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Timeline
The Shopify vape ban, from AG letter to shutdown day.
The dated sequence of how a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general moved Shopify to remove an entire product category. Each milestone is sourced.
November 2025
The coalition letter
A bipartisan coalition of 25 state attorneys general plus New York City sends Shopify a joint letter demanding it stop hosting illegal ENDS sales, citing confirmed illegal vape sites and hundreds of tobacco-adjacent listings.
23–24 June 2026
Shopify announces the ban
Shopify announces a total, US platform-wide ban on all vape and e-cigarette products: devices, e-liquids, pods, and parts, regardless of nicotine content. State AGs including Massachusetts and Minnesota issue welcome statements.
Late June 2026
Merchants get the notice
Affected stores receive removal instructions. Shopify’s own community forum fills with merchants unsure of the exact deadline, pulling it from secondhand email reports rather than a clear public announcement.
7 July 2026
Merchant cutoff
Deadline to remove all ENDS products or file a successful appeal. Non-compliant stores are disabled. Public storefronts show “This store is currently unavailable.” Checkout and payments stop.
After the cutoff
Appeals and data windows
Appeals open but, with only about 45 FDA-authorized ENDS products nationwide, they fail for most flavoured sellers. Admin access becomes read-only, and merchants race to export data before it is queued for deletion.
Sources: state AG press releases (MA, MN, CA, CT, NM); Truth Initiative; Tobacco Reporter; Shopify Community forum; FDA PMTA authorizations. Compiled 2026.