Install and connect
Early access
Two steps put layaway on your BigCommerce storefront: install the app, then paste an API key into the panel it opens. There is no snippet to add and no theme file to edit.
Before you start
Three things, each of which the connect step refuses without:
| A USD store | ShotPay supports stores priced in US dollars. Any other currency is refused when you connect. |
| An approved ShotPay account | An account that has been approved to transact. |
| An API key | Issued with the checkout:write scope, and its client ID. See API Keys. |
A test key connects your sandbox and a live key connects your live account. A store can hold both at once and you choose which one it uses, so you can try everything against Sandbox first and switch to live when you are ready — see Switching between sandbox and live.
Already connected? Reconnect to get the cart buttons
The buttons on the add-to-cart popup, the cart and checkout read your cart from BigCommerce, which needs a permission the app did not ask for before. BigCommerce does not add permissions to a connection that already exists, so a store connected before this release keeps its product-page button and shows no others until you approve the new permissions.
Approving them takes a moment and changes nothing else: your ShotPay connection, your settings and any plans already running all survive it.
1. Install the app
Install ShotPay from the BigCommerce app marketplace. BigCommerce opens the ShotPay panel inside your admin as soon as the install finishes, so there is nothing to go and find afterwards.
2. Connect your ShotPay account
The panel opens on a Connect card. Paste your client ID and API key, then press Connect store.
Reload the panel if it has been sitting open
A panel left open for a while stops accepting the connection and says "This pairing session has expired. Reload the ShotPay panel and try again." Reload it and paste your key again.
Connecting adds the ShotPay button to your product pages immediately. See Button settings for what it looks like and how to change it.
Switching between sandbox and live
Open the Connections tab. Sandbox and Live each have their own section, showing whether that mode is connected and which one the store is using.
- To add the mode you have not connected yet, paste that mode's client ID and API key under the card and press Connect live or Connect sandbox. Adding a key does not change the mode the store is using.
- To change the mode the store is using, pick Sandbox or Live under Mode in use. Switching either way asks you to confirm first, then the panel reloads in the new mode. Live is available only once your ShotPay account is approved for live payments.
After adding a key, open ShotPay again from your BigCommerce admin to see it take effect and to make another change.
Switching changes only what new shoppers see. Plans that are already open keep collecting in the mode they started in.
Resetting credentials
To replace the keys for one mode — for example after rotating them in your ShotPay dashboard — open the Connections tab and press Reset in that mode's section, then connect the new keys.
Resetting the mode the store is using takes the ShotPay button off your store until you connect new keys; the store does not move to the other mode on its own. Resetting the other mode only stops you switching to it. Plans already open keep collecting either way.
Reopening the panel
Open the ShotPay app from your BigCommerce admin. The panel opens only from inside that admin — a bookmarked address will not work.
Disconnecting
| Revoke the key | Revoke the API key for the mode the store is using in your ShotPay dashboard. The button stops appearing on your product pages at once. Plans already open are unaffected and keep collecting. Revoking the other mode's key only stops you switching to it. |
| Uninstall the app | Uninstall ShotPay in BigCommerce. This removes the storefront button too. |
Reinstalling the app keeps the connection — the store comes back paired to the same ShotPay account, with both of its keys. Connecting a key from a different ShotPay account replaces the connection entirely: the store moves to that account and the other mode needs connecting again.
Permissions the app asks for
| Permission | Why |
|---|---|
| Content | Places the ShotPay button on your storefront. |
| Carts (read-only) | Prices a plan for the cart a shopper is holding. |
| Orders | Creates the order a plan reserves, and keeps its status in step. |
| Products (read-only) | Prices a plan opened from a product page. |
| Modify Checkout Content | Places the button on your checkout page. Not every store plan allows this; without it the other buttons are unaffected. |
Next: customize the button
Button settings covers the text, the theme, and where on the product page the button sits.