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Virtual VPN app: how do I preview my store the way buyers in another country see it?

Use the Virtual VPN app to preview your storefront, per-market prices, currency, language and country access control as a buyer in any country sees them. Learn how to install it, generate a country preview link, and why the link expires in 15 minutes.

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3 min

What the Virtual VPN app does

Virtual VPN lets you preview your storefront exactly the way a buyer in another country sees it, without installing a real VPN or leaving your browser. When you pick a country, the app opens a live preview of your store as if the visitor were physically located there. That preview reflects everything your country settings control: the matching market (so you see the right currency, symbol, language and VAT), your access control rules (country whitelist or blacklist), and the per-market price each product shows in that country's currency.

It is a testing and preview tool. It does not change anything for real shoppers and it does not move your store between markets. It simply lets you stand in a buyer's shoes before you launch or after you change your market and access settings.

Installing Virtual VPN

Virtual VPN is published by Storeep and lives in your apps market. To add it:

  1. Open Apps in your dashboard.
  2. Find Virtual VPN and open it. You will see the app preview with an Install button.
  3. Click Install. Once installed, the app opens straight to its preview form.

Virtual VPN is free. You need the Apps permission to install or use it.

After installation you can reopen the app any time from Virtual VPN (the Settings button on its card in the Apps market).

Generating a country preview

When you open the installed app, you get a short Generate and GO form with two fields and a GO button.

  1. Product (optional): a searchable list of your products. Type to filter and pick one product, or leave it empty.
  2. Country (required): a searchable list of countries. Choose the country you want to preview from.
  3. Click GO. A new browser page opens showing the preview for that country.

With or without a product selected

  • If you select a product, the preview opens that specific product page and shows how that product appears in the chosen country, including its per-market price in the local currency.
  • If you leave the product empty, the preview opens your store home and shows how your entire storefront appears in that country.

Clicking GO creates a temporary preview URL for your store, with the chosen country tied to a short secure token. Two things to know about it:

  • The link expires after 15 minutes. Use it within that window, or come back to the app and click GO again to generate a fresh one.
  • The link is tied to your store and the country you picked. While it is valid, the preview behaves as though the visitor is in that country, for both your markets and your access control rules.

Edge cases and good to know

  • Country is required. If you click GO without one, you see "Please select the country".
  • Product must still exist. If the product was deleted, you see "The selected product is incorrect". Pick another product or clear the field.
  • Testing access control: if you block or allow specific countries in Access control, Virtual VPN is the fastest way to confirm a blocked country is actually turned away and an allowed one gets through.
  • Testing markets: use it to confirm the right currency, language and VAT show for each market country before you announce a new market.
  • Testing product prices: open a product preview from a market country to confirm it shows the correct per-market price in that country's currency.
  • It changes nothing live. The preview affects only the page that opens from the link. Your real shoppers, orders and settings are untouched.

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