How to complete your store setup in Merchant Hub

Getting started with Merchant Hub

When you first open Merchant Hub, or if you have had an account for a while but never finished configuring your store, you land on the Get Started page. It replaces the empty sales dashboard that used to greet new merchants with a wall of $0.00 figures and no direction.

Here is what to expect, and how to move through setup quickly.

What is the "Meet Merchant Hub" welcome tour?

The first time you land on Get Started, a full-screen welcome tour opens automatically. It walks you through the main areas of Merchant Hub (Products, Integrations, Orders, Customers, Reports, Stations, Your Flows and Card payments) with a one-sentence description and a screenshot for each.

• It only opens once. After you click "Explore Merchant Hub" to close it, the tour will not open itself again, on this device or any other. Your dismissal is saved to your account, not your browser, so clearing your cache will not bring it back.

• You can reopen it any time from the Get Started page.

• It does not count toward setup progress. The tour is an introduction, not a setup step.

What is the sample data for?

After the tour closes, Merchant Hub is already populated with sample products, categories, customers and orders. A banner at the top reads: "You're viewing sample data. Play around, nothing here is permanent."

This is a real, browsable store. Open Products, check Reports, explore Orders. Nothing you do here affects your actual business. The sample data stays until you complete your own store setup; it does not expire.

The setup action buttons on Get Started are disabled while sample data is present. Hovering over them shows why: "You need to set up your own store first."

What are the four setup steps?

Get Started tracks your progress across four steps, each worth 25%. Complete all four and you reach 100%, at which point the Get Started menu item disappears and Merchant Hub routes you to the Dashboard automatically.

Step 1: Set up your store

Complete when you have cleared the sample data and created at least one Outlet and one tax rate.

1. Click the store setup card on Get Started. The setup wizard opens directly.

2. Add your Outlet (your physical location) and configure your tax rate.

3. The card updates to show a completed summary and your progress bar moves to 25%.

Step 2: Build your catalog

Complete when you have created a product, a category and an attribute of your own, or finished a catalog migration from another platform.

1. Click the catalog card to go straight to the catalog section with the creation dialog already open.

2. If you are migrating from another platform, completing the migration counts as finishing this step.

3. Sample data does not count toward this step. Only records you create or import qualify.

Step 3: Launch your POS

Complete when a Station has been launched at least once, in a browser or on a terminal.

1. Click the POS card on Get Started. The create Station dialog opens with the name "New Station" already filled in.

2. Choose an Outlet if you like; the pre-filled name stays as "New Station".

3. Once a Station exists, this step ticks. If you later delete that Station, the step un-ticks on the next page load.

Step 4: Set up card payments

Complete when you activate card processing through Final Pay, or when you click Mark as complete because you run a cash-only business.

• Cash-only merchants: click "Mark as complete" on the payment card. Your progress moves to 100% without any payment setup. This action is permanent.

• Merchants activating Final Pay: follow the card payment setup linked from the card.

What happens if I arrive from Flow?

If you signed up or built a flow at flow.finalpos.com and clicked through to Merchant Hub, your session carries over automatically, with no second sign-in. If your store setup is not finished, you land on Get Started rather than the Dashboard.

If your session has expired when you click a hand-off link, you are prompted to sign in and then routed to Get Started immediately after.

What happens when I am done?

Once all four steps reach 100%, Merchant Hub switches your default landing page to the Dashboard and removes the Get Started entry from the sidebar. You will not see it again unless you create a new store that has not been configured yet.

If you have an existing account that was only partially set up, the same Get Started page applies. You will see it until all four steps are complete, regardless of how long the account has been open.