# Get started and make a test sale

> The six-step checklist every new store gets, how each step is checked, and the test sale that runs a real order through checkout, delivery and your balance without touching your keys.

Source: https://shopfa.st/docs/store/get-started

**Home → Get started** is the checklist a new store opens on. Every step is read from your store's real data, so it
cannot say "done" before the thing works, and it ticks itself off when you finish a step anywhere in the dashboard.

## The six steps

| Step | Done when |
| --- | --- |
| Create your store | Always done: you have a name and an address on shopfa.st. |
| Add your first product | The store has at least one product. Presets start you on a license key with 1 Day, 7 Days, 30 Days and Lifetime options. |
| Customize your store | You picked a template and published it with your look. You can pick one right inside the step. |
| Choose how you get paid | Checkout can really take money: [ShopFast Pay](https://shopfa.st/docs/selling/shopfast-pay) is usable for your store (approved, or open to every store), or you have your own way to get paid ([a gateway connected with its keys](https://shopfa.st/docs/selling/own-gateways), crypto to your own wallet or an active payment plugin). Picking a payment model alone is not enough. |
| Make a test sale | The store has a test order, or any real paid order. |
| Connect your domain | A custom domain is connected. |

The **Choose how you get paid** step shows both ways side by side. Fill in the ShopFast Pay application without leaving
the page and watch its status (in review, needs more info, approved), or connect your own gateway right there with its
keys. Once ShopFast Pay collects for you, the step (and Home, Payments and Balance) asks where to send your payouts
until you add a crypto wallet. Every screen of getting paid, step by step:
[Get paid: the complete guide](https://shopfa.st/docs/selling/get-paid).

## The test sale

**Simulate first sale** runs one order through the whole pipeline, the same code real buyers go through:

1. ShopFast picks your newest active product (files first, then keys, serials, bundles, memberships, Discord roles
   and services). For a product with options it takes the first option that is on sale and not out of stock.
2. A checkout is created in your name with your store's country and paid with the sandbox card.
3. Fulfillment runs: test sales get generated `TEST-` keys, so your key pool is never touched, and the receipt goes
   to your own email.
4. The order lands in **Orders** marked as a test, and the ledger records it without paying anything out.

When it finishes, Get started shows the buyer's order page beside the checklist, so you see exactly what a buyer
sees after paying. Share the store link from the same panel once you are ready.

If no product is active yet, the step asks you to add or publish one first.

<div class="callout"><p>Test orders never count in your sales figures and never reach a payout, and their
<code>TEST-</code> keys are placeholders, never keys from your pool. Run as many as you like.</p></div>

## Test mode for the whole store

To try checkout as a buyer would, with your own cart and payment pages, turn on **Test mode** in
**Money → Payments** for 1, 24 or 72 hours. Every checkout then runs on simulated payments and is recorded as a
test order. Test mode turns itself off when the time is up. See [Selling on ShopFast](https://shopfa.st/docs/selling#4-try-it-end-to-end).

## From the API

The checklist and the test sale are also API calls, with the store taken from your key:

```bash
curl https://api.shopfa.st/v1/store/onboarding -H "Authorization: Bearer $SHOPFAST_KEY"
curl -X POST https://api.shopfa.st/v1/store/test-sale -H "Authorization: Bearer $SHOPFAST_KEY"
```

`GET /v1/store/onboarding` answers with each step's `id`, `title`, `done` and the `completed` / `total` counts.
`POST /v1/store/test-sale` answers with the test order. See [Onboarding](https://shopfa.st/docs/api/onboarding) and
[Test sale](https://shopfa.st/docs/api/test-sale) in the API reference.