Ecommerce launch checklist

• Live keys in production, test keys removed from all environments.
• Wallets enabled: Apple Pay, Google Pay, and local methods per market.
• 3DS / SCA configured for European traffic.
• Refund and partial-refund flow tested end to end.
• Failed-payment retry and dunning rules active.

• Registrations complete for every market you will ship to.
• Nexus thresholds monitored, not assumed.
• Product tax codes assigned per SKU.
• Invoices meet local requirements (VAT number, sequential numbering).
• Terms, privacy, returns and cookie consent published and linked in the footer.

• Live carrier rates rather than flat guesses.
• Free-shipping threshold checked against real margin.
• Restricted destinations and oversized items handled at checkout.
• Tracking emails firing from the carrier or platform, not manually.
• Returns label flow tested once with a real parcel.

• Every SKU has GTIN, brand, category and images that pass marketplace validation.
• Inventory counts synced across every channel before opening.
• Ecommerce tracking and conversion events verified with a real test order.
• Sitemap submitted, robots.txt allowing crawl, product schema present.
• Core Web Vitals checked on mobile, not just desktop.

Launch costs are rarely one number, since they are spread across tax registration fees, a payment provider's setup requirements, any paid apps needed for tracking or reviews, and time spent testing. A lean launch on an established platform can cost very little beyond the plan fee if the founder does the checklist themselves, while a launch involving multiple tax jurisdictions, custom shipping rules or an agency-built storefront can run into several thousand dollars before the first sale.

• Tax registration: fees vary by state or country, and some require ongoing filing costs.
• Payment provider setup: usually free, but higher-risk categories may require reserve funds or extra verification.
• Analytics and tracking tools: often free at a basic tier, paid once you need advanced attribution.
• Legal page drafting: free with templates, or a fixed fee if reviewed by a lawyer for your specific market.
• QA and testing time: the most commonly underbudgeted item, and the one most likely to catch expensive mistakes.

Most launch-day problems are avoidable and repeat across almost every new store. Running through this list a few days before going live, separately from the main checklist, catches issues that get missed when everyone is focused on the bigger technical items.

• Forgetting to remove password protection or a 'coming soon' page before announcing the launch.
• Not checking that email notifications (order confirmation, shipping, refund) are actually sending.
• Launching a marketing campaign before confirming inventory counts are accurate across every channel.
• Skipping a mobile checkout test, even though most traffic arrives on mobile devices.
• Assuming a theme or app works correctly without placing at least one real, paid test order.

In the final two days, freeze any non-critical changes to the store so you are not testing against a moving target. Place a real test order covering the full journey: browsing, checkout, payment, confirmation email and, if possible, a refund, and confirm every step behaves as expected on both desktop and mobile.

Finally, confirm your team knows what to do if something breaks on launch day, including who owns customer support, who can access the payment dashboard, and who can pause the store if a critical issue appears. Going live is easier to reverse calmly than to fix under pressure with no plan.