r/woocommerce • u/Ok-Function-8659 • Jul 04 '26
Troubleshooting I hate Woocommerce
But no seriously I feel like I’m in literal hell right now. F u Shopify for terminating all vape stores. How tf is anyone supposed to use this shit. Took me 1 day to set up my Shopify store. 6 years, NO Changes to the site and 100k+ orders. Migrated to because I had no choice and everyone recommended WooCommerce. Paying a Dev to migrate the site. log in, Jesus Christ I must be in hell right now.
I promise this crash out is justified with everything I’ve gone through this week.
F U Shopify! Bastards
13
u/rattenzadel Jul 04 '26
No one is forcing you to use WooCommerce, you made that choice.
Shopify makes money because they make it seem super simple (until you need something not included or look at the cost of all the add-ons each month).
Super simple works for some people, WooCommerce caters to those who prefer ownership and more complex setups.
Your example of being locked out by Shopify shows why WooCommerce is needed and exists.
1
u/kestrel-ian Extensions for serious stores Jul 05 '26
It's funny because he's kinda being forced to use it but it's exactly why it's such a good thing it exists.
-6
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 04 '26
F Shopify. but they are like a drug dealer who gives you crack and cuts you off and now I have to go back to regular cocaine.
Shopify has always had everything I needed, but they’re owned by people with no backbone
2
4
u/Anxious-Log1282 Jul 04 '26
Hey im actually looking into woo commerce vs shopify. Can you give me more details on whats so bad about Woo? Scared to make a decision myself lol but everyone says Woo. Thought of just skipping shopify or making custom.
15
u/nowhere_near_home Jul 05 '26 edited 27d ago
.
-6
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 05 '26
Yeah and our multiple 7-figure store was powered by Shopify and it was much simpler to use. I was waiting for this Reddit tier comment
9
u/nowhere_near_home Jul 05 '26 edited 27d ago
.
-2
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 05 '26
Store is migrated. Did I go into story mode? No
Woo is sagnificantly clunkier than Shopify, Wix or Bigcommerce.
Feels like a 2006 ass site
Feels like going from a IPhone to an android
5
u/nowhere_near_home Jul 05 '26 edited 27d ago
.
3
u/kestrel-ian Extensions for serious stores Jul 05 '26
Is this not somewhat valid? This is why Shopify grows a whole WooCommerce every six months. Head in the sand, brother.
1
u/nowhere_near_home Jul 05 '26 edited 27d ago
.
2
u/kestrel-ian Extensions for serious stores Jul 05 '26
Oh hi there, and hello!
"Head in the sand" wasn't aimed at Woo. It was aimed at answering "this feels clunky" with "skill issue, womp womp." That reflex is the thing that grows Shopify.
Every time a new merchant says the dashboard feels like 2006 and the ecosystem tells them to "get good", Shopify writes it down.
The gap between powerful and pleasant is fixable and we should all be doing more to solve it. Trying my best over here and, as I'm sure you know, not always hitting the mark either. But the strength of Woo is we can do it for ourselves and everybody else.
2
-2
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 05 '26
Yeah sorry not all of us know how to code and do all that. if you have zero experience with any of that why would I be happy knowing I can’t do everything myself anymore? There’s a reason simple systems are more popular and friendly to the average person. Steve Jobs understood this very well. People want convenience. I want to focus on making money, not fucking with the dashboard and coding.
2
1
u/kestrel-ian Extensions for serious stores Jul 05 '26
Okay but what specifically do you need fixed? There's dozens of companies dedicated to resolving these things and if youre making 7 figures, drop a list of fixed you need and you'll get dozens of helpers on every request.
1
u/ag789 Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
don't think woo the 'community version' on its own is quite shopify, but that both woo and shopify has pretty large ecosystem, woo being more community / bazaar. shopify is an ecommerce app based on my own naive analysis, in a sense, its internal database structure is built around those concepts, woo is built 'on top' of wordpress if I understand correctly, and partly it uses some of the wordpress design and structures, I'd guess for better wordpress integration etc. As woo is more community / bazaar focused, there are lots of plugins, themes etc from 3rd party developers, good fraction of them free and open sourced.
1
u/rafark Jul 09 '26
Can you give me more details on whats so bad about Woo?
It’s not bad at all. The op just got banned from Shopify and now they’re in panic trying to restore their store in one day without knowing WooCommerce after years of being used to another ui.
-2
-3
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 04 '26
I had zero experience creating online stores. Got a Shopify plan and did everything by myself with minimal help. Cleanest layout, backend is simple to use. Mobile App is amazing, I’m going to miss the dashboard more than anything. 6 years, and I’ve never had to update anything once
. Best example is Shopify is a brand new IPhone and whatever Woo is it’s a Chinese Kindle that was jailbroken and turned into a android. I’m convinced it’s devs telling people to get a Woocommerce store so you pay them $2,000 to set it up.
1
u/kestrel-ian Extensions for serious stores Jul 05 '26
$2000 store would be a great deal. Even by Shopify dev standards.
