In a recent Business Bloomer Club discussion, a member shared a perplexing situation with a WooCommerce product that was set to “Private” but still ended up being ordered by a customer.
When a product is marked private, it shouldn’t be accessible publicly; instead, it’s intended to be hidden from non-admin or non-editor users. However, this case suggests that even private products may still be accessible under certain conditions or due to unexpected system behaviors.
Here’s a breakdown of possible explanations for this occurrence and how it might be resolved.
Possible Explanations
1. Delay in Setting Private Mode
If the product was ordered just before the private setting was applied, the customer might have accessed it while it was still public. WooCommerce processes changes to visibility immediately, but timing may have affected this case.
2. Direct Link Access
Although WooCommerce hides private products from general shop views, they may still be accessible through direct URLs. If the customer had the link bookmarked or had previously viewed the product page, they might have accessed it directly.
3. Plugin Interference
Some plugins for upselling or cross-selling products could display links to private items if they don’t account for visibility settings. Double-checking plugin configurations could help to rule out this issue.
In the end, the user discovered that an email delay caused the confusion. The order actually occurred while the product was still live, and the email notification came through 24 hours later. If you encounter a similar situation, consider verifying product visibility settings and plugin configurations, as well as checking email latency for any notification discrepancies.
