Shopify Squad / Selling through AI chats
Shopify Catalog ineligible? Fix every blocker
The store and product requirements that keep products out of AI chats, and how to clear each one.
An Ineligible warning next to Shopify Catalog means AI channels such as ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot are not getting your products from Shopify. Click the warning to see the reason, then fix it using the table below. If the store is eligible but some products are missing, the cause is at product level: no image, a price of 0, an excluded category, or a product that isn’t published or is Unlisted.
Find the reason Shopify gives
- In your Shopify admin, go to Sales channels > Agentic.
- Look at Sources > Shopify Catalog.
- If you see a product count, the store is eligible. Click the count to see which products are included.
- If you see Ineligible, click it to read the reason.
If the message is “Catalog eligibility details are temporarily unavailable”, try again later or contact Shopify Support.
Match the message to the fix
| Reason shown | What to do |
|---|---|
| Your plan doesn’t support Shopify Catalog for agentic channels | Move to the Starter plan or higher |
| Store is password protected | Make the store public (steps below) |
| Store only serves B2B customers | Turn off the B2B-only option in your store preferences |
| Access is restricted in development mode | Switch to a paid plan |
| Store doesn’t meet Shopify Catalog requirements | Work through the store and product checks below |
| Store doesn’t meet account standing, activity or policy requirements | Work through the account checks below |
| Store is locked, or access is restricted (including while data is updated) | Contact Shopify Support |
| Store isn’t eligible | Contact Shopify Support |
| ”Your store is opted out of sharing products with AI channels.” | Contact Shopify Support |
The last message is not the same as the Shopify Catalog access switch you can turn off per channel. If you turned that switch off yourself, see Shopify agentic storefronts opt out to turn it back on.
Make a private store public
A store in private mode can’t be in Shopify Catalog. To make it public:
- In your Shopify admin, go to Online Store.
- Click Private.
- Select Public.
- Click Update. The first time, the button reads Launch store.
New stores start in private mode and can launch once the required setup steps are done.
Fix products that are left out
Each product must meet all of these:
- A title.
- At least one product image. If you lack usable photos, our Shopify AI background remover guide covers cleaning up the ones you have.
- A price greater than 0. Free products are excluded.
- Published to the Online Store, Hydrogen or Headless channel, with an identifiable product URL. Hydrogen and Headless routes must use the correct format.
- Not Unlisted, and not hidden from search engines.
- No sensitive content, such as mature content, in images or descriptions.
On the Agentic plan, where there’s no Shopify online store, each product must carry the external product URL instead.
Give every product a category
Shopify excludes uncategorized products, and it assigns categories from product information, so the category Catalog uses can differ from the one in your admin. Set one on each product:
- Go to Products and open the product.
- In the Category section, type the category name and pick the closest result, or click through the levels.
- Click Save.
For many products at once, select them in Products, click Bulk edit, add the Product category column through Columns if it isn’t showing, set the categories and click Save. When you create a product, Shopify may suggest a category that you can accept or reject.
Check whether your category is excluded
Products in these categories, and their subcategories, are not included in Shopify Catalog:
- Alcohol
- Tobacco and vaping products
- Drugs and smoking accessories
- Prescription and medical products
- Weapons, ammunition and weapon accessories
- Recreational and imitation weapons
- Explosives
- Science and laboratory products, and hazardous materials
- Adult and mature content
- Sexual health and wellness products
- Money-related products and prop money
- Product add-ons
- Finance and insurance products
- Event tickets
- Live animals
- Uncategorized products
There’s no setting to override this. Shopify says the list can change over time.
Clear the account-standing checks
These don’t show up as a missing field, but Shopify uses them to decide eligibility and reviews them over time:
- Verify your email address.
- Turn on two-step authentication, and set up a passkey if it’s offered.
- Complete identity and business verification when Shopify prompts you.
- Make genuine sales to real customers and fulfil orders promptly and accurately.
- Keep chargebacks low and pay Shopify invoices on time.
- Keep Shopify Payments in good standing, and resolve any open policy or compliance issues.
The store must also be on the Starter plan or higher and follow Shopify’s Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy. Eligibility can be lost later if any of this slips.
After Catalog: the channel’s own rules
You also need completed Terms of service, Privacy policy and Return and refund policy under Settings > Policies, plus agreement to the Agentic Storefronts Supplemental Terms. Each channel then adds its own country rules: see how to sell on ChatGPT with Shopify for the US requirement, and Shopify Google AI Mode for Merchant Center and the US, Canada and Australia.