Start a free store

You can create a NoqtaShop store on the Free plan without a card and without a time limit. This article explains what Free includes, how its sign-up differs from a paid plan’s, and what to do with the email that confirms your address.

What the Free plan includes, and what it leaves out

Free is a complete store that takes cash on delivery. It costs nothing, today or later, and it does not expire.

Included on Free:

• Unlimited products and orders.
• Cash on delivery at checkout.
• Your storefront in one language, Arabic or English.
• Storefront Studio with live preview, and the ready-made designs.
• Hosting, a secure (SSL) connection and your .noqtashop.com address.
• Shipping zones and rates, and delivery providers.
• Automatic order emails, and invoices in your storefront language.
• Refunds: you can give money back on any order. (Customer returns start on Starter.)
• Customer accounts and guest checkout, product reviews and customer messages.
• Product variants with their own images, collections, and stock tracking.
• Your four policy pages — Shipping, Returns, Privacy and Terms & conditions — already written as starter text for you to check, fill in and publish, and an FAQ page.
• One staff account — your own — and 1 GB of storage for your photos and files.

Not on Free — these start on a paid plan:

On Free, a feature from a higher plan shows a padlock in the console. See Why does a feature show a padlock? and the full comparison in Plans and what each includes.

Choose the Free plan: no card needed

The sign-up page opens on step 1 with the Free plan: $0 and No card needed. The card lists Cash on delivery, Your storefront in Arabic or English — pick one and Customer accounts & order history. The summary beside it shows Today $0 and Then Nothing. Free forever.

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One selling language

On step 2 you name your store, choose its address and choose its language — exactly as on a paid plan, with one difference: Free sells in one language. Select Arabic or English. Both is greyed out, with the line Free sells in one language. under it.

Step 2 also leaves out the line about connecting your own domain, because Free does not include one. Your store’s address is yourname.noqtashop.com, and it is permanent, so choose it with care. Every rule is in Choose a store name, address and languages.

Pick the language most of your customers read. If you move to Starter later, you can add the second language from Settings in the console.

Create my store

Step 3 asks for your first name, last name and email, exactly as on a paid plan. On Free, the last button is Create my store instead of Continue to payment, because there is nothing to pay.

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The button reads Creating your store… for a second or two. Every message that can appear on step 3, and what to do about it, is in Create your store.

Check your email for the set-password link

When your store is created, the page opens with The sign says coming soon. and your store’s address. Then it says Your store shows a coming-soon page until you publish it from the console. You can publish once you have set your password from the link we emailed to owner@layal.example. The link works for 24 hours. Under that it says Start setting up your store in the console now. Until you use the link in that email, you cannot sign in again later., with Go to the console. A last line says Nothing yet? Check your spam folder before trying again.

Press Go to the console to go straight into the console, signed in: you can start on your setup list while the email is on its way. The button stays on the page for 25 minutes after you sign up. Then it goes, and the page says This page can no longer take you to the console. Use the link in that email instead. See On the Free plan.

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Setting your password confirms your email. Until then your store stays closed: you cannot publish it, customers see its Opening soon page and it takes no orders, and once this first session ends, only an emailed link gets you back in. Afterwards, sign in with your email and the new password, and your store opens to customers the first time you publish it from the Storefront Studio. Step by step: Create your password from the email.

If no email arrives after a few minutes:

• Check your spam or junk folder, and the Promotions or Updates tab in Gmail.
• Check that you can receive mail at the address you typed: the page shows it in the message.
• If it is still missing, talk to us (opens in a new tab) and tell us your store address. We can send the link again.
• If the address on the page has a typing mistake, the link went somewhere you cannot open. Press Go to the console while it is still on the page, then Wrong address? on the banner at the top, and type the right address. See Wrong address? Send the link to the right one. If the button has gone, talk to us (opens in a new tab) and tell us your store address and the right email.

If you signed up with Google instead, there is no email and no password, and nothing to confirm. Your store still opens to customers only when you first publish it. See Sign up with your Google account.

Once you are in the console, the dashboard’s setup list takes you through your store details, products, shipping and policy pages, to your first publish. Your policy pages are already written as starter text: you read them, fill the highlighted blanks and publish them. See The setup list before your first publish.

Moving to a paid plan later

You can move from Free to any paid plan whenever you are ready, from inside the console: open Subscription in the sidebar and choose a plan. Everything you have built stays where it is — products, orders, customers, pages and design.

Starter and Growth begin with a 14-day free trial when you move up, as long as you have not had a free trial before: there is one per person and per card. Payment is by card, on Stripe’s secure page. See Upgrade or change your plan and How the free trial works.

What to do next

• Create your password from the email.
• Work through the setup list on your dashboard.