What is a clone of your Shopify store?
A clone is a copy of your store on another web address. It uses your name, your photos and your products to take orders from your customers. If someone copied your website, or you found a scam site using your store name, this article explains what it is and what to do.
What a clone looks like
A clone is a fake Shopify store, or a fake site built to look like one. It usually has:
- your logo and store name
- your product photos and descriptions
- prices that look like a sale
- a checkout that takes the customer’s money
The customer pays, and the order never arrives. Often the customer then finds your real store and asks why you scammed them. The clone costs you sales, and it costs you trust.
Copycat stores are cheap and fast to make. A new one can appear on a new address after an old one goes offline.
A clone and a lookalike domain are different
- A clone copies your store: the name, the photos and the products.
- A lookalike domain only has a name like yours, such as your name with a typo or a different ending. It may be empty, parked, or a real business with a similar name.
Recon shows both on the Clones page, in separate lists. A lookalike becomes a clone case only when it copies your store, or when you say it does. To learn more, see Lookalike domains.
What Recon shows you
When clone detection is on in your theme, Recon hears about your store’s design when it loads on another web address. Recon then checks the page and opens a case.
In Recon, open Clones. Each clone has a row under Clones of your store, with a screenshot, the strongest piece of evidence, and a badge that says whether you reported it.
Open a case to see the evidence: a dated screenshot, who hosts the site, who sold the domain, and Why Recon flagged this site.
Each case also has the reports to send, already written. Recon finds who to report the clone to and fills in the evidence. You send each report, and the host or registrar decides whether to remove the site. Prepared reports are on every plan.
If a customer says they bought from a fake site
- Ask the customer for the web address they bought from, and a copy of their order email or receipt.
- Tell them kindly that the site is not yours, and that you did not get their order or their money.
- Suggest they contact their bank or card company to dispute the charge.
- In Recon, open Clones and look for the address. If it is there, open the case and send the reports. See Report a clone of your store.
- If the address is not in Recon, write to support@recon.bot with the address. A person will help.
Related articles
- Review a clone case: read the evidence and confirm a case.
- Report a clone of your store: send the prepared reports, step by step.
- Turn on clone detection in your theme: let Recon hear about copies of your store.