Shopify adds automated store policies: what to review

Shopify now lets merchants automate several store policies, reducing the drafting work involved in launching a store or entering another market. The feature changes how policy text is maintained; merchants still need to check that the result describes their business.

The 8 October announcement covers return and refund, contact information, terms of service, shipping and legal notice policies. Shopify says automated policies update as store settings change and stay aligned with its recommendations.

To enable a policy, open Settings → Policies, select the policy, turn on Use automated policy and save. Shopify explicitly says the merchant remains responsible for the policies and compliance with applicable laws. This is a product feature, not a guarantee that a particular store’s obligations have been met.

Check the words against your operations

Before enabling automation, our recommendation is to keep a dated copy of the current published policy. Compare the generated text with the instructions your support team actually gives customers.

For example, check whether the return window, contact details and shipping commitments match how the business operates. If the text promises something your warehouse or support team cannot deliver, resolve that mismatch before relying on it.

Repeat the review after changing relevant store settings. Automatically maintained text is still customer-facing information; give one person responsibility for checking it.

Automation and Sidekick are different workflows

Shopify’s policy help guide also describes using Sidekick to insert or reword eligible templates. Those changes require saving. Sidekick cannot edit an automated policy or the privacy policy through that workflow.

Policies appear in the checkout footer, and Shopify recommends adding links to store menus where useful. Review the customer-facing pages as well as the editor. Template language support has limits, so check the options available in your admin rather than assuming every policy workflow supports every language.

Keep the review small and repeatable

A practical sign-off can be a short checklist: the text matches current operations, contact routes work, customer links open, and the responsible person has recorded the review date. For questions about legal requirements in a market, seek appropriate advice rather than treating generated wording as a legal assessment.

The older official video below explains general policy creation and templates. It predates this automation announcement and should not be used as a demonstration of the new toggle.

Watch the older Shopify policy tutorial on YouTube