Everything in Moving a WordPress site to a new domain applies, including the serialisation trap. A shop adds several things that will quietly break if missed.
Payment gateways
This is the one that costs money. Every gateway holds a return address and usually a webhook address pointing at your old domain. Until those are updated at the gateway's end, payments will be taken and your shop will never be told – orders sit at Pending Payment while customers have been charged. Update them before you switch, not after.
Order history and emails
Existing orders contain links to the old domain in their stored data and in emails already sent. Keep the old domain and redirect it permanently, or customers following a link from an old confirmation will find nothing.
Also update
- Shipping integrations and label printing services
- Any accounting or stock system connected to the shop
- Product feeds – Google Merchant Centre, marketplaces, comparison sites
- API keys and allowed domains at any service that restricts by origin
- Analytics and search console
The order of work
- Copy the shop and get it working on the new address privately
- Run a serialisation-aware search and replace
- Update gateway return and webhook addresses
- Switch DNS, confirm the certificate is issued
- Place a real test order and confirm it reaches Processing, not Pending
Pick your moment
Do it at your quietest hour, and put the shop in maintenance mode for the switch. An order placed mid-move is the one that will be lost.
