Troubleshooting and FAQ

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Using the shop

The site takes a long time to open. It is on Render's free plan, which sleeps after about 15 quiet minutes. The first visit after that can take up to a minute; after that it is quick.

I did not get my sign-up or password-reset code. Check spam and promotions. Codes expire, so ask for a new one rather than using an old one.

I did not get my sign-in code. With two-step sign-in on, the code goes to your account's e-mail address and lasts 10 minutes. Check Spam, then choose Send a new code. Each new code replaces the last one.

The sign-in page says the security check could not load. An ad blocker or privacy setting is blocking Cloudflare's check. Allow challenges.cloudflare.com, or try another browser, then reload the page.

It says to try again in 15 minutes. After five wrong passwords in a row, signing in to that address pauses for 15 minutes, to stop anyone guessing. Wait, or reset your password from the sign-in page.

I got an e-mail about a new sign-in. If it was you on a new phone or browser, there is nothing to do. If not, reset your password, then choose Sign out everywhere else on your profile.

Updating my profile asks for my current password. Only when you change your password or your bKash number, so nobody using an open session can. An account made with Google can choose a password without one.

Voice search does not appear. It needs a browser with speech recognition: Chrome, Edge, Safari or Samsung Internet. Firefox does not have it yet. Allow the microphone when asked.

My password is refused. New passwords need at least 12 characters, a lowercase and an uppercase letter, a number and a symbol, and must not contain your name or e-mail, be a common password, or use runs like "1234". The list under the field shows which rule is missing. If they are all ticked but it is still refused, that password has leaked in a data breach somewhere else; choose another. Passwords set before these rules keep working.

I typed a Bangla title in English and it found something close. On purpose: the search matches by sound across Bangla and English, so spellings like "putul nacher itikotha" and "itikatha" both find পুতুলনাচের ইতিকথা. Exact matches come first.

Why can I not list a book? Add your bKash merchant number to your profile first (Profile → Seller Profile → Add it now). Sales are paid to it.

A book in my cart says sold out. It sold out after you added it. It stays in your cart for when it is back, and is left out of checkout. See the Buyer Guide.

Can I cancel my order? Yes, until the seller starts preparing it. After that, message the seller, or ask for a return once it arrives. The full rules are in Orders, Returns and Payouts.

When does a seller get paid? Seven days after delivery, once no return is open: the books' price minus 5%, by bKash.

Is there online payment? Not yet; it is cash on delivery. bKash, Nagad and card payments are planned. See "Coming soon" in the README.

Development

The server will not start: MONGO or JWT_SECRET is missing. Copy server/.env.example to server/.env and fill them in. JWT_SECRET must be at least 32 characters (openssl rand -hex 48).

npm run dev works, but my type error was not caught. Vite and tsx strip types without checking them. Run npm run typecheck.

A -- flag is ignored in PowerShell. PowerShell drops -- when it calls npm, so npm run x -- --flag loses the flag. Use the script's own variant where there is one, such as npm run migrate:images:dry, or run the command from Git Bash.

Edits do not reload inside Docker on Windows. File events from a Windows host do not reach a Linux container. The compose file already sets both watchers to poll. If reloads stop, restart the service with docker compose restart server or client.

The tests do not use my server/.env. On purpose. The server suite never reads it and starts its own in-memory MongoDB, so it gives the same result on every machine.

The live site did not update after a push. Check the deploy's progress in Render's dashboard. A failed build leaves the previous version running, and the build log says why.

Something else is wrong. Open an issue with what you did, what you expected, and what happened. A screenshot helps.