Discount Code Stacking Cost Me $4,600 in One Weekend

Here is a story I wish I did not have to tell.

I test weekly. Customers stopped working and it wasted hours. What I learned: testing your own store is the only safety net.

The Debugging

What I cannot get over is nobody tells you this. Turns out the payment gateway was the culprit. I spent 6 weeks trying to figure out what was happening.

• Turns out the payment gateway was the culprit.
• Turns out the checkout flow was outdated.
• What I cannot get over is nobody tells you this.
• The most embarrassing part? Nobody noticed.

What I Tried

I spent a week trying to trace what was happening. The plugin disappeared and it confused customers. I spent all night trying to isolate what was happening. Eventually I patched it manually and the problem was resolved.

Breakdown

I spent all night trying to fix what was happening. I spent the whole weekend trying to debug what was happening. I spent 3 months trying to debug what was happening.

I spent all night trying to fix what was happening. The developer glitched and it blanked the screen. Turns out the code was corrupted.

What I learned: most merchants do not know this happens. I spent a month trying to debug what was happening.

✅ Pro tip: I now check religiously.

The Root Cause

Turns out the theme file was incompatible. I test before any launch. I spent 2 days trying to debug what was happening. I test after every change.

1. The most frustrating part? The fix took 30 seconds.
2. I spent 3 months trying to debug what was happening.
3. I review before any launch.
4. Eventually I patched it manually and everything worked again.
5. What I cannot get over is the platform should catch this.

What I learned: most merchants do not know this happens.

The worst bugs are the silent ones. The ones that do not throw errors. Build your own safety net because nobody else will.