# What questions should we ask before hiring an agency to lead a Lightspeed-to-Shopify migration for a multi-location retail brand?

Reviewed by Martin Dejnicki, Director of SEO & AI Search · facts verified October 8, 2026 · canonical: https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/lightspeed-migration-agency-vetting-questions

## Short answer

Six questions separate an agency that has run a multi-location point of sale (POS) cutover from one that has not: your Lightspeed series, gift card liability, loyalty balances, tax registrations, register-day rollback and first month-end close. Shopify says most implementation partners include testing and rollback planning ([Shopify blog](https://www.shopify.com/blog/store-migration-shopify-app), July 2026), so ask for both in writing.

- **Lightspeed gift card export:** Codes and balances on X-Series and R-Series. X-Series exports from Reporting > Gift card reports; R-Series from Customers > Gift cards, with the Export Gift Card Data permission (Lightspeed, October 2026) ([Lightspeed X-Series support, Importing and exporting gift card balances](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534112450587-Importing-and-exporting-gift-card-balances); [Lightspeed R-Series support, Migrating gift cards from Retail POS (R-Series) to Retail POS (X-Series)](https://retail-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/39301788936987-Migrating-gift-cards-from-Retail-POS-R-Series-to-Retail-POS-X-Series))
- **X-Series export ceilings:** 1,000 customers; 1,000 or 10,000 sales. Per standard file. A documented link edit has exported 15,000 customers at once, and two Lightspeed articles disagree on the sales ceiling (October 2026) ([Lightspeed X-Series support, Adjusting customer loyalty balances](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25535035254427-Adjusting-customer-loyalty-balances); [Lightspeed X-Series support, How to export customers without the 1000 customer limit](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534013635483-How-to-export-customers-without-the-1000-customer-limit); [Lightspeed X-Series support, Exporting your Sales Data from Retail POS (X-Series)](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534215415963-Exporting-your-Sales-Data-from-Retail-POS-X-Series); [Lightspeed X-Series support, Understanding and managing the Sales history page](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534095402907-Understanding-and-managing-the-Sales-history-page))
- **Gift card codes Shopify accepts:** 8 to 20 letters and numbers. A supplied code outside that rule cannot be kept, and Lightspeed R-Series codes can run to 32 characters, so check every code first (Shopify developer docs and Lightspeed, October 2026) ([Shopify developer docs, GiftCardCreateInput](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-graphql/latest/input-objects/GiftCardCreateInput); [Lightspeed R-Series support, Manually importing credit accounts and gift card data](https://retail-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/228960827-Manually-importing-credit-accounts-and-gift-card-data))
- **Partner-led migration, per Shopify:** Highest cost; rollback planning usually included. Shopify's blog ranks partner-led migration the highest-cost path and says most implementation partners include quality assurance, testing and rollback planning (July 2026) ([Shopify blog, Store Migration Shopify App: Import Data (2026)](https://www.shopify.com/blog/store-migration-shopify-app))

## Deploi's call

Ask about the liabilities, not the portfolio. Gift cards, loyalty balances and tax registrations are where a retail point of sale (POS) migration goes wrong. An agency's answers on those three predict the outcome better than any case study, because they cannot be answered from a template.

**BUILD: Hire an agency to lead the cutover when**

- You run several stores and carry a gift card or loyalty balance book, so the work is reconciliation more than catalog import.
- Your customer list runs past Lightspeed X-Series's 1,000-row standard export, so extraction needs paging and checks ([Lightspeed](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25535035254427-Adjusting-customer-loyalty-balances), October 2026).
- The agency answers six screening questions in writing, on Lightspeed series, gift cards, loyalty, tax, rollback and month-end close, including a numeric abort rule for the pilot store.
- You want a store-by-store rollout runbook you keep, the kind of deliverable [our POS rollout playbook record](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/new-store-opening-and-pos-rollout-playbook) scores BUILD because no app packages one.

**BUY: Run it with Shopify's own tools when**

- You have one or two stores, a clean catalog and no gift card book.
- The Store Migration app offers Lightspeed on your store; its Lightspeed path is in early access for certain stores only ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/migrating-to-shopify/migrating-from-lightspeed), October 2026).

## Why is a generic replatform reference not enough to hire on?

A generic replatform reference is not enough, because a retail point of sale (POS) cutover fails in places a website migration never reaches. An agency that moved thirty stores off Magento moved thirty catalogs. A Lightspeed cutover differs in three ways: the inventory record counts stock on real shelves, some data objects are liabilities, and failures happen at a till in front of customers. Shopify calls its free Store Migration app "best suited for smaller brands" and points multistore retailers to another path ([Shopify blog](https://www.shopify.com/blog/store-migration-shopify-app), July 2026). So the screening questions test what only someone who has stood in a store on cutover night can answer. Each one maps to a step in [the Lightspeed cutover order and rollback plan](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/migrate-lightspeed-pos-without-store-downtime).

