Who this is for
Owner of a WooCommerce store who updates plugins, themes and WooCommerce itself and worries that an update will quietly stop orders.
An update has broken checkout once, or you leave updates waiting because you cannot tell whether they are safe.
The result
Before your monthly update window the pending updates are applied to a copy of your store, an agreed script of up to eight checkout cases is run before and after, and you receive a clear apply or hold recommendation with the evidence.
What is included
- One WooCommerce store and its staging copy, with an agreed test-order script of up to eight cases; a case is one checkout journey, such as a guest order paid in test mode or one shipping destination
- One update window a month, on a date agreed in writing: the updates you list are applied on the copy and the script is run before and after
- Investigation of up to two separate causes a month when cases fail; failing cases that share one cause count as one, and each is reproduced on the copy and traced to the update that causes it where that can be isolated
- A written monthly summary of the window, the results and the recommendation
You receive
- For the window, a before and after result for each script case, and an apply or hold recommendation
- For each of the up to two separate causes a month, a written finding: the failing run, the update that causes it where it can be isolated, and which separate job would repair it
- A written monthly summary
What is not included
- Applying updates to your live store, which stays with you or your host
- Repairing a failing case: the repair is a separate job, such as the checkout, payment-confirmation or shipping jobs linked on this page, bought on its own at its own price
- Updates applied outside the monthly window, such as an urgent security update; an extra window is quoted separately
- Live payments, live customer email or any real order as part of a test
- Security monitoring, uptime monitoring or backups
- Out-of-hours cover or any guaranteed response time
- Performance work, redesign or new features
What we need from you first
- The store address and the WooCommerce, theme and payment plugin names and versions
- How the staging copy is made and who refreshes it, and whether personal data can be removed from it
- The checkout cases that matter most: payment methods, shipping destinations, coupons, account types
- How often you update, who applies updates, and which day of the month suits
- Whether automatic updates are switched on
Never send passwords, keys, customer records or confidential code in the first enquiry. Secure handover is agreed after scoping.
How we check it is done
- For the window, every agreed script case (up to eight) has a before and an after result recorded on the copy with the same updates you will apply
- A failing case is reproduced on the copy before any update is named as its cause
- The recommendation follows the results: apply only when every case passes after the updates, otherwise hold, naming each failing case
- Each month's summary lists the window, each result, the number of separate causes investigated (no more than two within the monthly fee) and your decision
You read each recommendation and decide to apply or hold, and you read each monthly summary. A finding counts as delivered when you accept it.
When we would stop or decline
- The copy cannot be refreshed from live, so tests would run on stale data
- The copy cannot be made without real customer or order personal data
- The checkout only fails with live cards, so test mode cannot reproduce it
- Updates are applied automatically on live, before any test can run
- Failing cases regularly come from more than two separate causes a month, so we agree a different scope with you
- There are signs of a compromise on the store
Questions
Do you update my live store?
No. We apply updates only on the staging copy. You or your host apply them to live after you decide.
Does a pass mean my checkout is safe?
It means the agreed cases passed on the copy with those updates. After applying them, you place one real order under your own account to check live.
How is this different from buying one checkout fix?
A one-off fix repairs one broken path after it breaks. This is a standing responsibility: we test before your monthly update window, so a break is found on the copy first.
Does the monthly fee include repairing a failure?
No. It covers finding which update breaks which case, for up to two separate causes a month. The repair is the separate job linked on this page, at its own price.
What if I update more than once a month?
The service covers one window a month. Updates applied outside it are not tested unless you agree an extra window, which we quote separately.
Price and terms
£195/month · untested offer price. Billing is monthly under the written terms we agree with you. Nothing is charged until you have agreed them.
This is a new service with no published client results. The price is a starting point we have not yet tested with buyers. Nothing is ordered or charged by the enquiry. The full specification is on the Synthetic Industry catalogue.