Why Your Email Address Matters

Treat your email address like it's a set of keys for your business.

When opening a shop with Big Cartel, you’ll be asked to provide an email address that will be your store’s contact email. Anyone who’s ever registered with an online service should be familiar with this step, but it’s important to understand just what your store’s contact email will mean to you.

What's the big deal?

Find yourself locked out of your store? No sweat - we'll send that password reset to your email on file. It's also what we'll use as a form of identity verification when chatting with support. For your security, we'll never share information about, or make changes to, an account unless permission comes directly from the email listed in your shop.

Email addresses are a common part of our daily lives, so it's easy to forget how important they are. But keep in mind that losing access to your store’s contact email is more than losing an email address you registered for free - it’s losing the keys to your business. So treat it with care.

We wish it wasn't the case, but even if you work with a trusted business partner, you should have a sound backup plan in place. Business partnerships can disintegrate, resulting in the store owner and the person paying for the store being two different people. As much as we'd love to take your word for it, we can still only make changes to an account when the request is coming directly from the owner on record. You'd want us to do the same if someone tried to convince us to close your shop without your permission, right?

Let's say it again: This stuff really matters.

Take advantage of every possible security measure when creating your primary email - like setting up a backup email address, linking a phone number, and enabling two-factor authentication - and you’ll have some solid backup methods to regain access to your account should you need them.

No longer into the Yahoo email address you registered in high school? Have a new custom domain and email for your booming business? Don't forget to update your Settings whenever you make a change. Even if you make a mistake like creating the account with the wrong email address, it can be an easy fix if you catch it early.

If you completely lose access to your shop, or the email you entered belongs to someone else (and they’re not willing or able to help you correct the mistake), then you can always contact our support team to see what options might be available. Try to keep your head up if the options are limited - we'll make sure to do everything we can to help you fix it.

We hope this helps explain why this is so important. It might seem boring today, but don't let that fool you into a false sense of security. If you ever have any questions or concerns, we're here to help.