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Introduction

Archiving retires a business you no longer trade under. The business disappears from your dashboard, its API keys stop working, and its checkout, payment links, storefront, and Customer Portal stop serving your customers. Archiving is not deletion. Dodo Payments is your Merchant of Record, so your payments, refunds, invoices, and tax records must be kept for compliance long after you stop trading. Archiving closes the business to new activity and leaves those records intact.
Archiving is permanent. An archived business can’t be restored, and support can’t reverse the archive for you. To retire one brand and keep trading under the others, archive the brand instead. See Multi-Brand Setup.

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Eligibility Requirements

A business can be archived only once it is fully settled. Dodo Payments checks seven requirements and shows a live checklist of them. You clear each outstanding item yourself, with the same tools you use day to day.
A subscription scheduled to cancel at its next billing date blocks archiving until it ends. Dodo Payments doesn’t cancel subscriptions on your behalf, so you stay in control of what your customers are charged.
Every payment counts towards the dormancy window, whatever its outcome. A failed or abandoned payment attempt restarts the 180 days, the same as a successful one. Customer credit grants don’t block archiving. Only cash balances do. Credits expire on their own schedule. Dodo Payments evaluates the checklist each time you open it. After you clear an item, refresh the checklist to see the requirement turn green.

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How to Archive Your Business

Only the Owner of a business can archive it. Editors and Viewers can see the checklist but can’t archive. If you aren’t the Owner, ask the Owner to complete this flow. Ownership can’t be transferred from the dashboard. Archiving is available in live mode only. If the dashboard is in test mode, turn on the Live Mode switch in the sidebar first.
1

Open the Danger Zone

Go to Settings → Business and scroll to the Danger Zone panel. Select See Details next to the status line to expand the checklist.
Danger Zone panel showing the Archive Business button and the seven-item eligibility checklist, all met
2

Clear Every Outstanding Requirement

Work through the items that haven’t passed, using the links in the eligibility table. Return to the panel and expand the checklist again as you go. The status line above the checklist reads All conditions met when nothing is left to clear.
3

Confirm You Want to Archive

Select Archive Business and read the confirmation dialog. Select Continue to send a confirmation code to the Owner’s email address.
Confirmation dialog warning that the business cannot be restored once archived
4

Enter the Code from Your Email

Dodo Payments emails a 6-digit code to the Owner’s login email address. The code expires after 10 minutes, and you can request a new one every 60 seconds. After 3 wrong attempts, you need a new code.
Verification dialog waiting for the 6-digit code, with a resend countdown
If you no longer have access to the Owner’s mailbox, use the Contact support link in the dialog.
5

Verify and Archive

Enter the code and select Verify & Archive. This step can’t be undone: Dodo Payments archives the business as soon as it accepts the code.
Verification dialog with all six digits entered and the Verify and Archive button active
6

Switch to Another Business

Dodo Payments confirms the archive and moves you to another of your businesses after a short countdown. Select Switch Now to go there immediately.
Confirmation that the business has been archived, with a countdown to switch to another business

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What Happens After Archiving

For you
  • The business no longer appears in your dashboard or in the business switcher. Dodo Payments moves you to another of your businesses right after the archive.
  • Live mode and live payments are turned off.
  • Every API key for the business stops working, in both live mode and test mode. Cached credentials can take up to a minute to expire, so an integration may keep working briefly after you archive.
For your customers
  • Checkout sessions, payment links, and static checkout pages stop accepting payments.
  • Your storefront stops serving products.
  • Customer Portal sessions end, and customers can no longer sign in to manage their purchases.
  • License key activation and deactivation stop.
Tell your customers before you archive. After the archive, customers have no self-serve route back to their purchase history, and Dodo Payments returns a terminal error, not a retry. For your records Payments, refunds, invoices, payouts, and tax filings are retained. Download the invoices and reports you want to keep before you archive, because dashboard access ends the moment the business is archived. Contact support if you need a copy of your records afterwards.

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Limits

  • Archiving can’t be undone. The action is permanent for merchants and support alike.
  • You can’t archive your last business this way. If the business is the only one you own, contact support to close your account instead.
  • Archiving is all or nothing. To retire part of your catalog and keep trading, archive a brand instead of the business.

Multi-Brand Setup

Archive a single brand and keep the rest of the business trading.

Account Summary and Payout Wallet

Withdraw your remaining balance before you archive.

My Account

Manage business profiles and switch between businesses.

Help and Support

Get in touch about account closure or record requests.
Last modified on September 26, 2026