We built a free tool, the Storefront Inspector, that shows what anyone can see about a Shopify store without logging in: its original Shopify address, the city and region it is based in, and every detail of the products it publishes, including vendor names, SKUs, tags, prices, and when each product was added. Enter your store's address and it flags anything that may point to your supplier or look unfinished, with what to change. It runs in your browser, and nothing is sent to us or saved.
You cannot switch this information off, but you decide what it says. Here is what is visible and what to tidy up.
What anyone can see
Every Shopify store publishes its catalog in a file called /products.json, which browsers, apps, and search tools can read. It works the same on every plan, including Shopify Plus. Anyone who knows where to look can see:
- Your original Shopify address. Every store has a myshopify.com address, even with its own domain. It is public, and it confirms the store runs on Shopify.
- Where you are based. The city, region, and country from your store address.
- Your full product catalog. Titles, descriptions, prices, compare-at prices, variants, and images for every product you publish to your online store.
- The details behind each product. Vendor names, product types, tags, SKUs, weights, image file names, and the date each product was added.
This is not a security problem. It is how Shopify storefronts work, and the store owner is not notified when someone looks.
Open the raw data yourself
You can read the same file a competitor or app reads. Replace yourstore.com with your own domain:
- Open
https://yourstore.com/products.json?limit=1in your browser to see one product. - Remove
?limit=1to see the first page of your catalog. - To check one specific product, open
https://yourstore.com/products/[handle].json, where the handle is the last part of the product's URL. This file shows a few more fields, including the barcode.
Firefox shows the file as a readable tree. In Chrome, tick Pretty-print at the top of the page.
The file for one of our own products. Ours are services, so the SKU and tags are empty.
These are the fields to read, and what to look for in each:
| Field | What it shows | What to check |
|---|---|---|
title, handle
|
The product name and the last part of its URL | Supplier titles or test names left over from an import |
body_html |
The full product description as HTML | Images loaded from a supplier's site, supplier contact details, untranslated text |
vendor |
The vendor name | A supplier's store name in place of your brand |
product_type, tags
|
The product type and every tag | Supplier, test, or automation tags |
created_at, published_at, updated_at
|
When the product was added, published, and last changed | Nothing to fix; competitors can see when you launch products |
sku |
Each variant's SKU | Supplier item codes |
price, compare_at_price
|
Each variant's price and compare-at price | Compare-at prices that are not higher than the price |
available |
Whether each variant can be bought, as true or false | Nothing to fix; it shows availability without a stock count |
src under images
|
Each image's URL, including its file name | Supplier codes in file names |
The single-product file also shows each variant's barcode and whether Shopify tracks its inventory. A barcode copied from a supplier, such as a UPC or EAN, can identify the original product. Neither file shows how many items you have in stock or your cost per item. We checked both files on our own store in October 2026.
What stays private
Posts on social media claim this public data reveals much more than it does. It does not show:
- Your Shopify plan. We checked our own store's public data. It does not say which plan a store is on.
- Your sales or revenue. No order counts or sales figures are public. Sorting a collection by best selling shows an order, not how much sold.
- Your stock levels. Visitors can see whether a variant is available, but not how many you have.
- Your customers and orders. No customer names, emails, or orders are public, and neither is anything in your admin.
What to tidy up on your store
Because you cannot hide this information, the useful step is to make sure it only says what you want customers and competitors to see. On a store we operate, we keep supplier names, costs, and internal notes out of every public field for this reason. These are the details that most often give away more than intended, especially on dropshipping stores:
- Vendor names. A supplier's store name, text in another language, or a stray space. On a client store we worked on, the brand name had an extra space on every product.
- Tags. Tags you only use for organizing or automation, such as supplier or test tags, are visible too.
- SKUs. Dropshipping apps often fill SKUs with the supplier's item codes, which can lead someone straight to the original listing. If an app uses SKUs to match orders, check its settings before changing them.
- Barcodes. A UPC or EAN copied from a supplier's listing can identify the original product. If you resell another brand's product, its real barcode belongs there. Remove barcodes that an import copied in and that do not match what you ship.
- Image file names. Images keep the name they were uploaded with. A supplier's code in the file name can point back to them.
- Product descriptions. Images still loaded from a supplier's site, supplier contact details, or untranslated text.
- Test products. A product published to your online store is public even if no collection shows it. Set test products to Draft.
- Compare-at prices. A compare-at price that is not higher than the price shows no discount and makes a sale look broken.
Your myshopify.com address and published product details cannot be hidden. If your city and region point to a home address you would rather keep private, review the store address in Settings > General, using an address you are allowed to use for the business.
Check your store
Going through every product by hand takes time. Run your store through the Storefront Inspector to see these details in one place. It works on any Shopify store, and we will keep adding checks.
If it finds supplier details, test products, or broken prices across many products, we can track them down and fix them for you.
FAQ
Can I hide my product data?
Not while your store is open. There is no setting for it in the Shopify admin, and a password page hides it only by hiding your whole store. Keep it clean instead.
Is this a security risk?
No. Only what you publish on your storefront is visible. Your admin, orders, and customer information are not.
Can competitors see when I add a new product?
Yes. The date each product was added and published is public. If you re-import products, those dates reset, so they do not always show how long a product has been on sale.
Will changing SKUs break my dropshipping orders?
It can. Some apps use the SKU to match your products to the supplier's. Check how your app links products before you change SKUs, and change one product first to test.
Can I look at another store the same way?
Yes. The Storefront Inspector works on any Shopify store. Checking your own store first is the more useful step, because you can act on what it finds.
How often should I check my store?
After you import products or install a product or dropshipping app, and before a launch or a big sale. Imports and apps are the most common source of supplier details and test products.
Does this apply to Shopify Plus stores?
Yes. Plus stores show the same information.
For questions about the tool itself, such as why a store cannot be read or why something was flagged, see the Storefront Inspector FAQ.