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Store setup checklist

Updated May 30, 2026 Getting Started

This is the short version of everything it takes to get a TitanCart store ready for real customers, in roughly the order that goes fastest on a fresh install. You can do these steps in any sequence, but a new store usually moves quickest top to bottom. Each step links to a deeper guide where one exists — this page is the map, not the manual.

Note: Everything below lives under the TitanCart menu in wp-admin. Most of it is in TitanCart → Settings, where each tile (Currencies, Payment Gateways, Tax Rules, and so on) opens its own page.

1. Install and activate TitanCart

If you haven’t already, install the plugin and activate your license so the full feature set unlocks.

  1. Follow Installing TitanCart to get the plugin running.
  2. Go to TitanCart → Settings → Account & License and activate your license key. See Activating a license key for the details.

2. Set your store currency

Pick the currency your prices are shown and charged in before you add products, so every price you enter lands in the right currency from the start.

  1. Go to TitanCart → Settings → Currencies.
  2. Add the currency you sell in (or edit the seeded one) and mark it as your primary currency. The primary currency is the one used for checkout totals and reporting.

Note: Set the primary currency first. Changing it after you’ve entered prices doesn’t convert existing amounts — it just relabels them, so a product entered as “20” becomes “20” in the new currency.

3. Enter your company details

Your company information appears in the footer of transactional emails (order confirmations, returns, gift cards, subscription notices), so customers can see who they bought from.

  1. Go to TitanCart → Settings → General Settings and open the Company section.
  2. Fill in Company Information — name, address, city, state, ZIP, country, and phone.
  3. Under Department E-mail Addresses, set the Order department e-mail address. This is the “From” address for all transactional email; if you leave it blank, TitanCart falls back to your WordPress admin email.

4. Configure how emails are sent (SMTP)

Order confirmations and other transactional emails need a reliable way out. By default WordPress uses the server’s PHP mail function, which often lands in spam. For real deliverability, send through an SMTP service.

  1. Go to TitanCart → Settings → General Settings and open the E-mails section.
  2. Set Method of sending e-mails to via SMTP server.
  3. Under SMTP Server Settings, enter your SMTP host (you can add a port after the domain, like smtp.example.com:587), your SMTP username and SMTP password, choose the right encryption (None, SSL, or TLS), and turn on Use SMTP authentication if your provider requires a login (almost all do).

Note: Many providers only let you send from an address on a domain you’ve verified with them. If your emails fail to send, the most common cause is a “From” address (your Order department e-mail in step 3) that doesn’t match the domain your SMTP account is authorized for.

5. Connect a payment gateway

You need at least one way to take money before you can accept orders.

  1. Go to TitanCart → Settings → Payment Gateways.
  2. Add and configure a gateway. Start with Payment gateway overview, then follow the guide for the one you use: Stripe, PayPal, Authorize.net, or Square. To take payment offline, see Offline methods — COD, Bank Transfer, Check.

Note: Set up your gateway in test / sandbox mode first and place a practice order. You’ll switch to live keys in step 10, right before launch.

6. Set up shipping

If you sell physical products, define where you ship and what it costs. (Skip this if you only sell digital or downloadable products.)

  1. Go to TitanCart → Settings → Shipping Methods.
  2. Create your shipping zones and rates. The full walkthrough is in Shipping zones and rate tables.

7. Set up taxes

Configure the taxes you’re required to charge and the locations they apply to.

  1. Go to TitanCart → Settings → Tax Rules.
  2. Create your tax classes and rates by destination. See Tax rules and destinations for the details. Products are assigned to a tax class on the product editor.

8. Add your products

With currency, payments, shipping, and tax in place, your products will be priced and charged correctly from the moment you add them.

  1. Follow Adding your first product to create your catalog.

9. Connect your storefront theme

Make sure your products, cart, and checkout actually appear on your site.

  1. Follow Connecting the TitanCart theme so the storefront pages render with the right layout.

10. Review checkout, statuses, and notifications

A few settings shape the buying experience and what customers hear from you after they order.

  1. Checkout — in TitanCart → Settings → General Settings → Checkout, decide whether to allow guest checkout, set any minimum order amount, and confirm your address handling.
  2. Order Statuses — in TitanCart → Settings → Order Statuses, review the statuses an order can move through and adjust if your fulfillment process needs it.
  3. Notifications — in TitanCart → Settings → Notifications, check which emails go to customers, administrators, and (if you run a marketplace) sellers.

11. Go live

When you’ve placed a successful test order end to end, you’re ready to flip the switch.

  1. In TitanCart → Settings → Payment Gateways, switch your gateway from test / sandbox to its live keys and turn off any test mode.
  2. Place one real low-value order with your own card to confirm money moves and the confirmation email arrives, then refund it.
  3. Double-check your currency, company details, and SMTP “From” address one last time — these are the things customers notice immediately.

Are you ready to go live?

A quick gut-check before launch — you should be able to answer yes to all of these:

  • Your primary currency is set and your prices look right on the storefront.
  • Company details and the Order department e-mail are filled in.
  • A test order went through and you received the confirmation email.
  • Your payment gateway is switched to live keys.
  • Shipping and tax (if you charge them) calculate correctly at checkout.

Troubleshooting

  • Order confirmation emails aren’t arriving — you’re likely still on the default PHP mail method, or the SMTP “From” address doesn’t match a domain your provider has authorized. Revisit step 4 and confirm the Order department e-mail in step 3.
  • Prices show in the wrong currency — the primary currency wasn’t set before products were added. Set it in Settings → Currencies; note that changing it relabels amounts rather than converting them.
  • Can’t complete a test order — confirm a payment gateway is added and enabled in Settings → Payment Gateways, and that it’s in test / sandbox mode while you’re testing.
  • No tax or shipping at checkout — these only apply once you’ve created rules in Settings → Tax Rules and Settings → Shipping Methods, and (for tax) assigned products to a tax class.
  • Products don’t appear on the site — the storefront theme isn’t connected yet; see Connecting the TitanCart theme.

See also

Next
Admin dashboard tour