Why Does the Shopify Checkout Button Do Nothing?

The real symptom

• Clicking Checkout does nothing.
• The cart reloads instead of going to checkout.
• The issue happens only in the drawer or only on the cart page.
• Directly visiting /checkout works.

Likely causes

• The checkout button is missing name="checkout" or sits outside the cart form.
• A terms checkbox, upsell app, or drawer script disables the button.
• A JavaScript error stops the click handler.
• Dynamic checkout or accelerated payment buttons bypass the expected flow.
• Cart drawer HTML was rerendered without rebinding events.

Fix path

1. Open the cart page and test /checkout directly.
2. Open DevTools Console and click the checkout button.
3. Inspect whether the button is disabled or missing required attributes.
4. Test on a duplicate clean theme.
5. Temporarily disable cart, upsell, subscription, and terms-checkbox apps.
6. Compare cart page behavior against cart drawer behavior.

Simple checks

• Inspect the button with DevTools after each cart update.
• Check whether a script calls event.preventDefault() and never redirects.
• Use a private window and empty stale carts before retesting.

Useful code or DevTools check

<button type="submit" name="checkout">Checkout</button>

Do not do this

Do not replace the button with a raw link to checkout before fixing broken cart validation, stale cart items, or required agreement logic.

Sources

• Shopify Community: Checkout button not working for some visitors
• Shopify Help: Troubleshooting themes
• Shopify Developer Docs: Ajax Cart API