FAQ
General
Section titled “General”What is CartBay?
Section titled “What is CartBay?”CartBay is a WooCommerce abandoned cart recovery plugin. It captures consented checkout visitors, detects abandoned carts, sends a three-email recovery sequence, restores carts through secure links, and tracks recovered revenue.
Is there a free version?
Section titled “Is there a free version?”Yes. The free CartBay plugin on WordPress.org is a complete abandoned cart recovery workflow — consented capture, abandonment detection, the three-email recovery sequence, restore links, a static recovery coupon, and core analytics. CartBay Pro Pro is a separate licensed add-on that adds measurement and optimization: advanced analytics, CSV export, and dynamic per-session coupons.
Where do I manage CartBay?
Section titled “Where do I manage CartBay?”Open WooCommerce > CartBay or WooCommerce > Settings > Cart in WordPress admin.
Does CartBay use custom database tables?
Section titled “Does CartBay use custom database tables?”No. CartBay stores recovery sessions as WooCommerce order-backed sessions and uses WooCommerce CRUD APIs.
Does CartBay support WooCommerce Block Checkout?
Section titled “Does CartBay support WooCommerce Block Checkout?”Yes. CartBay supports classic checkout and WooCommerce Block Checkout. Block Checkout uses a WooCommerce additional checkout field in the contact section.
Capture
Section titled “Capture”Why is the consent checkbox not showing?
Section titled “Why is the consent checkbox not showing?”Check that Capture is enabled, WooCommerce is active, and you are viewing the checkout page rather than the order-received page.
What happens if a shopper unchecks consent?
Section titled “What happens if a shopper unchecks consent?”CartBay treats that as consent withdrawal. It deletes the active captured or abandoned session and cancels pending abandonment checks and recovery emails for that session.
Can one email have multiple active sessions?
Section titled “Can one email have multiple active sessions?”Yes. CartBay identifies carts by session ID and cart fingerprint, not email alone. One shopper can have multiple active CartBay sessions if the carts are materially different.
Recovery Emails
Section titled “Recovery Emails”When does the first recovery email send?
Section titled “When does the first recovery email send?”By default, Email 1 sends 45 minutes after the cart becomes abandoned. If the abandonment timeout is 30 minutes, that means Email 1 sends about 75 minutes after the shopper’s last captured activity.
What if Action Scheduler is delayed?
Section titled “What if Action Scheduler is delayed?”Pending recovery emails are not dropped. They run when Action Scheduler resumes, as long as CartBay’s send guards still allow the email.
What does Sent mean in Notifications?
Section titled “What does Sent mean in Notifications?”Sent means WordPress/WooCommerce accepted the email send. It does not guarantee inbox delivery unless a provider integration explicitly reports delivery.
SMTP or Email Services
Section titled “SMTP or Email Services”Do I need an SMTP plugin or email service?
Section titled “Do I need an SMTP plugin or email service?”CartBay can send through the normal WordPress/WooCommerce email system, but a dedicated SMTP plugin or transactional email service is strongly recommended for reliable inbox delivery.
Which email services can I use?
Section titled “Which email services can I use?”You can use any service that integrates with WordPress mail delivery, such as SMTP.com, Mailgun, Postmark, SendGrid, Amazon SES, Brevo, or your hosting provider’s SMTP service.
Does CartBay send emails directly through SMTP?
Section titled “Does CartBay send emails directly through SMTP?”No. CartBay hands recovery emails to WooCommerce and WordPress mail delivery. Your SMTP plugin or transactional email integration controls how those messages are sent.
Why do Notifications show Sent but customers do not receive emails?
Section titled “Why do Notifications show Sent but customers do not receive emails?”Sent means WordPress accepted the send request. Inbox delivery can still fail because of SMTP configuration, domain authentication, spam filtering, bounces, or provider limits. Check your email provider logs and WooCommerce logs.
What DNS records should I configure?
Section titled “What DNS records should I configure?”Configure the records recommended by your email provider, usually SPF, DKIM, and DMARC. These records help receiving inboxes trust recovery emails sent from your store domain.
For a full step-by-step walkthrough of supported plugins, provider setup, and DNS authentication, see Email Delivery Setup.
