Sales Channel Protection — stop undesigned orders

The customizer only runs on your Online Store product pages. Anywhere else a product can be added to the cart — the Shop app, quick-view popups from other apps, "Buy again" links, or direct cart links — skips it entirely. Those orders arrive with no design and no customisation fee, and you won't know until the customer asks where their design went.

Sales Channel Protection closes that gap at checkout.

What it does#

With protection on, checkout is blocked for any customisable product that was added to the cart without a design. The customer sees:

"[Product] must be customised before checkout. Please visit the product page on our online store and use the customise button to add your design, or remove this item from your cart."

Products without an assigned template are never affected. Products bought the normal way — through the Customise button — pass straight through.

It's on by default#

Protection is switched on when you install the app (or when the app is next re-approved with the checkout-validation permission). You only need this page if you want to turn it off, or if the status shows something other than On.

Checking or changing it#

1. Open Settings and scroll to Sales Channel Protection (or type "protection" into the settings search).
2. The status badge reads On, Off or Unavailable.
3. Click Turn off protection or Turn on protection.

Turn it off only if you deliberately sell customisable products without a design — a "plain" version bought through the Shop app, for example. Your choice sticks; the app won't switch it back on later.

If the status is Unavailable#

Two notices can appear:

• Permission needed — the app needs an updated permission (checkout validations). Shopify asks you to re-approve the app the next time you open it. Approve, then return here.
• Not available yet — the protection function isn't deployed on this app version yet. Email hey@pixelwrangler.io.

Also worth doing#

Blocking happens at checkout — customers on other channels can still see and add these products first, then hit the message. For a cleaner experience:

• Unpublish customisable products from other channels. In your Shopify admin open the product and, under Publishing, remove channels like Shop.
• Exclude them from quick-view and sales-popup apps that have their own add-to-cart button.

How it works underneath#

The app marks every product assigned to a template as requiring customisation, and a Shopify checkout validation checks each cart line for a design. Lines with a design pass; marked lines without one are blocked with the message above. If the check can't run for any reason it lets the checkout through rather than blocking a genuine sale.

What's next#

• What a customised order looks like once it's paid: Order flow
• Other settings on the same page: Troubleshooting