## Which questions test an agency on Lightspeed data and balances?

Three questions test whether an agency knows Lightspeed's data and the balances inside it; ask each before you volunteer the answer:

1. **"Which Lightspeed series are we on, and how does that change your plan?"** A competent answer names your series and one consequence. Lightspeed X-Series loyalty is a dollar balance ([Lightspeed](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25535035254427-Adjusting-customer-loyalty-balances), October 2026). For R-Series, Lightspeed's Loyalty articles count "Loyalty points" ([Lightspeed](https://retail-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011038813-Managing-Loyalty-customers), October 2026), though one comparison article calls Lightspeed Loyalty cash back "in dollars" ([Lightspeed](https://retail-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/51269175504539-Understanding-Lightspeed-Advanced-Loyalty-and-Marketing-powered-by-Marsello), October 2026). *Red flag:* treating Lightspeed as one product, or saying R-Series cannot export gift cards. It can, from Customers > Gift cards ([Lightspeed](https://retail-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/39301788936987-Migrating-gift-cards-from-Retail-POS-R-Series-to-Retail-POS-X-Series), October 2026).
1. **"Where does our gift card liability land, and who reconciles it?"** A competent answer checks every code before promising to keep it, because Shopify accepts a supplied code only if it is 8 to 20 letters and numbers ([Shopify developer docs](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-graphql/latest/input-objects/GiftCardCreateInput), October 2026). Lightspeed R-Series codes can run to 32 characters ([Lightspeed](https://retail-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/228960827-Manually-importing-credit-accounts-and-gift-card-data), October 2026). [Moving gift card balances intact](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/lightspeed-gift-card-balance-migration) covers the load and the reconciliation. *Red flag:* reissuing every code without checking which ones Shopify can keep.
1. **"What are our loyalty balances denominated in, and what receives them in Shopify?"** A competent answer asks before it names a destination, because Shopify store credit holds dollars ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/customers/store-credit), October 2026) and a points app holds points. [Where Lightspeed loyalty balances should land](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/lightspeed-loyalty-program-migration-path) weighs both. *Red flag:* naming a loyalty app first.

## Which questions test tax, rollback and month-end sign-off?

Three questions test whether an agency has carried a cutover through tax, register day and the first close:

1. **"Who owns the sales tax registrations, and what do you assume about them?"** A competent answer says you do, because Shopify's US setup guide tells merchants "you need to contact each of the relevant agencies and register with them" ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/taxes/us/us-tax-setup), October 2026). The agency should plan to rebuild tax settings, since the Store Migration app does not import them ([Shopify blog](https://www.shopify.com/blog/store-migration-shopify-app), July 2026). *Red flag:* any answer implying tax settings transfer.
1. **"What is the rollback on register day, and what is the abort condition in numbers?"** Sales rung up after cutover exist only in Shopify, so rollback means keeping Lightspeed live and read-only, not reversing. A competent answer adds a final export on cutover night and a numeric abort rule. *Red flag:* "We do a full backup first." A backup is not a rollback when the new transactions are what you would lose.
1. **"Who signs off the first month-end close, and are you in the room?"** A migration ends when finance closes a month on Shopify with no adjustment nobody can explain. *Red flag:* a statement of work that ends at go-live.

## Which free questions show an agency has not scoped a Lightspeed cutover?

The pilot store, the exclusions list and the reasons to postpone are three questions that cost nothing and expose an agency that has not scoped the work:

- **"How many stores do you want in the pilot, and which one?"** The right answer is one store, and a busy one that takes many payment types, because a quiet store hides the failures.
- **"What are you explicitly not doing?"** Every honest scope has an exclusions list, so an agency that cannot produce one has not scoped the work.
- **"What would make you tell us to postpone?"** The answer should include peak season, an unreconciled gift card book and a catalog restructure in flight, the same conditions under which we would not start a Lightspeed cutover.

## Why should no agency price a Lightspeed cutover before seeing your row counts?

No agency can price a Lightspeed cutover honestly before seeing your row counts, because Lightspeed's export ceilings make the work scale with rows, not stores. A standard Lightspeed X-Series customer export stops at 1,000 rows ([Lightspeed](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25535035254427-Adjusting-customer-loyalty-balances), October 2026), though a documented link edit has exported 15,000 ([Lightspeed](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534013635483-How-to-export-customers-without-the-1000-customer-limit), October 2026). Sales history exports stop at 1,000 ([Lightspeed](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534215415963-Exporting-your-Sales-Data-from-Retail-POS-X-Series)) or 10,000 per file ([Lightspeed](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534095402907-Understanding-and-managing-the-Sales-history-page), October 2026), depending on which Lightspeed article you read. So we do not estimate a Lightspeed cutover before we see the series and the counts for gift cards, loyalty balances and customers. An agency that quotes a fixed price first is either carrying a large contingency or about to discover one. Ask how its quote breaks into [the line items a migration quote should carry](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/shopify-plus-migration-quote-line-items), and whether [a paid discovery phase leaves you a data map you own](https://deploi.ca/shopify/faq/agency-discovery-audit-phase-paid-or-free).

