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Blake Ridgway
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content/wordpress/woocommerce.md
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content/wordpress/woocommerce.md
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title: "Setting Up WooCommerce on Arcline"
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description: "Install and configure WooCommerce on your Arcline VPS or shared hosting plan."
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section: wordpress
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order: 5
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---
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# Setting Up WooCommerce on Arcline
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WooCommerce is the most popular e-commerce platform for WordPress. This guide covers installing it on Arcline shared hosting or a VPS and optimizing it for performance without a CDN.
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---
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## Prerequisites
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- WordPress installed and running (see [Install WordPress](/wordpress/install-shared/) for shared hosting or [Install WordPress on a VPS](/wordpress/install-vps/) for VPS)
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- A domain pointed to your Arcline server
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- SSL certificate installed (Let's Encrypt via cPanel or Certbot)
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- PHP memory limit of at least 256 MB (512 MB recommended for VPS)
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---
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## Step 1 — Install WooCommerce
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### Via the WordPress admin
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1. Log in to your WordPress admin dashboard at `https://yourdomain.com/wp-admin`
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2. Go to **Plugins → Add New**
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3. Search for "WooCommerce"
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4. Click **Install Now** → **Activate**
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WooCommerce will launch the setup wizard on activation.
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### Via WP-CLI (faster, especially on a VPS)
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```bash
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# Install and activate WooCommerce
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wp plugin install woocommerce --activate
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# Install a recommended theme (e.g., Storefront)
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# wp theme install storefront --activate
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```
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---
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## Step 2 — Run the setup wizard
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The WooCommerce setup wizard will walk you through:
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1. **Store location**: Set your business address, currency (USD), and selling location
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2. **Industry**: What types of products you sell (physical, digital, membership, etc.)
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3. **Product types**: Simple products, variable products, external/affiliate products
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4. **Business details**: Whether you're already selling elsewhere
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5. **Payment methods**: WooPayments, PayPal, Stripe, or offline payments
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6. **Shipping**: Set up shipping zones and rates
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7. **Tax**: Configure basic tax settings
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8. **Personalize**: Choose a theme and install free extensions
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You can skip any step and configure it later.
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---
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## Step 3 — Choose payment methods
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### WooPayments (built-in, recommended)
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WooPayments is Stripe-based and included with WooCommerce. It accepts credit cards, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. No additional plugin is needed.
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To set it up:
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1. Go to **WooCommerce → Settings → Payments**
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2. Click **Set up** next to WooPayments
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3. Follow the prompts to connect your Stripe account
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### PayPal
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1. Go to **WooCommerce → Settings → Payments**
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2. Toggle **PayPal** on
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3. Click **Set up** and enter your PayPal email address
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### Stripe (standalone plugin)
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If you prefer the standalone Stripe plugin instead of WooPayments:
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```bash
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wp plugin install woocommerce-gateway-stripe --activate
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```
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Then configure it in **WooCommerce → Settings → Payments → Stripe**.
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---
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## Step 4 — Configure shipping
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1. Go to **WooCommerce → Settings → Shipping**
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2. Click **Add shipping zone**
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3. Name the zone (e.g., "United States")
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4. Select the zone regions (countries, states, or postcode ranges)
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5. Click **Add shipping method**:
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- **Flat rate** — Single rate per order (e.g., $5.99)
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- **Free shipping** — Free shipping with a minimum order amount
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- **Local pickup** — Customer picks up at your location
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---
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## Step 5 — Performance optimization for WooCommerce
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WooCommerce adds database queries and page weight. Optimize it carefully:
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### Essential caching
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1. Install a caching plugin. See [W3 Total Cache Configuration](/wordpress/w3-total-cache/) for detailed setup.
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2. **Important**: In W3 Total Cache, do NOT enable page caching for the cart, checkout, and my-account pages. Add these to the **Never cache the following pages** list: `/cart/*`, `/checkout/*`, `/my-account/*`, `/wc-api/*`
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### Disable unused features
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Go to **WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → Features** and disable:
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- Coupons (if you don't use them)
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- If digital only, disable shipping and tax
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### Enable native cart fragments (if needed)
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Cart fragments (the little cart icon that updates via AJAX) are expensive on shared hosting. If your theme doesn't need real-time cart updates, disable it:
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```bash
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wp option set woocommerce_cart_fragments_enabled no
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```
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Customers will see a non-JS fallback link to the cart page.
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### Image optimization
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- Product images should be no larger than 1200px on the longest side
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- Use WebP format for product images (convert with `cwebp`)
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- Install a plugin like **Smush** or **Imagify** for automatic compression
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- Set WooCommerce image sizes appropriately: **WooCommerce → Settings → Products → Display**
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---
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## Step 6 — Essential WooCommerce plugins
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| Plugin | Purpose |
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|--------|---------|
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| [WooCommerce](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce/) | Core e-commerce platform |
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| [Akismet Anti-Spam](https://wordpress.org/plugins/akismet/) | Block spam product reviews |
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| [W3 Total Cache](https://wordpress.org/plugins/w3-total-cache/) | Page cache, DB cache, object cache |
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| [UpdraftPlus](https://wordpress.org/plugins/updraftplus/) | Scheduled backups of your store |
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| [WooCommerce Stripe](https://wordpress.org/plugins/woocommerce-gateway-stripe/) | Stripe credit card payments |
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---
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## Step 7 — SSL and security
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- **WooCommerce forces SSL on checkout** automatically. Ensure your SSL certificate is valid.
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- **Force HTTPS for the entire site** in W3 Total Cache → General Settings → Page Cache → Enable HTTP(S) support
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- **Disable file editing** in WordPress admin by adding to `wp-config.php`:
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```php
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define('DISALLOW_FILE_EDIT', true);
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```
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- **Set up fail2ban**: See [Set Up Fail2ban](/vps/fail2ban/) for SSH brute-force protection
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- **Regular backups**: Use UpdraftPlus or [Automated Backups with Restic](/vps/automated-backups/) to back up your database and uploads
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---
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## Troubleshooting
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**Cart and checkout pages not working with caching**: Make sure cart, checkout, and my-account URLs are excluded from the page cache.
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**500 error after installing WooCommerce**: Increase PHP memory limit to 512 MB. WooCommerce is memory-intensive.
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**SSL not working on checkout**: Go to **WooCommerce → Settings → Advanced → Pages** and verify all pages are set. Then **Settings → General → WordPress Address URL and Site Address URL** must start with `https://`.
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**PayPal IPN not working**: In PayPal, set the IPN URL to `https://yourdomain.com/wc-api/ipn-handler/`.
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---
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## What's next
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- [WordPress security hardening](/wordpress/security/)
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- [W3 Total Cache configuration](/wordpress/w3-total-cache/)
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- [Self-hosting without a CDN: performance tips](/privacy/self-hosting-performance/)
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