RBLS
Rebelus
Site Review

Your site looks good.
It just cannot
take a payment yet.

I went through the whole store the same morning we talked. Here is what I found, in plain language, with the one thing that has to be fixed first.

First, the good news

You are further along than you think

I want to say this before anything else, because you told me you were not sure about the tech side. The design is genuinely strong. It does not look like a template, and it does not look like a first attempt.

  • The black, red and white palette is disciplined and it reads premium. Nothing on the page is fighting anything else.
  • The typography is doing real work. Bodoni for the headlines against Tenor Sans for the body is the kind of pairing beauty brands pay for.
  • "HBCU grown. Fly girl tested. Homecoming approved." is a great line. It tells me exactly who this is for in six words.
  • The pricing built on 1892 is smart. It is the kind of detail your customer will notice and repeat to somebody else.
  • CHEW plus SPIT as a product name, tied to the chant, is a real idea. Most new brands do not have one.

So none of what follows is about how it looks. It is almost entirely plumbing, and plumbing is fixable.

The one that matters

The store cannot accept money right now

I put THE YARD in the cart and went all the way to checkout, the same way a customer would. This is where it stops:

What a customer sees at checkout
This store can't accept payments right now. Payment section, checkout page, tested August 13

The "Pay now" button is greyed out. So if somebody found your site today, fell in love with the duo and tried to buy it, they could not. That was the exact thing you told me you were worried about, and you were right to worry about it.

The cause is not anything you did wrong. Shopify will not turn on payments until two things are true: your store is on an active paid plan, and Shopify Payments has been set up with your business details and a bank account to send the money to.

That second part is the reason I asked about your EIN. Shopify has to verify who the business is before it will move money, so it needs your federal tax ID and a business bank account in your name. Those two things are the front door. Everything else I am about to list is behind it.

The rest of the back end

Five more in the same category

01
Blocking

No shipping rates are set up

Checkout has nowhere to get a shipping price from. Your banner already promises free shipping over $50, and there is no rule behind it yet. I need the weight and box size of a packed duo to build this.

02
Blocking

No return policy, no contact page, no address

Your returns page does not exist yet, and the only thing linked in the footer is a privacy policy. Customers look for this before buying from a brand they have not heard of, and it ties into the FDA labeling piece you mentioned, since your business address has to appear.

03
Blocking

Your domain is not connected

The site still lives at rebelusbysassy.myshopify.com. We want your real domain pointed at it before you share a single link, so nothing has to be re-sent later.

04
Before launch

The founder's note is still written to the grant panel

Your password protection is on, which is exactly right for where you are. The thing to remember is what gets revealed the moment it comes off. The note currently opens with "Blessings NC IDEA and welcome to the prototype." That is perfect for the grant reviewers. It is not what you want a customer landing on. We swap that wording before the password comes down.

05
Visible defect

An unfinished section is showing on the homepage

Below your founder's note there is a block reading "Select a collection to display products." That is a setup message that was never filled in, and every visitor can see it.

Selling, not just working

What will actually move product

06

Your product pages are nearly empty

THE YARD says "She's back. A vibrant red." That is the whole description. Your customer is an alumna who is not going to message you to ask what is in it or how big it is. If it is not on the page, she closes the tab. Shade, finish, size, ingredients, how to apply. This is the single biggest thing for actual sales.

07

There is no photo of the actual product

All four listings use model shots, and they are beautiful. But nothing shows the tube. The two ended matte and gloss tube is the entire idea behind CHEW plus SPIT, and right now a shopper cannot see the thing she is buying. Phone photos are fine to start.

08

THE 1892 CREW does not explain itself

It is $79 with no description of what is in it. Three individual duos come to $86.76, so the bundle saves $7.76. Say that on the page. Savings that are not shown do not sell.

09

Your product links are leftovers from the demo

THE YARD currently lives at a web address ending in "revamp." The others end in "scorpio," "award-show" and "the-gang." They came from the AI setup and have nothing to do with your products. Free to fix now. After launch, changing them breaks every link you have posted.

10

The brand Instagram account does not exist yet

This is the one item on the list that is not really about the website. Instagram is your whole plan for showing looks, and the account it points to has not been created. Linking it takes me five minutes once it exists, so the only real task is claiming the handle. I would do that soon, before somebody else takes the name you want.

11
Small

A stray yellow is running through the site

The outline on the add to cart button, the "continue shopping" link and the trash icon in the cart are all a bright yellow left over from the theme. Against your red and black it looks like a mistake, because it is one. One setting.

The order I would do it in

What comes first

1Plan, payments and payoutsNothing else matters until money can move
2Shipping ratesCheckout dead ends without them
3Policies, contact and addressTrust, plus your compliance piece
4Domain connectedBefore any link goes out
5Product links renamedFree now, costly after launch
6Product page detailsThe biggest lever on sales
7Founder note rewritten for customersCurrently written to the grant panel
8Homepage section fixedVisible on the live site
9Product photographyShow the tube
10Brand Instagram claimed and linkedClaim the handle before someone else does
What I need from you

Six things to start

  1. Which products are actually made and in your hands? This is the only real risk to October. The website is the easy part.
  2. Do you have an EIN and a business bank account? If not, start there this week. The EIN is free from the IRS website and takes about fifteen minutes. Do not pay anyone for it.
  3. Which registrar has the domain you are keeping? You mentioned Namecheap and GoDaddy. I just need to know which one.
  4. Ingredients and net weight from your manufacturer for each product, so the pages can be finished.
  5. Any photos of the actual tube and packaging. Phone pictures are completely fine for now.
  6. Claim the brand Instagram handle when you get a chance, even if you post nothing yet. Names go fast.

Numbers one and two are the ones I would move on first. Everything else can happen while I work.

You built something with a real idea in it.
Now we make it possible to buy.