1. Can the shopper choose and price a product?
Start at the top of the journey with a copy of the store and test data. For every product that matters, choose each option and add it to the cart. A missing size, a "no products matched" message or a variation with no price is a data fault in the product, not a checkout fault. The variation guide explains the attribute match, the "Any" option and the 30-variation switch.
- WooCommerce variable products: the variation guide and the one-product variation repair.
- Do not move on until every agreed combination reaches the cart as the right variation.
2. Does the shopper get a shipping method for each place you serve?
With a sellable cart, enter each destination. No method, or the wrong one, is a zone problem: the order of zones, a zone with no methods, a postcode pattern, or a country that the store settings do not allow. The zone guide shows how WooCommerce picks one zone per address, first match from the top. BigCommerce stores should read the shipping zone and method model in the platform page first.
- Test one address inside each zone, one just outside, and one in the catch-all.
- Fixed repair: the WooCommerce destination-by-destination shipping job.
3. Does the discount do exactly what you intended?
Run the baskets that use a code, with and without a second promotion. On Shopify, combination classes, per-customer limits, dates and eligibility explain most refusals. Settle the discount before blaming payment, because a wrong total can look like a payment problem.
- Write a basket matrix with expected totals first.
- Fixed repair: the Shopify discount-code job, proved on a test store.
4. Is the payment confirmed back to the store?
Pay with a test method and watch the order status. A payment that succeeds at the provider while the order stays Pending payment is a lost confirmation, not a failed payment. The confirmation guide shows where it is lost: redirects, access rules, a changed address or a deleted webhook. For WooCommerce, do this before looking at renewals or order emails, because both depend on a working confirmation. Shopify recovery emails do not depend on payment confirmation, so a Shopify store can go straight to step 5.
- Compare provider payments with order numbers for one day.
- Fixed repair: the WooCommerce stuck-order job, proved in test mode.
5. Do renewals and customer emails happen on time?
For subscriptions, check that renewal orders are created at the due time; the scheduler guide shows what triggers them and why quiet sites run late. For Shopify recovery emails, run the three-scenario test and check the list of cases where no email is sent. If the test email lands in spam, the fault is mail delivery, not the store setting.
- Fixed repairs: the subscription renewal job and the abandoned checkout email job.
6. Does the other system hear about the order?
Last, check that the order reaches the warehouse, accounting or notification system. A notification-based feed can miss or repeat events, and BigCommerce deactivates a webhook after 48 hours of failed retries. Compare order identifiers on both sides before trusting the feed.
- Fixed repair: the BigCommerce order webhook job; ongoing: the standing sync check.
Priced routes, not a package
Each fixed job is its own offer with its own acceptance test. Published test prices, which no buyer has yet responded to: WooCommerce variations £245, shipping zones £195, discount codes £145, abandoned checkout emails £165, stuck orders from £295, subscription renewals from £395 and BigCommerce order webhooks from £345. Payment follows agreed checks and your sign-off, and every price is confirmed in writing before work starts. If several links broke after one event, the recovery project is quoted from £1,750 against a checklist you agree. This sequence is a diagnosis order drawn from the cited platform behaviour, not evidence that anyone has requested or paid for these jobs.
- Send a redacted description and the journey that fails; never logins, keys or customer data.
Sources and limits
- WooCommerce documentation: Order statuses Checked 2026-10-11.
- Order statuses show what the store knows about a payment, and a Pending payment order has received no payment yet.
- WooCommerce documentation: Setting up shipping zones Checked 2026-10-11.
- Each address matches one shipping zone, first match from the top, and a zone with no methods leaves the shopper with no shipping.
- Shopify Help Center: Combining discounts Checked 2026-10-11.
- Discounts combine only when both allow it, and customers see a message when codes cannot stack.
- Shopify Help Center: Abandoned checkouts Checked 2026-10-11.
- Shopify lists the cases where no abandoned checkout email is sent.
- BigCommerce developer documentation: Webhooks overview Checked 2026-10-11.
- BigCommerce retries webhook deliveries for 48 hours and then deactivates the webhook.