## When should you not hire an agency at all?

Do not hire an agency when the work is small, when the blocker is a decision, or when peak is less than 10 weeks away:

> **When not to do this**
> - **One or two stores, a clean catalog and no gift card book.** Shopify's free Store Migration app plus a careful week can be enough. [Our record on Shopify point of sale (POS) against Lightspeed Retail](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/shopify-pos-vs-lightspeed) scores Shopify POS **BUY** for that move. Check first that the app offers Lightspeed on your store, because its Lightspeed path is in early access, for certain stores and desktop only ([Shopify Help Center](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/migrating-to-shopify/migrating-from-lightspeed), October 2026).
> - **When the bottleneck is a decision, not delivery.** If the business has not agreed what happens to the loyalty program, an agency will bill you to wait, because nobody can build to an open decision.
> - **When peak is less than 10 weeks away.** That is our rule of thumb: buy the delay, not the delivery.

## Deploi's point of view

**Where we disagree.** The standard vendor-selection advice is to weight platform certifications and past logos. Certifications tell you an agency can build a Shopify store. Almost nothing in this project is building a Shopify store. It is data extraction under row limits, liability reconciliation, and a change-management exercise in a room with a queue in it.

**What this page adds.** what a competent answer sounds like for each of the six mechanics the parent page sequences, the red flag for each, and the two things we refuse to estimate without: the Lightspeed series and the row counts.

## When this answer changes

- Shopify takes the Store Migration app's Lightspeed path out of early access, or adds gift cards, loyalty balances or tax settings to what it imports.
- Lightspeed changes the 1,000-row standard customer export on X-Series, or settles its sales export ceiling at 1,000 or 10,000.
- Lightspeed withdraws the R-Series gift card export, or changes the Export Gift Card Data permission it needs.
- Shopify changes the under-$15,000 USD store credit cap per customer account, or lets customers apply part of a balance.
- Shopify's admin gains a gift card import, which would retire the developer-or-app route for balances.

## Sources

1. [Shopify blog, Store Migration Shopify App: Import Data (2026)](https://www.shopify.com/blog/store-migration-shopify-app), checked October 8, 2026
2. [Shopify Help Center, Migrate from Lightspeed](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/migrating-to-shopify/migrating-from-lightspeed), checked October 8, 2026
3. [Lightspeed X-Series support, Importing and exporting gift card balances](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534112450587-Importing-and-exporting-gift-card-balances), checked October 8, 2026
4. [Lightspeed R-Series support, Migrating gift cards from Retail POS (R-Series) to Retail POS (X-Series)](https://retail-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/39301788936987-Migrating-gift-cards-from-Retail-POS-R-Series-to-Retail-POS-X-Series), checked October 8, 2026
5. [Lightspeed R-Series support, Managing Loyalty customers](https://retail-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011038813-Managing-Loyalty-customers), checked October 8, 2026
6. [Lightspeed X-Series support, Adjusting customer loyalty balances](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25535035254427-Adjusting-customer-loyalty-balances), checked October 8, 2026
7. [Lightspeed X-Series support, How to export customers without the 1000 customer limit](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534013635483-How-to-export-customers-without-the-1000-customer-limit), checked October 8, 2026
8. [Lightspeed X-Series support, Exporting your Sales Data from Retail POS (X-Series)](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534215415963-Exporting-your-Sales-Data-from-Retail-POS-X-Series), checked October 8, 2026
9. [Lightspeed X-Series support, Understanding and managing the Sales history page](https://x-series-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/25534095402907-Understanding-and-managing-the-Sales-history-page), checked October 8, 2026
10. [Shopify developer docs, GiftCardCreateInput](https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-graphql/latest/input-objects/GiftCardCreateInput), checked October 8, 2026
11. [Shopify Help Center, Store credit](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/customers/store-credit), checked October 8, 2026
12. [Shopify Help Center, Setting up US taxes](https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/taxes/us/us-tax-setup), checked October 8, 2026
13. [Lightspeed R-Series support, Understanding Lightspeed Advanced Loyalty and Marketing powered by Marsello](https://retail-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/51269175504539-Understanding-Lightspeed-Advanced-Loyalty-and-Marketing-powered-by-Marsello), checked October 8, 2026
14. [Lightspeed R-Series support, Manually importing credit accounts and gift card data](https://retail-support.lightspeedhq.com/hc/en-us/articles/228960827-Manually-importing-credit-accounts-and-gift-card-data), checked October 8, 2026
15. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Shopify POS vs. Lightspeed Retail: Which POS Fits a Shopify Store?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/shopify-pos-vs-lightspeed), checked October 8, 2026, Deploi research
16. [Deploi Build vs. Buy, Build or Buy a POS Store-Opening Playbook on Shopify?](https://deploi.ca/shopify/build-vs-buy/new-store-opening-and-pos-rollout-playbook), checked October 8, 2026, Deploi research