid apps |
| Checkout, payments and chargebacks | Payout holds, chargeback evidence before each dispute deadline, payment settings, checkout and tracking checks | Weekly, and every dispute before its deadline | Disputes you want to accept |
| Reporting | Contribution margin by SKU and channel after every fee; KPI review | Weekly on a fixed day; written report monthly | Nothing |
You keep the store, the domain, the customer data, the money and every decision. Every workflow, app setting, SOP and report we build lives in your Shopify account and in your name. The customer side of this work is described in more depth on order and customer operations.
Operations, not a developer on call
Most Shopify agencies are built to design and develop stores, or to run ads. Both matter. Neither one clears yesterday's order exceptions, answers this morning's tickets or notices that stock on your top seller will run out in nine days. That is operations, and it is the work we do.
| Job | Who usually does it | Where we fit |
|---|---|---|
| Theme design and custom code | A Shopify developer or agency | We scope it for you; custom builds and migrations are Store Build, from $4,999, see Shopify migration and store build |
| Paid ads | Your ads agency or in-house marketer | We work alongside them, or run ads for a flat $299 or $599 a month |
| Daily orders, stock, messages, apps and reporting | Usually the founder | This is Store Care and Ops Desk |
What does Shopify store management cost per month?
From $399 a month for a new or small store and from $1,499 a month for brands at $1M or more. Our fees are published, and anyone at the same stage pays the same published price. Store Care, Ops Desk, launches, Relay Modules and add-ons are fixed fees, never a percentage of your sales or ad spend.
| Plan | Who it fits | Price | What it covers on Shopify |
|---|---|---|---|
| Store Care Starter | New and small stores, one channel, up to 10 active SKUs | $399 a month | Listing upkeep, order and customer messages, reorder alerts, weekly written update, first reply within 4 business hours |
| Store Care Plus | One channel up to 30 SKUs, or two channels up to 15 SKUs each | $699 a month | Everything in Starter, plus ad management up to $3,000 a month in spend and a monthly margin report |
| Ops Desk Launch | Brands at $1M to $3M, one channel | $1,499 a month | Daily operations, Profit and Cash Pulse, weekly KPI review, written monthly report, a named ops lead |
| Ops Desk Growth | Brands at $3M to $8M, two channels | $2,499 a month | Adds Stock Flow, Margin Guard, support and 3PL coordination, quarterly Ops Review |
| Ops Desk Scale | Brands at $8M to $15M, three channels | From $4,499 a month | Adds a dedicated pod and a weekly operating review |
| 14-Day Ops Foundation | Before Ops Desk starts | From $1,500 one channel, $2,500 multichannel | Channels connected, one stock count, order routing, SOPs, live profit dashboard. Live in 14 business days from full access, or we keep working at no charge until it is |
| Relay Modules | One workflow area, built in your accounts | $750 standard; $1,500 to $3,500 advanced | Fixed scope; anything failing acceptance fixed free for 60 days |
What you pay Shopify directly. Your Shopify plan, apps and payment fees are paid by you. Shopify's published US plans today:
| Shopify plan | Monthly, billed monthly | Monthly, billed yearly | Online card rate (Shopify Payments) | Fee if you use another payment provider | Staff accounts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $39 | $29 | 2.9% + 30¢ | 2% | Not included |
| Grow | $105 | $79 | 2.7% + 30¢ | 1% | 5 |
| Advanced | $399 | $299 | 2.5% + 30¢ | 0.6% | 15 |
| Plus | From $2,300 | Not offered | 2.25% + 30¢ | 0.2% | Unlimited |
Source: Shopify pricing page, checked Oct 20, 2026. Card rates shown are for standard cards; some cards cost more.
Terms. Store Care and Ops Desk start with a 3-month first term, then run month to month with 30 days' notice by email from either side. No exit fee. Prices exclude sales tax where it applies. See pricing and terms, or compare the market in what ecommerce operations outsourcing costs in 2026.
Want a team to research products and suppliers as well as run the store? That is Full Relay on Shopify, our managed store service, priced separately with a commission option set in writing before work starts.
Founding clients: 20% off launch fees, add-ons and the Foundation, plus 20% off monthly plans for the first 6 months. Open to the first 25 clients or until Jan 31, 2027, whichever comes first.
Shopify in 2026: the operations changes we check on every store
Shopify changed several things this year that quietly break stores. These are the checks we run in the first week.
- Shopify Scripts stopped running on Jun 30, 2026.
Editing and publishing Scripts ended on Apr 15, 2026. All Scripts stopped executing on Jun 30, 2026. Shopify Functions is the main successor, for discounts, shipping and payment logic, along with public apps (Shopify changelog, posted Apr 9, 2026). If a Plus store still expects a Script discount or shipping rule, customers may now see different prices than you planned. We list every rule that used to live in Scripts and confirm what replaced it.
- Shopify Flow is free on every plan from Basic up.
The Send HTTP Request action needs Grow, Advanced or Plus, and tasks created by custom partner apps need Plus (Shopify Help Center, checked Oct 20, 2026). Many stores pay for apps that do what a Flow workflow could do. See Shopify operations automation.
