How to Start a Shopify Store: Beginner to First Sale

Your myshopify.com domain name can only be changed once, according to Shopify’s own “General checklist for starting a new Shopify store” page.

Most guides tell you not to overthink your store name because you can change it later, that is only half true, you get exactly one do-over, not unlimited ones.

Checkout itself does not even activate during your free trial either, you cannot actually process a real order until you choose a paid plan or remove your storefront password.

These are the kind of details that only show up when you check Shopify’s own Help Center directly instead of relying on a summary of it.

This guide walks through every setup step in order, sourced from Shopify’s own documentation, with the exact button names and screen names as they currently appear.

Key Takeaways

• Your myshopify.com domain name can only be changed once, per Shopify’s own “General checklist” page, choose it carefully during initial setup rather than treating it as fully changeable later.
• Checkout does not activate during your free trial. You need to select a paid plan, or remove your storefront password, before your store can actually process a real order, a common source of confusion for first-time users.
• Trial length and pricing are explicitly described by Shopify as variable. Shopify’s own “Trying Shopify with a free trial” page states trial length and promotional pricing are subject to change and can vary by store location, confirm the live offer shown at your own signup rather than trusting any fixed number, including ones commonly repeated elsewhere.
• Email sender authentication, SPF and DKIM records, is required by major email providers like Gmail and Yahoo for your store’s order emails to reliably reach customers, a technical detail most beginner guides skip completely.
• Any progress made during your trial carries over once you choose a paid plan, products added, design changes, and settings adjusted are all retained, you are not starting over.

What You Need Before You Start

1. A valid email address, required to create your account, or you can sign up using an existing Google, Apple, or Facebook account instead
2. A password, if creating a new account directly rather than using an existing account login
3. A rough idea of your store name, this becomes your myshopify.com domain and can only be changed once afterward, worth a few minutes of real thought rather than treating it as fully disposable
4. Your legal business details, needed later to activate Shopify Payments, legal address, bank account, and in the US a Social Security Number or EIN

Step-by-Step Setup

Step 1: Create Your Account

1. Go to shopify.com and click Start for free
2. If you have never signed up with Shopify before, provide an email address and password to create a new account, or sign up using your Google, Apple, or Facebook account instead
3. Choose your store name carefully, this becomes your myshopify.com domain, and per Shopify’s own “General checklist” page it can only be changed one time after this

Step 2: Complete or Skip the Setup Questionnaire

1. Shopify presents an optional customized setup questionnaire covering your industry and business details
2. Completing it gives you setup suggestions relevant to your specific business
3. Click Skip customized setup if you would rather configure everything manually and explore the admin first

Step 3: Get Familiar With Your Admin

1. Once signup completes, you land in your Shopify Admin
2. The main navigation includes Products, Orders, Customers, and other core sections
3. Store-level settings, payments, shipping, taxes, and domains, live under Settings
4. Spend a few minutes exploring before changing anything

Step 4: Set Your Store Details

1. Go to Settings, then Store details
2. Enter your store name, contact email, and legal business address
3. Set your store currency now, before adding products, since changing it later on a live store creates real pricing inconsistencies
4. Confirm your address carefully, it feeds your default shipping origin and tax calculations directly

Step 5: Add Your First Product

Shopify’s own getting-started guidance leads with this step before theme or domain work.

1. From your Shopify admin, go to Products
2. Click Add product
3. Enter a title for your product, along with additional details, pricing, description, and images
4. Keep your title and description concise with important keywords near the beginning, long titles and descriptions can get truncated in search engine results, a real, documented SEO consideration
5. Click Save

Step 6: Choose and Set Up Your Theme

1. From your admin, go to Online Store, then Themes
2. A default theme is already set up on your account when you first sign up, giving you a working starting point immediately
3. Browse other free or paid themes if you want a different look
4. For a paid theme, you can preview up to 19 paid themes before committing, previewing lets you see how it displays with your actual products, brand colors, and style, and any customizations you make during preview carry over if you purchase
5. If you choose a free theme, click Add theme or Start with this theme
6. If you choose a paid theme, click Buy theme, then Approve charge to confirm payment, paid themes are non-refundable, so use the preview first

