Shopify takes care of
- Servers, uptime and scaling on busy days
- Platform security patching and PCI compliance
- The checkout itself and payment processing
- Platform updates, the admin and the APIs
Shopify and Shopify Plus support.
A senior engineer answerable for your theme, apps and integrations, ad hoc or on a retainer.
Support for Shopify and Shopify Plus stores from senior engineers: fixes, theme changes, app and integration work and advice. For merchants of every size who want someone answerable for the store, not a new freelancer after each broken update. Work with us ad hoc, invoiced at the end of each month, or on a monthly retainer.
Sound familiar?
What Shopify merchants tell us before they move their support.
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An app updated overnight and our product pages broke.
What it usually meansNobody checked the update against your theme. App and theme updates should land on a preview first.
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Shopify support told us it is a theme problem, and the theme developer has gone.
What it usually meansShopify supports the platform, not your customisations. Those need a person who knows your store.
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Our order sync to accounting stopped and we only noticed at month end.
What it usually meansIntegrations fail quietly. They need monitoring, with failures raised to someone who acts.
What support covers.
Anything the store needs from a senior engineer, month in, month out.
Requests triaged on arrival
A store that cannot take orders comes first; most other requests are answered the same morning.
Fixes and theme changes
Templates broken by updates, sections misbehaving, a new block for a campaign.
Apps and integrations monitored
Updates reviewed before they reach live; failing integrations caught; API changes tracked.
Theme kept current
Vendor updates merged with your customisations on a preview, then published.
A senior engineer to ask
Whether an app is worth its fee, what another quote covers, why a page is slow.
One itemised invoice a month
Each piece of work listed with its own price, and a note of what we recommend next.
The same store, with and without us.
Without us
- App updates tested on the live store by your customers
- A different freelancer each time something breaks
- Integrations failing silently until month end
- Theme updates skipped because they might break things
- No agreed response when the store cannot take orders
- Invoices you cannot match to work
With Refined Commerce
- Updates checked on a preview theme first
- The same senior engineers, who know the store
- Integrations monitored, failures raised to a person
- Vendor updates merged with your customisations
- Email support every day of the year
- An invoice that lists each piece of work
How a month of support works.
Agreed once, then simple: you ask, we do, and the invoice lists it.
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Step 1: A free first look
Send us the store address. A senior person reads the public store, the theme and what each page loads, and replies in writing.
Within two working days- Access we need
- None. The store address is enough.
- What you receive
- Findings, a plan and a proposal in writing, with no obligation.
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Step 2: We look at the store, then agree the arrangement
Theme, apps, integrations, plan and how often things change tell us what the store needs. We suggest ad hoc or a retainer, and you choose.
Before anything is agreed- Access we need
- Collaborator access to the Shopify admin.
- What you receive
- A written proposal you can adjust.
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Step 3: You email us; we raise things too
Anything you need comes to us by email. App updates, theme updates and anything we spot are raised with you in the same way.
Every day of the year- What you receive
- A reply, normally the same morning, with a time for the work.
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Step 4: The work is done on a preview first
Done on a preview theme or development store where it touches code, then published at a suitable time.
In order of priority- What you receive
- Written confirmation when each request is finished.
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Step 5: One invoice at the end of the month
Each piece of work listed with its own price, with what we recommend next.
Monthly- What you receive
- One itemised invoice.
What Shopify takes care of, and what still needs a person.
Shopify is a hosted platform, and that removes a great deal. It does not remove the parts of a store that are yours.
Still needs a person who knows your store
- Your theme, and what each app update does to it
- Apps: what they load, what they cost, when they break
- Integrations with accounting, warehouse, email and feeds
- Custom code kept working through Shopify's API changes
- Speed, redirects, SEO changes and data when something goes wrong
- Someone to ask before you buy the next app
Is this the right service for your store?
