Love/Hate

  • I’ve been using woocommerce for around 3 yrs now – I run my own online store. Woocommerce has helped me land a lot of customers and I have a semi complex store with variable products.

    The point of this review is that every update has the potential to break your site. And by breaking I mean causing an error that might not be apparent at first. Causing a minor error that results in visitors not able to purchase. I am not sure if this is something that someone starting out or someone who has an established business can accept. And there are many updates to woocommerce.

    I chose woo/wp because I didn’t know better and now I feel it’s the better devil you know. I felt until recently that I know my way around the quirks well enough that I can maintain my store with ease.

    There have always been updates that messed up the store in ways where shipping countries went missing or somehow the store wasn’t working the way it had been before.
    A few weeks ago after an update a conflict related to polylang caused the site to throw 404s on every page except the main page.
    Most recently the Cart, Checkout, etc. page settings were deleted after an update which meant that when users who navigated to these pages were redirected to the main page.

    It’s a terrible feeling to realize that your store is non-functional because of an update. You scramble to find out what’s wrong and also try to estimate how much sales you’ve lost. I know this feeling well.

    I average 1-2 large orders a day but there are many days when no orders come in and then I have a sudden rush of orders. So I can never be sure if the orders stopped coming bc of a lull or an update broke the site.

    I still have my wp store but I don’t know what to do. Should I change my update policy? Is there a mailing list that will tell me that the latest update potentially broke my site? Should I look for a new platform altogether?
    I feel disheartened and frustrated bc this keeps happening. And even if woocommerce does everything well the other plugin authors can and will make mistakes so they might break your site too. Maybe this is more of a review of the whole ecosytem than woocommerce. I wish there was a way to be on top of these situations and not just find out days later.

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)

  • Hi @aderjanos

    As a long standing user of Woocommerce, I couldn’t agree with you more! I am in a similar situation and have experienced similar problems that I only find out hours or days later when customers email me to let you know something isn’t working as it should. It’s impossible to test EVERY function and page on your site to ensure it’s all working after an update. I dread every time I see an update, I always wonder “what’s going to break this time”. Anyway, just wanted to let you know you’re not alone!

    Hey @aderjanos for reasons such as these, it is advisable to wait for about 2 weeks before installing a WooCommerce plugin update that has been released. The old-timers already know this.

    Plugin Support Sandip Mondal – a11n

    (@sandipmondal)

    Hi folks!

    Thank you for sharing your experience. I appreciate your loyalty over the past three years with WooCommerce and I understand the importance of a stable online store, and I’m here to provide some insights.

    WooCommerce is a platform that has numerous add-ons and themes developed by third parties and also by the Woo team.

    While these third-party extensions enhance functionality, they may not always be immediately compatible with the latest WooCommerce Core updates. We recommend testing the checkout flow on a staging environment after updating both the core and third-party plugins to ensure a seamless experience for your customers.

    It’s crucial to note that third-party developers have their own release schedules, and they might not synchronize updates with every WooCommerce core update. This can lead to compatibility issues. To mitigate this, we suggest reaching out to the developers of the specific plugins and themes you use, inquiring about their updates and if their plugin is compatible with the latest WooCommerce Core update, and staying informed about any potential conflicts.

    We understand the significance of maintaining a stable online presence, and we appreciate your diligence in highlighting this concern.

    If you have any specific issues or need further assistance, feel free to reach out. We’re here to help!

    Thread Starter aderjanos

    (@aderjanos)

    @sandipmondal I’m sure you mean well but what you basically said is: you’re on your own. Why not come up with a solution to this problem? It’s affecting everyone and is a huge drawback to the platform.

    • This reply was modified 11 months, 2 weeks ago by aderjanos.
    Thread Starter aderjanos

    (@aderjanos)

    @doeksisters Thanks for sharing. It does help a little that I’m not alone but a solution from the wp gods would be even better

    Plugin Support Sandip Mondal – a11n

    (@sandipmondal)

    Hi @aderjanos,

    Thank you for your response. We understand your concerns, and I want to clarify a few points:

    • WooCommerce is an open-source platform, allowing third-party developers the freedom to create plugins and themes to enhance their functionality.
    • WooCommerce team takes care to ensure that updates and releases are compatible with both plugins developed by WooCommerce and the WordPress core and also backward compatible. However, due to the diverse nature of third-party plugins and their varying release schedules, occasional compatibility issues may arise.
    • As mentioned earlier, it is advisable to test your website on a staging environment by applying updates. This step helps identify any potential conflicts between the latest WooCommerce and third-party plugins, given the variations in release schedules and compatibility.

    We acknowledge your concerns and appreciate your understanding of the complexities involved.

    If you have specific issues or need assistance with any particular plugins, we recommend reaching out to the respective developers for support. If you see any issues with WooCommerce updates without third party plugins, please feel free to reach out to us by opening a support thread and we will be happy to help!

    If you have any further questions or need clarification on any aspect, please feel free to let us know.

    Thread Starter aderjanos

    (@aderjanos)

    @sandipmondal This my last reply to this thread I promise. I don’t think your recommendations are practical. As a small business owner I should test manually every plugin update that comes out, and maintain a staging environment? There are 3-4 releases of Woocommerce every month and that’s one plugin out of 20.
    My store is automated but I still have to rely on manual tests? I can imagine several ways this could be handled: automatic tests, plugin ticket monitoring (outsourcing testing to individual site owners), staggered releases with smaller user groups to find bugs, conflicts, unintentional side-effects.
    It feels like you’re not taking on this burden and after you unload it on us and now our combined effort spent on this is way more than if you handled it before releases are out the gate.
    I understand it is a free plugin and you’re not required to do anything about it this just my two cents’ worth. Thank you for your replies

    Plugin Support Sandip Mondal – a11n

    (@sandipmondal)

    Hi @aderjanos,

    Thanks for getting back and sharing your thoughts.

    ?As a small business owner I should test manually every plugin update that comes out, and maintain a staging environment? There are 3-4 releases of Woocommerce every month and that’s one plugin out of 20.

    We understand the challenges you face with manual testing for each plugin update, especially given the frequency of releases and the multitude of third-party plugins involved.

    I can imagine several ways this could be handled: automatic tests, plugin ticket monitoring (outsourcing testing to individual site owners), staggered releases with smaller user groups to find bugs, conflicts, unintentional side-effects.

    Even if WooCommerce were to implement automated testing, it might not be foolproof in pinpointing issues caused by third-party plugins.

    It’s crucial to understand that WooCommerce undergoes comprehensive testing with the features that come with the core. Third-party products should add their own testing with the new updates of WooCommerce since third parties are responsible for testing the features coming from their plugin.

    That’s why we recommend checking with the plugin/theme developers if you see any issues with the new update of WooCommerce. Because some features might not be updated within the third-party products with WooCommerce releases.

    Because of the above-mentioned complexities, maintaining a staging site and testing features is a good practice, especially if you are using third-party plugins or themes with WooCommerce. If your hosting provider lacks a staging option, we suggest exploring plugins like WP Staging for efficiently creating a free test site.

    Rest assured, Products developed by the Woo team are tested and updated with every WooCommerce release and also with the WordPress core.

    To minimize potential conflicts, you may use products developed by the Woo team. These products undergo rigorous testing and are crafted to seamlessly integrate with WooCommerce updates.

    We appreciate your understanding of the complexities involved and encourage you to reach out if you encounter specific issues or require assistance! We will be happy to help!

Viewing 8 replies - 1 through 8 (of 8 total)
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