Shopify checkout not loading: button or wallet

Many stores built on Shopify show more than one way to pay from the cart or a product page: the standard checkout button, and a row of wallet buttons from payment providers. A wallet button may open a sheet or a provider window, and a script on the page that interferes can stop that sheet from ever opening. The standard button may still work, so the owner tests it, sees checkout appear and assumes the problem is gone. The shopper who pressed the wallet button leaves with nothing.

• Press the standard checkout button from the cart in a private window. Does the address change?
• Press each wallet button on the cart and on a product page. Does a sheet or window open?
• Open the browser console and press checkout again. Does an error name a script?
• Try the cart with one item, then two. Does one case fail where the other works?
• Check that the store is open to visitors. Does a password page appear before the cart?

The standard checkout button takes the shopper from the cart into checkout, where the address and shipping are entered on the store's own checkout pages. A wallet button skips some of that work. It opens a payment sheet filled with details the shopper already holds, and when the shopper confirms, the sheet hands the order back to the store. A problem in the first usually shows as a page that never appears. A problem in the second usually shows as a button that seems to be pressed and then has no visible result.

The address changes but the page stays blank or spins. Checkout was reached, so check the console for an error on the page that loaded. The address does not change and nothing appears. The click never reached the checkout, which usually means a script on the cart page stopped it. The page jumps back to the cart with a message that names an item, which usually means checkout refused that item. The wallet sheet opens and then closes. The provider's window was blocked, which is a visitor's privacy setting or an extension, not your store.

Note which of the four you see for each button, and do it for each button separately. The four point at four different owners: the checkout page, a script on the cart, the cart rules, and the visitor's own browser. Writing them down separates a store fault from a visitor fault. A shopper who sees a sheet close has not hit a bug in your checkout, so check the visitor's blockers before you change the checkout.

A script or app on the cart page that runs when checkout is pressed can stop the click before it reaches the checkout. That is the one failure in this list you can fix on the cart page itself. Apps that add a banner, a shipping bar or a wallet button are the likeliest candidates. Turn them off one at a time, press each button again in a private window, and note which change brings the next screen back.

A simulated shopper presses each checkout and wallet button you point it at, from the cart and from a product page, and reports the screen after each press. It then moves through the checkout address and shipping steps as far as the payment step. The walk stops there because a shopper cannot pay with a real card in a test. The final charge, the confirmation and any receipt email still need your own check with your payment setup.

Testing a checkout flow

Each app that adds a banner, a shipping bar, a discount widget or a wallet button to the cart page can stop a checkout press from reaching the next screen. After each app or theme change, press every checkout and wallet button from the cart in a private window, and check the next screen appears. If the store is behind a password during a preview, give the test the password so the walk reaches the cart at all.