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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 retained for compliance long after you stop trading. Archiving closes the business to new activity while those records stay intact.
Archiving is permanent. There is no way to restore an archived business, and support cannot reverse it for you. If you only want 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 only be archived once it is fully settled. Before the option becomes available, Dodo Payments checks seven requirements and shows you a live checklist of each one. You clear the outstanding items yourself, using the same tools you already use day to day.
A subscription scheduled to cancel at its next billing date still blocks archiving until it actually ends. Dodo Payments never cancels 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 just as a successful one does. Customer credit grants do not block archiving. Only cash balances do. Credits expire on their own schedule. The checklist is evaluated live every time you open it, so refresh it after you clear an item 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 cannot, even though they can see the checklist. Ownership cannot be transferred, so if you are not the owner, ask them to complete this flow.
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 have not passed, following the resolution links in the table above. Return to the panel and expand the checklist again as you go. The status line above the checklist reads All conditions met once 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 registered address. The code expires after 10 minutes, you can request a new one every 60 seconds, and you have 3 attempts before you need a fresh 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 is the point of no return: the business is archived as soon as the code is accepted.
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. 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 straight after the archive.
  • Live mode and live payments are switched off.
  • Every API key for the business stops working, in both live mode and test mode. Cached credentials can take a few minutes to expire, so an integration may briefly keep working 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. Once the business is archived, they have no self-serve route back to their purchase history, and Dodo Payments returns a terminal error rather than 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 cannot be undone. The action is permanent for merchants and support alike.
  • Your last business cannot be archived 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 catalogue and keep trading, archive a brand rather than 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 August 20, 2026