Standing service checkout-keep-test-order-passing-through-updates · revised 11 October 2026
Standing service
Test your WooCommerce checkout on a copy before each monthly update window
Once a month, before your update window, we apply your pending updates to a store copy and run an agreed script of up to eight checkout cases before and after, then tell you whether to apply or hold.
This starts a conversation by email. Nothing is charged, and nothing is monitored, until we have agreed scope and terms with you in writing.
The responsibility you hand over
Updates to WooCommerce, a plugin, the theme or PHP can stop orders without any visible error, and the first sign is a quiet day of sales. Testing by hand after the fact means the shop has been broken while you looked, and many owners respond by not updating, which leaves other risks open.
Who it’s for: Owner of a WooCommerce store who updates plugins, themes and WooCommerce itself and worries that an update will quietly stop orders.
Usually starts when: An update has broken checkout once, or you leave updates waiting because you cannot tell whether they are safe.
The result: Before your monthly update window the pending updates are applied to a copy of your store, an agreed script of up to eight checkout cases is run before and after, and you receive a clear apply or hold recommendation with the evidence.
What stays true, and what we do about it
No response-time guarantee is published for this new service. A target for each window is agreed in writing before it starts, set to what a service at this stage can actually keep.
Hours are agreed in writing before the service starts. At launch the service is not staffed round the clock, so we do not offer round-the-clock cover.
What must remain true
- Before each monthly window, the agreed test-order script has been run on a copy carrying the same updates, and you hold the result and a recommendation before anything is applied to your live store
- Every failing case, up to two separate causes a month, is investigated and ends in a written finding or a hold recommendation
What we watch
- The update list you send before each window
- The staging copy refreshed from live before each window, with personal data removed or replaced
- Test-mode gateway results and the store's own logs on the copy
When something happens
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| When | What we do |
|---|---|
| An update window is announced. | We apply the listed updates on the copy, run the script before and after, and send an apply or hold recommendation with the evidence. |
| A case in the script fails after an update. | We reproduce it on the copy and, as one of the two separate causes a month the fee covers, name the update that causes it where we can isolate it. We recommend hold or apply. The repair is the separate job linked here, not part of the monthly fee. Priced as: WooCommerce checkout after an update |
| A test payment succeeds at the gateway but the order does not move on. | We record it as a failing case and trace where the confirmation is lost, as one of the two separate causes a month the fee covers. Repairing it is the separate job linked here. Priced as: Orders stuck after payment |
| A shipping destination in the script shows no method after an update. | We record it as a failing case and read the zone settings in order to find why, as one of the two separate causes a month the fee covers. Correcting the zones is the separate job linked here. Priced as: No shipping options for a destination |
| A month ends. | We send a short written summary: the window tested, the results and what you decided. |
We do on our own
- Apply the listed updates on the staging copy
- Run the script in test mode and capture evidence
- Reproduce and investigate failures on the copy and write findings
We ask you first
- Anything on your live store, hosting account, payment account or keys
- Skipping a script case or changing what counts as a pass
- Any repair, or any work beyond the two separate causes a month, which is quoted as its own job
We escalate to you when
- The failure is caused by something outside the store, such as the payment provider or the host
- A repair would change what the store does for customers, not only how it works
- More than two separate causes arrive in a month, which is more than the monthly fee covers
How you know it held. Each month you receive, for the window, the script result before and after, the recommendation and what you decided, with screenshots as evidence.
How we keep it true
This service is never finished. Each month's summary shows which updates were tested and what the script found, and it continues until you end it.
Fix a WooCommerce checkout that broke after an update Job Optional
Find and fix the one fault that stops customers completing an order after an update, proved with a test order on a copy of your store.
Bought separately, each time a repair is needed; not part of the monthly fee
Repairing a failing checkout path is the job you can buy on its own. The monthly fee covers finding the cause, not the repair.
Fix WooCommerce orders that stay unpaid after the customer has paid Job Optional
On a store copy, a successful test payment moves the order to the status you expect, the gateway reports the delivery as received, and a repeat delivery changes nothing twice.
Bought separately, each time a repair is needed; not part of the monthly fee
Repairing a lost payment confirmation is the job you can buy on its own.
Fix a WooCommerce checkout that offers no shipping for a country you serve Job Optional
Each destination on your list shows the right shipping methods and costs at checkout on a store copy, and destinations you do not serve show none.
Bought separately, each time a repair is needed; not part of the monthly fee
Correcting a shipping method fault is the job you can buy on its own.
