When your business changes hands, it's important to ensure a smooth transition in your Lightspeed account. Transferring site ownership allows the new owner to take full control of the site, subscription, and account settings without losing historical data or disrupting operations.
This guide covers transferring site ownership to another user in Back Office. For Lightspeed Payments, follow the separate process to transfer ownership for your Lightspeed Payments settlement.
What's in this guide?
Understanding site ownership transfer
Transfer site ownership if you're the existing owner
Acquiring site ownership if you're the new owner
Frequently asked questions
Understanding site ownership transfers
Site ownership transfer allows you to hand over control of your Lightspeed site to another user while keeping your data, settings, and integrations intact. This section will explain the basic guidelines and when a transfer is appropriate.
Site transfer guidelines
To ensure a smooth transfer, it's important to know who can initiate the process, what's needed, and if additional steps are required based on your setup.
Transfer eligibility and requirements
- Only the current site owner or a Lightspeed employee can transfer a site.
- If you're not the current owner and require assistance, you must provide proof of the owner’s permission for the transfer.
- The nominated new owner must be an existing user on the site, have the Admin role, and must have logged in (i.e. be active) within the company’s Back Office prior to accepting ownership.
- To expedite the process, the new owner should add billing payment details in advance.
- If you have a Lightspeed Payments terminal, you'll need to transfer ownership through a separate process.
When to transfer site ownership
Not every situation calls for a site transfer. An ownership transfer is recommended in specific scenarios where business operations remain largely unchanged. Common examples include:
- An existing employee is taking over operations.
- You’re creating or setting up a franchise.
- You’re keeping the same hardware and consent to share sales data.
A site transfer requires the current owner’s permission to protect sales data privacy. Without it, the new owner must create a new company, which will not retain the previous sales history.
Integrations are linked to individual user credentials. After the transfer, the new owner may need to reconnect third-party integrations using their own login details to ensure they continue working correctly.
Transferring site ownership if you're the existing owner
To transfer site ownership, you must be logged in as the current site owner. The new owner must already be a user on the site, have the Admin role, and have logged in (active status) before they can be nominated as the new site owner.
To transfer site ownership:
- Log in to Back Office.
- Go to Home → Subscriptions.
- If you have multiple sites, choose the site you want to transfer ownership of.
- Under Transfer ownership, select Transfer site ownership.
- Select the user who will become the new site owner (must be an active Admin).
- Select Send Invitation.
- Review the dialog box to confirm you understand the invoicing process after the ownership change, then click Send.
The new owner will receive an email with a link to accept the ownership transfer. If the invitation expires before acceptance, you can resend it from the same screen. After accepting, they'll be prompted to update their payment details if this hasn't been completed in advance.
Acquiring site ownership if you're the new owner
If you're not the existing site owner and require our team to process the site transfer, you must provide proof that the current site owner has given permission for the site to be transferred.
This can be an email or phone call from the current site owner, and forward it to your Account Manager. If you're unsure who your Account Manager is, reach out to our Support team for assistance.
Once permission is confirmed:
- If you're not yet a user on this site, you'll receive an invitation and be granted admin access. You must accept this invitation.
- Update your payment details immediately after accepting ownership to prevent billing failure or service interruption.
- Your Account Manager will then complete the site transfer.
To protect business and customer data, a site transfer requires the current owner’s permission. If this isn’t provided, the incoming owner cannot access historical data and must either create a new Lightspeed account or add a new company under their existing login.
Frequently asked questions
Only users who are eligible to become a site owner will appear in the drop-down list. If the nominated user doesn’t have access to the site, isn’t an Admin, or hasn’t previously logged into this company’s Back Office, they won’t be shown. All three conditions must be met before they can be selected as the new site owner or accept a transfer.
After completing the site transfer, the new owner should follow the steps to change ownership of the Lightspeed Payments terminal .
No. Transferring site ownership includes access to all historical sales data, products, and users.
No, but we recommend that the new owner contact our Account Management team to ensure they are fully onboarded. If you don't know your Account Manager, reach out to the Support team for assistance.
What's next?
Learn how to manage billing and subscription settings for your Lightspeed Restaurant account.
Managing your Lightspeed Restaurant subscription
Learn the essentials of managing your business settings in Back Office.