You've signed up for CartOS—now let's get your store ready to sell. This guide walks you through the essential setup steps, from basic configuration to launching your store.
1. Access your admin
Your store admin lives at yourstore.cartos-stores.com/admin. Log in with the credentials you created during signup. This is your command center for everything—products, orders, settings, and more. See Logging In for details.
Take a few minutes to click around and get familiar with the layout. The sidebar on the left is your main navigation. The dashboard shows key metrics once you start selling.
2. Configure your store settings
Go to Settings › General to set up the basics:
Store name and contact
Enter your store name as you want it to appear to customers. Add your business email and phone number—these show up in order notifications and help customers reach you.
Address
Enter your business address. This is used for shipping calculations, tax purposes, and appears on invoices. If you work from home and don't want to share your home address, consider a PO Box or virtual mailbox.
Currency and units
Select your store's currency and unit system (imperial or metric). These affect how prices and weights display throughout your store.
Timezone
Set your timezone so order timestamps, reports, and scheduled actions use the correct local time.
3. Set up payments
You can't sell without a way to get paid. Go to Settings › Payments to connect a payment provider.
Most merchants start with Stripe—it's quick to set up and handles credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. Click Set Up next to Stripe, connect your account (or create one), and you're ready to accept payments.
You can add multiple payment options. PayPal is popular as a secondary method since some customers prefer it. See our guides for Stripe, PayPal, and Authorize.net.
4. Configure shipping
Go to Settings › Shipping to set up how you'll get products to customers.
Shipping zones
Create zones for the regions you ship to. A common setup is Domestic (your country) and International (everywhere else), but you can get more specific—separate zones for nearby states with faster delivery, or excluding regions you can't ship to.
Shipping rates
For each zone, add shipping options. You can offer free shipping, flat rates, weight-based rates, or price-based rates. Many merchants start simple—a flat rate for standard shipping, maybe a faster option at a premium—and refine later based on actual shipping costs.
If you want real-time carrier rates, install the Fulfillment Bolt and connect your carrier accounts.
Local pickup
If you have a physical location where customers can pick up orders, enable local pickup. Customers see it as a free shipping option at checkout.
5. Set up taxes
Go to Settings › Taxes to configure sales tax collection. Enable tax collection and select the states where you have tax obligations. CartOS uses zip code level rates from Avalara, updated monthly.
Tax setup depends on your business—where you have nexus, what you sell, and where your customers are. See Basic Tax Settings for details. We recommend consulting a tax professional to make sure you're set up correctly.
6. Add your products
Now for the fun part. Go to Products › Add Product to create your first product.
For each product, you'll add a title, description, images, and pricing. If you have products with options like size or color, set up variants. Enable inventory tracking if you want CartOS to manage stock levels.
Take time to write good descriptions and upload quality images—they make a real difference in conversion. See Adding Products for a complete walkthrough.
If you're migrating from another platform and have a product CSV, go to Products › Import to bring them in bulk.
7. Organize with collections
Collections group products together—"New Arrivals," "Sale," "Summer Collection," or product categories like "Shirts" and "Accessories." They help customers browse and make your store feel organized.
Go to Products › Collections to create collections. You can manually add products or set up rules that automatically include products based on tags, type, price, or other criteria.
8. Choose and customize your theme
Your theme controls how your store looks. Go to Online Store › Themes to see your current theme and browse alternatives in the Theme Store.
Click Customize to open the theme editor. Here you can adjust colors, fonts, and layout. Add your logo, set up your homepage sections, and configure your navigation menus. Most customization is visual—no coding needed.
Preview changes before publishing. When you're happy with how things look, save and your changes go live.
9. Set up your domain
Your store starts on a yourstore.cartos-stores.com subdomain, but you'll want your own domain for a professional presence.
Go to Settings › Domains to connect a domain you already own or register a new one through CartOS Domains. If you're connecting an existing domain, you'll update DNS settings with your registrar to point to CartOS.
We automatically provision SSL certificates for your domain, so your store is secure with HTTPS.
10. Create store policies
Customers expect to find policies for shipping, returns, and privacy. Go to Settings › Policies to add yours.
CartOS provides templates to help you get started. Customize them for your specific business practices. At minimum, create a privacy policy, return/refund policy, and shipping policy. Terms of service is also recommended.
These pages automatically link from your checkout and footer, making them easy for customers to find.
11. Test everything
Before going live, test the complete customer experience:
- Browse your store as a customer would
- Add products to cart and go through checkout
- Place a test order using Stripe's test mode or a small real transaction you'll refund
- Check that order confirmation emails arrive and look correct
- Verify tax is calculating properly for different addresses
- Test on mobile—many customers shop on phones
It's much better to find issues now than after you've announced your launch.
12. Remove password protection
New stores are password-protected by default so you can set up without the public seeing a work in progress. When you're ready to launch, go to Online Store › Preferences and disable password protection.
Your store is now live and open for business.
What's next
You've got the essentials in place. Here's what to tackle next:
- Complete your launch checklist – Make sure you haven't missed anything
- Explore Bolts – Add features like reviews, email marketing, and more
- Set up fulfillment – Print shipping labels directly from orders
- Configure automation – Set up abandoned cart emails and other workflows
- Learn your analytics – Understand your dashboard and reports
If you get stuck on anything, our support team is here to help. And congratulations—you're officially a CartOS merchant.