Key takeaways
- BigCommerce shows no data total, so you export all orders from Orders > Export Orders with the Default template as CSV and count the different Order IDs, since an order shipped to several addresses takes several rows.
- Exporting orders needs the Manage Orders and Export Orders permissions, and creating or editing an export template needs Manage Export Templates.
- For more than 1,000 orders you select the option to save the export to the server for later download, and products and customers export separately with the Bulk Edit template.
- You don't need to export anything to apply: have your unique order count, the date of your oldest order and your control panel user count ready, and the data vendor anonymizes the records before any AI lab sees them.
01
What is BigCommerce data, and why do AI labs and data vendors buy it?
The short answer
BigCommerce data is the record of everything an online store built on BigCommerce has sold: each order with its customer, coupon, tax, shipping method and payment method. AI labs (companies that build and train AI models) and data vendors (companies that anonymize business records and package them for those labs) buy a copy because years of orders show how real online sellers price, discount and ship products.
What a BigCommerce store records
BigCommerce is a platform that lets a business run an online store. Each checkout is saved as an order, and the order holds the customer, the products, any coupon or gift certificate used, the tax charged, the shipping method and the payment method. The store also keeps its product catalog and its customer list.
A business manages all of this in the control panel, the private admin area where staff log in to run the store.
Why years of orders teach an AI model something
An AI model learns by studying a very large number of examples and finding the patterns in them, and those examples are called training data. A store's public pages show listed prices. Its orders show what customers paid after discounts, which coupons they used, which shipping methods they picked and how those choices changed over the years.
AI labs also want to train AI agents, software that carries out a job step by step, such as answering a customer's question about an order. A data vendor can turn anonymized orders into worked examples that an agent studies like an answer key. The full mechanism is in AI training data: why AI companies want your company's data.
How BigCommerce fits into a dataset
A BigCommerce store is usually one of several apps in a company's dataset, alongside email, accounting and support records. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to. The price covers the whole dataset, not each app on its own, and what your data is worth explains what moves it.
02
Where does BigCommerce show how much data you have?
The short answer
BigCommerce shows no total for the size of your data, so you export all orders from Orders > Export Orders and count the different order IDs in the file. Your user needs the Manage Orders and Export Orders permissions, and any BigCommerce store can do it.
How to count your orders
The steps below build the all-time order count from a first export of the order list.
- Check that your control panel user has the Manage Orders and Export Orders permissions.
- Go to Orders > Export Orders, choose the Default template and the CSV format, and run the export.
- Open the file and count the different values in the Order ID column.
A CSV is a plain spreadsheet file. The count of different order IDs is the number of orders, as BigCommerce's guide to importing and exporting orders describes the export.
Why one order can fill more than one row
An order shipped to more than one address can take more than one row in the file, because BigCommerce writes one row for each shipping destination. Counting rows would therefore overstate the number of orders, so count the distinct order IDs instead.
Which permissions each task needs
| Task | Permission needed |
|---|---|
| Export orders | Manage Orders and Export Orders |
| Create or edit an export template | Manage Export Templates |
03
What should you know about your BigCommerce data before you apply?
The short answer
Have three facts ready: how many unique orders the store has taken, how many years it has been selling and how many people have a control panel account. They go into the data manifest, the written summary of which apps hold your records, how many years each covers and roughly how much. Applying shares no data, and you don't need to run an export first.
The order count
Report unique orders as the number of records, which means the count of different order IDs rather than the number of rows in the file.
The years of history
Use the oldest order date in your export. That date tells a buyer how many years of sales the records cover.
The number of seats
A seat is one person who can log in. Count the user accounts in the control panel.
What you don't need to do first
You don't need to export anything to apply, and you don't need to clean or scrub an export. micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to, anonymizes the records before anyone else sees them, and nothing moves until a lawyer-reviewed license is signed. The application, the intro call and each later step are laid out in how to sell your company's data.
04
How do you export your full BigCommerce history?