Templates
Section titled “Templates”Where do I edit recovery emails?
Section titled “Where do I edit recovery emails?”Open WooCommerce > CartBay > Templates, then click Edit in WooCommerce for the recovery email you want to edit.
Which placeholders can I use?
Section titled “Which placeholders can I use?”Common placeholders include {site_title}, {customer_email}, {restore_url}, {coupon_code}, {coupon_expiry}, and {unsubscribe_url}. Coupon placeholders only resolve for coupon-enabled steps.
Why is my coupon placeholder empty?
Section titled “Why is my coupon placeholder empty?”Either the email step does not have coupons enabled — enable it in Recovery Sequence and set the coupon in Offers — or the code you configured is missing or unusable (no matching WooCommerce coupon, expired, or out of uses), in which case CartBay deliberately leaves it out of the email so shoppers do not get a code that fails. Check the Offers screen for a warning explaining which it is.
Offers and Coupons
Section titled “Offers and Coupons”How do recovery coupons work?
Section titled “How do recovery coupons work?”The free plugin inserts one static coupon code — an existing WooCommerce coupon you set in Offers — into the recovery email steps you enable it for. CartBay Pro Pro instead generates a unique, single-use coupon per session and applies it automatically when the cart is restored.
When are coupons generated? Pro
Section titled “When are coupons generated? Pro”Only in CartBay Pro. It generates a unique coupon per session for recovery email steps where Include a recovery coupon is enabled. The free plugin does not generate coupons; it reuses the static coupon you configure in Offers.
Can shoppers share recovery coupons? Pro
Section titled “Can shoppers share recovery coupons? Pro”CartBay Pro coupons are restricted to the recovery session and captured email, and CartBay validates coupon use against restored session identity.
Are coupons applied to subscription products? Pro
Section titled “Are coupons applied to subscription products? Pro”CartBay Pro avoids applying its generated recovery coupons when the cart contains WooCommerce Subscription products or subscription variations.
Licensing
Section titled “Licensing”Do I need a license to use CartBay?
Section titled “Do I need a license to use CartBay?”No. The free CartBay plugin on WordPress.org is a complete recovery workflow and needs no license key. A WPAnchorBay license is required only for CartBay Pro Pro, which adds advanced analytics, CSV export, dynamic per-session coupons, and private updates.
Where do I get my license key?
Section titled “Where do I get my license key?”Your CartBay Pro Pro license key is sent in the purchase confirmation email. You can also retrieve it by logging in to your WPAnchorBay account dashboard at wpanchorbay.com. The free plugin does not use a license key.
Who should I contact for license help?
Section titled “Who should I contact for license help?”Contact support@wpanchorbay.com.
Will CartBay stop working if the license server is temporarily unavailable?
Section titled “Will CartBay stop working if the license server is temporarily unavailable?”No. CartBay Pro Pro fails open for license server network failures, so capture, recovery emails, and restore flows keep running. The free plugin has no license check and is never affected.
Data and Privacy
Section titled “Data and Privacy”Does CartBay store raw restore tokens?
Section titled “Does CartBay store raw restore tokens?”No. Restore and unsubscribe tokens are generated as opaque strings and stored as SHA-256 hashes.
What happens when a shopper unsubscribes?
Section titled “What happens when a shopper unsubscribes?”CartBay creates a suppression record, marks the session suppressed, and cancels pending recovery email work.
Can I delete CartBay data on uninstall?
Section titled “Can I delete CartBay data on uninstall?”Yes. Enable Delete Data on Uninstall in Settings before deleting the plugin. Leave it disabled if you may reinstall CartBay later.
Troubleshooting
Section titled “Troubleshooting”Why are emails queued but not sending?
Section titled “Why are emails queued but not sending?”Action Scheduler may not be running promptly. Check WooCommerce scheduled actions and server cron behavior.
Why did restore fail?
Section titled “Why did restore fail?”Common causes include expired tokens, deleted sessions, unavailable products, invalid cart snapshots, or cart validation failures.
Where are logs?
Section titled “Where are logs?”WooCommerce logs are available in WooCommerce > Status > Logs with source cartbay. CartBay also has a hidden CartBay Logs section linked from Settings.