Step 7: Set Up Your Domain

1. Go to Settings, then Domains
2. Buy a new domain directly through Shopify, or connect an existing domain you already own
3. Set your custom domain as primary once connected, so customers land on it instead of your myshopify.com address
4. Confirm email sender authentication, SPF and DKIM records, is properly configured, this is required by major email providers like Gmail and Yahoo for your order and marketing emails to reliably reach customers, and is easy to miss since it is not part of the visible storefront

Step 8: Set Up Payments

1. Go to Settings, then Payments
2. Activate Shopify Payments if it is available in your country, this is Shopify’s own built-in processor
3. If Shopify Payments is not available in your country, or you prefer not to use it, activate a supported third-party provider instead, Shopify charges a third-party transaction fee in this case, which varies by plan
4. You will need your legal business details, a bank account, and in the US a Social Security Number or EIN to complete verification

Step 9: Set Up Shipping

1. Go to Settings, then Shipping and delivery
2. Create a shipping zone for the regions you plan to ship to
3. Set your shipping rates
4. Confirm your shipping origin matches the store address you set in Step 4

Step 10: Set Up Taxes

1. Go to Settings, then Taxes and duties
2. Confirm your tax region settings match where you are legally required to collect tax
3. Review the default rates Shopify calculates based on your store address rather than assuming they are correct for your specific situation
4. Consult a tax professional for anything unusual, digital products or multi-region obligations especially

Step 11: Add Your Legal Pages

1. Go to Settings, then Policies
2. Generate a Refund Policy, Privacy Policy, Terms of Service, and Shipping Policy using Shopify’s templates
3. Review and edit these to reflect your actual business practices rather than accepting the generated template as-is

Step 12: Understand What Activates Checkout

This is a real, common point of confusion worth stating directly. During your free trial, checkout is not active by default, you cannot process a real order yet.

1. Checkout activates once you select a paid plan, this also activates in-person POS sales if applicable
2. Alternatively, you can remove your storefront password to make the store publicly viewable, but a paid plan is still what activates real checkout functionality
3. Any progress made during your trial, products, design, and settings, is retained once you select a plan, you are not starting over

Step 13: Choose Your Plan

1. Go to Settings, then Plan
2. Review your available plans, Shopify’s current lineup and promotional trial pricing are both explicitly described by Shopify as subject to change and variable by location, confirm the live offer and prices shown in your own admin rather than trusting a fixed figure from any outside source, including this guide
3. If you do not select a plan by the end of your trial, your store is paused until you choose one, you are not charged automatically for anything you did not select
4. If you upgrade plans during your trial, this does not change your trial length, charges begin when the trial itself ends, not from your upgrade date

Step 14: Test Your Store Before Launch

1. With a plan selected and checkout active, place a real test order
2. Confirm the order appears correctly under Orders
3. Confirm your order confirmation email actually arrives, this is what your SPF and DKIM setup from Step 7 is protecting

Step 15: Remove Your Password Page and Go Live

1. Go to Online Store, then Preferences
2. Turn off password protection if it is still enabled
3. Confirm your store is publicly accessible at your domain
4. Share your store and begin driving your first real traffic

Real Setup Traps That Catch First-Time Store Owners

• Treating the store name as fully changeable later
  • Shopify’s own “General checklist for starting a new Shopify store” page states the myshopify.com domain name can only be changed once, not indefinitely
  • This is a real, one-time-only correction window, not an open one
• Assuming checkout works during the free trial
  • It does not activate until you choose a paid plan
  • Shopify’s own “Trying Shopify with a free trial” page confirms store activation, including checkout, happens after you select a plan
  • This is a widely documented point of confusion in Shopify’s own community support threads
• Stating a fixed trial length and price as permanent fact
  • The same “Trying Shopify with a free trial” page states directly that trial length and promotional pricing vary by location and are subject to change
  • Always confirm the live offer at your own signup rather than trusting a fixed number from any outside source
• Skipping SPF and DKIM setup completely
  • Required by major email providers for your order confirmations and marketing emails to actually land in customer inboxes
  • Not a cosmetic setting, a real deliverability requirement
• Setting currency after adding products instead of before
  • Correcting pricing across an entire live catalog is real, avoidable rework
  • Set this once, correctly, in your store details before your first product

FAQ for Starting a Shopify Store