Shopify outages: Has the issue been fixed? Latest update as e-commerce site crashes on Cyber Monday

Multinational e-commerce platform Shopify was down on Monday at around 12.30 pm ET, with reports of issues spiking on outage tracker Downdetector and the platform itself admitting “issues when trying to login to Shopify”.

“Merchants may experience issues when trying to login to Shopify. We are currently investigating and will keep you updated," Shopify said in an update.

"Merchants may also encounter issues logging into POS, Mobile, and while attempting to contact Shopify Support,” the Canadian e-commerce giant added, acknowledging the issue.

“We are continuing to investigate and apply mitigations for the issues with accessing Admins and POS systems. Some merchants may also see an issue with POS checkouts, due to not being able to access POS systems.,” was the last update from Shopify, shared at 12.39 pm ET.

The outage comes on Cyber Monday, one of the biggest sale days in the US, which takes place annually on the first Monday after Thanksgiving.

Netizens express frustration

Comments on Downdetector suggest that the outage is not limited to the US, but has also affected some users in Canada, Colombia, and Argentina.

With shoppers flocking to the platform to cash in on Cyber Monday deals, the outage understandably left many frustrated.

“Any update on when shopify will be up and running? Missing out on so many orders today/delaying shipping (sic),” wrote on user on Downdetector.

“Of all days to go down! Can’t log on to add all new stuff that just came in! Missing sales! (sic)," commented another frustrated user.

What we know about the issue

Although Shopify hasn't clarified what has been causing the “issues”, users suggested it could something related to open authorization framework OAuth.

“Been down on the admin side since around 9:30A. I was working fine on the admin side, but it kicked me out - something seems to be up with OAuth? (sic),” wrote on user on Downdetector.

On Shopify's website, the Admin service showed “Partial Outage” at 2.31 pm ET, while Support, Point of Sale, and API & Mobile services showed “Downgraded Performance”.

The Checkout service, which was earlier listed as a “Partial Outage” as of 12.39 pm ET was declared as “Operational” in the latest update.

The other services, Storefronts, Oxygen, Reports and Dashboards, and Third party services were all listed as “Operational”.

Has the issue been fixed?

At around 2.31 pm ET, Shopify gave a potentially promising update for shoppers, signalling a return to normalcy.

“We have found and fixed an issue with our login authentication flow, and are seeing signs of recovery for admin and POS login issues now,” the e-commerce platform said.

“We are continuing to monitor recovery,” Shopify added.