Troubleshooting Shopify problems

Something not working in your Shopify store? This guide covers the most common problems and what to do about them. Start with the Quick summary, then jump to the section that matches your issue.

Before you start troubleshooting

A few quick checks that solve many problems:

1. Hard refresh your browser. Hold Shift and click the refresh button (or Shift + F5 on Windows). This clears your browser's cached version of the page.
2. Try a private/incognito window. This rules out browser extensions and cached logins as the cause.
3. Check Shopify's status page. Go to shopifystatus.com to see if there is a known outage affecting your store or payments.
4. Check your Shopify admin for alerts. Sometimes Shopify shows a banner about a problem — for example, if your Shopify Payments account needs attention.

Checkout and payment problems

Customers can't complete checkout

Possible causes and fixes:

• No payment provider is set up. Go to Settings → Payments and make sure a payment method is active and connected.
• Store is still in password-protected mode. If your store is password-protected, only people with the password can check out. Go to Online Store → Preferences and check the Password section.
• Shopify Payments needs verification. If your account is newly set up, Shopify may need to verify your identity before payouts and live checkouts are fully enabled. Check Settings → Payments for a verification prompt.

A payment was declined

Declined payments are almost always on the customer's side (their card, their bank, insufficient funds). Advise the customer to:

• Try a different card
• Contact their bank to authorize the payment
• Use an alternative payment method (PayPal, Shop Pay, etc.)

If multiple customers are being declined, check shopifystatus.com and your Settings → Payments for any alerts.

I'm not receiving payouts from Shopify Payments

Check Settings → Payments → View payouts. Common reasons for delayed or missing payouts:

• Your bank account details are incomplete or incorrect
• Your identity verification is pending
• A payout was placed on hold due to a chargeback or risk review
• Your payout schedule has changed (check the Payout settings)

Theme and display problems

My store looks broken or unstyled

This usually means a theme file has an error, or a recent change broke something. Try:

1. Go to Online Store → Themes.
2. If you have a backup or duplicate theme, publish it to test.
3. If the problem appeared after a recent edit, use theme version history to restore a previous version.

If you recently added an app, try disabling the app's embed blocks in the theme editor.

A section is missing or not showing

• Make sure you are looking at the right page in the theme editor (use the page selector at the top).
• Check whether the section has a visibility toggle that was accidentally turned off.
• Some sections only appear when their content is present — for example, a "featured products" section will not show if no products are selected.

My changes aren't showing up on the live site

1. Make sure you clicked Save in the theme editor.
2. Do a hard refresh on your live store.
3. Clear your browser cache or test in a private window.

Product and inventory problems

A product is not showing up in my store

Check the following in the product editor:

• The product's status must be Active (not Draft).
• The product must be assigned to the correct sales channel (Online Store). Look for the Sales channels and apps section on the product page and make sure "Online Store" is checked.
• If the product is part of a collection, verify the collection's rules match the product.

Inventory shows as out of stock but I have stock

Go to the product, click on the variant, and check the inventory count in Inventory → the location your items are stored. If you manage inventory across multiple locations, make sure stock is assigned to the right one.

Email notification problems

Customers aren't receiving order confirmation emails

1. Check Settings → Notifications and confirm the Order confirmation email is enabled.
2. Ask the customer to check their spam folder.
3. Verify the customer's email address in the order — it may have a typo.
4. If you have a custom email domain sending notifications, check your email DNS records — SPF and DKIM must be correctly configured.

I'm not receiving staff notifications

Check Settings → Notifications and look at the Staff order notifications section. Make sure the right email addresses are listed there.

App-related problems

Apps can sometimes conflict with your theme or with each other. If a problem started after installing or updating an app:

1. Try disabling the app temporarily (from your Apps list).
2. If the problem disappears, the app is the cause.
3. Contact the app developer's support, or uninstall the app if it is not essential.

Common questions

When to contact support

Contact Shopify Support directly for:

• Billing disputes or unexpected charges
• Shopify Payments account holds or verification issues
• Platform-level outages affecting your store
• Anything related to your Shopify account login or security

Contact us at Chykalophia for:

• Theme customization issues
• App recommendations and configuration
• Store setup and design problems
• Anything we built or configured for you

Related guides

• Understanding orders in Shopify
• Payment providers (Shopify Payments, PayPal, etc.)
• Using the Shopify theme editor
• Shopify apps explained
• Shopify plans & billing

Learn more

• Shopify Help Center
• Shopify Status page