THE CLUB DROP THIS WEEK IN SHOPIFY
SHOPIFY CHANGED YOUR CHECKOUT THIS WEEK. HERE'S WHAT ELSE MOVED.
Seven updates, one month before Black Friday. What each one means and the one thing to do about it.
Shopify shipped a lot in the last week of October. Most of it you can ignore. These are the ones that touch your checkout, your BFCM pricing, your international orders and how AI shoppers see your store. Every item links back to Shopify's own changelog so you can check the details yourself.
01 CHECKOUT
YOUR PAYMENT OPTIONS MAY NOW SHOW AS TILES.
Since October 22, eligible checkouts show payment methods in a compact tiled layout instead of the old stacked list. Shopify says it makes options easier to compare. One of the conditions is offering four or fewer payment methods; other checkouts keep the list.
Do this: place a test order on your phone today. Check which method appears first, that Shop Pay and your wallets are still obvious, and that nothing looks broken next to your custom checkout branding.
02 BFCM PRICING
SCHEDULE YOUR BLACK FRIDAY PRICES IN ADVANCE.
Rollouts can now schedule and test catalog changes (October 23). You prepare pricing and product availability changes ahead of time and set them to go live at a specific moment, instead of someone editing prices at midnight. If you sell in several markets, it works per market.
Do this: build your BFCM catalog now, schedule it, and preview it before the 27th. Set a second change to switch prices back after Cyber Monday so sale prices don't linger.
03 SECURITY
OUTBOUND LINKS CAN NOW TRIGGER A WARNING.
Shopify added protection against unexpected redirects on October 20 and narrowed it on October 23. Links to sites Shopify flags as malicious are blocked, suspicious ones ask the shopper to confirm, and everything else opens normally. Domains connected to your store and supported Shopify and social sites are exempt, but a site you own that isn't connected may still show the prompt.
Do this: click every link on your store that leaves it (booking pages, wholesale portals, a second brand site). If a prompt shows up on a site you own, connect that domain to your store.
In partnership with
The AI notetaker that gets the hard words right
Your AI is only as good as what you feed it. Feed it a transcript with your product names, acronyms, and numbers spelled wrong, and you spend the afternoon hand-fixing the output.
Wispr Flow Notetaker uses your dictionary and calendar, so product names, acronyms, numbers, and uncommon names come out spelled right. It pops up when your meeting starts and captures Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, and Slack huddles with one click, no bot joining the call.
Then your meetings show up inside Claude or ChatGPT through the built-in connector. No copy paste. Try Notetaker free on Mac and Windows.
04 SHIPPING TO THE EU
NOVEMBER 1: NO BARCODES, NO EU LABELS.
From November 1, the EU requires three product identifiers on every item in direct-to-consumer parcels under €150. If you ship there with Shopify Shipping or Managed Markets, you won't be able to buy labels for orders with items that are missing them, and parcels without them risk being rejected at customs.
Merchant ID: nothing to do, your product variant covers it.
Standard ID: add a GTIN, EAN, UPC or ISBN barcode, or declare that the product doesn't have one.
Manufacturer ID: add the model number, part number or style code (your own SKU works) as an NS-PID barcode.
Do this: open the bulk editor this week and fill the barcode fields. Buy labels somewhere else? Ask your carrier or 3PL what they need.
05 AI SHOPPING
DECIDE WHAT AI AGENTS SAY ABOUT YOUR STORE.
The knowledge base is now built into your admin (Sales channels → Agentic → Knowledge base). Shopify drafts facts about your store from your published pages, such as contact details or gift services, each linked to its source. You review, edit and publish them, and AI shopping agents use them to answer questions about you. It replaces the standalone Knowledge Base app, which goes away on January 15, 2027.
Do this: spend ten minutes on it. Fix anything wrong, add your holiday shipping cut-offs and return window, then publish.
Create work your clients can rely on
With Lovable, you'll have a working version of your client's site ready for the first meeting. Plus:
Launch on your client's own domain
Build sites that get found on Google
Catch bugs and errors with project monitoring
Run every client site on one plan
Discount of $5 applies to first month of any paid plan. You need to sign up via this webpage in order to claim the discount. The discount applies to new and returning users without an active paid plan. Terms apply.
06 US TAX
RETURN SHIPPING FEES ARE NOW TAXED.
Since October 23, if you use Shopify Tax or Tax Platform in the US, return shipping fees are taxed like any other shipping charge. If you were already adding that tax by hand, turn off your workaround or you'll charge it twice.
07 APPS
SHOPIFY IS LOCKING DOWN APPS. CLEAN UP YOURS.
Shopify told app developers to treat security as urgent, pointing to more attacks across the app ecosystem as AI gets better at finding holes. Apps must move to expiring access tokens before January 1, 2027, and new IP allowlists and network rules are rolling out. Developers are on the hook to fix issues and tell affected merchants.
Do this: open Settings → Apps and uninstall anything you no longer use. Every installed app can touch your store. If you have a custom or private app, send your developer the link below.
QUICK HITS
Sidekick can now generate images with transparent backgrounds. Handy for product cut-outs and BFCM banners.
Stock counts live in the admin: schedule a count, assign it to staff and check the results before inventory updates. Do one before the rush.
Checkout footer now groups your policies under one "Terms and policies" link.
Translate & Adapt (US and Canada) can auto-sync translations of new and updated content into up to 8 languages every week.
Managed Markets now offers guaranteed flat-rate FedEx and DHL Express shipping with duty-inclusive pricing.
UK VAT on Great Britain orders now follows the location that fulfills the order.
DATES TO PUT IN YOUR CALENDAR
Nov 1: EU product identifier rule starts.
Nov 3: Shopify reports Q3 results (8:30 a.m. ET webcast). Expect news on AI shopping and checkout.
Nov 27: Black Friday. Code freeze your theme the week before.
Jan 15, 2027: standalone Knowledge Base app goes away.
WHICH UPDATE ARE YOU ACTING ON FIRST?
Tell us in the community, and share anything you've spotted in your own admin that we missed.
SHARE & EARN: YOUR PERSONAL LINK
Know someone who'd find this useful? Forward it or share your link. 1 referral = a shout-out for your store. 3 = a free Pro Store Audit. 5 = a 1:1 call with Terry. 10 = a free month in the Mastermind.
LESS NOISE. BETTER ECOMMERCE.
We read the changelog so you don't have to. See you next week.
Want a hand getting your store BFCM-ready?
