Yahoo! to Shut Down Commerce Central (Lexity) on November 11, 2021

It’s time to say goodbye to Yahoo! Commerce Central, formerly known as Lexity.  Yahoo! has announced the service will officially be shut down on November 11, 2021.  Commerce Central is home to apps that merchants can use for things such as email marketing, analytics, promotions, and more.

The announcement was made on October 25, 2021, which doesn’t give merchants much time to find alternate solutions for apps they may be using if they want to continue on with a replacement service.

For Your Store Wizards clients, the only impact will be for those using our Traffic Guardian service.  We have contacted these clients to let them know that their service will automatically shut down on November 11, 2021, and billing will cease on that date.

Yahoo! has posted some FAQ’s and the most relevant ones are below:

What’s happening?
We (Yahoo!) are ending support for all paid and free Commerce Central apps effective November 11, 2021. At that time we will also disable the ability to sign up for new apps. 

Please note that this also includes the Insights app automatically used for Web Hosting and Merchant Solutions accounts. Please use a 3rd party analytics solution such as Google Analytics moving forward. Refer to this help article for more information on adding Google Analytics to your site. 


What is the deadline for me to take action?
On November 11th, you will lose access to any Commerce Central apps you have installed. Please be sure to move to a new solution for those apps prior to the November shut-off and cancel the apps yourself to prevent further billing. All remaining apps will be fully canceled before December 31st, 2021. 


What will happen to my Commerce Central App/Subscription?
Starting on November 11th, you will no longer be able to access your Commerce Central apps and they will cease to function. Please cancel all of your apps before that date to ensure your billing is halted. We (Yahoo!) will be canceling any remaining accounts before the end of the year. 


Do I need to make any changes to my website or store in relation to this?
For our (Yahoo!)  Insights app, there are no changes you need to make to your accounts or websites after the end of life. The tab will disappear on November 11th and any relevant tracking pixels removed. If you would like visitor analytics, please use a 3rd party alternative such as Google Analytics. 

For any other apps, you will need to reach out to the supplying company to find out if there are additional steps you need to take. 

One of the most important things to take note of is that if you are using Remarkety with your Yahoo! Store, you will need to take steps to make sure that will continue to function once Commerce Central is shut down.  Yahoo! has provided the following guidance:

How can I continue using Remarkety for my Merchant Solutions store? 

Use Real-Time Links (Merchant Standard/Professional only)

Ensure you are using Real-Time Links to pass order data to Remarkety. If you aren’t already set up using the Real-Time Links, you need to reach out to Remarkety. If you are unsure if Real-Time Links is set up yet with Remarkety, you can look by doing the following:

  1. Sign in to your My Services page
  2. Click the Store link. 
  3. Go to Real-Time Links
  4. Go to Real-Time Link Settings.
  5. Look for a link with “webhooks.remarkety.com“. If it is not present, you will need to reach out to Remarkety to get set up. 

Switch to Remarkety billing

After your Commerce Central apps are closed, you will no longer get billed through us (Yahoo!). Remarkety can easily switch you to their direct billing.  Please reach out to Remarkety and let them know you had an account through Yahoo Commerce Central and now need to switch to billing through Remarkety.

More information on this can be found at https://help.smallbusiness.yahoo.net/s/article/SLN29688

    

 

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