- The payment provider fee.
If you take card payments through a provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow, 0.6% on Advanced and 0.2% on Plus (Shopify pricing, checked Oct 20, 2026). We check which one you use and what it costs you at your volume.
- Thank you and order status page tracking.
Stores that relied on additional scripts on these pages have had to move tracking to Shopify's newer extensibility model. We test every pixel and conversion event with a real order.
Characters are fictional. Voices are AI-generated.
Checkout, payments and chargebacks
The money leaks on Shopify are rarely dramatic. They sit in checkout, payments and disputes.
- Cart abandonment.
The average documented cart abandonment rate is 70.22%, across 50 studies (Baymard Institute, updated Sep 22, 2025). We check checkout settings, shipping rates shown at checkout and payment options before anyone buys more ads.
- Chargebacks.
Each chargeback costs merchants an average of $128 in third-party fees and internal costs, not counting the goods lost (Mastercard, updated Jun 8, 2026). We answer disputes with tracking, delivery proof and order history before the deadline.
- Payout holds.
When Shopify holds payouts, cash stops while orders keep shipping. We track holds weekly and work through what Shopify asks for.
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Read the transcript Captions are on screen Characters are fictional. Voices are AI-generated.
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Read the transcript Captions are on screen Characters are fictional. Voices are AI-generated.
Selling on Amazon and Walmart too? One stock count, no overselling
If your Shopify store shares stock with Amazon or Walmart, a late order sync means the same unit can sell twice. On Walmart, cancellations are a scored metric with a 2% standard (Walmart Marketplace Learn, updated Jul 28, 2026), so an oversell on Shopify can become an account problem on Walmart.
On Ops Desk we keep one stock count across Amazon FBA, Walmart WFS, Shopify and your 3PL, map which warehouse serves which channel and set buffers on items that sell fast. One named ops lead runs every channel, so stock and prices stay in one plan. More on multichannel inventory and 3PL management, Amazon store management and Walmart marketplace management.
What access do we need on Shopify?
Collaborator access, with the sections you choose. You approve the request and decide what we can see, and collaborator accounts do not count toward your staff limit. Shopify's own rule for service providers is plain: "Asking a merchant for their password, or using a merchant's credentials to access their store, is prohibited" (Shopify Help Center, Working on client stores, checked Oct 20, 2026).
- We ask only for the sections the work needs.
- We never change payout, bank or legal-entity settings.
- Every person on your store is named, uses MFA and works in an isolated work environment on a company-managed device.
- Access is removed within 24 hours when someone leaves the team or the work ends.
- NDA and Data Processing Addendum ready to sign. See security and access.
Ecomrelays LLC is a Texas company. Part of our team works outside the US, as one managed team with a named US-facing lead.
How we run your store, week by week
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Every business day.
Order exceptions cleared. Stock checked against open orders and inbound. Customer messages answered. Disputes with deadlines handled.
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Every week.
KPI review on a fixed day: orders, margin, stockouts, ticket volume and response times. Reorder plan. Payout and dispute status.
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Every month.
Written report. App and subscription audit. Fee check. Flow workflows reviewed.
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Every quarter.
Operating review against your baseline and the next quarter's plan.
Daily exceptions, a weekly review, a monthly report and a quarterly plan.
Who this is for, and who it is not for
A good fit:
- Brands selling $1M or more a year on Shopify, often alongside Amazon or Walmart, where the founder is still the operations system (Ops Desk).
- New and small Shopify stores with a real product and stock to sell (Store Care).
Not a fit:
- Stores that need a redesign or custom code only. That is Store Build, or a development agency.
- Anyone who wants promised traffic or a promised sales figure.
- Anyone looking for a store they never touch. Owner-light, not owner-free: you approve prices, purchases and budgets.
Weighing a virtual assistant against an agency or an ops team? Read VA vs agency vs ops team.
Starting a new Shopify store?
Shopify Launch is $999, one time: a theme set up with your brand, up to 25 products, payments, shipping profiles, taxes, core apps, stock sync with your other channels and 30 days of support after go-live. Then Store Care runs it from $399 a month, or we hand it over in writing. See Shopify store setup or get a free Launch Readiness Check.
Most new stores take months to find steady sales, and some never do. Inventory, platform fees, freight and ad spend are paid by you.
What you can check before you sign
We are a new firm, and we will not invent proof. These are the things you can check.
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Published prices and terms. Every fee on this page, the 3-month first term, 30 days' notice, no exit fee.
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Response standards in writing. A real person replies within one business hour, 9am to 6pm US Central, Monday to Friday. Client requests on monthly plans get a first reply within 4 business hours, or 1 hour when urgent, with a 10% service credit in any month we fall below 95%.
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Your Shopify lead. Your named ops lead, a Shopify channel specialist, on the proposal before you sign.
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A sample weekly KPI page. Orders, contribution margin by SKU, stockout risk, tickets and first-reply time, labeled "Illustrative · sample figures".
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Access you control. Collaborator access, sections chosen by you, removed within 24 hours.