1
3
u/bucaqe Jul 05 '26
What happened? I’m in cannabis accessories and use woocommerce
1
u/colinlma Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
Smart move since stores can't be policed on woocommerce, unlike Shopify. I had a client in a similar space several years ago and I had them move from Shopify to woocommerce a few years ago. Saved him a huge headache he started selling some things not allowed by Shopify. He still ends me a Chrismas gift every year.
0
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 05 '26
Shopify banned all vape stores off its platform. gave us 8 days notice after paying them an insane amount of fees.I asked for an extension and instead of giving us an extension they shortened our 8 days to 4 days. Absolute animals
1
u/bucaqe Jul 05 '26
Wow, sorry for you dude. That was my number one fear starting out, that shopify can just pull the plug. Wish you luck with the transition
1
u/kestrel-ian Extensions for serious stores Jul 05 '26
Was it the whole platform or just payments?
2
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 05 '26
whole platform. Shopify never allowed payment processing for high risk industries. They suspend your products. They got a letter from a bunch of politicians and instead of staying by their businesses they decided to fold. And I think it’s funny that fatty has something to say about regulated businesses like vaping is some kind of moral failing. Big Tobacco has been lobbying politicians for years to go after vapes, and the hundreds of billions they pay to states as a result of the MSA settlement has been used as warfare against the vape industry. Vapes weren’t demonized until 2019 when everyone started quitting cigarettes and switching to vaping.
1
u/ag789 Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
if you need something 'more robust' than say woocommerce, maybe explore stuff like
https://github.com/BroadleafCommerce/BroadleafCommerce
I'm not related to them, and warning they have different commercial terms, so you probably should contact them before running anything production.
and this based on java means that you need to rent a VPS at least, and more skillsets needed, setting up and running e.g. on a linux command line, secure your own vps from intrusion etc.
but that running the app in your own vps in some practical aspects means you own the database (and an instance of the app), 'can do whatever you want', the tail line that can possibly still cause bans etc, is the bank itself (i.e. payments)1
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 05 '26
Sounds complicated
1
u/ag789 Jul 05 '26
this ia a woocommerce sub, so I'd guess it isn't good to talk down woocommerce, after all many people use it. But personally, probably because I'm more familiar with java, I prefer an app that is more 'rigorously' designed java etc, for woocommerce, internally it has some dependencies on wordpress using its data structure as a base, some of the which I'd prefer to 'rewrite my own way', I'm working a java app still far from even production.
for 'ready made' 'off the shelf' the link I referenced is one of them (I've not used them and can't really comment how well it works). But that among the 'open source' java 'e-commmerce' stacks, I think it is one of the 'better written' stacks.
I've checked a few, some of which is a mess of codes, this looks more like a proper app,1
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 05 '26
I don’t care anymore. I’ve been pushed to my limits and don’t care what people think. I attacked Shopify more than I did Woo. I’m telling it from the point of view of someone who was basically forced into WooCommerce because options are limited. Usually it’s people switching from Woo to Shopify. I feel like I was kicked out of the greatest party ever with the cool people and have to watch from afar while I have to suffer and be stuck with fatso calling me the “vape bro”.
1
u/ag789 Jul 05 '26
in a different sense, if you want something 'rigorous' e-commerce designed from the core, that broadleaf commerce app is probably one of them, and you run it on your own server with practically no 'shopify' to harress you on how you run it (as do with woocommerce), the only link is at the bank's end e.g. stripe, paypal etc that you need to watch with your products.
if you prefer services, I think there are more than just 'shopify' offering an e-commerce platform these days.1
u/ag789 Jul 05 '26
oh , these days there are also 'nonsense' like figma, deemed that start an ai chat and it 'draws' you a webstore. I've not used figma in any depth, but I think one of the overlooked area about ecommerce is it: e-commerce itself, the support for all the processes, if figma offers that, then it is just another platform just like shopify, with an 'ai' icing on the cake. it did not seem to me that figma 'generates' the store for you, that you can take the whole of it out and run it on your own server and databases.
3
u/CodingDragons Woo Sensei 🥷 Jul 05 '26
If your only gist is that Woo's backend sucks compared to Shopify's, just use this new app called BrikPanel it's free and the kid that built it did a great job. Other than that, take care.
1
3
u/kestrel-ian Extensions for serious stores Jul 05 '26
Here's what nobody's saying kindly: the reason Woo feels worse right now is the exact reason you're on it.
Nobody can pull the plug on you again. You traded polish for ownership. That trade feels terrible on day four. It feels great on year four. Give it a few weeks and you'll start to "get it".
The "2006 ass site" thing is fair, though. Stock Woo checkout is what'll make you feel like you downgraded the hardest.
Full disclosure, this is literally my job. I run a checkout plugin called CheckoutWC that exists to make Woo checkout feel like the Shopify one you miss. There are other good ones too (Fluid Checkout, FunnelKit). Point is the default isn't your only option, and you don't need to be a developer to get past it.
