What are cookies?

A cookie is a small amount of information that’s downloaded to your computer or device when you visit certain websites. We use a number of different cookies on the Shopify website, including strictly necessary, performance, advertising, and social media or content cookies. Cookies make your browsing experience better by allowing the website to remember your actions and preferences (such as login and region selection). This means you don’t have to re-enter this information each time you return to the site or browse from one page to another. Cookies also provide information on how people use the website, for instance whether it’s their first time visiting or if they are a frequent visitor. Read more about cookies (and other similar tracking technologies) and how we use the data collected through these technologies, in our Privacy Policy.

What cookies do we use and why?

Some cookies are necessary to allow you to browse our website, use its features, and access secure areas. The use of these cookies is essential for the website to work. For example, we use user-input cookies for the duration of a session to keep track of their input when filling in forms that span several pages.

We also use functional cookies to remember choices you’ve made or information you’ve provided, such as your username, language, or the region you are in. This allows us to tailor your website experience specifically to your preferences. For example, authentication cookies are functional cookies that are used for the duration of a session (or persistent, if you agree to the “remember me” function) to allow users to authenticate themselves on subsequent visits or to gain access to authorized content across pages. The functional cookies we use include:

  • User-centric security cookies to detect authentication abuses for a limited persistent duration, like repeated failed login attempts. These cookies are set for the specific task of increasing the security of the service.
  • Multimedia content player session cookies (flash cookies) are used for the duration of a session to store technical data needed to play back video or audio content (e.g. image quality, network link speed, and buffering parameters).
  • Load balancing session cookies are used for the duration of the session to identify the same server in the pool in order for the load balancer to redirect requests appropriately.
  • User interface customization persistent cookies are used to store a user’s preference regarding a service across web pages.

Shopify is dedicated to optimizing user experience and we use many tools to help us improve our website and our commerce platform. To this end, we use reporting and analytics cookies to collect information about how you use our website or our merchants’ storefronts, and how often. The performance cookies we use include:

  • First party analytics cookies - we use these cookies to estimate the number of unique visitors, to improve our websites and our merchants’ websites, and to detect the most searched for words in search engines that lead to a webpage. These cookies are not used to target you with online marketing. We use these cookies to learn how our websites and our merchants’ websites are performing and make relevant improvements to improve your browsing experience.
  • Third party analytics cookies - we also use Google Analytics and other third-party analytics providers listed below to help measure how users interact with our website content. These cookies “remember” what our users have done on previous pages and how they’ve interacted with the website. For more information on Google Analytics, visit Google’s information page. For instructions on how to opt out of Google Analytics, see below.

Advertising cookies are used on our website to tailor marketing to you and your interests and provide you with a more personalized service in the future. These cookies remember that you visited our website and we may share this information with third-parties, such as advertisers. Although these cookies can track your device’s visits to our website and other sites, they typically cannot personally identify you. Without these cookies, the advertisements that you see may be less relevant and interesting to you. Read more about how companies use cookies to conduct targeted or retargeted advertising. We do not set advertising cookies through our merchants’ storefronts ourselves, though merchants may choose to do so independently.

Finally, social media and content cookies are placed by many social media plugins (for example the Facebook ’like’ button), and other tools meant to provide or improve the content on a website (for example services that allow the playing of video files, or that create comments sections). We integrate these modules into our platform to improve the experience of browsing and interacting with our websites. Please note that some of these third party services place cookies that are also used for things like behavioural advertising, analytics, and/or market research.

Merchant storefronts

When merchants use our platform to power their online stores, we place the following cookies for visitors of their stores.

