woocommerce troubleshooting

Fix the WooCommerce error you're staring at.

Every guide starts with the exact symptom, ranks the most likely causes, and gives you the fix — written by the team behind DiagnosticIQ, the always-on plugin that watches your store's money path, diagnoses what broke, and tells you before a customer does.

Start here · most common
Orders stuck on pending payment
The usual cause is a payment gateway that never confirmed the payment back to WooCommerce. Find which one and fix it.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min

Payments & gateways

Stripe webhook not working
The Stripe webhook isn't reaching WooCommerce, so payment confirmations never arrive and orders stay pending. Find why and fix it.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
PayPal payment received but order failed
PayPal collected the money but WooCommerce shows Failed or Pending. The usual cause is a broken IPN. Find it and fix it.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Stripe no such payment intent
The PaymentIntent exists — the key you're asking with can't see it. Here's how to find the mismatch.
Jul 2026 · ~9 min
PayPal IPN not working
Read PayPal's IPN history properly, work out why delivery fails, and fix it — including the case where IPN isn't used at all.
Jul 2026 · ~8 min
PayPal buttons not showing
The PayPal SDK script is usually blocked or never enqueued. Here's how to tell which, in about two minutes.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Payment methods not showing
Enabled is not the same as available. Currency, keys and country checks hide gateways silently.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
3D Secure not triggering
The 3DS modal never mounts, the PaymentIntent sits at requires_action, and the charge never confirms. Here's why.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Stuck in test mode
The gateway is still in test or sandbox mode, so real customer payments never process. Here's how to find it and go live.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Express checkout not showing
Apple Pay / Google Pay buttons missing? Usually domain verification or an unsupported browser. Here's how to tell which.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Refund failed
The refund can't find the original charge. Here's how to tell which reason it is, and how to get the customer their money.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Failed order but customer charged
The money moved but the order never completed. Here's how to tell — and whether to refund or fulfil.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Stripe charged wrong amount
Order total and Stripe charge disagree? The causes ranked, from the patched Adaptive Pricing bug to fees.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min

Orders stuck or failed

Orders stuck on pending payment
The usual cause is a payment gateway that never confirmed the payment back to WooCommerce. Find which one and fix it.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Orders stuck on hold
Authorize-only mode holds orders and Stripe voids the authorisation after 7 days. The money quietly disappears.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Order stuck on processing
For physical products, Processing to Completed is a manual step by design. Confirm it, then automate it.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Order status not updating
The status transition is code that has to run. Here's what stops it — and how to tell which of the five causes is yours.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Orders auto cancelling
It isn't a bug — it's the hold stock timer cancelling orders the gateway hadn't confirmed yet. Here's the fix.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Orders missing from orders page
Orders exist but the admin list is empty? Usually HPOS is reading a table the order was never written to.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Duplicate orders
Two identical orders seconds apart usually means the checkout timed out and the customer pressed Place order again.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Order received 404
The order and the payment usually succeeded — the confirmation endpoint just isn't resolving. Here's the fix.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Stock not reducing after order
Orders come in, stock stays the same, and you oversell. Here's the ranked list of why, and the fix.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Invalid download link
The customer clicks the link and gets "Invalid download link". Usually the order never reached a status that grants access.
Jul 2026 · ~5 min
Analytics showing zero
Orders are arriving but Analytics reads zero. Usually the lookup tables never populated because the import queue is stuck.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Critical error opening order
Order edit screen crashing with a critical error? The usual 2026 cause is a PayPal Payments bug fixed in 4.1.0.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min

Checkout

Checkout not working
Usually a JS error or a blocked checkout request. Open the browser console first — it tells you which in about a minute.
Jul 2026 · ~8 min
Place order button not working
Click the button and nothing happens. Usually a JavaScript error stopped the checkout form's submit handler binding.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Checkout infinite spinner
The checkout request never came back. Here's how to find what hung it, in the Network tab.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Checkout block blank
Empty grey boxes instead of a checkout? Usually a JS optimiser breaking WooCommerce's block bundle.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Cart empties at checkout
A cart that empties on the way to checkout is nearly always a session cookie being cached away or split by the domain.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Session has expired
Customers bounced to the shop with an expired session? Usually a page cache serving checkout to everyone.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Product cannot be purchased
WooCommerce blocks checkout when a cart item has no price or isn't published. Here's how to find which one.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Error processing your order
The order usually exists and the payment usually cleared. The checkout response broke after the order was created. Here's why.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Email already registered
This message at checkout usually means guest checkout is off. Here's how to confirm it and unblock the order.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Add to cart not working
The button spins, does nothing, or the cart stays empty. Usually a blocked AJAX request or a JS error. Here's how to tell.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
Coupon does not exist
The coupon is published and visible, but checkout says it doesn't exist. Usually a stale object cache.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Tax not calculating
Tax showing as zero at checkout usually means no rate row matches the address, or the product is zero-rated.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
Free shipping not showing
Usually the Free Shipping method requires a coupon, and the coupon doesn't have Allow free shipping ticked.
Jul 2026 · ~6 min
No shipping methods available
This blocks checkout entirely. Usually the address matches no shipping zone with an enabled method.
Jul 2026 · ~7 min
My Account page blank
The page loads but the account dashboard isn't there. Usually a missing shortcode or a wrong page assignment.
Jul 2026 · ~5 min

Subscriptions & renewals

Emails

Site down & catalog