Records to preserve before an ecommerce system is retired
Retrieve the records you will need while the old admin still opens. WooCommerce can export the product catalog to CSV. That product export is not an order export. Orders, refunds, fulfillment tracking, and customer notes stay available only through an admin login, a REST API key with read permission, or an export tool you have confirmed is installed. Stripe payment details are reviewed in the Stripe Dashboard or API, which is separate from the store database. This page states no retention period. The consultation form is not an upload for the archive. Describe the work you need. Prism will confirm scope, responsibilities, fees, and terms before work begins.
For: An owner or authorized representative of a research-use-only peptide business that will retire a store and still needs to answer questions about past orders.
Updated 2026-09-21
Products have a built-in export; orders do not use that tool
WooCommerce includes a product CSV exporter at Products, All Products, Export. You choose columns, product types, and categories, and you can include custom meta. The file is a product catalog. It does not contain the order list, refunds, or shipment tracking.
Order access is a different system. The REST API can retrieve store data, including orders, when permalinks are not set to Plain and a key with Read or Read/Write permission exists. The key is tied to a WordPress user. If that user is removed, or the key is revoked, that route stops. A paid order-export extension is present only if you installed one; this page does not assume you did.
Write down who can still generate the product CSV and who holds a working read key. A contractor who leaves with the only administrator login takes the practical ability to export, even if the files remain on the server.
What an order record contains while the store is still up
Each submitted order has a status. Processing means payment was received and fulfillment is waiting, with the usual exception for orders whose products are all virtual and downloadable. Completed means fulfilled. Refunded means an admin or shop manager refunded the order's value. Failed means the payment failed or was declined and no payment succeeded. Those labels are the history a later support reply has to match.
Fulfillment records, when that feature is in use, store the items, whether the fulfillment is draft or fulfilled, and any tracking number, carrier, and link. Customer-note email goes out when someone adds an order note marked for the customer. The note inside the store and a conversation in a separate mailbox are not the same record.
Draft orders from block checkout are temporary. WooCommerce deletes inactive draft orders in a scheduled daily cleanup. Do not treat drafts as the archive of completed sales.
Payment history and personal-data controls sit outside the theme
Stripe's decline documentation tells a merchant to review a payment's details in the Dashboard or through the API. That review belongs to the Stripe account. Retiring the website does not, by itself, put those payment records into the store export, and it does not guarantee that you will keep Dashboard access. Whoever can sign in to that Stripe account, and whatever the provider later decides about the account, controls that history.
WooCommerce settings for accounts and privacy include controls for how personal data is retained or removed. The settings page does not publish a single retention period for every store, and this guide will not invent one. Read the control your store actually enabled, and get professional advice before you delete records you may still need.
A theme change is not this task. This page is about whether a person on your team can still open the old history after the old system is gone.
Decide the copy, not the legal hold
You can decide which of these records your support team must be able to open, who will store the copy, and the date the old admin will actually close. You can also decide that a record does not exist and leave the row blank.
The payment provider decides how long its own dashboard keeps a charge and whether your account may still see it. Prism can talk through the storefront and the processing question. Confirm any archive or migration scope separately. Determine applicable retention obligations with qualified advice, and keep customer files out of the public form. A request does not book an appointment, purchase a service, or submit a processing application.
Unknown until you test it: whether a plugin stored tracking only in its own table, whether refunds were manual and never returned funds, and whether anyone besides the contractor can log in. A copy you have not opened is not verified access.
Record-access inventory
Use this while the old system still signs in. Record the real access method, not a hoped-for export. Do not paste customer records or payment credentials into it. Worksheet entries are not submitted by this worksheet or saved by this site. Use only non-sensitive summaries; do not enter credentials, government identifiers, card or bank-account numbers, private receipt links, or customer details.
Worksheet entries are not submitted by Prism’s worksheet and are not saved by the site. Use record types, availability, anonymized observations, or match/mismatch results. Do not enter government identifiers, customer names or addresses, customer messages, receipt-access links, card or bank details, passwords, or keys. Send sensitive documents only through the provider’s verified secure channel.
