It seems that I often get asked the same questions, so here is a quick FAQ that might address your problem! It is a bit random, so scroll and look for your question.
Self Hosted WordPress v. WordPress.com: Self hosted WordPress (also known as WordPress.org) is a WordPress installation on a hosting service or your own server with your own domain. Affordable hosting services include Hostgator and Bluehost (referral links: these are the two I most recommend).
WordPress.com is a blogging service that also uses the WordPress program. It allows you to make a free blog or an affordable blog (they have different levels of paid accounts), and will let you use your own domain, but, unless you purchase their paid business level account, it limits your use of themes and plugins to what is offered through their service. It also has some limits on advertising. Thus, our themes will not work on WordPress.com accounts below business level. Many bloggers choose to buy a hosting plan for their blog. Google’s blogspot (aka blogger) is also a free alternative that is more flexible than WordPress.com in terms of what you can do on it for free. We sell blogger themes for that service.
I am on WordPress.com and mistakenly purchased a theme. Why can’t I get a refund? I always feel bad when this happens since I’m sure most people are honest, but the sales pages clearly state that the themes cannot be used on WordPress.com. WordPress.com itself also makes it clear to users when third party themes cannot be used. Because of the nature of digital downloads, where the seller loses all control over the product after the download, we cannot give refunds for mistaken purchases. Unfortunately it is too easy for people to seek free premium themes by purchasing and then asking for refunds, and we have personally had this happen when we offered refunds. Thus, we have to strictly apply this policy and only refund when the theme itself is broken. However, if you mistakenly purchase when on WordPress.com, we can offer you a free blogger template if you decide to set up on blogspot instead. Contact us for details.
Installation Issues
Missing style.css or missing stylesheet error message: If you do not unzip the file you downloaded upon purchase and instead try to load that file into WordPress you will get this error. Unzip your theme package file. Inside of that will be your instruction files and the zipped file that you upload to WordPress.
Appearance Issues
Why doesn’t my theme look like the demo?: WordPress themes generally require set up of things such as widgets, sliders, and menus. Those functions are not set by the theme. Please look at the instructions for how to set up your theme appearance.
Categories are not showing in woocommerce themes: Categories show in the posts of these themes only when you have added content (blog posts or product pages) and created or selected a category for those items. If your blog is brand new, once you have created some categories and added content, the links will show up.
Navigation menu for pages and categories does not show: When you install a new theme, you often have to set up or readjust your menus. Go to Appearance–>menus to get started.
Customization
Can you change the width of the theme, fonts and/or colors for me? At this time, I do not offer custom themes or theme customization. However, a number of our themes include an option page to allow you to easily change fonts and colors. When a theme includes this, it is listed on the sales page. Maiden is one popular example. If you want to hire someone to do minor customization of your theme, you can sometimes find affordable options of services such as Fiverr. However, be sure to read reviews and choose someone with good credentials. For full custom themes, you are best off hiring a custom designer.
Photobucket Warnings on Themes
In July, 2017, photobucket without warning switched to a pay service. Some of our older themes and templates hosted images for social icons and theme elements on photobucket, leading to broken images with Photobucket warnings on them. All themes have been updated to remove use of photobucket. Download a new theme package to get the latest version or contact us with your purchase information (Name, email or screen name, and purchase location) for new social media code and/or a new theme file.
Update of Sara’s Fashion and Retirement of Natasha’s Theme
The Sara’s fashion theme has been redesigned to use the Studiopress Genesis Framework. This cures all issues the theme was having with Woocommerce updates and WordPress changes. It also fixes all social sharing issues. Natasha’s has been retired. If you previously purchased either theme, you are entitled to a free genesis version. Simply contact us with your purchase information. (Name, email or screen name, and purchase location) and once we verify your previous purchase, we will send you the files. The new theme will require new set up. For fixes using the old versions, see the next section below.
WooCommerce 3.0 Gallery and Social Sharing Button Fixes
Version One of Sara’s Fashion (the non Genesis version), Natasha’s, and Craft Haven themes have been updated to be compatible with Woocommerce 3.0. However, the gallery update in Woocommerce 3.0 forced a change in the styling of the gallery on the themes, especially on Sara’s Fashion and Natasha’s. The overall way the Gallery works on woocommerce has also changed. Please see the demos to see how it now looks and operates. In addition, the Sara’s Fashion and Natasha’s themes have been updated to make use of JetPack for social sharing, which is more stable than the previous built-in version.
I recommend updating to Version 9 of the Sara’s Fashion or Natasha’s themes and setting up JetPack for social sharing (see instructions here). If you wish to retain the previous look of the gallery, keep Woocommerce at a version 2.6.14. If you already updated Woocommerce and wish to roll it back, install the WP Rollback plugin and use it to roll back to version 2.6.14. Please make a backup first!
For Craft Haven, I recommend updating to Version 4 if you plan to update Woocommerce to 3.0+
Note that the Woocommerce update is also not compatible with a fair number of plugins and has had quite a few reported problems. We cannot guarantee that Woocommerce 3.0 will work with plugins that are not part of the ones used in the base set up our themes. We have tested it with the social sharing aspects of JetPack. The demos are now running Woocomemrce 3.0 with JetPack for sharing.
If you are unable to download your new version, contact us at themefashiontemplates@gmail.com with your email used when ordering and we will provide you with a link for an updated theme file. If you want the old Sara’s fashion version, it is no longer in the downloads, but we can get you version 9 if you contact us.