RenewProof · Shopify

US auto-renewal & cancellation laws for Shopify sellers: do the rules apply to you?

Federal ROSCA + 30+ state auto-renewal laws carry real penalties — clear disclosure, consent, and a cancel path as easy as signup. (The FTC's federal click-to-cancel rule was vacated in 2025; state laws still bite.) Check your flow.

In force US rules Shopify

How US auto-renewal & cancellation laws works on Shopify

Shopify gives you the storefront and checkout, but legal compliance is on you, the merchant — Shopify's own terms make that explicit. The platform ships some tools (a cookie-banner and customer-privacy API, a hosted PCI-compliant checkout), but switching them on and configuring them correctly is your job, not Shopify's.

📦 On Shopify: Shopify merchants write their own policies, flows and disclosures, so US federal and state rules land directly on you, not on Shopify.

Does this apply to you?

This rule applies to Shopify sellers who charge customers on a recurring subscription. Run subscriptions? Check your signup & cancel flow against federal ROSCA + 30+ state auto-renewal laws. Not sure? The free checker tells you in about a minute — no signup.

The Shopify checklist

Whatever the platform handles, you still need to be able to answer "yes" to each of these — these are the points Shopify sellers most often get caught on:

What's at stake

⚠️ Exposure: FTC fines up to $53,088/violation + state penalties · Status: In force. On Shopify, that's on top of any account suspension for breaking platform policy.

Compare the penalty for every rule →

Common questions

Do I have to handle uS auto-renewal & cancellation laws myself on Shopify, or does Shopify cover it?

Shopify gives you the storefront, but uS auto-renewal & cancellation laws compliance is the seller's responsibility — the platform doesn't do it for you. The free checker shows exactly where you stand in about a minute.

Is the FTC click-to-cancel rule in effect?

The federal 'click-to-cancel' Negative Option Rule was vacated in July 2025, but ROSCA and 30+ state auto-renewal laws still require clear disclosure, consent, and easy cancellation — and the FTC reopened rulemaking in 2026.

What do auto-renewal laws require?

Clear, upfront disclosure of the renewal terms before billing, affirmative consent to the recurring charge, and a cancellation path at least as easy as signup.

Do I need to send a renewal reminder?

Several state laws require advance notice before annual renewals or price changes; sending one is best practice everywhere.

The source

RuleGoose checks this against US auto-renewal law (FTC ROSCA + state ARLs). Read it yourself: ROSCA on Cornell LII (15 U.S.C. 8401) →

Check your Shopify store against US auto-renewal & cancellation laws — free.
Answer a few questions, see exactly where you're exposed, and draft the fix. No signup, runs in your browser. Run the RenewProof checker →

or get one RuleGoose Score across every rule your Shopify store has to meet.

The full Shopify picture

US auto-renewal & cancellation laws is one of several rules a Shopify store has to meet. See the full Shopify compliance checklist →, or read the platform-neutral US auto-renewal & cancellation laws guide.

Same rule, other platforms

Informational only, not legal advice, and not affiliated with the FTC or Shopify. Last reviewed 2026-06-30.