The short answer
Export orders from Orders > Export Orders as a CSV or XML file, tick the option to save the export to the server if the store has more than 1,000 orders, and then download the file. Products export from Products > Export and customers from Customers > Export. The Bulk Edit template includes nearly all exportable fields.
Export all orders
- Go to Orders > Export Orders.
- Choose the Default template or a custom one, and choose CSV.
- If the store has more than 1,000 orders, select Save export to the server for later download?
- Click Continue, then Start export, then Download my Orders file.
Order exports come as CSV or XML (a structured text format that some other software reads). A file saved to the server lands in the exports folder in WebDAV, a file-sharing area attached to your store.
Export orders for certain years only
- Go to Orders and open Search.
- Under Search by Date, set a custom period and set the date type to Order date.
- Run the search, then click Export all.
Every order in the search results is exported, not just the first page of them.
Export products and customers
Products export from Products > Export, and customers from Customers > Export. Choose the Bulk Edit template for both. It includes nearly all exportable fields.
BigCommerce's guides to importing and exporting products and importing and exporting customers describe the templates in detail.
What a template decides
An order export includes only the fields in the template you pick. To add columns, copy the Default template under Settings > Export templates and edit the copy; that needs the Manage Export Templates permission. Orders can be exported from the control panel, but importing orders into a store needs the API.
Sources: BigCommerce Support, Importing and Exporting Orders, Importing and Exporting Products and Importing and Exporting Customers. Steps checked against these pages in November 2026.
05
What stays private when BigCommerce data is licensed?
The short answer
An export template lets the company leave out columns, such as customer phone numbers, before any file is created. The data vendor then replaces customer names and other personal details with consistent stand-ins before an AI lab sees anything, and the company keeps ownership of its store history.
You choose which columns leave the store
Because an order export holds only the fields in the template, a company decides what is included by editing a copy of the template. Switching off the phone number column means no file ever contains phone numbers. The diagram below shows the same order exported both ways.
Names are replaced before a lab sees them
Anonymization means replacing every detail that identifies a person, such as a name, an address or an email address, with a stand-in that is the same every time it appears. A repeat customer still looks like the same customer, but nobody can tell who the customer is. The method, including what is deleted outright and how you review samples, is in how company data is anonymized for AI training.
Ownership and payment
Licensing gives the buyer limited rights to a copy, while the company keeps ownership of the originals. The terms that matter, such as exclusivity, permitted use and deletion, are covered in data licensing, and is it legal to sell company data covers the legal questions. micro1 pays in full within 30 days of accepting the data, usually as a single payment.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How do I export BigCommerce orders for certain years only?
Go to Orders > Search, set a custom period under Search by Date with the date type set to Order date, run the search and click Export all. Every order in the results is exported, not only the first page.
Why does one BigCommerce order appear on several rows?
Because the order was shipped to more than one address. BigCommerce writes one row for each shipping destination, so count distinct order IDs rather than rows.
What permissions do I need to export from BigCommerce?
Manage Orders and Export Orders to export orders. To create or edit an export template you also need Manage Export Templates.
Why is a column missing from my BigCommerce order export?
The template controls the columns, and an order export holds only the fields in the template you chose. Copy the Default template under Settings > Export templates, add the fields and export again with the copy.
Can I import orders back into BigCommerce?
Not from the control panel. Orders can be exported there, but importing orders requires the API.
Do we need to export BigCommerce before we apply?
No. The application shares no data. You only need your unique order count, the date of your oldest order and the number of control panel users. The export is needed later, when the records are transferred after you sign the license.
What is BigCommerce data worth to AI labs and data vendors?
Store history is priced as part of a whole dataset rather than on its own. Companies are paid $100K to $2M or more per dataset, according to micro1, and the price depends on the years of history and how completely the records show each job. What your data is worth explains the factors.
Bottom line
Know what is in BigCommerce, then see what it is worth
You don't need to export anything to apply. Apply in two minutes, describe your records on the intro call, and micro1, the data vendor we typically refer companies to, prices the whole dataset and sends an offer 1–2 days later.
Not legal, tax or financial advice. Figures come from micro1's published pages and public reporting as of November 2026.