Confirm or accept an ownership transfer

For: Company owners handing over their company, and the members taking it overRequires: The ownership transfer email, and being signed in with the account it was sent toScreenshots show sample data

An ownership transfer in comrce Hub runs over two emails, so nobody becomes owner by accident. The current owner opens the first link and confirms. The chosen member then gets an invitation link and accepts, which makes them the owner.

Each link works only for the person it was sent to, signed in with their own account. The transfer is valid for 48 hours from the moment the owner started it.

What you can do here

Confirm the transfer as owner. One button sends the invitation to the member you chose. Until then nothing happens. Confirm as the current owner
Accept the transfer as the new owner. One button makes you the owner immediately. The previous owner becomes a Member. Accept as the new owner
Switch to the right account. If you are signed in with another account, the page names the account it needs and lets you log out. When you are signed in with another account
Recognise an expired link. The error page says the link has expired or could not be used, and how to get help. When the link does not work

Transferring company ownership explains the whole transfer.

The screen at a glance

The page that opens from the confirmation email comrce Hub sends to the company owner after a transfer was requested. A fixed top bar holds the light/dark switch at the right. Under "Welcome to comrce" a card reads "Confirm ownership transfer" and "Confirm that you want to invite the selected member to become the new company owner." The highlighted "Confirm" button sends the invitation to the chosen member. The owner must be signed in with the owner's own account. Signed-out visitors see the sign-in form first. — Step two of a transfer, the owner confirms from the email link.

Region	What it shows	What you do there
Top bar	The light/dark switch at the right	Switch between light and dark display
Below the top bar	The comrce logo and the heading Welcome to comrce	Nothing
The card	A heading, one sentence and one or two buttons	Confirm, accept, log out or cancel

If you open a link while signed out, the sign-in form appears first, in the same place. After you sign in with your email and password, the page continues.

Confirm as the current owner

Open the email comrce Hub sent after you selected Confirm transfer on the Company tab. Select its link.
Sign in with the owner’s account if asked.
On Confirm ownership transfer, select Confirm.

The page Thank you. follows: The ownership transfer invitation has been sent and is currently pending acceptance.. The chosen member now gets an invitation email. You stay the owner, with every permission, until they accept.

The page shown after the owner selected Confirm. Next to an exclamation-mark drawing, the highlighted heading "Thank you." is followed by "The ownership transfer invitation has been sent and is currently pending acceptance." A back arrow at the top left of the page returns to comrce Hub. Nothing else changes at this point: the owner keeps every right until the new owner accepts. — After confirming, the invitation goes to the new owner. Nothing changes until they accept.

Accept as the new owner

Open the invitation email and select its link.
Sign in with the account the email was sent to, if asked.
On Accept company ownership, select Confirm.

The page that opens from the invitation email the chosen member receives, here Marco Weber, signed in with his own account. A card reads "Accept company ownership" and "You will become the new company owner. Confirm to accept the transfer." The highlighted "Confirm" button completes the transfer at once: Marco becomes the owner of Nordwind Handels GmbH and the previous owner becomes a Member with the Member permissions. — Step three, the new owner accepts and ownership moves immediately.

The page Ownership transfer accepted confirms it. From now on you are the company’s owner with every permission. The previous owner is a Member with the Member preset of permissions. If comrce started the transfer at your request, the previous owner also gets an email that it is complete.

The page shown to the new owner after selecting Confirm. Next to an exclamation-mark drawing, the highlighted heading "Ownership transfer accepted" is followed by "You have accepted the ownership transfer invitation." A back arrow at the top left of the page returns to comrce Hub, where the new owner now has every right in the company and sees the Transfer Ownership button on the Company tab. The previous owner continues as a Member. — The transfer is complete. The new owner has full access from now on.

When you are signed in with another account

The email may be meant for a different account than the one you are signed in with. The acceptance page then shows Different account required with the expected email address. The confirmation page shows Sign in as the current owner. Select Log out, sign in with the right account and open the link again.