Record-access inventory. The last column is for temporary notes.
Record
Why support may still need it
Access that exists today
Your record
Product catalog
Why support may still need itThe built-in CSV export moves product data between stores. It does not export orders.
Access that exists todayProducts, All Products, Export. Note whether custom meta was included.
Orders and their statuses
Why support may still need itProcessing, completed, refunded, and failed answer different support questions. The product CSV does not contain them.
Access that exists todayWooCommerce, Orders, or a REST API key with read permission. Name the person who can still sign in.
Refunds
Why support may still need itRefunded can be reached with a manual refund even when the customer's funds were not returned. The order notes and the payment record have to be read together.
Access that exists todayThe order's refund record and notes, plus the payment provider's transaction if you still have access.
Fulfillment and tracking
Why support may still need itTracking number, carrier, and link live on the fulfillment. A draft fulfillment is not a customer notice.
Access that exists todayEach order's fulfillment panel, copied while the admin or the partner portal still opens.
Customer notes the store sent
Why support may still need itWooCommerce emails a customer note when a note is marked for the customer. Mail outside the store is a separate system.
Access that exists todayOrder notes in the admin, not an inbox you have not checked.
Draft checkout orders
Why support may still need itInactive draft orders are deleted by a daily cleanup. They are not the sales archive.
Access that exists todayDo not list drafts as retained history unless you have a copy made before cleanup.
Personal-data removal setting
Why support may still need itAccounts and privacy settings control how personal data is retained or removed. They do not publish one period for every merchant.
Access that exists todayWooCommerce, Settings, Accounts and Privacy. Leave the period blank unless your own policy states one.
Stripe payment details
Why support may still need itA payment's details are reviewed in the Stripe Dashboard or API. The store export does not replace that account.
Access that exists todayThe Stripe user who can open the payment. Leave blank if no one at the business can sign in.
Future access owner
Why support may still need itA REST key belongs to a WordPress user and stops working when it is revoked or that user is gone.
Access that exists todayName the business owner of the copy and where it will live after the old host closes. Do not upload it here.
These are temporary notes. Leaving or reloading this page may clear them. The consultation form does not include these entries.
Limits
A Prism consultation can help you organize the facts and discuss the website or processing question. The payment provider decides eligibility, pricing, reserves, and whether an account is opened or closed.
No retention period is recommended or stated. Ask a qualified adviser before you delete records.
Do not attach order exports, customer lists, or payment data to the public consultation form.
WooCommerce product CSV exporter — checked 2026-09-21. The built-in CSV tool exports products, selected columns, product types, categories, and optional custom meta. The documented schema is product data.
WooCommerce REST API — checked 2026-09-21. Keys are created for a WordPress user with Read, Write, or Read/Write permission and can be revoked. Permalinks must not be Plain. Developer documentation describes requesting order data.
WooCommerce order statuses — checked 2026-09-21. Processing, Completed, Refunded, and Failed have distinct meanings. A manual refund can mark an order refunded without returning funds. Inactive draft orders are deleted by a daily cleanup.
WooCommerce order fulfillment — checked 2026-09-21. Fulfillments store items, draft or fulfilled status, and tracking information. Draft fulfillments do not send customer notifications.
WooCommerce email settings — checked 2026-09-21. A customer-note email is sent when an order note is marked as a note to the customer.
WooCommerce settings overview — checked 2026-09-21. Accounts and privacy settings control how personal data is retained or removed. The overview does not state a universal retention period.
Stripe declines — checked 2026-09-21. For a payment failure, the merchant can review the payment's details in the Stripe Dashboard or through the API.
Prism contact — checked 2026-09-21. The form asks for the website, products, and question. It says to leave out payment card details, passwords, and customer records. Follow-up is by email. A request does not book an appointment, purchase a service, or submit a processing application.
Request a consultation
Describe the business and this specific question. Prism follows up by email to discuss fit and scope. An inquiry is not a processing application or an approval.