You set up a variable product with sizes or colours, and the product page shows no dropdowns, shows them with options greyed out, or the customer picks a size and Add to cart still says Please select some product options before adding this product to your cart. Nobody can buy it. Two checks tell you whether the variations themselves are incomplete, or whether the page is failing to run the script that handles them.
Open the product. In Product data > Attributes, each attribute you sell by (Size, Colour) must have Used for variations ticked, or it never becomes a dropdown. Then open Variations and expand each one. A variation shows on the page only if it is Enabled, has a Regular price, and is in stock (or allows backorders). A variation with no price is silently skipped, and if every one is skipped the product shows no dropdowns at all. Also check each variation's attributes are set to real values; a combination with no variation behind it cannot be bought.
Open the product logged out, in a private window, and pick each option. If the dropdowns appear but choosing one never shows a price or enables the button, the variation script did not run: open the browser console (F12) and look for a red error. A JavaScript error from another plugin, an optimisation plugin that delays or combines scripts, or a theme or page builder product template that leaves out the variation form all stop it. Products with more than 30 variations load their data on demand, so a security plugin, firewall or cache blocking ?wc-ajax= requests breaks them too.
| What you see | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| No dropdowns, product shows "out of stock" or no price | Every variation lacks a price, is disabled or is out of stock | Give each variation a Regular price and stock (Variations bulk actions: Set regular prices, Set status - In stock) |
| One attribute missing from the dropdowns | Used for variations not ticked on that attribute, or no variation uses it | Tick Used for variations, save, then Generate variations or add the missing ones |
| Some options missing or greyed out | Those combinations have no variation, no price, or no stock | Create the missing combinations and price them, or restock them |
| "Please select some product options" after picking | The variation script did not run, or the chosen combination matches no variation | Fix the console error, exclude WooCommerce scripts from delay/combine in the optimisation plugin, and check the combination exists |
| Works on Storefront, not on your theme | The theme or builder template prints its own form without the variation markup | Update the theme, use the builder's WooCommerce add-to-cart widget, or remove the outdated template override |
| Large product (30+ variations) never shows a price | Variation data loads on demand, and a firewall, cache or security rule blocks the request | Allow wc-ajax requests and exclude them from caching |
| Variations vanished after an import | The importer created the parent but the variation rows failed or lost their attribute values | Re-import variations with the parent SKU and attribute columns, then Regenerate the product lookup tables |
| Swatches plugin shows nothing | The swatch plugin is out of date, or the attribute type is set to swatches but not configured | Update it, or set the attribute type back to Select to confirm the variations work |
In a private window, every size or colour you sell appears in the dropdowns. Picking a full combination shows that variation's price and stock and enables Add to cart, and the cart line names the chosen options. Try one combination you do not sell: it should be unavailable, not silently add the wrong item.
If you would rather someone else finds why the options are not showing and fixes it, that is what the box below is for. Related: add to cart not working, product cannot be purchased, product says out of stock.