Delete personal data request

Shopify Discussion
1

customer writes: "

I ask you to please delete any personal data of mine you have stored on your systems.

I have initiated this request myself and it was sent from my own personal inbox (see From address of this email).

Would appreciate your cooperation and an email confirming when the deletion has been completed.

"

how am i supposed to do this? she is unsubsribed. and placed 1 order in 2018

2

Hey @Debra_Jambor

Shopify has this built in. Go to Customers → search for the customer → open their profile → click “More actions” at the top right → select “Erase personal data”.

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Shopify will remove their personal information while keeping anonymized order records for your accounting and tax obligations. The order stays in your system but without personally identifiable info attached.

Once it’s processed, send her a quick email confirming the deletion. Something simple like “Hi, confirming your personal data has been erased from our systems as requested.”

One note: since the order is from 2021, make sure you don’t still need the data for tax reporting before erasing. In most cases you’re fine but worth double checking

If this worked, mark it as Accepted Solution so others can find it!

3

Hey @Debra_Jambor

Mateo’s got the right button. Two things to add so you close this out properly.

First, it isn’t instant. Shopify schedules the erasure and processes it 10 days after you submit (that window is there so you can cancel if needed), so don’t email her “done” today. Tell her the request has been initiated and will complete within about 10 days, then send the final confirmation once it’s actually processed. Your 2018 order is well past any tax retention period, so nothing to hold back on there.

Second, and this is the part people miss: the Shopify erase only wipes data held inside Shopify. Since she was on your list and unsubscribed, her email is almost certainly still sitting in your email marketing tool (Klaviyo, Mailchimp, Shopify Email, whatever you use), and a deletion request covers that too, so remove her there as well or you haven’t fully honored it.

Hope that helps! If it did, a Like and Marking it as Solution goes a long way and helps others find the fix faster too.

Best,
Moeed

4

Thank you guys, I did both. Klaviyo has all deleted now and I use Shopify. Thanks for all your help

5

Thank you guys. I have proceeded.

6

Hello there @Debra_Jambor
If the customer had placed an order, Shopify maintains certain order information for law enforcement, tax and acounting purposes, so you can’t usually delete everything all at once.

You can go to Customers, open their profile and hit Erase personal data if the customer qualifies under your region’s privacy laws and retention policies. If the order information has to be kept, Shopify will anonymize personal data whenever possible instead of deleting all of the required records.

I’d respond saying that you have processed the request via Shopify’s privacy tools and that some transaction records might be retained for legal obligations.