The acceptance page opened while signed in as Lena Hoffmann instead of the invited member. The card reads "Different account required" and "This transfer must be accepted by marco.weber@example.com. Log out to continue with that account." The buttons are the highlighted "Log out", which signs out so the right person can sign in and accept, and "Cancel", which returns to comrce Hub without changing anything. The confirmation page for the owner shows the same kind of card, "Sign in as the current owner". — Only the person named in the email can accept. Log out and sign in with that account.

When the link does not work

The error page appears when the transfer expired, was already used or was replaced by a newer one. It also appears when the page could not be processed. An expired transfer shows This ownership transfer link has expired.. Other cases show Something went wrong.. There is no retry button. The owner starts a new transfer from the Company tab.

The error page for an ownership transfer link that can no longer be used. It reads "This ownership transfer link has expired." and "The ownership transfer could not be processed. Please try again or contact Support.", followed by "Need help?" with the highlighted "Contact Support" link, which opens an email to the comrce support team. A transfer expires 48 hours after it was requested. The owner then starts a new one from the Company tab. Without the expired marker the page reads "Something went wrong." instead. — Expired or already used links end here. The owner starts a new transfer.

Every control, explained

The controls that need a word of explanation come first. The obvious ones are collapsed at the end.

Confirm

Where

The blue button on the confirmation and on the acceptance card, labelled Confirm.

What

On the confirmation page, it confirms the transfer and invites the chosen member. On the acceptance page, it completes the transfer. Only the right signed-in person sees it.

Why

Two people confirm, so ownership never changes by mistake.

Other controls on this page

Control	What it does	Why
Log out	Signs you out so you can sign in with the right account. Shown on the wrong-account card.	The page tells you who has to act
Cancel	Returns to comrce Hub without changes. Shown on the wrong-account card.	Leave the page without changing anything
Support link	On the error page, after Need help?. Opens an email to comrce support.	For cases a new transfer does not solve

What you need to know

Topic	Fact
Validity	Both links stop working when the transfer expires
Open the link in time	After you open a link, its page stays usable for 30 minutes. After that, open the email link again.
Same browser	Open the link in the browser where you then sign in
One transfer	A new transfer cancels the earlier one. Only the newest links work.
Result	New owner: all permissions. Previous owner: Member with the Member preset.

Frequently asked questions

Links

The ownership transfer pages work only for a signed-in user. Sign in on that form with the current owner’s account. The confirmation card then appears in its place.

Why does the link say it has expired?

A transfer is valid for 48 hours after the owner started it on the Company tab. After that both links show the expired message. The owner starts a new transfer from the Company tab, which sends new emails.

Can I use the link from an older transfer email?

No. Starting a new transfer cancels the previous one, and its links stop working. Only the links in the emails of the newest transfer work.

I signed in with Google from the confirmation page and ended up on the start page. Why?

After a Google sign-in on the owner’s confirmation page, comrce Hub does not return to the confirmation. Open the link from the confirmation email again while signed in. The confirmation card then appears.

Accounts

Why does the page say a different account is required?

Only the current owner can confirm, and only the chosen member can accept. Log out with the button on the card and sign in with the account the email was sent to. Then open the link again.

Can the new owner accept from someone else’s account?

No. comrce Hub compares the signed-in account with the chosen member. Any other account sees the card asking for a different account and cannot accept.

Result

What happens to the previous owner?

The previous owner stays in the company as a Member, and their permissions are reset to the Member preset. The new owner can grant them more permissions on their user tab afterwards.

Can a transfer be undone?

Not directly. Once accepted, the new owner is the owner. To hand the company back, the new owner starts a transfer to the previous owner from the Company tab. This works only if that person owns no other company.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
This ownership transfer link has expired.	The transfer has expired. The owner starts a new one on the Company tab.
Something went wrong.	The transfer was replaced or already completed. Or the new owner meanwhile owns a company or is no longer active. Check the Company tab.
Different account required	Log out and sign in with the email address shown on the card.
The page stays on the sign-in form after signing in	Open the email link again in the same browser while signed in.