Cookies Necessary for the Functioning of the Store

Name Description Duration
_ab Used to control when the admin bar is shown on the storefront. 1y
_checkout_queue_token Used when there is a queue during the checkout process. 1y
_cmp_a Used for managing customer privacy settings. 1d
_identity_session Contains the identity session identifier of the user. 2y
_master_udr Permanent device identifier. session
_pay_session The Rails session cookie for Shopify Pay. session
_secure_account_session_id Used to track a customer's session for new customer accounts. 30d
_session_id Used for providing reporting and analytics. 2y
_shopify_country Used for Plus shops where pricing currency/country is set from GeoIP by helping avoid GeoIP lookups after the first request. 30min
_shopify_essential Contains essential information for the correct functionality of a store such as session and checkout information and anti-tampering data. 1y
_storefront_u Used to facilitate updating customer account information. 1min
_tracking_consent Used to store a user's preferences if a merchant has set up privacy rules in the visitor's region. 1y
auth_state_<<id>> Stores state for customer authentication. 25min
card_update_verification_id Used to support verification when a buyer is redirected back to Shopify after completing 3D Secure during checkout. 20min
cart Contains information related to the user's cart. 2w
cart_currency Used after a checkout is completed to initialize a new empty cart with the same currency as the one just used. 2w
cart_sig A hash of the contents of a cart. This is used to verify the integrity of the cart and to ensure performance of some cart operations. 2w
cart_ts Used in connection with checkout. 2w
cart_ver Set every time a cart is updated and used to track cart version mismatches. 2w
checkout Used in connection with checkout. 21d
checkout_one_remember_me Used to prefill checkout with the details from the previous checkout. 1y
checkout_prefill Encrypts and stores URL parameters containing PII which are used in cart permalink URLs. 5min
checkout_session_lookup Used in connection with checkout. 3w
checkout_session_token_<<id>> Used when a checkout session is established on the server. 3w
checkout_token Captures the landing page of the visitor when they come from other sites. session
customer_account_locale Used to keep track of a customer account locale when a redirection occurs from checkout or the storefront to customer accounts. 1y
customer_payment_method Stores what payment method is being updated for subscriptions. 1h
customer_shop_pay_agreement Used to help verify a new Shop Pay payment instrument. 20min
device_fp_id Device fingerprint identifier to help prevent fraud. session
device_id Session device identifier to help prevent fraud. session
discount_code Stores a discount code (received from an online store visit with a URL parameter) in order to the next checkout. session
dynamic_checkout_shown_on_cart Adjusts checkout experience for buyers that proceed with regular checkout versus dynamic checkout. 30min
hide_shopify_pay_for_checkout Set when a buyer dismisses the Shop Pay login modal during checkout, informing display to buyer. session
keep_alive Used when international domain redirection is enabled to determine if a request is the first one of a session. session
locale_bar_accepted Preserves if the modal from the geolocation app was accepted. session
locale_bar_dismissed Preserves if the modal from the geolocation app was dismissed. 1d
localization Used to localize the cart to the correct country. 2w
logged_in Identity logged-in hint. 12w
login_with_shop_finalize Used to facilitate login with Shop. 5min
master_device_id Permanent device identifier. 1y
order Used to allow access to the data of the order details page of the buyer. 3w
pay_update_intent_id Stores an ID of a Shop Pay billing agreement update intent, required for a callback after verifying a new Shop Pay payment instrument. 20min
preview_theme Used to indicate whether the theme is being previewed. session
previous_checkout_token Used to prefill checkout with the details from the previous checkout. 1y
previous_step Used in connection with checkout. 1y
profile_preview_token Used for previewing checkout extensibility. 5min
receive-cookie-deprecation A cookie specified by Google to identify certain Chrome browsers affected by the third-party cookie deprecation. session
remember_me Used to prefill checkout with the details from the previous checkout. 1y
secure_customer_sig Used to identify a user after they sign into a shop as a customer so they do not need to log in again. 1y
shop_pay_accelerated Indicates if a buyer is eligible for Shop Pay accelerated checkout. 1y
shopify-editor-unconfirmed-settings Stores changes merchant does in the editor to update the preview. 16h
shopify_pay Used to log in a buyer into Shop Pay when they come back to checkout on the same store. 1y
shopify_pay_redirect Used to accelerate the checkout process when the buyer has a Shop Pay account. 1y
storefront_digest Stores a digest of the storefront password, allowing merchants to preview their storefront while it's password protected. 1y
tracked_start_checkout Used in connection with checkout. 1y
user Used in connection with Shop login. 1y
user_cross_site Used in connection with Shop login. 1y
wpm-domain-test Used to test Shopify's Web Pixel Manager with the domain to make sure everything is working correctly. session

Reporting and Analytics

Name Description Duration
_landing_page Capture the landing page of visitor when they come from other sites. 2w
_orig_referrer Allows merchant to identify where people are visiting them from. 2w
_shopify_ga Contains Google Analytics parameters that enable cross-domain analytics measurement to work. session
_shopify_s Used to identify a given browser session/shop combination. Duration is 30-minute rolling expiry of last use. 30min
_shopify_sa_p Capture the landing page of visitor when they come from other sites to support marketing analytics. 30min
_shopify_sa_t Capture the landing page of visitor when they come from other sites to support marketing analytics. 30min
_shopify_y Shopify analytics. 1y
checkout_one_experiment Used when a checkout is eligible for Checkout One and has been assigned to an experiment (control group or test group). session
shop_analytics Contains the required buyer information for analytics in Shop. 1y
unique_interaction_id Used for checkout metrics. 10min

Shopify's Websites

When visitors load Shopify’s websites, we generally place the following Shopify cookies.

Cookies Necessary for the Functioning of the Sites

Name Description Duration
_identity_session Contains the identity session identifier of the user. 2y
checkout Used in connection with checkout. 21d
user Used in connection with Shop login. 1y

Reporting and Analytics

Name Description Duration
_assignment Shopify analytics. 1y
_landing_page Capture the landing page of visitor when they come from other sites. 2w
_orig_referrer Allows merchant to identify where people are visiting them from. 2w
_shopify_s Used to identify a given browser session/shop combination. Duration is 30-minute rolling expiry of last use. 30min
_shopify_sa_t Capture the landing page of visitor when they come from other sites to support marketing analytics. 30min
_shopify_y Shopify analytics. 1y

Additionally, we use pixels and tags from the following third parties, which may in turn place cookies.

