WineDirect Classic retires on December 31, 2026. WineDirect's own site says it plainly: existing clients can use WineDirect Classic until that date (winedirect.com, checked October 1, 2026). Most wineries will have at least one club release to plan around before then.
This is the order we would do things in, whichever platform you pick next. Full disclosure: CrushSuite makes compliance and wine club apps for Shopify, so one of the paths below is ours. The checklist works for all of them. If you want the options side by side, they are on our WineDirect alternative page.
What is actually happening
- Commerce7 bought WineDirect's software business. The acquisition of WineDirect's SaaS division was announced on January 16, 2025 (Commerce7).
- Commerce7 is the default path, not the only one. Commerce7 offers WineDirect wineries free data migration, with onboarding it puts at about 6 to 8 weeks depending on how much data you have (Commerce7 acquisition FAQ).
- WineDirect Fulfillment is a separate business and continues. If WineDirect warehouses and ships your wine, that relationship is its own conversation.
- You have real choices. Commerce7, Vinoshipper, OrderPort, eCELLAR, vinSUITE, VinesOS, Offset Commerce, and Shopify with a compliance app are all live options for a WineDirect winery today.
The ten steps
The steps are in order. How long each one takes depends on your exports and your release calendar, so set your own dates against them.
1. First, write down your calendar
List your next two club release dates, your busiest tasting room weekends, and the day you want orders running through the new system. Your release calendar is the real deadline, not December 31. A move planned between two releases is calm. A move that splits one billing run across two platforms is the thing to design out from the start.
2. Request your exports in writing
Ask your WineDirect account team for CSV exports of customers, club memberships with tier and status, order history, and products. As of October 2026, Commerce7's acquisition FAQ describes moving to Commerce7 but does not describe exporting to another platform, so put the request in writing and keep the reply. Every later step depends on these files, which is why this one comes first.
3. Ask your payment processor about saved cards
Saved cards do not sit in your platform in a form anyone can copy. They live with your payment processor as tokens, and whether those tokens can move, and to which processor, is the processor's decision. Ask three questions: can our stored cards be transferred, to whom, and how long does it take? Plan for the answer to be "most of them" rather than "all of them". Members whose cards do not come across need a simple way to add one again, and a good migration plan includes that link from the start.
4. Decide who owns compliance
Somebody has to check age, state eligibility and tax on every order, and somebody has to file the reports. Settle that before you pick a storefront.
- Commerce7 connects to ShipCompliant, and full compliance checks need your own paid ShipCompliant account (Commerce7 docs).
- Vinoshipper includes compliance, tax remittance and state reports, and says its team handles license applications and renewals (Vinoshipper pricing).
- Shopify with CrushSuite integrates with Vinoshipper and with Sovos ShipCompliant. With either one, orders are checked inside your own Shopify checkout before the customer pays, on any Shopify plan; with ShipCompliant, tax is calculated inside checkout on Shopify Plus and on the committed order on other plans. See how CrushSuite Compliance works.
5. Shortlist two platforms and ask the same questions
Two demos is enough. Ask both vendors the same five questions, and get the answers in writing:
- What exactly do you import from a WineDirect export, and who does the work?
- What happens to members whose saved cards cannot move?
- How does my next club release run while we are mid-move?
- What does compliance cost on top of your plan?
- What is my monthly cost at my volume today, and at twice my volume?
6. Then set up the new store
Products, inventory, states, licenses and per-state fees, set up and checked. On Shopify, this is where CrushSuite Compliance and Clubs get installed and connected to your compliance provider. If you want it done for you, CrushSuite Studio's App Setup and Migration is $2,500 fixed and estimated at five business days from access and payment. The rest of the calendar is your exports and your release dates.
7. Import members and build your next release
Customers and club members come in from the CSVs, into the clubs you want to keep. On Shopify with CrushSuite, saved cards come across where your payment processor allows it, and anyone whose card does not gets a payment-setup link rather than a request to sign up again. Then build the first release that will bill from the new platform, and review it line by line against the last one you ran on WineDirect.
8. Before go-live, place a real test order
Not a demo account. A real order to a real address in a state you ship to, plus a test club signup. Confirm the age check, the state rules, the fees and tax, the confirmation email, and that the order reaches whoever packs it. This is the single most useful hour of the whole move.
9. Go live between two releases
Pick a go-live that sits between two club releases and away from your busiest weekends, and keep WineDirect on in parallel as a reference for the first few weeks. Email your members before the switch: what changed, how to sign in, and what to expect at their next charge.
10. Last, close out WineDirect
Bill your first club release from the new platform when it falls. Take one final export of everything from WineDirect, archive it somewhere you control, and confirm with your processor which tokens moved. Do this well before WineDirect Classic retires, not in its final week.
What it costs
Published pricing as of October 1, 2026. Platform or app fees only, before card processing, which every option charges:
- Commerce7 Lite: $59 a month with no transaction fee, for wineries in the US and Canada under $100,000 a year in DTC revenue. Basic: $149 a month plus 1.5%, up to $600,000. Compliance is separate (Commerce7 pricing).
- Vinoshipper: no monthly fee, 1.85% plus $0.75 per item on shipped orders, and 2.9% card processing. Compliance included.
- OrderPort: no percentage of sales. A free One plan, Plus at $150 a month, and onboarding from $1,000 (OrderPort pricing).
- eCELLAR: commission-free, from $450 a month under $500,000 a year (eCELLAR pricing).
- Shopify with CrushSuite: Compliance from $49 a month plus 1.9%, Clubs from $79 plus 1.9%, or the Bundle at $299 plus 0.9% on club orders. Your Shopify plan and your compliance provider's own fees are separate. Every number, with a calculator, is on our pricing page.
Three more questions
Do I need Shopify Plus to sell wine on Shopify?
No. CrushSuite runs on any Shopify plan, Basic through Plus, inside the checkout you already use.
What about my tasting room?
On Shopify, the tasting room runs on Shopify POS, so in-person and online orders share one customer record. Reservations are not in our suite yet: CrushSuite Seats is coming soon, so keep your current booking tool for now.
What if a release lands in the middle of the move?
Run it where your members are that week. Plan the cutover between two releases, and the next one bills from the new platform.
The short version
Write down your release dates first. Request your exports and ask your processor about cards next. Then pick a platform, place a real test order before go-live, and switch between two releases. If you would like to see how the Shopify path works end to end, read how migration works, compare the options on our WineDirect alternative page, or book a migration call and we will map your dates with you.
