This checklist starts after The Oblist has accepted your application or invited you to onboard as a vendor. Applying to join and activating an accepted vendor account are two different stages.
If you have not yet been accepted or invited, follow Joining The Oblist as a designer first.
What “go-live” means
Your vendor account is live for buyers only when all three conditions are true:
your platform subscription is activated and the vendor account is active;
at least one agreed piece has been approved by Curation; and
that Approved piece has completed publication/synchronization to the storefront.
Completing account onboarding alone does not make a Draft or Pending product visible. Likewise, an Approved account with no Approved product has no piece available to buy.
Go-live checklist at a glance
Check | Required for publication? | Where / outcome |
Invitation/application accepted | Yes | Complete this before vendor onboarding. |
Personal and brand profile | Yes | Onboarding, then Account → Brand Info / Billing Info. |
Business address and applicable tax answers | Yes | Onboarding, then Account → Tax ID for updates. |
Trade Program choice | No | Optional opt-in during onboarding or Account → B2B Trade Program. |
Platform subscription | Yes, except team-managed exclusive agreements | Choose Monthly/Annual and complete checkout. |
Shipping origin and return address | Verify before first order; not a publication gate | Account → Shipping. |
Stripe Connect payout account | Not a publication gate | Payments; required for automatic payouts when available. |
Initial assortment agreed with Curation | Yes | No fixed public minimum; follow the assortment agreed with the team. |
At least one product Approved and published | Yes | Products plus the public product page. |
Shopify Sync | No | Optional; manual product creation is supported. |
Advanced market pricing | Only when you need custom market rules | Product editor → Advanced pricing by market. |
DAC7 | Only when requested | Complete the dashboard compliance task when it appears. |
1. Complete the accepted-vendor onboarding
The current onboarding collects:
login email, password and acceptance of the Vendor Terms;
name, phone and country;
brand name, brand description and profile type—Artist/Brand or Vintage Curator;
business address;
tax information adapted to the business country;
optional participation in the Trade Program; and
platform subscription choice.
The application form is not a substitute for these onboarding steps. Conversely, do not start a second application if you already received an invitation—use the invited email and continue the existing onboarding.
2. Activate the platform subscription
The subscription is what activates access to sell on the platform. During onboarding, choose the Monthly or Annual option displayed and complete the hosted checkout. New-vendor checkout shows the current trial and price before confirmation; rely on that screen rather than an old quoted price.
After checkout succeeds, the account is activated and the dashboard becomes the place to build and submit the catalogue.
Important distinctions:
Subscription billing pays for access to the vendor platform.
Stripe Connect is the payout destination for your sales.
Paying the subscription does not bypass product Curation.
Connecting Stripe for payouts does not replace the subscription.
Team-managed exclusive agreements can follow a different subscription path shown on the account.
If checkout succeeded but the dashboard still says Complete Your Registration or Start Selling Today, refresh once and then continue in Vendor Dashboard chat with the checkout result and screenshot.
3. Verify your account and fiscal information
Open Account and check:
Brand Info: brand/contact details and business address source;
Billing Info: legal entity name, contact details and registered address used for records/invoices;
Tax ID: the VAT/GST/EIN/TIN/business-number or local-tax questions shown for your country;
B2B Trade Program: optional participation and its current setting;
Subscription: trial, plan and billing state.
Only provide registrations that genuinely apply to your business. The form supports country-specific declarations such as not being subject to VAT/GST when available. A VIES or validation warning should be resolved from the exact message shown; Fin must not make a tax determination for you.
DAC7 is separate
DAC7 is not a universal first-publication step. Complete it when the dashboard displays the DAC7 requirement or priority banner. A later DAC7 hold can affect payouts or account access even though it was not part of the original go-live.
4. Verify shipping origin and return address before orders
On Account → Shipping:
the business address is used as the shipping origin by default;
you can enter a dedicated pickup origin instead;
confirm the contact name, email and phone that a carrier can use;
choose whether returns use the same address or a separate full return address.
These addresses do not technically block Curation/publication, but they must be accurate before the first order. Carrier quotes, prepaid labels, pickups and returned parcels depend on them.
5. Set up the payout destination
Open Payments and read the Stripe status card:
Not connected: start Stripe Connect onboarding;
Verification required / Payouts disabled: complete the requested information on Stripe;
Verified: the connected account is ready to receive eligible payouts.
Stripe Connect does not block a product from being published, but an incomplete payout setup can prevent earnings from being transferred. Complete it before the first sale whenever it is available in your country.
Some countries cannot use the standard Stripe Connect route from The Oblist's platform account. If the dashboard displays that restriction, do not create an unrelated Stripe account to bypass it; continue with the payout method arranged by The Oblist.
6. Prepare the initial assortment agreed with Curation
There is no public fixed minimum number of pieces. The initial assortment is a Curation/business decision based on what was agreed during acceptance.
For each selected piece, use one of the available paths:
Create Manually;
Import from URL and review the extracted data; or
Shopify Sync Hub, which is optional and imports products as Draft.
Before Send for review, verify at least:
title, description, category and condition;
base/reference price and intended market availability;
product and packed dimensions, weight and country of origin;
fixed stock or genuine made-to-order mode;
realistic minimum/maximum delivery time;
return setting;
images/video;
materials, colours and styles;
variants, option prices and quantities when applicable;
technical or lighting information when the form requests it.
Save as draft does not submit the piece. Send for review moves a complete Draft to Pending. Imported or linked products follow the same Curation path.
7. Understand the product statuses
Draft: incomplete or not submitted; not live.
Pending: in the Curation queue; a new piece is not live yet.
Need Review: feedback/action or critical changes require review.
Rejected: not accepted as submitted; resubmission is available only when the dashboard allows it.
Approved: accepted into the publication flow.
Sold Out: availability state, not Curation approval.
There is no fixed public Curation SLA. Follow the current status and feedback; do not repeatedly resubmit the same unchanged listing.
8. Confirm actual storefront publication
Once a piece is Approved:
verify it under Products → Approved;
confirm fixed stock is above zero, MTO is configured honestly, or out-of-stock selling is intentionally enabled;
confirm the intended market is available in Advanced pricing by market;
make sure Holiday Mode is not set to pause all sales;
for Shopify-linked products, check the correct mapping/source and Sync Hub Activity;
open the public product page in the intended market.
An Approved badge means Curation passed; if the public page is still absent or different, use the publication/sync diagnostic rather than submitting a duplicate product.
What is optional—not a go-live blocker
connecting a personal Shopify store;
joining the Trade Program;
setting custom prices for every market when default/reference pricing is suitable;
uploading a logo or profile picture, although these improve presentation;
completing DAC7 before the dashboard requests it;
Stripe Connect for publication itself, although payout setup is operationally important.
When to continue in Vendor Dashboard chat
Use the current chat and include the relevant screenshot when:
an accepted invitation cannot continue onboarding;
subscription checkout succeeded but account activation did not update;
the tax form cannot represent the real business situation;
Stripe Connect is unavailable/restricted or remains incomplete after Stripe requests are satisfied;
a submitted product has no feedback/status movement that explains the blocker;
a product is Approved but still absent from the storefront after the checks above.
Fin can explain this checklist and collect the evidence. Curation decisions, tax advice, manual account activation, payout-method exceptions and publication repairs require a teammate.