What a high-risk store has to rebuild

9 October 2026. Crost.

A product export carries products, customers, and orders. It does not carry the behavior around them. A vape or smoke store usually depends on apps and settings for age verification, payments, loyalty, subscriptions, discounts, shipping rules, and tax, and none of those move with a spreadsheet. On a Crost migration they are rebuilt next to the storefront and back office the team already uses, on a Crost Commerce deployment dedicated to the store.

The checklist

  • Age verification. Where the check happens (account creation, cart, or checkout), what it uses, and whether payment is captured only after it passes.
  • Payments. The processor, its fallback, and how declines, authorizations, and captures are handled. Payment tokens held by the old platform may not be transferable, which affects stored cards and subscriptions.
  • Shipping and destination rules. Restrictions by product and by destination, carrier choices, and handling of orders that cannot ship to a given place.
  • Tax. The rules that apply to the products and the places you sell, and how they are calculated at checkout.
  • Loyalty and store credit. Balances, tiers, and the history behind them, with customer-facing numbers that must match on day one.
  • Subscriptions. Schedules, saved payment methods, and what happens to renewals during the cutover window.
  • Discount codes. Active codes, usage limits, and per-customer rules. Large code libraries are a common reason a migration stalls.
  • Reviews. Import them with their original dates and links to the right products so the history stays credible.
  • Transactional email. Order, shipping, and account messages, tested from the new system before launch.

Why fewer third parties

Every app is another vendor that can change its terms, raise its price, or drop an industry. The aim is fewer third parties, not a longer app list on a new host. Some services are still the right answer, such as the payment processor or a verification provider, and those are integrated rather than replaced.

Compliance stays with the merchant

You set the rules for your products and destinations, and Crost builds them in. Legal compliance for age-restricted sales remains the merchant's responsibility.

Scope for a specific store starts at the migration audit.