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Guide · E-commerce

Move your online store without losing a thing.

Products, customers, passwords, order history and every old URL — the steps, the checks and the night of the switch.

By HeySheep · 7 min read · Last checked

1,272

old URLs

Each checked on the live domain, leading to its new page

100%

of customers kept their password

Nobody was asked to reset

≈ 60 s

for the final copy of the data

Rehearsed first, then run on the night

Laurent Bernard Chocolatier, Magento 2 → HeyShop, 10 October 2026.

In short

To move an online store safely, take an inventory of everything on the old store, copy it to the new one in repeatable runs, check every run against the old data, and redirect every old URL permanently to its new page. Rehearse the final copy, switch over in a short planned window, and keep the old store on standby so you can roll back. Done this way, customers keep their passwords and search rankings carry over.

01The plan

The eight steps of a safe move

A migration fails in the details nobody wrote down. These eight steps make every detail a list you can check.

  1. 1Audit the live storeRecord what it does today: pages, products, delivery rules, emails, payments and every URL that gets visits.
  2. 2Inventory a copyCount everything on a restored copy of the database — never on the live store.
  3. 3Map and rebuildDecide where each thing lives on the new platform, and rebuild the rules — delivery, promotions, tax — to match.
  4. 4Copy in repeatable runsExtract, transform and load in runs you can repeat. A second run updates; it never duplicates.
  5. 5Reconcile every runCompare counts, totals and every record with the old store. Anything left out has a written reason.
  6. 6Rehearse the switchTime the final copy and the checks, so the real night holds no surprises.
  7. 7Switch overPause the old store, copy the last changes, check, go live, point the domain.
  8. 8Watch closelyTest real payments, sign-ins and emails; watch search and errors; fix fast.

02What moves

What to move — and what to leave behind

Move everything a customer, a search engine or your accountant would miss. Leave behind what nobody needs — with a reason for each, so the numbers still add up.

Catalogue

Products, options, photos, collections and content pages.

Customers

Accounts with addresses — and their passwords, so nobody has to reset.

Order history

Paid orders with their invoices, shipments and refunds, to the cent.

Reviews and subscribers

Approved reviews, and newsletter subscribers who opted in.

Codes and rules

Active discount codes, delivery rules and tax settings.

Every old URL

Mapped to its new page, so links and rankings carry over.

Usually left behind: unpaid and test orders, spam or test accounts, old admin logins (staff get new ones) and anything retired on purpose.

03Passwords

How customers keep their passwords

A store never keeps passwords — only a scrambled "hash" of each one. The new platform can't unscramble the old hashes, but it can check a password against them, if it uses exactly the same method as the old platform.

  1. The old hash moves acrossUntouched, in the customer's record.
  2. The customer signs inWith the password they've always used.
  3. Checked the old wayExactly as the old platform did it.
  4. Saved the new wayRe-stored with the new method; the old hash is deleted.
On HeyShop, Magento 2's own password check was rebuilt exactly, including its older formats.

So the old hashes move across untouched. At each customer's first sign-in, the new store checks the password the old way; if it matches, it saves it again with its own, stronger method and deletes the old hash. Nobody is asked to reset anything.

04Every URL

Redirect every old URL to its new page

Search engines rank addresses. When an address changes, a permanent redirect (HTTP 301 or 308) tells them the page has moved and passes its standing to the new one. Google's guidance for site moves: map every old URL to its new URL, and keep the redirects for at least a year.

  1. /catalog/product/view/id/512Permanent/products/dark-truffle-box
  2. /gifts/corporate-gifts.htmlPermanent/collections/corporate-gifts
  3. /about-us.htmlPermanent/about
  4. /customer/account/loginPermanent/account
Example addresses. When Laurent Bernard moved to HeyShop, all 1,272 old URLs were checked on the live domain the night of the switch.

Send each old address straight to its final page in one hop — never everything to the home page, which search engines can treat as a missing page. Then submit the new sitemap in Search Console and expect rankings to move a little for a few weeks while the new addresses are re-crawled.

05The night

The night of the switch

A rehearsed switch is short. Plan it for a quiet hour, keep the old store paused but intact, and write down the old DNS settings so you can switch back in minutes if you have to.

  1. 19:41Old store pausedMaintenance mode, so no new orders land there.
  2. 19:44Final copyThe last changes copied in about a minute, then reconciled.
  3. 19:47Go liveLive payments, emails and search indexing switched on.
  4. 19:54Domain switchedThe web address points to the new store.
  5. AfterProved liveA real payment and refund, and a sign-in with an old password.
Laurent Bernard Chocolatier's switch to HeyShop, 10 October 2026 (Singapore time). The old store stayed on standby, ready for a rollback.

Then prove it's live with real things: a real payment and refund, a sign-in with an old password, an order email arriving.

06Checklist

A migration checklist

Tick these off before you call the move done.

0 of 10 checked

Sources

Checked 12 October 2026. Rules and prices change — confirm what applies to your business with the official source.

FAQ

Common questions.

Will I lose my search rankings if I change e-commerce platform?

Not if every old URL redirects permanently to its new page, the content carries over, and the new pages are as fast or faster. Expect some movement for a few weeks while search engines re-crawl; rankings usually settle.

Can customers keep their passwords when I move platforms?

Yes, if the new platform can check passwords the way the old one stored them. The old password hashes move across untouched; at each customer's first sign-in the password is checked the old way and re-saved with the new method. No reset email is needed.

Should I use a 301 or a 308 redirect?

Both are permanent redirects, and search engines treat them the same way: the new address becomes the one shown in results. Avoid temporary redirects (302 or 307) for a move.

How long does an e-commerce migration take?

It depends on the size and the rules of the store. Laurent Bernard Chocolatier's move from Magento 2 to HeyShop ran from the audit on 27 September 2026 to going live on 10 October 2026; the switch itself took minutes.

Can HeySheep move my store to HeyShop?

Yes. HeySheep moves your products, customers and paid order history, keeps customers' passwords working, and redirects your old URLs. Laurent Bernard Chocolatier moved from Magento 2 in October 2026 — read the case study on heysheep.sg.