I am a new Shopify user and had no sales yet on my website. But I have been running Meta Ads and can see that over 30 costumers have initiated checkout and even put payment information in (I know this via the Meta Pixel attached to my store) but there are still no completed purchases. I am not sure if anyone else has struggled with this. I have made successful purchases in Test Mode and have shipping zones and rates set up. Any advice?
Hi @AVOSEED
Welcome to the community.
First advice, share you store link.
The next 30 carts are not that much, and could be scripted, and not real customers. But also, it could be a lot of different things. People may see large shipping, or some information they do not like. But not to guess, do share a store link.
My website is:
I would be more than grateful for any insight you can provide!
Hello! Yes that would be amazing. I am very sure my pixel is accurate but I would be more than happy if you could over look my payment setting and whatnot. What do you need me to do in order to give you access or do you want photos?
Thank you! I’d be happy to take a look for you.
You can either add me as a staff collaborator through your Shopify admin or simply send clear screenshots of your Payment Settings, Shipping & Delivery, and Checkout pages.
Whichever is easier for you works perfectly.
Just let me know, and I’ll start reviewing everything right away.
I can’t upload my screenshots. Can I add you as a Collaborator? my code is 8197
OkaySure, you can add me as a Collaborator.
Please send me the store URL so I can send the collaborator request using your code 8197. Once you approve it, I’ll access your settings and review everything for you.
Looking forward to helping you fix this!
Thank you so much! Here is my URL: https://lockinmotivation.com/
Let me know if you need anything else! I super appreciate the help.
@AVOSEED Learn to recognize when something is telling you what you want to hear.
Don’t share private info like collab pins in public spaces, use private messages or other.
It’s a good way to get spammed and highlight you as a mark to target.
Why can’t costumers complete a purchase?
There’s big difference between someone just not buying and checkout not working.
PROVE checkout isn’t working by going through the checkout yourself.
If you can go through checkout then it is working don’t frame things as a shopify issue without being able to back it up.
THEREFORE: people just not buying what your selling as the issue, QED.
Don’t conflate things or you just create more confusion and get wrong answers or bots just telling you what you want to hear creating a whole new set of problems.
Getting sales isn’t magic by just opening a website.
For marketing problems, use one of the marketing forums or feeback forum.
Or use the start a business forum to develop an actual plan.
And ALWAYS provide a URL for others to look at in those contexts.
Okay thank you very much for your advice.
I will say that shopify says that there have been over 12 abandoned carts before a single conversion. Is this a common thing?
I also wanted to apologize. I know creating sales isn’t easy i just thought that maybe there was a small setting that was keeping people from converting and resulting in multiple abandoned carts. I didn’t intend to be rude. I was just seeking people with experince to get advice.
To answer quite bluntly. Yes it is common. Absolutely. I add to cart and change my mind. People do this all the time. It’s a normal function of business. Like people walking into a new store and walking out without buying anything. It’s 100% expected. You need to start off with the idea that this is going to be your reality. Put yourself in the customer’s mind. They have no idea who you are, where you are, or if you’re even legit. You also need to ask yourself. Honestly. Would you buy an unknown product from an unknown source, not knowing if you’re being scammed? Think about that. Now you can see why you get abandoned carts. You need to build a presense. You need to build trust.
You wouldn’t open your shop without testing the cash register… Put some orders in yourself. Real orders. Don’t just do mock checkout. Really test it. Test the email notifications. Test the shipping details. Test the product even. God only knows how many sites are “selling” products they know nothing about.
Finally, I know you’re adamant on these being real people. The issue is that it is indeed possible for a bot to checkout using a real card and a real address. Happens all the time. There are bots that go through thousands of stolen CC’s on websites and they create abandoned checkouts.
You must unlearn what you have learned.
Hey @AVOSEED! It’s actually very common for new Shopify stores to see many “Initiate Checkout” events from Meta Ads but no completed purchases. Meta often fires the “Add Payment Info” event earlier than you think, so the numbers don’t always mean customers actually entered their card details.
The most likely cause is checkout friction. Even if test mode worked for you, customers may still run into issues like unexpected shipping costs, missing payment methods, or something in the checkout that feels unclear or untrustworthy. Small things like delivery times, return policies, or lack of reviews can make people back out at the last step.
Another possibility is low-intent traffic from Meta Ads. If the targeting is too broad, Meta can send people who click and start checkout but were never serious buyers. This is very common during the learning phase of a new ad account.
Just keep it up! 
Sigh, you were in no way rude and at no time should you view someone giving you clear facts as some etiquette lesson; or you gonna have a really bad time in ecommerce.
This is about being grounded to reality and clearly communicating issues to avoid creating more issues.
To re-iterate for any future merchants:
People not wanting to buy is NOT the same as “can’t complete a purchase”.
Not getting some desired outcome Y is not the tools responsibility it is the merchants.
If you have an actual bug that can be replicated by others then contact shopify support DIRECTLY , or make a separate post.