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Jun 25, 2025 09:39 PM
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Squarespace
squarespace commerce
ecommerce
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Testing your Squarespace store is crucial to avoid checkout failures. Use real orders with refunds for accurate testing or enable test mode for simulations. Ensure shipping, taxes, and payments function correctly, and remember to clean up test orders afterwards. Double-check that test mode is off before launching.
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How to Test Orders in Your Squarespace Store
Why Test Your Store Before Going Live?
Testing your Squarespace Commerce setup isn't optional if you want to avoid embarrassing checkout failures. You need to know that shipping calculations work, taxes display correctly, and payments process without hiccups. Nothing kills trust faster than a broken checkout process.
Before You Start Testing
Make sure you've got these basics sorted:
- At least one product added to your store
- Shipping methods set up (or local pickup if you're selling physical products)
- A payment processor connected (Squarespace Payments, PayPal, or Stripe)
- Your site published and checkout enabled
Without these in place, your tests won't tell you much.
Method 1: Real Orders with Refunds (Recommended)
This is the most reliable way to test because you're using the actual payment system your customers will use.
Here's how:
- Add a product to your cart and go through checkout normally
- Use your real payment details and complete the purchase
- Check you receive the confirmation email
- Go to Commerce > Orders in your dashboard
- Find your test order and click "Issue refund"
The downside: You'll pay transaction fees that won't be refunded (usually around 2.9% + 20p per transaction). But this gives you the most accurate test of your customer's experience.
Method 2: Test Mode (Free but Limited)
Test mode lets you simulate transactions without real money changing hands.
To enable test mode:
- Go to Settings > Commerce > General
- Toggle on "Test Mode"
- Save your changes
To run a test:
- Add items to your cart and proceed to checkout
- At payment, use the dummy card number: 4242 4242 4242 4242
- Use any future expiry date and any 3-digit security code
- Complete the "purchase"
Important: Test mode orders still reduce your stock levels, so you'll need to manually adjust inventory afterwards if that matters to you.
Cleaning Up After Testing
For test mode orders:
- Go to Commerce > Orders
- Find your test orders and delete them
- Remember to turn off test mode when you're done
For real refunded orders:
- These stay in your system as cancelled orders
- That's fine - they won't skew your analytics
What to Check During Testing
Don't just click through mindlessly. Pay attention to:
- Tax calculations (especially if you're in the UK and need VAT)
- Shipping costs and options
- Discount codes if you've set any up
- Email confirmations (check your spam folder too)
- How the process feels on mobile
Common Gotchas
Gift cards: If you're testing gift cards, ones purchased in test mode won't work when you switch to live mode. You'll need to delete them and start fresh.
Stock levels: Test mode orders affect your inventory. If you "buy" your last item in test mode, your store will show it as out of stock until you delete the test order.
Payment processors: Some processors (like PayPal) handle test transactions differently. If you're using PayPal, consider testing with small real orders instead.
Before You Launch
Double-check you've switched off test mode. I've seen stores lose sales because the owner forgot this step. Your "Test Mode" indicator should be off in Settings > Commerce > General.
Test orders aren't glamorous, but they're essential. Better to catch problems now than when your first real customer is trying to buy from you.