Data audits and cleanup for Shopify migrations

Clean, reconciled data is what makes a migration safe

Import tools are only as good as the data you feed them, and most stores are sitting on years of duplicates, malformed records and abandoned products. Starcodia treats the data itself as a workstream: audit and clean before import, migrate the records automated tools drop, and reconcile totals after. This is the unglamorous work that decides whether a Shopify migration lands cleanly.

Audit before you import

We start by profiling the existing data: duplicate and malformed customer records, products with missing or inconsistent attributes, orphaned variants, and inconsistent categorization. Migrating without this step means importing legacy mess into a fresh store and paying to clean it later. Auditing first also reveals exactly what an out-of-the-box import would leave behind, so there are no surprises after launch.

Deduplication, idempotency and resumable jobs

At real volumes, integrity is an engineering problem. Our import jobs enforce it directly:

  • Customer deduplication by email before any order is created, so one shopper never becomes two Shopify records.
  • Idempotent orders keyed to their source-platform ID, so a repeated or interrupted run cannot duplicate history.
  • Conflict handling for platform rules such as Shopify's phone uniqueness, retrying cleanly instead of failing a whole record.
  • Checkpointing so a six-figure import resumes from where it stopped rather than restarting.

Rescuing the data importers drop

The records that carry the most revenue or trust are exactly the ones standard imports miss. We migrate them as separate, reconciled workstreams:

  • Active subscriptions rebuilt on a Shopify subscriptions app with billing schedules preserved, prioritizing active renewals.
  • Store credit and wallet balances reissued as customer-assigned gift cards, since Shopify native store credit is POS-only.
  • Affiliate and referral history reconciled in the referral platform so partner payouts stay correct.
  • Complex product types and attributes (bundles, configurable products, structured attributes) rebuilt with variants, bundle apps and metafields.
  • Platform-specific order storage such as WooCommerce HPOS versus legacy tables, handled per its actual structure.

Reconciliation: totals have to tie out

A migration is not done when the import finishes; it is done when the numbers match. We reconcile source and destination counts for products, customers, orders and subscriptions, validate a detailed sample, and confirm active subscriptions and balances agree before cutover. Combined with the redirect work in SEO preservation, clean reconciled data recrawls predictably and behaves after launch.

Start with a data audit

Tell us your platform, rough record counts, and whether you run subscriptions, store credit or an affiliate program. We will scope the audit and cleanup needed before your Shopify import.

Request a data audit

Frequently Asked Questions

A migration copies whatever you point it at, including years of duplicate customers, malformed records and abandoned products. Auditing first means you import a clean catalog and customer base rather than carrying legacy mess into a new store. It also surfaces the data an automated import would silently drop.
Customers are matched by email before any order is created, so the same shopper never becomes two records. Orders are keyed to their source-platform ID, so a repeated or interrupted import cannot duplicate history. Both run on checkpointed jobs that resume rather than restart.
Active subscriptions, store credit and wallet balances, affiliate commission history, complex product types (bundles, configurable products), and platform-specific order storage such as WooCommerce HPOS versus legacy tables. We migrate these as separate, reconciled workstreams.
Source store credit (from wallet plugins that each store balances differently) is exported and reissued as customer-assigned Shopify gift cards, because Shopify's native store credit is POS-only. Gift cards work at online checkout, are tied to the customer and decrement with use.
By reconciliation. We compare source and destination counts for products, customers, orders and subscriptions, validate a sample in detail, and confirm active subscriptions and balances match before cutover. Nothing is assumed; totals have to tie out.