{
 "schema_version": "1.0",
 "id": "pixel-union",
 "name": "Pixel Union",
 "research_status": "researched",
 "vendor_domain": "pixelunion.net",
 "category": "Growth & Revenue",
 "task": "E-commerce growth",
 "summary": "Premium Shopify themes bought once rather than by subscription, from Pixel Union and its sister brand Out of the Sandbox. A theme is a starting point — the conversion lift comes from how you configure and populate it, not from the purchase.",
 "best_for": "online retailers and larger-catalog stores that want a professionally designed, conversion-focused Shopify storefront without paying for custom development",
 "skip_if": "a free or low-cost Shopify theme already covers your needs, or you have a developer building a bespoke storefront anyway",
 "honest_knock": "A premium theme is a strong starting point, not a finished store. The conversion lift comes from how you configure, populate and optimize it -- a $360 theme on a store with weak product pages or slow images still converts weakly. Heavily customized premium themes can also be more work to keep updated and can add page weight if you switch on every feature. Buy it for the design system and speed-to-launch, not as a magic conversion switch.",
 "pricing": {
  "status": "see_details",
  "entry_price": null,
  "entry_price_terms": null,
  "from_price_usd_month": null,
  "plans": [
   {
    "name": "Startup",
    "price": "$100",
    "includes": "one-time purchase"
   },
   {
    "name": "Editions",
    "price": "$120",
    "includes": "one-time purchase"
   },
   {
    "name": "Grid",
    "price": "$280",
    "includes": "one-time purchase"
   },
   {
    "name": "Atlantic",
    "price": "$300",
    "includes": "one-time purchase"
   },
   {
    "name": "Empire",
    "price": "$360",
    "includes": "one-time purchase"
   },
   {
    "name": "Tailor",
    "price": "$360",
    "includes": "one-time purchase"
   }
  ],
  "plans_source": "summarised from pricing.notes; every plan name and amount appears verbatim in those notes",
  "notes": "Read on 7 September 2026, re-read on 12 September 2026 and again, unchanged, on 27 September 2026. The theme pages on pixelunion.net print the price in plain text beside the 'Try theme for free' button, and the store's own product feed and the JSON-LD offer on those same pages carry the same figures, so all three agree: every theme is a one-time purchase in USD, Startup $100, Editions $120, Grid $280, Atlantic $300, Empire $360 and Tailor $360. That is a change between our two readings -- on 7 September the theme pages showed the button and no amount, and the price was readable only in the store's product data. The Shopify Theme Store lists Empire at the same $360 USD. Sister brand Out of the Sandbox, sold from outofthesandbox.com, runs from $220 (Responsive, Retina) and $240 (Launch, Pacific) through $260 (Parallax), $320 (Superstore) and $425 (Turbo) to $495 (Flex) and $499 (Amphora, Merlot, Vino); those amounts are from the 7 September reading and were not re-checked. The one recurring charge in the group is an optional Priority Support Subscription at $96 a year, auto-renewing, covering Pixel Union, Archetype, Clean Canvas and Out of the Sandbox themes.",
  "verified_at": "2026-09-27",
  "source_url": null,
  "schema_offer": null,
  "source_quotes": null,
  "recent_change": null,
  "price_history": null
 },
 "free_plan": false,
 "free_plan_evidence": null,
 "cost_traps": [],
 "compare_with": {
  "name": "Shopify's own free themes or a custom build",
  "why": "free themes are fine for simple stores; premium themes like these buy design depth and features you'd otherwise build by hand"
 },
 "links": {
  "record": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/api/v1/products/pixel-union.json",
  "review": "https://marketingandsalessoftware.com/pixel-union-review.html",
  "marketplace": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/marketplace/pixel-union/",
  "vendor_site": "https://pixelunion.net"
 },
 "purchase": {
  "seller": "the vendor",
  "how": "AIBuilder Marketplace does not sell this software. Sign up, start a trial or buy on the vendor's site.",
  "handoff_url": "https://partners.pixelunion.net/iv57khdrl4uh",
  "affiliate": true,
  "disclosure": "Where purchase.affiliate is true, purchase.handoff_url is an affiliate link: AIBuilder Marketplace may earn a commission at no extra cost to the buyer. Commission never changes what a record says, and products are not ranked by commission. Where it is false the link is the vendor's plain site."
 },
 "provenance": {
  "research": "hand-researched dossier, read on the vendor's own pages",
  "researched_since": "2026-07",
  "method": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/how-we-review/",
  "license": "CC BY 4.0. Credit 'AIBuilder Marketplace' with a link to https://aibuildermarketplace.com/atlas/.",
  "note": "A rebuild is not a new measurement: pricing.verified_at is the date that matters."
 },
 "cost": {
  "status": "not_yet",
  "engine": "https://aibuildermarketplace.com/agents/#cost",
  "rules": null,
  "growth": null
 },
 "unknowns": [
  "Pricing status is 'see_details': no single public entry price.",
  "Contract terms (cancellation, data export, data location, minimum seats) are not researched as separate fields; pricing.notes mentions them only where the vendor's pricing page does.",
  "Being verified: free trial and refund terms are not yet matched to a verbatim line on the vendor's own pages. Not matched does not mean there is none.",
  "No computable price rules yet: cost at a given team size cannot be calculated for this product.",
  "Not tested hands-on by us: what the product does comes from the vendor's pages and our reading of them."
 ],
 "verification": {
  "price": "read",
  "free_trial": "being_verified",
  "refund": "being_verified"
 },
 "status_page": null,
 "task_evidence": null,
 "open_questions": [
  {
   "question_id": "pixel-union:cancellation_terms",
   "key": "cancellation_terms",
   "question": "Can a customer cancel at any time, and what happens to an annual plan that is cancelled mid-term?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "pixel-union:data_export",
   "key": "data_export",
   "question": "Which data can a customer export, in which formats, on which plans?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "pixel-union:data_location",
   "key": "data_location",
   "question": "Where is customer data stored, and can a customer choose the region?",
   "status": "open"
  },
  {
   "question_id": "pixel-union:minimum_seats",
   "key": "minimum_seats",
   "question": "Is there a minimum number of seats or users on any plan?",
   "status": "open"
  }
 ],
 "vendor_answers": [],
 "agent_channels": {
  "vendor_mcp": null,
  "agent_checkout": {
   "status": "not_found",
   "detail": "No explicit support for purchases by AI agents on the vendor's own pages.",
   "checked_at": "2026-10-07",
   "method": "homepage, /pricing and the pricing page we cite, read as plain HTML (no JavaScript) and searched for explicit support of purchases by AI agents: Agentic Commerce Protocol, Instant Checkout, Agent Payments Protocol, buy in ChatGPT, agentic checkout"
  }
 }
}