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🛠️ Common WooCommerce & WordPress Errors (and How to Fix Them)

Running WooCommerce on WordPress gives you a ton of flexibility, but that also means things can break. Some issues are easy to fix yourself. Others will need help from your hosting provider, not CustomCat.

We’ve listed the most common WordPress/WooCommerce errors and what you (or your dev/host) can do to fix them.

⚠️ Note: CustomCat doesn’t manage your web hosting or WordPress environment, so while we’re happy to point you in the right direction, these errors are best resolved with your host or site developer.

🚨 Common Errors:

  • 500 Internal Server Error

  • 404 Page Not Found

  • Error Establishing a Database Connection

  • Connection Timed Out

  • Maximum Execution Time Exceeded

  • PHP Fatal Error: Out of Memory

  • Invalid Response from Your Store (403 Error)

âś… General Troubleshooting Steps

  1. Refresh the Page
    Sometimes it's just a temporary load issue.

  2. Audit Your Plugins

    • Make sure everything’s up to date.

    • Deactivate plugins one at a time to isolate the issue.

    • Start with anything related to security, caching, or custom product functions.

  3. Check Your Theme

    • Switch to a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Four.

    • If the error disappears, your theme is the issue.

🔍 Specific Errors & Fixes

1. 500 Internal Server Error

This means the server hit something unexpected and couldn’t complete the request.

Most common causes:

  • Broken or incompatible plugin/theme

  • Corrupt .htaccess file

  • PHP memory issues

  • Server misconfiguration

Fix:

  • Check your server's PHP error logs

  • Increase PHP memory limit

  • Update PHP version

  • If needed, contact your hosting provider with the error details

2. 404 Error

Page not found. Usually caused by broken links, missing content, or permalink issues.

Fix:

  • Re-save permalinks: Settings > Permalinks > Save

  • Check for custom redirects or a corrupt .htaccess file

  • Confirm that the content/page/product still exists

3. Error Establishing a Database Connection

This happens when WordPress can’t talk to your database.

Fix:

  • Check your wp-config.php file for correct DB name, username, password, and host

  • If everything looks good and it’s still not working, contact your host

  • This is often a server-side MySQL issue

4. Connection Timed Out

Your server couldn’t respond in time.

Possible reasons:

  • Site is overloaded or underpowered

  • Shared hosting resource limits

  • Excessive plugins or slow queries

Fix:

  • Optimize your site (less bloat, fewer plugins)

  • Consider upgrading your hosting plan

  • Contact your host to check server health

5. Maximum Execution Time Exceeded

Your server killed the process because a script took too long to run.

Fix:

  • Ask your hosting provider to increase the max_execution_time setting in php.ini

  • Optimize your scripts or break large tasks into smaller batches

  • Common during bulk imports or exports

6. PHP Fatal Error: Out of Memory

Your server ran out of memory to complete the task.

Fix:

  • Increase memory_limit in php.ini or wp-config.php

  • If you don’t know how to do that, your hosting provider can help

  • Remove heavy plugins or optimize theme code

7. 403 Forbidden (Invalid WooCommerce Response)

WooCommerce tried to access a required endpoint, but the server blocked it.

Fix:

  • Check your server/firewall configuration

  • Make sure these endpoints are accessible:

    bash
    CopyEdit
    /wc-api/
    /wp-json/wc/

  • Disable security plugins one by one

  • Some hosts strip HTTP authentication headers — confirm with your host

  • Check for PHP-FPM-related auth issues

🧠 Final Tips

  • Most of these errors are server-side, not WooCommerce or CustomCat problems.

  • Always document what changed before the error started (plugin installed, update made, etc.)

  • When in doubt, send your host the exact error message and timestamp — it helps them pinpoint the issue faster.