How can I tell whether a Shopify store for sale is actually trading?

Before you make an offer, you want to know whether the store has real customers or just looks busy. You do not need the books for that. A short screen-share call, with the seller driving, can show most of it. The deeper checks come later, once you have a letter of intent and a data room.

Look at orders across time

Ask to see the order list across the whole life of the store, not just recent weeks. Real trading tends to show orders spread over many days, from different customers, across different products. A cluster of orders in a short window, many to similar names or addresses, or long silent gaps deserve a question about where the traffic came from and why it stopped.

Check that payouts match

Orders on screen are one thing and money in a bank account is another. Ask to see the payout history from the payment provider and compare it with the order list. If they do not line up, ask why. Ask the seller to explain any difference and show the records.

Customers and refunds

The customer report shows whether anyone came back. A store with repeat buyers has something a prebuilt shop does not. The refund and dispute reports show how orders really went. Neither report is proof on its own, so note what you see and keep it for later diligence. See also what a prebuilt store does and does not include.

What a vague answer means for your next step

If the seller will not share a report, say so plainly and ask for the reason. It may be harmless, such as a worry about customer privacy. It may not be. Either way, you can ask for the same figures from the seller’s accountant, or pause until the later diligence stage, where the full checklist for an ecommerce purchase applies.