Getting Started with ThirtyBees Print

What ThirtyBees is, and who it suits

ThirtyBees is a dedicated eCommerce platform, software built for one job: running an online shop. It is a fork of PrestaShop 1.6, a mature and proven foundation, and it appeals to store owners who want a system that is a shop out of the box rather than a general website tool bolted into one.

Most of the ThirtyBees store owners we work with came from WordPress and WooCommerce, and came looking for something simpler. WooCommerce is powerful, but it is WordPress with a shop added, which means running a website and a shop and the plugins that hold them together. ThirtyBees is a shop from the ground up, and for a lot of people that focus is exactly the relief they were after.

Before you start: the honest requirements

• It needs the right hosting. A dedicated eCommerce platform will not run on a standard shared hosting plan, it needs one of our WordPress or eCommerce packages, which are built for the job. Our General hosting articles cover the tiers.
• It is self-installed, and it is more involved than a one-click blog. You install it, configure it, connect a payment gateway, set up your delivery, and load your products. None of it is beyond a capable owner, and all of it takes some care.
• Or we install it for you. Our paid install and configuration service sets up ThirtyBees, activates your payment gateway, configures your courier zones and fees, installs our free modules, and includes two hours of training on running the system. Many owners would rather spend their time on products and let us handle the setup, and that is what the service is for.

The setup, in the order that makes sense

Whether you do it yourself or follow along with what we have set up, a store comes together in roughly this sequence:

• Install ThirtyBees onto your hosting.
• Configure the basics, your store name, currency in Rand, contact details, and legal pages.
• Connect a payment gateway, which for a South African store usually means PayFast, using our free ThirtyBees PayFast module, as covered in our article on payment gateways for a South African store.
• Set up delivery, the part that catches everyone, handled with the province-average approach and flat-fee courier options in our article on setting delivery and courier fees.
• Make sure your emails send properly, through authenticated SMTP rather than basic mail, so order confirmations actually arrive, covered in our article on making sure your store's emails send.
• Load your products, with good images, honest descriptions, and correct prices and stock.
• Test a real order end to end before you open, a live payment, a real confirmation email landing in a normal inbox, the works.

Why hosting ThirtyBees with us specifically

Most hosts will run ThirtyBees. Very few actually develop for it. We do, which changes what happens when something platform-specific goes wrong or you need a feature that is not there: we have built a PayFast gateway, GA4 purchase tracking, and a manufacturers carousel for ThirtyBees, all free, with a Gift Certificate module on the way, our article on the modules we have built covers them. A host that has never opened the ThirtyBees code cannot do that, and when you are running a shop, the difference between a host who knows the platform and one who merely stores it is the difference between a fixed problem and a shrug.

Good to know

Every part of setting up ThirtyBees is something you can do yourself, and we would never pretend otherwise, the platform is yours and the knowledge is not a secret. What we sell is speed and certainty: a store set up correctly the first time, gateway and delivery and email all tested and working, and two hours of training so you are confident running it. Whether you build it yourself with these articles as your guide or hire us to set it up and teach you, the goal is the same, a shop that works and an owner who can run it. That is the whole point.