What is included, and what is not
- For the window, a before and after result for each script case, and an apply or hold recommendation
- For each of the up to two separate causes a month, a written finding: the failing run, the update that causes it where it can be isolated, and which separate job would repair it
- A written monthly summary
Included
- One WooCommerce store and its staging copy, with an agreed test-order script of up to eight cases; a case is one checkout journey, such as a guest order paid in test mode or one shipping destination
- One update window a month, on a date agreed in writing: the updates you list are applied on the copy and the script is run before and after
- Investigation of up to two separate causes a month when cases fail; failing cases that share one cause count as one, and each is reproduced on the copy and traced to the update that causes it where that can be isolated
- A written monthly summary of the window, the results and the recommendation
Not included
- Applying updates to your live store, which stays with you or your host
- Repairing a failing case: the repair is a separate job, such as the checkout, payment-confirmation or shipping jobs linked on this page, bought on its own at its own price
- Updates applied outside the monthly window, such as an urgent security update; an extra window is quoted separately
- Live payments, live customer email or any real order as part of a test
- Security monitoring, uptime monitoring or backups
- Out-of-hours cover or any guaranteed response time
- Performance work, redesign or new features
How we know it’s done
Agreed with you before work starts. Each check produces evidence you keep.
For the window, every agreed script case (up to eight) has a before and an after result recorded on the copy with the same updates you will apply
Evidence: The script result table with screenshots and the update list
A failing case is reproduced on the copy before any update is named as its cause
Evidence: A failing run recorded with its error evidence
The recommendation follows the results: apply only when every case passes after the updates, otherwise hold, naming each failing case
Evidence: The result table and the written recommendation
Each month's summary lists the window, each result, the number of separate causes investigated (no more than two within the monthly fee) and your decision
Evidence: The written monthly summary
Sign-off. You read each recommendation and decide to apply or hold, and you read each monthly summary. A finding counts as delivered when you accept it.
If it fails. If we cannot reproduce a failure or isolate its cause, we say so, explain what we found and what it would take, and it does not count towards the two separate causes a month. If the service is not working for you, you can end it at the end of any month.
When it fits, and when we stop
It fits when
- A staging copy can be refreshed from live before the window, by you or your host, with customer and order personal data removed or replaced
- Your payment gateway has a test mode, with test keys entered by you on the copy
- You agree the window date in writing and send the list of pending updates before it
- A person on your side decides whether to apply or hold, and applies updates to live
We stop and tell you if
- The copy cannot be refreshed from live, so tests would run on stale data
- The copy cannot be made without real customer or order personal data
- The checkout only fails with live cards, so test mode cannot reproduce it
- Updates are applied automatically on live, before any test can run
- Failing cases regularly come from more than two separate causes a month, so we agree a different scope with you
- There are signs of a compromise on the store
What could go wrong
Updates are applied only on the staging copy, so the copy can be discarded and refreshed. Our recommendations are advice, not changes; anything you apply to your live store you can revert as you would any other change.
Scroll the table sideways to read it all.
| Risk | How we handle it |
|---|---|
| A test order or email reaches a real customer from the copy | The copy runs in test mode with customer email off, and we confirm that before each run. |
| The copy carries real customer or order personal data | The copy is made with that data removed or replaced, we do not accept a copy that still holds it, and no copy or login is sent in the first enquiry. |
| The copy differs from live, so a pass does not carry over | The copy is refreshed from live before each window, and every recommendation says what the copy could not prove. |
| A passing script is read as a guarantee | The summary states that a pass covers only the agreed cases, and you place one real order yourself after applying updates. |
Each recommendation and finding is checked by a reviewer separate from the work that produced it. No human supervisor is included unless your agreement names one. At launch the work is largely automated, and we say so.
Stays with a person
- You decide whether to apply or hold each update
- You or your host apply updates to the live store
Access we would need
- A staging copy with live payments and customer email off, and personal data removed or replaced
- Test-mode payment keys entered by you on the copy
Questions
Do you update my live store?
No. We apply updates only on the staging copy. You or your host apply them to live after you decide.
Does a pass mean my checkout is safe?
It means the agreed cases passed on the copy with those updates. After applying them, you place one real order under your own account to check live.
How is this different from buying one checkout fix?
A one-off fix repairs one broken path after it breaks. This is a standing responsibility: we test before your monthly update window, so a break is found on the copy first.
Does the monthly fee include repairing a failure?
No. It covers finding which update breaks which case, for up to two separate causes a month. The repair is the separate job linked on this page, at its own price.
What if I update more than once a month?
The service covers one window a month. Updates applied outside it are not tested unless you agree an extra window, which we quote separately.
Send an enquiry
Send us
- The store address and the WooCommerce, theme and payment plugin names and versions
- How the staging copy is made and who refreshes it, and whether personal data can be removed from it
- The checkout cases that matter most: payment methods, shipping destinations, coupons, account types
- How often you update, who applies updates, and which day of the month suits
- Whether automatic updates are switched on
Later, once you agree
- A staging copy with a staging admin login, with live payments and customer email off and customer and order personal data removed or replaced
- The staging login shared by a secure handover route agreed with you before any access; none is sent in the first enquiry
- Test-mode payment keys entered by you on the copy; we never see live keys
- The window date, the agreed script and the list of pending updates before each window
Your live store, hosting account, payment account and logins stay yours. We work on a staging copy in test mode that carries no customer or order personal data, and you or your host apply updates to the live store.
Email fallback: open your mail app
If website submission is unavailable, review and send the fallback email yourself. An email fallback is not a website receipt. Or write to hello@syntheticindustry.ai with “checkout-keep-test-order-passing-through-updates” as the subject.