Shopify checkout not working

Updated 11 October 2026

Short answer

Place a test order yourself and note exactly where it stops: adding to cart, entering the address, choosing shipping, or paying. Each step points to a different cause. Missing shipping rates for the customer's country, payment provider settings, inventory, and apps or theme code that change the cart are the most common.

What's the problem

Customers say they can't check out, orders have dropped, or checkout shows an error, an empty page, or "no shipping rates available".

Why it happens

  • No shipping rates for the customer's address or for the products in the cart.
  • Payment settings: the provider isn't fully set up, needs verification, or was disconnected.
  • Inventory: products out of stock or not available in that market.
  • An app that modifies the cart or checkout is failing.
  • Theme code in the cart page or checkout button stops customers reaching checkout.
  • A Shopify incident affecting checkout.

How to fix it

  1. Place a test order using Shopify's test payment gateway, or Shopify Payments' test mode, and note where it fails.
  2. If shipping fails, check your shipping zones and rates cover the customer's country and the product's weight.
  3. If payment fails, check your payment settings for alerts or verification requests. See Shopify Payments not working.
  4. If the cart or checkout button fails, test with your theme's original version or a default theme to rule out theme code. See Shopify cart error.
  5. Disable recently added apps that touch the cart or checkout.
  6. Check Shopify's status page for checkout incidents.

What Preventionlabs checks

One click runs the full report on your domain. For this problem it shows your store: whether the password page is on, products are in stock and the cart works; whether your site loads, how fast, and where its redirects go; up to 50 pages from your sitemap, listing any that fail or are slow, plus broken links on them; script libraries on your homepage with published security holes; every outside service your homepage loads scripts and files from. It doesn't place orders or see your Shopify admin, so check Settings and your apps there too.

Run your free report

Your first report is free, no card needed. Then A$50 a month, up to 10 domains. Read-only: it never changes anything.

Sources

  1. Shopify: Placing a test orderhelp centerBy placing a test order, you can make sure that your checkout process and settings for order processing, inventory, shipping, email notifications, and taxes are all correct.
  2. Shopify: Placing a test orderhelp centerYou should place at least one test order during your store setup or whenever you make changes to your payment settings .

Related

Shopify Payments not working Check your payment settings for a verification request or alert. Missing documents, an unsupported business type or country, or test mode are common causes. Shopify cart error Cart errors usually come from theme code or an app that changes the cart, or from stock and product settings. Test with an unedited theme to find out which. Checkout broken Place a test order and see where it stops. Failed payments are usually provider keys, test mode or webhooks; a frozen checkout is usually a script error. Is Shopify down? Check Shopify's status page first. If Shopify is fine, the problem is usually your domain, a theme change, or an app. Here's how to narrow it down.

Preventionlabs is independent and not affiliated with Shopify. Product names are used only to describe the problem.

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