Why are my collections showing random products on my e-commerce site?

[Kayman345]

I can't figure this one out. site is www.sportista.shop. I know how to tag products and create collections and the create the menu which navigates to these various products (see Women's Shorts...etc.) However, I can't do the same for "$50 SHOES" even though I do the same exact thing. I can't figure out where the error is coming from? I've tried multiple things but that collection will say it has "29 shoes" but then if you scroll and press "show more" it shows random products that aren't even tagged?? Please help.

[Rick]

Hey @Kayman345 

Welcome to the Shopify Community! 

I can see you are having some trouble with one of your collections, I'd be happy to troubleshoot this with you here!

Thanks for providing your store URL. I had a look at your main menu and I can see the collection you are referring to called '$50 shoes'. It appears that no products are showing up on your storefront when you navigate to this collection however, so let's take a closer look.

You mentioned that you tag products to create collections - I am assuming you have created an automated collection for this, and have added a specific condition relating to the tags? Is the condition 'Product Tag > is Equal to > $50' or something along those lines? Posting a screenshot of the collection settings would be handy to see, just to make sure all looks OK.

When you are on this collection settings page, can you see any of the correct products in the collection? If other random products are appearing in an automated collection, they are usually somehow matching the collection conditions - so it would be a good idea to double check this. 

You also mentioned about creating the menu that navigates to this collection. For this, do you simply navigate to Online Store > Navigation > Main Menu > Add Menu Item and then choose the correct collection, and give it a name? Something to keep in mind here, is there is also a section called Tags when linking a collection in your navigation. I would recommend making sure this is left blank, as you are already filtering the automated collection by tags, so there is no need to do it again here. Any tags that you enter here can alter what products from the collection appear on your store, so it might be causing some issues. 

I did notice that when you click into the '$50 Shoes' collection on your store, the URL bar is as follows: sportista.shop/collections/50-shoes/50. This /50 at the end would suggest that the collection is actually being filtered on your storefront, because if the collection was linked as is, then the URL would be as follows: sportista.shop/collections/50-shoes.

As explained above, I would recommend double checking the navigation entry tags, removing the '50' tag and seeing what happens! Here's an example of the section I am referring to:

[Kayman345]

Hi Rick,

I have checked the collection and it seems fine

It also has the correct number of products on the Collections homepage

I have also removed the 50 tag from the navigation as suggested but unfortunately, it still is not filtering correctly on the $50 Shoes page

I did note however, the below message in regards to my theme. Could that be the issue? How do i fix that?

[Rick]

Hey @Kayman345 

Thanks for getting back with that extra info and for the very detailed screenshots - much appreciated!

That is certainly a strange one alright. From what I can see you have definitely created the collection correctly, and it has 29 products in it. When you link a collection in your main menu, are you using the Online Store > Navigation section of your admin to do so, and linking the specific collection that you created?

When browsing the other collections in your store, I noticed that the URL bar appears to show them as a page with search results, and not just a direct link to the collection itself. For example, when you navigate to Men > Workout Accessories the URL is sportista.shop/pages/search-results-page?collection=workout-accessories. Generally if a collection is directly linked to a menu, the URL page would indicate that.

For example I have a collection on my store called Cutlery, and when I navigate to that collection the URL is in the following format: STOREURL/collections/cutlery (notice there is no /pages and also no search results). I also noticed that when clicking the $50 Shoes collection in your main menu, the URL would sometimes show sportista.shop/collections/50-shoes which is what you would expect to see, however it doesn't always show that. This suggests that there could be something causing strange behaviour with the navigation on your store.

What is the name of the theme you are using? Is it a third party theme? The last screenshot you provided showing the 'current theme doesn't support filters' is interesting. To use filters, you need to have an Online Store 2.0 theme installed, so the theme you are using might be an older version that lacks that functionality. Are you using any apps that have influence over things like collections, filters, menu navigation etc? Also, have you edited any theme code?

If you cannot locate any apps on your store that might explain this, and you have not edited any theme code, then it would be a good idea to reach out to the theme developers for assistance, as there could be a bug or issue at play here. We have more information about getting support for themes here.

One last thing - Before reaching out for theme support, I would recommend testing this out on a fresh, unmodified version of a free Shopify theme such as Dawn. Use that theme to test out your navigation and see if those collections appear normally. If they do, then the issue is most certainly something got to do with your current theme. I hope this helps, let me know how that goes as I am keen to hear your findings!