Troubleshooting

You might occasionally encounter an issue with your store. In many cases, you can find the cause and even fix the issue yourself.

Below are general troubleshooting steps to diagnose most common issues, as well as more detailed steps for issues related to shipping and payments.

Checklist for General Troubleshooting

Step 1: Clear cache and cookies

Cache and cookies are the info from visited websites stored on your computer to make these websites load faster for you. Also, that refers to stored passwords, logins, etc.

You can check if your issue is caused by cache by opening your store in another browser. If the issue doesn’t occur in the new browser, you most likely need to clear the cache in your current browser.

Here’s how you can clear cache and cookies in common browsers:

Chrome Firefox Safari Internet Explorer Edge
  1. Click on the three dots in the right upper corner of the Chrome browser
  2. Click More tools → Clear browsing data
  3. Select the Time range
  4. Tick “Cookies and other site data” and “Cached images and files”
  5. Click Clear data
  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and then select Preferences.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security
  3. Click Clear Data in the Cookies and Site Data section
  4. Click Clear
  1. Click on the Safari menu → Preferences → Advanced
  2. Tick the “Show Develop menu in menu bar” checkbox, and close the preferences pop-up
  3. Click Develop → Empty caches
  1. Click on the gear icon in the right upper corner of the IE browser → Safety → Delete browsing history
  2. Uncheck the “Preserve Favorites website data” option and check Temporary Internet Files and Cookies
  3. Click Delete
  1. Click on the star icon (Favourites) in the right upper corner of the Edge browser → History.
  2. Click Clear history and select the type of data that you want to remove.
  3. Click Clear.

Next step: After you clear cache and cookies, refresh the storefront page. If the issue is gone after that, it looks like you saw the issue because of cache and cookies in the browser. Once you’ve cleared them, your website should work fine.

Step 2: Disable browser extensions

Extensions add extra functionality to a browser and interact with websites that you visit. Sometimes, a conflict can occur between an extension and a website, causing the site to look or work incorrectly.

You can also check whether extensions affect your store by opening a website in another browser. If the issue doesn’t occur there, find out which extension conflicts with a website by disabling them one by one in your browser.

To disable extensions in a browser:

Chrome Firefox Safari Internet Explorer Edge
  1. Click on the three dots in the right upper corner of the Chrome browser → More tools → Extensions
  2. Click on the toggle to disable an extension
  3. If you have several extensions, disable them one by one and refresh the storefront to see if the issue is gone after each disabled extension.
  4. After you’ve checked all the extensions, you can enable them back.
  1. Click on the menu icon in the right upper corner → Add-ons → Extensions or Themes
  2. Click on the three dots next to an extension → Disable
  3. If you have several extensions, disable them one by one and refresh the storefront to see if the issue is gone.
  4. After you’ve checked all the extensions, you can enable them back.
  1. Click on the Safari menu → Preferences → Extensions
  2. Untick the checkbox to disable an extension
  3. Disable extensions one by one, refreshing the store after each to see if the issue is gone
  1. Click on the gear icon in the right upper corner of the IE browser → Manage add-ons
  2. Under the Show section, select All add-ons
  3. Click on the add-on to disable it and click Close.  If you have several add-ons, disable them one by one and refresh the storefront to see if the issue is gone.
  4. After you’ve checked all the add-ons, you can enable them back.
  1. Click on the three dots (More) in the right upper corner of the Edge browser → Extensions.
  2. Right-click on an extension → Turn off. If you have several extensions, disable them one by one and refresh the storefront to see if the issue is gone.
  3. After you’ve checked all the extensions, you can enable them back.

Step 3: Disable antivirus

If you don’t use any antivirus, skip this step.

The antivirus program may be blocking some resources when you open a website. To check if that is the cause of your issue, please temporarily disable your antivirus system and refresh the website page. You can usually find an option to temporarily disable antivirus in its settings. The instructions would depend on the antivirus you use. If you can’t find it, please check the antivirus website for instructions.

Step 4: Use another internet connection

Internet providers may sometimes block resources on the internet. Because of this, you could have an issue opening a website or loading its parts.

To check whether your internet connection is affecting a site, try using another connection e.g. the wifi at a cafe or your mobile internet.

Next step: If you find out that the issue happens only with your internet provider, please contact their support team for further help.

Troubleshooting Shipping Issues

There are two main shipping-related problems you may face: your shipping methods are not showing up at checkout, or shipping rates are higher or lower than expected. Below, you will find out how to handle common issues.

A shipping method is not shown at checkout

If a shipping method is not appearing at checkout, check if:

  • The shipping method is enabled under the Shipping & Pickup section
  • The product being ordered is marked as shippable
    • Go to Catalog → Products
    • Open the product being ordered
    • Make sure the box Requires shipping or pickup is checked under General settings
  • The shipping address falls within that shipping method’s destination zone
    • Go to Shipping & Pickup
    • Click Actions → Edit for your configured carrier
    • Check the settings under Shipping region to make sure the shipping address is covered in your destination zones
  • The shipping method is enabled for the product being ordered
    • Go to Catalog → Products
    • Open the product being ordered
    • Click on the Tax and Shipping tab and check the settings under Specify shipping methods for this product
  • For custom rates based on weight and subtotal: make sure that the order falls into any of the ranges

  • For real-time rates: make sure that the total weight and dimensions of products in the cart and the default package size are within the limitations of the unavailable shipping method. You can find what maximum weight and size a shipping method supports on the carrier’s site.