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Modules with acceptance. Anything that fails acceptance is fixed free for 60 days.
See where your Shopify store is leaking margin
Approve a collaborator request and we send a written Profit Leak Scan within 48 hours of working access: margin by SKU after every fee, stockout and overstock risk, payment and app costs, operations load and a fix list ranked by dollar impact. No sales call required. You keep the report whether or not you hire us.
Sources: Shopify pricing, checked Oct 20, 2026 · Shopify changelog, Apr 9, 2026 · Shopify Help Center (Shopify Flow; Working on client stores), checked Oct 20, 2026 · Baymard Institute, cart abandonment, updated Sep 22, 2025 · Mastercard, true cost of a chargeback, updated Jun 8, 2026 · Walmart Marketplace Learn, Seller performance standards, Jul 28, 2026. Amazon, Walmart and Shopify are trademarks of their owners; Ecom Relays is not affiliated with them.
How much does Shopify store management cost per month?
Store Care runs a new or small Shopify store from $399 a month, or $699 a month with ad management and a margin report. Ops Desk runs Shopify for brands at $1M or more from $1,499 a month, after a 14-Day Ops Foundation from $1,500. Your Shopify plan, apps, payment fees and ad spend are paid by you, directly to Shopify and your providers.
Can a virtual assistant manage my Shopify store instead?
A good VA can handle defined tasks: answering messages, updating products, processing orders. What a VA usually cannot do alone is own the system: stock across channels, reorder decisions, chargeback evidence, app clean-up and a weekly margin report. Store Care and Ops Desk give you a named ops lead who owns those, with written standards and a service credit.
Do you need my Shopify password?
No. Shopify prohibits service providers from asking for a merchant's password or using a merchant's credentials. You approve a collaborator request and choose which sections we can see. We never change payout, bank or legal-entity settings, and access is removed within 24 hours when the work ends.
Do you build or redesign Shopify themes?
For new stores, Shopify Launch at $999 sets up a theme with your brand and up to 25 products. For custom design, Shopify Plus setups or a move from another platform, Store Build starts at $4,999, or $14,999 for Plus or migration, scoped in writing. Monthly management does not include custom development; extra work is $75 an hour, quoted first.
Do you run Shopify ads?
Ads are an add-on, not the core of what we do. Ad management is a flat $299 a month up to $5,000 in spend, or $599 a month up to $20,000, never a percent of spend. Store Care Plus includes ad management up to $3,000 a month in spend. If you have an ads agency, we work alongside it.
Do you take a percentage of my sales?
Not on Store Care, Ops Desk, launches, Relay Modules or add-ons: those are fixed published fees, never a percentage of sales, revenue or ad spend. Full Relay, our managed store service, is the one service with a commission option, agreed in writing before work starts. Your Shopify subscription, apps, payment fees, inventory and ad spend are paid by you directly.
Can you fix discounts or shipping rules that stopped after Shopify Scripts ended?
Yes. Shopify Scripts stopped running on Jun 30, 2026. We list every rule your Scripts used to handle, check what replaced it and rebuild what is missing with Shopify Functions, Flow or an app, as a Relay Module from $750 or inside Ops Desk. Each rule is tested with real orders before we call it done.
Do you work on Shopify Plus stores?
Yes. Ops Desk runs Shopify Plus stores for brands at $1M to $15M. On Plus, the operations work often includes checkout rules, Functions and B2B settings. Custom Plus builds and migrations are scoped separately under Store Build, from $14,999.
What happens if we stop working together?
After the first 3 months, either side can end the plan with 30 days' notice by email. There is no exit fee. You get a handover pack within 5 business days: access list, SOP index, every workflow and setting we changed. Our access is removed within 24 hours, and your data is returned or deleted within 30 days.
How fast do you reply?
A real person replies within one business hour, 9am to 6pm US Central, Monday to Friday. Once you are a client, requests get a first reply within 4 business hours, or 1 hour when something is urgent, like checkout down or orders not flowing. If we miss the 4-hour standard on more than 5% of requests in a month, you get a 10% credit on that month's fee.
Sources7 sources
- 01shopify.comShopify pricing, US plans, card rates, third-party payment fees, staff accounts; checked Oct 20, 2026Primary
- 02shopify.devShopify changelog, posted Apr 9, 2026; checked Oct 20, 2026Primary
- 03help.shopify.comShopify Help Center, Shopify Flow; checked Oct 20, 2026Primary
- 04help.shopify.comShopify Help Center, Working on client stores; checked Oct 20, 2026Primary
- 05baymard.comBaymard Institute, 70.22% average documented cart abandonment rate across 50 studies, last updated Sep 22, 2025; checked Oct 20, 2026Primary
- 06mastercard.comMastercard, "Each chargeback costs merchants an average of $128 in third-party fees and internal costs", not including lost goods; published Apr 30, 2025, updated Jun 8, 2026; decisions.md D27c; checked Oct 20, 2026Primary
- 07marketplacelearn.walmart.comWalmart cancellation rate standard 2%, updated Jul 28, 2026; checked Oct 20, 2026Primary
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