Store setup checklist

Updated Oct 17, 2026 Getting Started

This is the short version of everything it takes to get a TitanCart store ready for real customers, in the order that goes fastest on a fresh install. Each step links to the deeper guide where one exists — this page is the map, not the manual. Everything below lives under TitanCart in wp-admin, and most of it under TitanCart → Settings, where each card opens its own page.

1. Install, and activate your license

Install the plugin as described in Installing TitanCart. On TitanCart Pro, go to Settings → Account & License, paste your key into License key and click Activate license (Activating a license key). On TitanCart Lite there is no key: skip this step.

2. Set your currency

Activation seeds the US dollar as the primary currency. If you sell in something else, change it before you enter prices: go to Settings → Currencies, click Add Currency, fill in the code, symbol and formatting, and tick Primary currency. The primary currency is what prices are entered in and what checkout charges; its exchange rate is always 1.

Note: Changing the primary currency later does not convert existing prices — a product entered as 20 stays 20 in the new currency. The primary currency cannot be deleted or disabled.

3. Enter your company details

Go to Settings → General Settings → Company. Under Company Information fill in the company name, address, city, state, zip code, country and phone; together they form the address block in the footer of every transactional e-mail. Under Department E-mail Addresses, set the Order department e-mail address: it is the From address for all transactional mail (orders, returns, gift cards, subscriptions). Leave it blank and TitanCart falls back to your WordPress admin e-mail. The other department addresses on that page are marked coming soon and are not used yet.

4. Configure how e-mails are sent

Order confirmations need a reliable way out. By default TitanCart sends through the server’s PHP mail function, which often lands in spam. Go to Settings → General Settings → E-mails, set Method of sending e-mails to via SMTP server, and fill in SMTP host (add the port after the domain, for example smtp.example.com:587), SMTP username, SMTP password, Use Encrypted Connection (None, SSL or TLS) and tick Use SMTP authentication if your provider requires a login (almost all do). Save, then use the Send test email panel at the bottom of the same page to prove the transport works before you go any further.

Note: Most providers only send from an address on a domain you have verified with them. If the test fails, the usual cause is an Order department e-mail (step 3) that does not match the domain your SMTP account is authorised for.

5. Connect a payment gateway

Go to Settings → Payment Gateways and enable at least one. Read Payment gateways overview first, then the guide for yours: Stripe (in Lite and Pro), or on Pro PayPal, Venmo, Square and Authorize.net. To take payment without a processor, see Offline payments (cash on delivery, bank transfer, cheque). Set the gateway up in its test or sandbox mode first and place a practice order; you switch to live keys in step 11.

6. Set up shipping

If you sell physical products, go to Settings → Shipping Methods and create your zones and rates — see Shipping zones. Skip this for a digital-only store.

7. Set up taxes

Go to Settings → Tax Rules and create the tax classes and rates you are required to charge by destination — see Tax rules. Products are assigned to a tax class in the product editor.

8. Add your products

With currency, payments, shipping and tax in place, products are priced and charged correctly from the moment you add them. Follow Adding your first product, or bring an existing catalogue across with Migrating from WooCommerce.

9. Install the storefront theme

Install the free Prism theme and pick a preset so the shop, product, cart and checkout pages look the part — see Connecting the TitanCart theme. While you are there, check Settings → Permalinks in WordPress is not set to Plain: TitanCart’s storefront URLs depend on pretty permalinks.

10. Review checkout, statuses and notifications

Settings → General Settings → Checkout — decide whether guests may check out (Disable anonymous checkout is off by default, so they may), whether to set a Minimum order amount, and whether to Ship to billing address only.
Settings → Order Statuses — the statuses an order moves through; adjust only if your fulfilment process needs it.
Settings → Notifications — the Customer notifications and Administrator notifications tabs list every e-mail TitanCart sends; switch off any you do not want and check the wording.

11. Go live

In Settings → Payment Gateways, switch your gateway from test or sandbox to its live keys and turn off test mode.
Place one real low-value order with your own card, confirm the money moves and the confirmation e-mail arrives, then refund it from the order page.
Double-check the currency, the company details and the Order department e-mail — these are what customers notice first.

Ready to go live?

You should be able to answer yes to all of these:

The primary currency is set and prices look right on the storefront.
Company details and the Order department e-mail are filled in, and a test e-mail arrived.
A test order went through end to end and you received the confirmation e-mail.
The payment gateway is on live keys.
Shipping and tax, if you charge them, calculate correctly at checkout.
The storefront pages render with the theme and permalinks are not Plain.

Troubleshooting

Order confirmation e-mails are not arriving. You are still on the PHP mail method, or the Order department e-mail does not match a domain your SMTP provider has authorised. Revisit steps 3 and 4 and use Send test email.
Prices show in the wrong currency. The primary currency was changed after products were entered; amounts are relabelled, not converted.
A test order will not complete. No gateway is enabled under Settings → Payment Gateways, or the one you enabled is missing its test keys.
No tax or shipping at checkout. They apply only once rules exist under Settings → Tax Rules and Settings → Shipping Methods, and (for tax) the product has a tax class.
The shop pages are 404s. Settings → Permalinks: pick anything but Plain and click Save Changes.