    For example:

    USPS — https://www.usps.com/ship/mail-shipping-services.html

    Fedex — https://www.fedex.com/en-us/service-guide/us-packages.html

Note: In case there are several products in the order, and product-specific shipping methods are used in your store, products may have conflicting shipping methods. If there is no shipping/delivery method that can be applied to all the products in the order, your store will show a warning urging the customer to split their order.

Incorrect shipping rates are shown at checkout

When you use real-time rates from carriers like USPS, UPS, FedEx, carriers automatically calculate rates based on order weight and dimensions and origin and destination addresses. These rates are displayed at checkout when a customer makes a purchase.

If you think that you are getting incorrect rates at checkout, check:

  • If the weight of your products is correct.
    • From your store admin, go to Catalog → Products
    • Open the product you want to set up
    • In the Weight section, check the weight
  • If you have set up any product-specific shipping in your store
    • Go to Catalog → Products in your control panel
    • Choose a product you want to troubleshoot
    • Click on the Shipping & Pickup tab and check shipping settings 
  • Whether you’ve added a shipping markup
    • Go to Shipping & Pickup in your control panel
    • Click Actions → Edit for the configured carrier-calculated shipping method
    • Under the Shipping settings block, find and fill out the Shipping markup field with a flat amount that will be included in the shipping fees
    • Click Save
  • If you have the correct shipping origin address
    • Go to Shipping & Pickup
    • Under the Settings block find the Shipping Origin section
    • Click Set Up Origin Address
    • Select the option I ship orders from a warehouse or another location and edit the address 
    • Click Submit to save the changes
  • If you’ve connected your store to your own account with a carrier for negotiated automatic rates or if you use our default account with the carrier and receive standard rates.
    • Go to Shipping & Pickup
    • Click Actions → Edit for your configured carrier
    • Confirm if your own account is connected

Free shipping is being offered to other countries

Generally, you can offer free shipping store-wide or for certain products only. If you set up both, product-specific shipping will overwrite your global shipping settings and will be applied to all customer locations.

To check your global shipping settings, go to Shipping & Pickup. Open a method with free shipping rates and check what regions you ship to. If the No limitations option is selected, it means you offer free shipping worldwide.

To check if you set individual product shipping, go to Catalog → Products, click on a product for which you receive unexpected shipping cost at checkout, and go to the Shipping & Pickup tab in the product editing page, then check your settings in the Shipping Rates section. If the Free shipping option is selected, then the product is shipped charge-free worldwide.

Note: If you want to offer free shipping to certain countries and for certain products, add a global shipping method with a $0 rate for your free-shipping destination zone and assign this method to certain products only.

Instead of Flat rate per order a Free shipping method appears at checkout

Product-specific shipping options overwrite global shipping rates. So make sure you haven’t specified free shipping in the product settings. To do so, go to Catalog → Products in your store admin, click on a product, and go to the Shipping & Pickup tab.

Note that the Fixed rate per item set to $0 and the Free Shipping options in the Shipping & Pickup tab are practically the same. They both will be displayed as Free Shipping at checkout. If you don’t want to use "Fixed rate per item" for a product, you should switch to the "Use your store’s shipping methods" shipping option in the Shipping & Pickup tab of the product editing page.

Instead of Flat rate per order a Flat rate per item appears at checkout

Product-specific shipping options overwrite global shipping rates. So if you set up a fixed per-item fee for a product, it will replace your global shipping settings. In particular, Flat rate per order.

To solve the issue, go to Catalog → Products, select the product and open the Shipping & Pickup tab. Switch from the Fixed rate per item to the Use your store’s shipping methods option there and save the changes.

As a result, your customers will be charged a flat rate per order instead of individual shipping rates.

Troubleshooting Payment Issues

There are three types of payment-related problems you may face: your payment processor does not appear or work at checkout, card payments do not go through, or the order in your store admin has a wrong payment status. 

A Payment Method is Unavailable at Checkout

If a payment method doesn’t appear at checkout or there is an error accessing it, check if:

  • The payment method is enabled on the Payment page in your store admin.
  • The payment method is set up correctly: all the necessary credentials, like API keys, login, password, etc., that you specify for this method in the store admin match the ones in your payment provider account settings.

Note: Your third-party payment provider may have additional setup steps on their side. Make sure you follow them and contact their support if needed so that all the settings are configured correctly.

  • The currency selected in your payment gateway account matches your store currency. Contact your payment provider to know if the currency in question is supported.
  • The test mode is not check-marked for this payment method on its page in your store admin, and it’s not enabled in the payment provider account. You can use the test mode when setting up a payment method but don’t forget to disable it once you want to actually take payments from customers.
  • The payment method is not disabled for the product.

A Card Payment is Declined

If a payment method appears at checkout, but your customers get errors when paying, make sure their credit card is not expired, and they have funds to pay for the order.

In case there’s no problem with card validity and funds, advise your customer to contact their bank/payment system for possible reasons. You can also suggest using another card/payment method instead.

On your end, you can contact your payment processor and describe the error to them to get more details on the possible cause of the problem and available solutions.

An Order Has a Wrong Payment Status in Store Admin

After an order is successfully placed, it appears on the Orders page in your store admin. Each order has a payment status.

In case a paid order has a wrong payment status (e.g., Awaiting Payment instead of Paid), you can click on the order to access its details and look into the Payment details block:

In this block, you will see the payment method used, error text (when available), and the Transaction details link. Click this link to view the transaction in your payment provider account. If the error remains unclear to you, you can look it up in a search engine or contact your payment gateway for more information and possible solutions.

Note: If an order does not appear in the Orders section, check the Abandoned Carts page that shows unfinished orders. Orders with certain payment errors can go there instead.