- Short answer
- Usually no active primary payment provider: set up Shopify Payments or a third-party gateway in Settings › Payments.
- PayPal alone
- Doesn't replace a primary provider; it processes only PayPal payments
- Provider setup
- Only the store owner can activate or switch to Shopify Payments, or add or change a card provider
- Shopify Payments hold
- Checkout usually still works; in some cases new orders stop, so check the admin banner
- Free trial
- Starts in private mode or with checkout inactive; a paid plan activates checkout
- Pause and Build
- Checkout off on every channel once it takes effect
- Singapore
- Unverified after 120 days, Shopify Payments can't process new orders
What the checkout error usually means
Customers reach checkout and get an error that the store can't accept payments; Shopify's troubleshooting page names the likely cause:
If an error message such as "This store is currently unable to accept payments" appears at checkout, then the store likely doesn't have an active primary payment provider set up.
A primary payment provider processes credit and debit card transactions. Additional methods like PayPal process only PayPal payments and don't replace a primary provider, so a store with PayPal alone still has none.
How to fix it in Settings › Payments
Only the store owner can activate or switch to Shopify Payments, or add or change a card payment provider.
- Open Settings › Payments.
- If Shopify Payments is available in your country or region, set it up, activate it and complete verification.
- If it isn't, set up a third-party payment gateway as the primary provider; the path depends on your Shopify Payments status.
- Settings
- Payments
When a provider is set up and checkout still won't take orders
With a provider active, check these store states next:
- Shopify Payments hold. Payouts wait until the hold is resolved. In most cases customers can still check out, but in some cases your store can't accept new orders. The admin banner or an email to the store owner confirms whether checkout is affected; see selling during a hold.
- Free trial. A trial store starts in private mode or with checkout inactive; choosing a paid plan activates checkout, and a trial ending without one leaves the store paused. More on trial billing.
- Pause and Build. Checkout is deactivated across all sales channels, POS included; until the effective date, the store accepts orders as normal.
- Singapore. If verification isn't complete after 120 days, Shopify Payments can't process new orders, and late verification doesn't re-enable checkout. No other region has this rule.
A store frozen over an unpaid Shopify bill is a different symptom: you can't access the admin, and customers can't view the store.
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