A new marketplace is online at once, at its mykreezalid.com URL. Launching is therefore not a switch you turn on: it is the day you start sending people to it. Until then, the steps below make sure that what they find is ready.
The Marketplace readiness list
During your free trial, once the guided setup is finished, Home shows the Marketplace readiness card. Each step is checked against what your marketplace actually holds, so it ticks itself as soon as the work is done, wherever you did it. The button of a step opens the screen where it is done.
| Step | Done when | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Choose a theme | A theme from the library is applied | Theme › Theme library |
| Create your categories | The marketplace has at least one category | Settings › Catalog › Listing categories |
| Configure your checkout | The marketplace has at least one order type | Settings › Order types |
| Set your commission | You gave a rate in the guided setup, rather than Decide later | Your setup card of Home |
| Upload your logo & colours | The Theme › General screen has been saved | Theme › General |
| Connect online payments | A payment provider is active | Settings › Payment providers |
| Invite your first vendors | A user other than the demo vendors has an account | Users |
| Publish your first real listing | A listing other than the samples exists | Catalog |
With Stripe Connect as your answer to “How should buyers pay?”, the payment step reads Verify your Stripe Connect account. With I need a custom PSP integration, it reads Talk to us about your payment provider, and is done once you have asked to be called back.
The Your next step card, next to the list, repeats the first step left to do. When all are done, it reads “You’re ready to launch”.
What the list does not track
- Your terms and your privacy policy: the pages your users can be asked to accept when they sign up or order. See Manage your terms and conditions.
- The sender of your e-mails: the name and address your users receive messages from, in Settings › Emails.
- Your domain: to replace the
mykreezalid.comURL with your own, see Manage your marketplace domain name. - A test order: place an order as a buyer, on a listing of your own, and follow it to the end, payment and e-mails included.
- The sample data: remove it from the Sample data card of Home, so that visitors only see real sellers.
Close the storefront while you prepare
Maintenance mode replaces every page of the storefront with a maintenance page, for everyone except you.
- In the menu, under , click , then Maintenance, in the Site & content group.
- Switch on Site under maintenance.
- Optionally, in Maintenance IP, list the IP addresses that may still see the storefront, separated by commas. Add my IP adds yours.
- Write the Maintenance message visitors will read, then save.
Signed-in administrators keep seeing the storefront and the admin panel. Switch the mode off on launch day. See Set your marketplace in maintenance mode for the page’s design.
On launch day
- Remove the sample data, if you have not already.
- Switch off Site under maintenance.
- Choose your subscription in Settings › Subscription before your trial ends.
- Share your marketplace’s URL with your first sellers, then with your buyers.
What your users see
Until launch, visitors see whatever the storefront shows at the time: the sample listings after the guided setup, or the maintenance page while maintenance is on. The readiness list itself is only shown to administrators.
Edge cases and limits
- Sellers during maintenance: they cannot sign in to the storefront or to their seller space unless their IP address is in Maintenance IP.
- When the trial ends without a subscription, the storefront shows an expired page and the admin panel only opens the subscription screens.
- A marketplace not on a free trial has no readiness list: follow the table above.