Accessibility score below 90
Symptom: Lighthouse Accessibility under 90, or reviewer cites keyboard / contrast / labels.
What to check: Run the Accessibility scorecard section and re-test with keyboard-only navigation on product, cart, and menu.
Theme Store Checklist — Rejection Autopsy — Theme Store Checklist. Prefer Export Markdown for submission evidence; this printout is a snapshot of the current page.
Diagnose · Fix · Re-submit
Rejection Autopsy
Filter by rejection theme, then jump straight to the scorecard gate and handbook chapter that address it.
Lighthouse Performance below 60
Symptom: Mobile or desktop Performance under 60 on realistic demo content.
What to check: Confirm images use Shopify CDN + lazy loading, defer non-critical JS, and re-run Lighthouse on the demo store — not localhost.
Missing @app blocks
Symptom: Rejection mentions app blocks missing on main product / featured product sections.
What to check: Ensure product and featured product sections include an @app block; verify in the theme editor that apps can be added.
Placeholder or Lorem Ipsum content
Symptom: Demo store still shows filler copy, stock onboarding text, or empty collections.
What to check: Replace every placeholder string; use real products/photos; walk the demo as a shopper.
Theme looks like a reskin
Symptom: Reviewer says the experience is too close to Dawn, Horizon, or another Theme Store listing.
What to check: Compare header, product card, collection, and cart against 3–4 Theme Store themes. Uniqueness must be structural, not only colors.
Built on Dawn or Horizon
Symptom: Submission based on Dawn/Horizon instead of Skeleton Theme or original code.
What to check: Confirm scaffold origin. New submissions must start from Skeleton Theme or fully original code.
SCSS or pre-minified assets shipped
Symptom: Zip contains .scss files or pre-minified CSS/JS Shopify disallows.
What to check: Compile to plain CSS; remove .scss; leave minification to Shopify except allowed exceptions.
Settings use developer jargon
Symptom: Theme editor labels confuse merchants or ignore Shopify terminology.
What to check: Rewrite setting labels in merchant language; group logically; match official font/color setting patterns.
Required templates or features missing
Symptom: Missing templates, gift cards, search, selling plans, or other required features.
What to check: Walk the Required Features and Templates scorecard sections item by item against the zip.
Zip includes tooling or secrets
Symptom: Package contains .git, node_modules, CI configs, or non-theme folders.
What to check: Run the Packaging gate end-to-end and re-zip from a clean theme-only tree.
Broken empty or edge states
Symptom: Layouts collapse on empty collection, long titles, sold-out, or 0/1/many variants.
What to check: Run the Development Checklist page packs that match the failed templates.
Forms lack real labels
Symptom: Inputs rely on placeholder-only labeling.
What to check: Every input needs a visible or programmatically associated label; placeholders are not labels.