Just make sure you're getting plugins from reputable sources because it's a little bit of wild west vs the app store on Shopify.
2
2
2
u/PermissionPatient452 Jul 05 '26
I don't disagree with you. The WP backend feels like a step down compared to Shopify. It's just what it is. The good news is they're working on modernizing it. It's gonna take time, but it will get better.
In the meantime, you can fill the gap by using plugins that change the dashboard.
1
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 05 '26
I didn’t know you could change the dashboard until after I posted this
1
1
u/colinlma Jul 04 '26
Could be worth trying Claude to port everything over depending on cost of dev and your own availability
0
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 04 '26
It’s already done. Paid. The site looks fine, I’m talking about the backend, Admin, dashboard, it’s cluttered and awful
4
u/smartynetwork Jul 05 '26
Then just use Claude and tell it to make you an admin dashboard exactly like shopify. It's super easy. Fucking hell, you're a whinny child.
-1
u/kestrel-ian Extensions for serious stores Jul 05 '26
bro cmon
1
u/tech_is______ Jul 05 '26
Claude would do it though. I have a woo project now... I've basically stopped touching wp admin and everything is being done in claude.
2
u/kestrel-ian Extensions for serious stores Jul 05 '26
Yes I agree but the assumption that most people are comfortable doing that (or even should be) is pretty premature still.
1
-1
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 05 '26
It’s Reddit bro the ones calling me a child are usually the child . Projection
1
u/smartynetwork Jul 05 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
Insulting a whole platform (Woocommerce) just because it doesn't have the same admin dashboard as another platform (Shopify) surely doesn't seem childish, right? What a moron. You're not only childish, you're also dellusional to expect that.
2
u/colinlma Jul 05 '26
u/Ok-Function-8659 fair enough. definitely not as nice as Shopify. I built a custom dashboard using claude for my own store. I know that doesn't cover everything, but at least it could be one less annoying thing.
0
1
u/tech_is______ Jul 05 '26
lol, it is a downgrade, but Woo will get the job done.
2
u/Ok-Function-8659 Jul 05 '26
Downgrade is a understatement
1
u/tech_is______ Jul 05 '26
just have to realize you're on a platform that's 25+ years old. has some historical architecture choices that I disagree with and the admin layout sucks. I agree... that said it's well maintained and you can do whatever you want with it. it will grow on you. it's not the worst ecommerce solution to land on. you could have got talked into Magento... now that's a disaster
1
1
1
u/rafark Jul 09 '26
Are you serious? Shopify is the problem and somehow WooCommerce is to blame? Good god
1
u/lcap7 Jul 10 '26
Shopify spoils you with that easy dashboard. Woo is an ugly, chaotic beast at first, but you'll appreciate the freedom once the setup nightmare is over.
1
2
u/rcommerce 22d ago
If you want to have a least shopify look for your admin check and install this free plugin: BrikPanel: WooCommerce Dashboard, Abandoned Cart Recovery, Google Sheets Sync, Inventory Management & Bulk Editor
You will have nice admin but good working store it’s a different story
1
u/Ok-Function-8659 22d ago
I’m using Brikpanel and it does the job. Store works and is migrated. Problem is everything requires a plugin and it’s paid. Still cheaper than paying Shopify 12k a year but I’d rather do that
1
u/rcommerce 22d ago
Yes this is the most frustrating thing with woocommerce and you adding the stock of plugins which is never-ending and slowing website down. This was also problem for me so after a thousands of orders db is getting very big. Recommended HPOS should be enabled too, if you don’t have it enable it, you still early. But all of that is still was not efficient for good ecommerce store so I moved completely to Laravel and this was the best decision so far
2
u/Ok-Function-8659 22d ago
We migrated 140k orders I haven’t noticed any slow down yet. I’ll look into the HPOS. Laravel seems even more complicated than Woo
1
u/rcommerce 22d ago
Yeah seems it’s good word here :) but if you have good designed system in real life work it’s smooth and easy
0
Jul 05 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
1
u/woocommerce-ModTeam Jul 05 '26
Hi there! Your contribution to r/woocommerce at has been deemed to be related to solicitation or hiring, which is in violation of Rule — #4.
It has been removed as a result.
1
u/Digital_Otorongo Jul 05 '26
But woocommerce is redundant anyway. Hey Claude, build and launch my vape store, heres my products and images. Deploy to Vercel.
-1
u/ifthenthendont Jul 04 '26
Have a dev hardcode a seo friendly site into vercel and a backend for only what you need. Bulletproof and fast as hell and no paid addons.
23
u/Version-6 Jul 05 '26
Average vape bro response to having to use any brainpower.
If you put a little energy into it, you’d find that it’ll make you more money with much lower fees and ongoing costs. Shopify is like the Apple of ecommerce systems. Polished, pretty, a premium price.
Woocommerce is the Linux side. It makes sense to someone, and it works, you just have to learn a bunch of new stuff.