Cookies Necessary for the Functioning of the Sites

Third Party Description Privacy Policy
Cloudflare Shopify uses Cloudflare Network as a Service for edge routing. Cloudflare Privacy Policy
Drift We use Drift to help with conversational marketing to customers while they visit our websites. Drift Privacy Policy

Reporting and Analytics

Third Party Description Privacy Policy
Fullstory We use Fullstory to help measure how users interact with our websites. Fullstory Privacy Policy
Google Analytics We use Google Analytics to help measure how users interact with our websites. Google Analytics Privacy Policy
Google Tag Manager We use Google Tag Manager to help manage analytics vendors. Google Tag Manager Privacy Policy
Vidyard We use Vidyard to provide video content and measure how users interact with our content. Vidyard Privacy Policy

Advertising

Third Party Description Privacy Policy
Bizible We use Bizible to help measure marketing and advertising campaign attribution. Bizible Privacy Policy
Facebook Pixel We use Facebook Pixel to help measure how users interact with our websites. Facebook Pixel Privacy Policy
Facebook Custom Audiences We use Facebook Custom Audiences to deliver targeted advertisements to individuals who visit our websites. Facebook Custom Audiences Privacy Policy
Google Ads We use Google Ads to deliver targeted advertisements to individuals who visit our websites. Google Ads Privacy Policy
Instagram We use Instagram to deliver targeted advertisements to individuals who visit our websites. Instagram Privacy Policy
iSpot We use iSpot to help measure how users interact with our websites. iSpot Privacy Policy
LinkedIn Insight Tag We use LinkedIn Insight Tag to help measure how users interact with our websites. LinkedIn Insight Tag Privacy Policy
Reddit Ads We use Reddit Ads to deliver targeted advertisements to individuals who visit our websites. Reddit Privacy Policy
TikTok We use TikTok to help measure how users interact with our websites. TikTok Privacy Policy
Twitter We use Twitter to help measure how users interact with our websites. Twitter Privacy Policy
YouTube We use YouTube to deliver targeted advertisements to individuals who visit our websites. YouTube Privacy Policy

Social Media and Content

Third Party Description Privacy Policy
Facebook Connect We use Facebook Connect to allow visitors to our website to interact with and share content via Facebook’s social media platform. Facebook Connect Privacy Policy
Gravatar We use Gravatar to allow visitors to our websites to create avatars. Gravatar Privacy Policy
Instagram CDN Shopify uses Instagram CDN to provide content to users. Instagram CDN Privacy Policy
Sanity CDN Shopify uses Sanity CDN to provide content to users. Sanity CDN Privacy Policy
Simplecast Shopify uses Simplecast to distribute podcasts. Simplecast Privacy Policy
Twitter CDN We use Twitter to allow visitors to our website to interact with and share content via Twitter’s social media platform. Twitter Privacy Policy
TypeKit (Adobe Fonts) We use Typekit to load web fonts from Adobe CDN. TypeKit Privacy Policy
Wistia We use Wistia to display video content. Wistia Privacy Policy
YouTube CDN Shopify uses YouTube CDN to provide content to users. YouTube CDN Privacy Policy

Oberlo Websites

When visitors load Oberlo’s websites, we generally place the following Oberlo cookies:.

Cookies Necessary for the Functioning of the Sites

Name Function
gdpr_accepted Used in connection with GDPR acceptance.

Reporting and Analytics

Name Function
_shopify_s Shopify analytics.
_shopify_t Shopify analytics.

Additionally, we use pixels and tags from the following third parties, which may in turn place cookies:

Reporting and Analytics

Third Party Function Privacy Policy
Google Analytics We use Google Analytics to help measure how users interact with our websites. Google Analytics Privacy Policy

Advertising

Third Party Function Privacy Policy
Microsoft Advertising We use Microsoft Advertising to deliver targeted advertisements to individuals who visit our websites. Microsoft Advertising Privacy Policy
Google We use Google Ads to deliver targeted advertisements to individuals who visit our websites. Google Ads Privacy Policy

How long will cookies remain on my computer or mobile device?

The length of time that a cookie remains on your computer or mobile device depends on whether it is a “persistent” or “session” cookie. Session cookies last until you stop browsing and persistent cookies last until they expire or are deleted. Most of the cookies we use are persistent and will expire between 30 minutes and two years from the date they are downloaded to your device. See the section below on how to control cookies for more information on removing them before they expire.

How to control cookies?

You can control and manage cookies in various ways. Please keep in mind that removing or blocking cookies can negatively impact your user experience and parts of our website may no longer be fully accessible.

Most browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can choose whether or not to accept cookies through your browser controls, often found in your browser’s “Tools” or “Preferences” menu. For more information on how to modify your browser settings or how to block, manage or filter cookies can be found in your browser’s help file or through such sites as: www.allaboutcookies.org.

Many of the third party advertising and other tracking services listed above offer you the opportunity to opt out of their tracking systems. You can read more about the information they collect and how to opt out through the privacy policy links listed above.