How to QA a Shopify store before launch

Shopify makes it easy to build a store and easy to ship one with broken edges. Themes, apps and custom code interact in ways the theme preview never shows, and the bugs that matter most - in checkout and discounts - are exactly the ones a quick click-through misses. Here's how to test a Shopify store properly before it goes live or back to a client.

Products and variants

• Every variant (size, colour, bundle) is selectable and shows the right price and image
• Out-of-stock and back-in-stock states behave correctly
• Product media loads; zoom and galleries work on mobile
• Related/upsell blocks link to real, in-stock products

Cart and checkout

This is the money path - test it hardest:

• Add, update quantity and remove items; the cart total always matches
• Checkout completes with a real test transaction end to end
• Express options (Shop Pay, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal) each work
• A declined or interrupted payment recovers gracefully
• The thank-you page and order confirmation email show correct items and totals

Discounts and promotions

Discount logic is the single most common source of revenue-losing Shopify bugs:

• Percentage, fixed-amount and free-shipping codes each apply correctly
• Minimum-spend and product-specific conditions are enforced
• Automatic discounts and stacked codes don't double-apply
• Expired or invalid codes are rejected with a clear message

Shipping, tax and addresses

• Rates calculate for domestic and international destinations
• Free-shipping thresholds trigger at the right cart value
• Tax shows correctly for the regions you sell to
• Address validation handles non-US formats without blocking the sale

Email and notifications

• Order confirmation, shipping and refund emails send and render on mobile
• Branding, links and totals in emails are correct
• Abandoned-cart and flow emails (Klaviyo etc.) fire as configured

Mobile and theme

Most Shopify traffic is mobile. Walk the full purchase on a real phone, in Safari on iOS especially. Check sticky headers, drawers, the cart and the checkout - and that no app widget covers a button.

Third-party apps

Every installed app is code you didn't write running on your store. Confirm reviews, subscriptions, bundles, wishlists and pop-ups all work together and none throws console errors or slows the page to a crawl.

The pre-handoff pass

Before a store goes live - or back to your client - run the cart, checkout and one discount scenario one last time on desktop and mobile. It's the difference between the client finding the bug and you finding it first.