A shop that starts in test mode
Why every new Wundaly shop begins as a test shop with a mock payment, what the readiness check looks at, and why only a person can switch a shop to live.
Opening a shop feels like unlocking the door. Opening one by mistake, with a price wrong by a decimal point, feels like leaving it unlocked overnight. So in Wundaly a new shop is a test shop first, and it stays one until a person decides otherwise.
What a test shop is#
You ask your helper for a shop, perhaps from a preset such as a bakery shop. It builds the storefront, and you put products in the catalogue, each with a price in the shop's currency. A test shop can be published in seconds, so you can walk through it like a customer. A whole test order can run through a built-in mock payment, so nobody is charged and nothing real moves.
That mock matters. You find out that the flow makes sense, that the product pictures look right, and that the thank-you message does not greet everyone with an empty name, before a real customer finds out for you.
The readiness check#
Before a shop can go live there is a readiness check. It lists, in the order to fix them, what is holding the shop back. Typical things are seller details, legal texts and how payments are set up. You can ask your helper to read it out and work through it with you.
Payments run through the mock, or through a provider you set up (the shop supports Stripe and Mollie). The keys for a provider go into the workspace settings, never into a chat. See your shop for the full picture, and the catalogue for products and orders.
Only a person goes live#
Your helper cannot switch a shop to live. It cannot mark an order paid either, and it cannot invent a price: prices come from the catalogue and are recomputed on the server. These are deliberate walls, because they are the three places where a quick helper could do the most damage.
Legal texts are templates#
The shop comes with legal texts, such as terms. They are templates, not legal advice. Please have them checked before you take real orders, and enter your own seller details. The same goes for any website you publish from your website.
VAT, in plain words#
The catalogue knows the standard VAT rates for two countries: 21, 9 and 0 per cent for the Netherlands, and 19, 7 and 0 per cent for Germany. You choose the class of each product. If you are unsure which class a product belongs to, ask your adviser; Wundaly does not give tax advice.
A good first week#
Build the shop in test mode, run three test orders, read the readiness list, and only then think about going live. There is no prize for speed, and the shop will still be there on Monday. When you are ready for a place of your own, you can ask for one.