Going live

Work down this list in order. It takes about twenty minutes, most of which is waiting for an email to arrive.

1. Save your live key and switch the mode

On the Stripe tab, paste your live secret key into the live box and turn the Mode switch to Live. Your test key stays saved, so you can go back at any time.

Saving a live key is not what makes the shop live. The mode switch is.

2. Create a live webhook

In live mode, press Set up webhook automatically. Then press Verify connection now and wait for it to come back green. See The webhook if it does not.

3. Set real postage prices

The postage prices a fresh install ships with are examples, not suggestions. Open the Shipping tab and put your real figures in.

Remember that a price of 0 means the service is not offered, not that it is free. If you want free postage, use Free postage over a spend or a quantity. See Postage zones and services.

4. Choose what document customers get

On the Emails tab, in Receipts, invoices and refunds, the Invoice / receipt document setting starts at None. If you want your customers to receive the plugin's free PDF receipt with their confirmation, choose Plugin receipt now.

5. Fix your email delivery before you need it

WordPress hands mail to your web server unauthenticated, and spam filters bin it silently. This is not a plugin fault and no plugin can fix it from inside WordPress.

Install an SMTP plugin such as WP Mail SMTP and connect a proper sending service. Then press Send test emails on the Emails tab and confirm the pair arrive at an address on a different domain from your website. Checking your own domain proves less than you would like.

6. Read the cancellation wording, and point at your policy pages

The buyer's confirmation ships with the UK's required cancellation and returns wording already in place, on by default on the Emails tab. Read it once and make sure it matches how you actually handle returns. Then, on the Settings tab, point the Policy pages card at your Terms, Privacy and Returns pages, and follow the card's fold to switch on Stripe's consent line - two Dashboard settings, both needed. The Emails article has the detail.

7. Turn on Stripe's own emails

Stripe sends the payment receipt and the refund notification. The plugin sends the order confirmation and your seller notification. They are different messages, but two receipts is one too many, so decide first which is sending the receipt:

• Chose the plugin's own Plugin receipt in step 4? In Stripe, under Settings → Business → Customer emails, leave Successful payments off and tick Refunds.
• Sending no plugin document? Tick both Successful payments and Refunds.
• Either way, under Branding, add your logo and colours. Stripe's emails and checkout page use those, not the ones set in this plugin.

8. Take one real payment, then refund it

Buy the cheapest thing you sell, with a real card. Then check, in order:

• The confirmation email arrived, and looks right.
• Your seller notification arrived, with the delivery address on it.
• The order appears on the Orders tab.
• Stock went down, if that product has a stock count.
• The Mark as shipped button in your seller email works.

Then refund it from the Stripe dashboard. Refunds always happen in Stripe; there is no refund button in this plugin, deliberately.

9. Clear your test order notes

On the Stripe tab, press Clear test order data. This removes the notes this site kept about test orders: which ones you marked posted, which had been emailed, the delivery log, the test-mode takings total, and any stale checkout error. Nothing in Stripe is touched and your live orders are untouched.

It also resets the Start here checklist so it re-measures. On a live shop your real order immediately re-completes it, so nothing is lost.

A last look

Check the shop is open. On the Settings tab, under Shop status, the switch reads "The shop is open and taking orders". If it is unticked, every Add to basket button says Shop closed and the basket disappears entirely.