Handle duplicates and existing companies
How B2B Desk spots applicants who may already be in Shopify, what each match means, and how to add an applicant to an existing company instead.
B2B Desk checks every application for signs that the business or person is already in Shopify. It checks when the application arrives, and again each time you open it while it’s New or Needs info, so the result reflects your store as it is now. A possible duplicate shows a Possible duplicate badge in the applications list.
What it looks for
| Match | How it’s found |
|---|---|
| A company with the same name | Compared with your Shopify companies. Accents, “&” vs “and”, a leading “The” and legal suffixes like Inc, LLC, Ltd, GmbH, BV or Pty are ignored, so “The Acme Supply Co, LLC” can match “Acme Supply”. |
| A company with the same email domain | Compared with companies you approved through B2B Desk. Free email providers like Gmail never count as a match. |
| A company with the same tax ID | Compared with companies you approved through B2B Desk. |
| An existing customer account | A customer with the applicant’s email, and any companies they’re already a contact at. |
| An earlier application | Earlier applications from the same email, with their status. |
The Duplicate check card in the application’s sidebar lists every match with a link, for example “Existing company with the same name and same email domain”. With no matches it says “No company, customer or earlier application matches this applicant.”
Add the applicant to an existing company
When the company is already in Shopify, add the applicant as a new contact there instead of creating a second company:
- In the approval form, choose An existing company under Add the applicant to. If a company matched, the banner “This company may already be in Shopify” has an Add to button for it, which does the same.
- Under Find a company, search by name and pick the Company and Location. Matched companies are listed first.
- Check the Main contact and choose their Role at the location.
- Click Approve.
The contact joins the location you chose. The location’s payment terms, tax and pricing stay as they are.
Use the applicant’s existing customer account
If the applicant’s email already belongs to a customer, Use the existing customer account is ticked under Main contact. B2B Desk makes that customer the company contact, keeping their name and email, so the buyer signs in with the account they already have. If they’re already a contact at another company, the help text says so.
Duplicates and auto-approve rules
An approve rule never approves a possible duplicate. If the applicant matches a company, is already a contact at a company, or has an earlier approved application, the rule hands the application to a reviewer. The timeline records it as “matched, but the applicant may already be a company: routed to a reviewer”. See How rules run.