All Collections
Advanced
Trialing features on a higher plan
Trialing features on a higher plan

Create a development store to trial a higher plan’s features without committing to upgrading your plan

Jelizaveta avatar
Written by Jelizaveta
Updated over a week ago

To test Zapiet - Pickup + Delivery features that are not included in your current plan, you can create a development store through Shopify Partners program. You will have access to an unlimited free trial on a development store.

Development stores are testing stores and cannot accept real orders. Usage of our app is free on this type of store until it is converted to a paid Shopify plan.


Requirements


Create a development store

For more information and limitations, take a look at the Creating development stores article from Shopify.

  1. From your Partner Dashboard, click Stores.

  2. Click Add store, and then Create development store.

  3. In the Development store use section, select Create a store to test and build.

  4. In the Store details section, enter a name for your store.

    The store name is used to create the store's myshopify.com URL. This URL can't be changed, but you can change the store name in the settings.

  5. Select Latest build.

  6. If you're a Plus merchant, select the Shopify Plus sandbox option.

  7. Under Data and configurations, select Start with an empty store.

  8. Click Create development store.

    Your development store will now be created.


Install Zapiet - Pickup + Delivery

You can see our full installation guide in our How to install Zapiet - Pickup + Delivery article.

  1. In Shopify, click Apps, enter Zapiet - Pickup + Delivery in the search bar. Then, click Search for “Zapiet - Pickup + Delivery” in the Shopify App Store.

  2. Adding the app will take you to the Shopify admin panel within your store. Click Add app.

  3. Click Install App.

  4. Select a plan that contains the feature you would like to test.

  5. Zapiet - Pickup + Delivery was successfully installed. Answer the questions in the setup guide to match the settings in your live online store.

If you would like to transfer all the settings from your existing store to the development (testing) store, please contact us at [email protected] and we'd be happy to help.


Export products

To create a development store that is identical to your online store, you can export products from your live online store.

  1. In your real store, click Products.

  2. Select all the products and click Export to get the CSV file.

  3. Open your development store and click Products.

  4. Click Import and add the CSV file you exported.


Download theme files

You can also import the theme files, so the theme on your development store will match your live online store.

  1. In the Online store section, click Themes.

  2. Next to the theme you want to export, click the three dots and Download theme file.

  3. Open your development store. In the Online store section, click Themes.

  4. In the Theme library section, click Add theme and Upload zip file.

  5. Add the downloaded theme file to import it and click Upload file.

The imported theme will be visible in your library and you can now publish it.


Activate test payment provider

In order to place test orders on your development store, you can enable the Bogus gateway. Shopify will not charge you transaction fees on orders paid with this gateway.

Take a look at Placing a test order article by Shopify for more information.

  1. In your Shopify Settings, click Payments.

  2. Click Activate test payment provider.

  3. Click Activate (for testing) Bogus Gateway.

    Your test payment gateway is now active.

You can now place a test order. You can use the following codes in place of the credit card number when checking out:

  • 1 - to simulate an approved transaction

  • 2 - to simulate a declined transaction

  • 3 - to simulate a gateway failure

Any three numbers can be used as the “Card Security Code” and any expiry date in the future will work.


Limitations

  • If you have a Plus merchant account, you can create a Plus Sandbox Store from the Partners dashboard. This store will be eligible for a free unlimited trial. However, if you have an existing Plus plan, and you add any additional store URL's, even if they are only for testing purposes, they will not qualify for the unlimited free trial.

Did this answer your question?