This is for you if
- Your store is on Shopify or Shopify Plus, whatever its size
- You have several apps and integrations that need monitoring
- You want quick answers from people who know the store
- Your theme was built by someone who has moved on
If your situation is different
- Planning a larger piece of work? See Shopify development.
- On Magento? We support that too: see Magento support and maintenance.
- Still deciding whether to move to Shopify? Read Magento to Shopify migration.
We price the work, not the clock.
- This service
- A set monthly figure, agreed once we have examined the store.
- How you pay
- Monthly, with one itemised invoice.
- Our rate
- £80 an hour plus VAT, the same for every merchant.
- Never charged
- Account management, or the first look at your store.
Ad hoc or a monthly retainer: your choice.
We are flexible about how you pay. Work with us ad hoc and everything you ask for in a month is itemised on one invoice at the end of it, then the next month starts afresh. Or agree a monthly retainer, sized to the store once we have looked at it. There is no account-management fee either way. Shopify plan fees and app subscriptions remain yours, paid to Shopify and the vendors.
- Ad hoc: pay only for what you ask for
- Retainer: a set monthly figure and priority
- Monthly, and yours to end
What happens first
How our pricing works - We move any open issues into a list and agree the order with you.
- Installed apps, the theme version and integrations are listed with their state.
- You get a short written list of what we would look at first.
Proof, from real stores.
Bathroom and kitchen hardware, NorwayShopify Plus
Bad.no
A Shopify Plus store: a rebuild, a new visual identity and development work since 2021.
Passes Core Web Vitals on mobile
- LCP0.9 s
- INP182 ms
- CLS0
Core Web Vitals, real-user data (Chrome UX Report), mobile, 28 days to 31st October 2026. Marks show Google's thresholds.
… Their service has become an integral part of our operations. What sets Rowan apart is his approach - he's not just a typical development agency, but rather acts as a seamless, remote extension of our own tech department. …
Why merchants bring this work to us.
About Refined Commerce- 2
Platforms, so you get an honest answer
We build on Shopify and on Magento. When a merchant asks which is right for them, we have no reason to push either.
- 2021
On Shopify Plus since 2021
A registered Shopify Partner, building themes, custom apps and integrations for stores selling in the UK and abroad.
- 1
Point of contact, and senior engineers only
You deal directly with the founder. No juniors learning on your store and no account managers in between.
Questions merchants ask about this.
Shopify already provides support. What is this for?
Shopify supports the platform: the servers, the checkout, the admin and the billing. It does not support your theme, your apps, your integrations or your data, and those are where a trading store's problems live: a template broken by an app update, a feed that stopped, a discount stacking wrongly. Our support puts a senior engineer on those.
Do we need a retainer, or can we work ad hoc?
Either. Ad hoc, you ask for what you need and everything requested that month is itemised on one invoice at the end of it. A monthly retainer is a set figure, sized to the store once we have looked at it, and suits stores that change every month and want priority. You can move from one to the other.
How quickly do you respond?
Support is by email, every day of the year. Each request is triaged on arrival: a store that cannot take orders is dealt with first, normally the same day, and most other requests get a reply the same morning with a time agreed for the work.
Can you support a store someone else built?
Yes, and most of the stores we support were built by someone else. We start with a read of the theme, the installed apps and what each loads, the integrations and the recent history, and you get a short written account of what we found and what we would fix first. Nothing is rebuilt for the sake of it.
Do you cover Shopify Plus?
Yes. Plus stores bring checkout customisations, B2B features, market stores and more apps and integrations, which is more surface for things to go wrong on a quiet Sunday. Support is sized for that, and the engineers who do the work build on Plus as well as support it.
Can we leave?
Yes. The agreement is monthly, the theme is in your version control, and the apps and the store are yours. We would rather keep you by being useful than by making it difficult to go.
Talk to us about your store.
Get in touch and you get three things.
- 1A reply from a senior person
Not a sales team, and nobody reading from a script.
- 2Findings, a plan and an estimate in writing
Within two working days.
- 3No obligation
What happens next, and when, is your decision.