You own the store an agency built you only if you hold six things: the domain, the platform account, the code, the data, the integrations, and every credential. Miss any one of them and you are renting, whatever the contract says. Sellers leave a marketplace to escape a landlord; the point is lost if the agency becomes the new one. Here is what full ownership actually looks like, and the traps that quietly prevent it.
The ownership checklist
At handover, each of these should be registered to you or transferred to accounts you control:
| Asset | Owned means | Common trap |
|---|---|---|
| Domain | Registered in your registrar account | Agency registers it under their account |
| Platform account | Shopify or hosting account in your name, your billing | Store lives in the agency's partner account |
| Code and theme | Source code delivered, repository access yours | Proprietary theme licensed, not transferred |
| Data | Products, customers, and orders exportable by you anytime | Data locked in an agency-run system |
| Integrations | Email, shipping, and analytics accounts in your name | Tools set up under agency logins |
| Credentials | Every admin password handed over and reset by you | Agency keeps sole admin access |
What does a proprietary platform really cost?
An agency that builds on its own closed platform owns you at renewal time. The build price looks cheap because the exit is expensive: leave, and you rebuild from zero because the code was never yours to take. Standard platforms and standard code cost the agency its lock-in, which is exactly why they are better for you. Any developer should be able to pick up your store cold.
Is a retainer the same as lock-in?
No, and the difference is one question: does the store keep working if you stop paying? A genuine support retainer is optional help you can cancel without consequence. Lock-in is a retainer the store cannot survive without, because the agency holds the hosting, the credentials, or some piece only they can touch. Optional is fine; load-bearing is not.
Five questions to ask before you sign
Ask these before any build starts, and get the answers in the contract: Whose account will the domain and hosting live in? Do I receive the full source code and every credential at launch? Can I export all my data myself, at any time? If I never pay you again after launch, what stops working? Can another developer take over without your involvement? A good agency answers all five without flinching. Hesitation on any of them is your answer.
What handover should look like
A real handover is an event, not a promise. On launch day you receive the credentials in one document, transfer the domain and accounts into your name, reset the passwords yourself, and confirm you can log in to everything with the agency locked out. That last step is the test of the whole engagement: if resetting the passwords breaks nothing, you own your store. This is how we hand over every build, and it is worth demanding from anyone you hire.