What to do in the first 48 hours — in plain terms, from someone who builds accessibility tooling, not a lawyer.
If you are reading this, a letter or email probably arrived today saying your store is not accessible to people with disabilities and threatening a lawsuit under the Americans with Disabilities Act. It usually names a law firm, cites WCAG, and asks you to call.
You are not alone and you are not being singled out. Over 5,000 of these were filed in 2025. A small number of firms send most of them, and they find targets by running automated scans across thousands of stores — which means the letter is about what a scanner found on your homepage, not about you.
This tool is not legal advice. Everything below is procedure and public record; decisions about your letter belong with a lawyer who has read it.
1. Do not ignore it, and do not reply yet.
Most letters set a deadline. Missing it makes things worse. But replying without advice can also make things worse — anything you write can be quoted back later. Note the deadline and move to step 2.
2. Talk to a lawyer who handles these specifically.
This is a niche. General business lawyers often over- or under-react. Search for “ADA website defense” plus your state. Many work on a flat fee for demand letters, and a short call is usually free. Ask two things: what the realistic range is, and whether fixing the site quickly changes it.
3. Find out what is actually wrong — today.
The letter probably lists a few generic issues. Before anyone quotes you a number, you should know your own store's state. Run a scan. Screenshot the result with the date visible. This is your record of where things stood on the day you received the letter.
4. Fix what you can fix yourself, tonight.
On most Shopify stores, the majority of common findings are things the owner can change in the admin without a developer — image descriptions, empty button labels on a few icons, a missing page language setting. Doing those today does not make the letter go away, but it changes the conversation: you are now a store that responded, with a dated record showing it.
5. Keep everything.
The letter, the envelope or email headers, your scan results, screenshots of each fix, timestamps. If this goes anywhere, a clear paper trail of prompt action is worth more than any single fix.
Free, no signup. Checks the ten issues cited most often in ADA filings, marks them on a preview of your storefront, and tells you which ones you can fix in the Shopify admin yourself — and which ones need a theme change.
Scans the homepage only. Automated checks typically catch 20–40% of WCAG issues; a human review finds more. Your scan is not shared with anyone.