Common Issues

A customer sees products outside the intended assortment

Confirm the configured access mode first. Override hidden if assigned adds assigned products to Magento's normally visible catalog; it does not turn every other product into a private product. Use Strict whitelist (assigned only) when the customer must see only assigned catalog products and direct grants.

Then check every assignment path. A product can be allowed by a catalog assigned directly to the customer, a catalog assigned to the customer group, or a direct customer-product grant.

An assigned product is still unavailable

Check that:

1. Custom Catalog is active in the tested store view.
2. The named catalog is active.
3. The catalog contains the product.
4. The catalog audience includes the current customer or customer group in the current store view.
5. The product itself is enabled and assigned to the website.

If the product is a direct grant, confirm that the grant belongs to the same customer and store context. Sign out and back in before retesting a changed customer assignment.

A direct product URL returns a 404 page

In strict mode, this is the expected response for a product the customer may not access. If the product should be allowed, test the same product through My Products and check the assignment paths above. Also confirm that the configured no-route target is valid.

Search or category pages show an old assortment

Assignments can change before Magento's catalog-search index and storefront caches reflect the new result. Follow Caching and indexing, then test in a fresh signed-in session.

Do not treat a successful direct-product check as proof that search is current. Direct access and product collections are separate read paths.

My Products is empty

Check the configured My Products display mode. A mode that shows only catalog products will not list direct grants, and a direct-grants-only mode will not list products inherited from a named catalog. Also confirm that the customer is signed in to the expected store view.

A removed product remains in the cart

Enable cart refresh when access changes should remove products that are no longer allowed. Without that setting, an older cart can retain an item even though new catalog access is blocked. Recalculate the cart and verify that any custom cart or checkout integration respects Magento item-removal messages.

An assignment works in one store view but not another

Catalog audiences are store-view scoped. Compare the exact store view used for the assignment with the store view in the customer session. A global-looking customer or group name does not make its catalog assignment global.

A bulk or API assignment reports partial success

Bulk operations can accept valid rows and return invalid rows separately. Review the saved and unsaved identifiers instead of assuming the whole request rolled back. Typical causes are invalid entity IDs, duplicate relations and assignments made for the wrong store view.

What to collect for support

Provide the customer ID, customer group, store view, access mode, catalog ID, product SKU and every assignment path that may allow the product. State whether the problem occurs in My Products, search, a category, a direct product URL or the cart. Those details make it possible to distinguish scope, indexing and access-resolution problems.