Why do missing images (aka thumbnails) occur?
Everyday CafePress serves over 50 million images, with a peak of over 1000 thumbnails per second. That’s a lot of images processed within the system! We have a high success rate (over 99 %), but even with a high success rate there's bound to be some errors, such as missing thumbnails during processing.


Why do missing thumbnails usually occur right after a CafePress scheduled maintenance?
During a release cycle when updates/changes are made to images (such as product thumbnails) some Shopkeepers may notice more missing thumbnails than usual; this is due to a larger amount of images being created than normal. There are several factors that are required for successful thumbnail processing. On occasion when these factors do not line up and we do not detect an error, a bad thumbnail image is created.


What is CafePress doing to prevent missing thumbnails?
Due to the volume of thumbnails being processed in the CafePress system it is nearly impossible to completely prevent missing thumbnails from occurring. That being the case our goal is to improve our already high success rate of over 99%. One step we have made involves caching. Previously, missing thumbnails were cached in the system, making it a recurring error every time the page is loaded. To prevent this we created a patch to our image service so a bad thumbnail is no longer cached. As a result, most bad thumbnails can be fixed by hitting the web browser refresh button.


What can I do to fix missing thumbnails in my shop?
There are three steps you can try to fix bad thumbnails:
1. Refresh - Most incidents of missing images and thumbnails can be fixed by refreshing your browser.
2. Clear Browser Cache - If refreshing doesn’t work clear your browser cache and then hit the browser refresh button.
3. “Jiggle” the image - If both 1 and 2 fail you can “jiggle” the product with the broken thumbnail. To “jiggle” a product, you go into your member account, find the affected product and resize or reapply your image to your product, and save the changes.
4. Report to Customer Service - In the rare case where the three solutions listed above do not work you should report the problem to Customer Service, and we’ll investigate and get back to you as quickly as we can.