Shopify Is Enabling Product Theft — And Has Profited From It for Years

If you are a creator, designer, or small business owner, what’s happening on Shopify should outrage you.

For years, independent knitting and crochet designers have been fighting a quiet but devastating battle: fraudulent Shopify stores stealing our work, selling it as their own, and profiting from it — while Shopify looks the other way and takes a cut (Shopify automatically takes a percentage of every single sale made on all Shopify shops).

This isn’t an isolated incident. This isn't new. These are well-known criminal Shopify shops in the maker community. The people being harmed are small independent business owners.

Today, I’m breaking down exactly what’s happening, why it's being allowed, and how you can help force accountability.

(At the end of this blog post you'll find an email that you can copy, paste and send to Shopify's legal team to try and put an end to this theft once and for all.)

What’s Actually Happening: Theft at Scale

Shopify stores — fuzzycrochet.com, comfyscrafts.com, and patternscharm.com, among many, many others — are currently operating storefronts built entirely on stolen knitting and crochet patterns.

These websites:

Steal original knitting and crochet patterns and list them as their own.
Copy photos, product descriptions, and even customer reviews to mislead buyers.
Block original designers — and even their family and friends — from viewing the site, making the theft difficult to detect and report.
Spend enormous amounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest ads to aggressively push traffic to their stores, giving them massive reach and visibility that small business owners cannot even come close to competing with.

For example, as Fuzzycrochet.com is mainly targeting Canadian Etsy shop designers, all of Canada is currently blocked from viewing fuzzycrochet.com, preventing many of the designers they stole from even seeing their own work, let alone be able to report the theft. This has been happening for years, with dozens of designers affected — and the list continues to grow.

Shopify Says They'll Help You...

Shopify says they will remove the stolen content, all you need to do is submit a DMCA Take Down Notice.

Fill out a form claiming your work has been stolen and send it in to Shopify. Sounds simple — but Shopify just forwards it to the thief and gives them the option to either remove the content or fight it with a counter notice (this is when the criminal shop refuses to take the stolen content down). Ten times out of ten, the criminal shop submits a counter notice. Once Shopify receives the counter notice, they'll tell you your only option now is to file a lawsuit. If more than one design is stolen, you will need a separate lawsuit for each design. Shopify also lets you know once a lawsuit is filed, they can't prevent the thief from reposting the exact same design the next day under a different name.

Even worse: Creators who have filed multiple reports have been flagged by Shopify because of the “large number of DMCA submissions,” while the repeat offenders continue operating without consequence, generating high profits for both themselves and Shopify.

Shopify also has told designers who are met with counter notices, don't worry, just submit all of your information (links to stolen content, proof of ownership, provide evidence that other designers are dealing with this) to our legal team and we'll look into it further.

Shopify claims they practice AUP (Acceptable Use Policy) that outright prohibit theft on their platform.

Every designer has submitted all of the needed information to the Shopify legal team (after previously submitting DMCA Notices) and yet no one has ever gotten a response from Shopify. No response.

Why Isn’t Shopify Taking Action?

Here is the uncomfortable truth many creators have come to realize: These fraudulent shops spend significant money on paid ads on Facebook, Pinterest and other platforms. Paid ads generate very high sales volume. High sales volume earns a bigger cut for Shopify.

A much bigger cut than what the small independent designer would generate.

Shopify is favoring the highest earner.

This Is Bigger Than Knitting and Crochet

If Shopify allows entire stores built on stolen products to exist — even after repeated reports, evidence, and legal notices — then no creator on the platform is safe. If someone can steal your work, block you from viewing it, buy ads, and continue selling it for years? Your intellectual property is not protected on Shopify.

Shopify, We’re Calling on You to Act!

We demand that Shopify:

Permanently remove Fuzzy Crochet, Patterns Charm Comfyscrafts, and other repeat offenders
Block these thieves from opening new stores
Enforce the Acceptable Use Policy that prohibits stolen or infringing content
Protect honest creators who rely on Shopify for their livelihoods

Shopify, show us you are not also complicit in this theft.

How You Can Help (Copy & Paste This)

The most effective way to force Shopify to act is through collective pressure. If you are a creator, customer, designer, or simply someone who wants to support small businesses: 📧 Send the following email to legal@shopify.com

Even one email matters. Hundreds will be impossible to ignore.

📧 COPY & PASTE EMAIL TEMPLATE TO SEND TO SHOPIFY:

Subject: URGENT: Ongoing Copyright Theft on Your Platform (Immediate Action Required)

Hello Shopify Legal Team,

I am writing to report ongoing, widespread copyright infringement occurring on your platform by stores that appear to be operating entirely on stolen products.

The primary stores involved include:

fuzzycrochet.com
patternscharm.com
comfyscrafts.com

These websites have been stealing original knitting and crochet patterns, product photos, product descriptions, and customer reviews from independent designers for an extended period. Hundreds of DMCA Takedown Notices have been submitted to Shopify, along with formal legal letters and extensive evidence. Despite this, these stores remain active and continue to generate revenue for both themselves and you.

Additionally:

Creators reporting the theft have been flagged for “too many” DMCA submissions
These fraudulent shops are running paid ads to scale their operation
Entire areas and creators are blocked from viewing the infringing listings, making it next to impossible to be aware of the theft, let alone report it
New stores continue to appear selling the same stolen content

Below are direct links to the stolen content and the original listings, which demonstrate clear infringement:

WWW.FUZZYCROCHET.COM

1. Lily Lake Knits - Nova Scotia, Canada (Jenny)

Stolen design:

https://fuzzycrochet.com/products/serenity-blanket-knitting-pattern