"It doesn't show" is the most common specific complaint in bad reviews of upsell and cross-sell apps: 27% of 879 one-to-three-star App Store reviews of 58 such apps (October 2026, sorted by an AI model; see the review study). Most cases come down to a few settings. The Shopify steps below follow Shopify's help center as of October 26, 2026.
First, know which recommendations you're fixing
There are two kinds. Your theme's own recommendations come from a "Product recommendations" or "Related products" section, sometimes with a "Complementary products" block, filled by Shopify (and by the free Search & Discovery app if you set picks there). An app's recommendations come from that app's block or app embed. The checks overlap, but the fix lives in different places.
Checks for any kind of recommendation
1. Is the section or block on the right template?
Shopify assigns templates per product, so a product can use an alternate template instead of the default one. A section added to "Default product" won't appear on a product that uses "product.gift" or similar. In the theme editor, open a product that should show recommendations (use the page picker at the top), and check that the section or app block is in that template. To see which template a product uses, open the product in your Shopify admin and look for the Theme template setting.
2. Did you save, and is it the published theme?
Changes in the theme editor only go live after you click Save, and only on the published theme. If you edited a copy of your theme, the live store won't show them until you publish that copy.
3. Are the products you expect allowed to show?
Shopify only shows a recommended product if it is Active, published to the Online Store sales channel, priced above $0.00, not a gift card, not Unlisted and not already in the visitor's cart. Sold-out products are hidden too (related products can still show when "continue selling when out of stock" is on; complementary products need stock above 0). Most apps apply similar filters, because recommending something a shopper can't buy is worse than showing nothing. The Search & Discovery post lists Shopify's rules in full.
4. Are you checking on a fresh page?
Open the product page in a private browser window, on your phone as well as your computer. Some apps hide a row that has nothing to show, and a product that is already in your test cart is left out.
Checks for Shopify's own recommendations
5. Does Shopify have anything to recommend yet?
Shopify generates related products from purchase history (the product needs previous sales), from product descriptions (only on stores with an English storefront) or from related collections. A new store with few orders and products in no shared collection may get thin or empty results. Adding products to collections, or picking complementary products by hand in Search & Discovery, gives it something to show.
6. Does your theme have a complementary products block?
Complementary products picked in Search & Discovery only appear if your theme has a complementary products block and you added it to the product page. Without it, your picks are saved but not shown.
Checks for an app's recommendations
7. Is the app embed switched on?
Many apps need an app embed in addition to, or instead of, a block. In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store, click Edit theme on your live theme, open the App embeds panel in the sidebar, switch the app's embed on and click Save. App embeds work with any theme version.
8. Does your theme support app blocks?
App blocks only work on themes that support them (Online Store 2.0 themes). On an older theme, an app block won't appear in the editor at all. Check the app's listing and docs for which themes it supports; an app embed may still work. The guide to app blocks and app embeds explains the difference.
9. Is your cart type the one the app expects?
For cart recommendations, check Theme settings, then Cart, then Cart type: Drawer, Page or Popup notification. An app built for the cart drawer may show nothing when the cart type is Page, and the other way round. Pick the cart placement that matches your setting; the cart drawer guide has the steps for each.
10. Is the app's plan or setting paused?
Apps with usage limits may pause recommendations when you reach them. Check the app's own home or plan page for a paused or limit message before you dig into the theme.
If you use Dropr
Dropr's main switch is the app embed called "Product page and cart recommendations": with it on, Dropr adds "You might also like" under the product section on product pages and recommendations in the cart drawer, without placing a block. If you place the "Product recommendations" block yourself, it takes over from the automatic row on that page. Other placements ("Bought together", "Popular products", "Recently viewed", "Cart recommendations" for the cart page) are blocks you add where you want them. Dropr leaves out sold-out products and anything already in the cart, and hides a row when there is nothing to show.
On the free plan, recommendations pause after 1,000 recommendation views in a calendar month; Dropr's Plan page says so and shows the date they come back. Thank you and order status recommendations are added in Shopify's checkout editor, not the theme editor.
Frequently asked questions
Why do my recommendations show in the theme editor but not on the live store?
Usually because the theme wasn't saved or isn't the published theme, or because the products in the preview break a display rule on the live store (for example, they are in your cart). Check 2 and 3 first.
Why do the recommended products keep changing?
Shopify says its generated recommendations change often, so different visits can show different products. Products you pick by hand in Search & Discovery stay put.