I developed a plugin to show Weather Information in WordPress Website. I used https://openweathermap.org API Key to fetch Weather Information.
What are the reasons for Hard Reject ?
There’re lots of free options available at the moment that paid item is unnecessary
1 Like
Thanks @ki-themes . Do Envato approve only which are unique ?
That’s the key for approval.
Thanks @Vedantaair. I tried my best to follow best practices, security requirements and documentation before submitting.
@vedantaroy1701, do you know any tutorial on WordPress’s rules and standards with coding best practices, security requirements, and documentation to submit in Envato ?
If your plugin is hard rejected, you won’t be able to resubmit it (I assume the response email from Envato has noted this).
I’ve encountered a similar situation before. Currently, I don’t have any new plugins ready to submit and test my assumptions 
. However, you might find my insights helpful here: WordPress plugin got rejection email in less than 10 minutes! - #15 by polyxgo
You should consider using:
- Plugin Check to fix all errors as instructed. This plugin helps ensure your plugin meets the standards required by WordPress. I believe Envato follows similar criteria.
- Envato’s official WordPress plugin requirements: Envato WordPress Plugin Requirements
If you successfully submit your plugin, please share your experience! Many new authors struggle with this issue, and guidance is quite limited.
1 Like
First step is always related the functionality/features. If there’s nothing new or enough features to offer to sell as premium, doesn’t matter if there’s any “coding” issue or not, it will be rejected.
1 Like
Thanks @polyxgo. Your reply is very informative. May be I’ll knock you age. I am trying to develop another plugin to submit. It is really tough to develop plugin with unique features and functionalities. What should I do ? Thanks.
1 Like
Thanks @ki-themes . Actually unique functionality/features are rare now a days. What should I do ? I am trying to develop another plugin to submit. Thanks.
Hi you,
As a fellow developer who also hasn’t been able to submit a WordPress plugin yet, I’d like to share my perspective on a few points:
1. It doesn’t have to be a brand-new, unique feature
Many add-ons, plugins, and themes currently available on Envato are not necessarily the best. This indicates that Envato always needs authors, just as authors need their platform. Together, we contribute to meeting customer demands.
Personally, I use existing plugins and themes simply because they are the only “decent” options available for my needs. For example, Flatsome might gradually be replaced by Block Themes in the future.
The 80/20 rule applies here. I’m not suggesting you attempt the impossible by coming up with groundbreaking new features. Can you? Maybe. But is there really a demand for it? I believe the Envato review team shares a similar mindset. They, too, spend a considerable amount of time figuring out how to handle all the subpar products that flood the platform year after year.
Instead, try improving existing solutions:
- Make them better and more compatible with newer WordPress versions.
- Ensure compatibility with both Classic and Block Editors, as we’re in a transitional phase between the two.
- Enhance missing or underdeveloped features based on user feedback. For example, one of my modules for PerfexCRM followed this approach. I carefully read customer feedback about what they needed, then developed my first module accordingly. Fortunately, it got approved.
- Follow the guidelines thoroughly before submission. Code often reflects a developer’s personal style, which can make reading someone else’s code frustrating. If you and I were to review each other’s code, we might criticize it too!
- The only standard that unites us with the Envato team is the established guidelines.
- Nothing is perfect; everything takes time. But at the very least, following the rules makes things easier for reviewers and the system.
- WordPress org can be a useful resource for documentation, as they understand the WordPress core best and have a team of contributors helping with reviews.
2. Trust Envato—at least to some extent
Over the past few years, I believe their team has been working hard to create a solid platform for both customers and authors.
Many people criticize them, and when I first got rejected, I felt the same way. However, balancing revenue, infrastructure, and quality is an incredibly difficult task. You and I both understand that “No revenue means no Envato, and no collaboration with us.” It’s a tough, high-pressure situation.
Sometimes, our technical perspective differs from that of industry professionals.
That’s also why, whenever we need to purchase something, we go straight to Envato to search for it, right? So far, I haven’t seen any other platform in this industry that does it better.
Just a few thoughts to share!
1 Like
Thanks @polyxgo. Could you please explain this line ?
Third-party API calls need to be aggressively cached so further calls are not throttled.
What should I do to implement this instruction ?
Thanks.
It’s difficult for me to give precise advice on this issue. However, based on the explicit meaning of the instruction, if it were me, I would focus on the following aspects:
-
Avoid continuously calling the API for data retrieval in every processing session (since third-party APIs always have resource quotas and request limits). Therefore, you should set an acceptable delay based on the data source’s regulations and capacity. If you control the API and have a large quota, then you can call it as needed.
-
This instruction may relate to plugin performance optimization. For instance, if the API allows retrieving multiple data components in a single request, you should take advantage of bulk requests. You should organize queries efficiently by making a single request and caching the results using options or object caching, depending on your setup (Redis/Memcached).
- For example, when fetching weather forecast data, check if local cached data is available and still within the acceptable refresh interval. If so, return the cached data instead of making another API request. For weather data, I think a refresh interval of 10–30 minutes is reasonable (though this may vary by region).
- Additionally, it’s a good idea to retrieve all regional data supported by your plugin in a scheduled cycle to avoid unnecessary API calls.
- When displaying retrieved data, you can also apply linear interpolation to estimate cached values more effectively.
-
For example, if temperature data at 3:00 and 4:00 (60 minutes apart) shows 22°C and 30°C, we can estimate the temperature at 3:30 using the linear interpolation formula:
y = y1 + ((x - x1) * (y2 - y1)) / (x2 - x1)
Substituting the values:
y = 22 + ((3.5 - 3) * (30 - 22)) / (4 - 3)
y = 22 + (0.5 * 8) / 1
y = 22 + 4
y = 26°C -
This method provides a more accurate estimation based on the temperature trend over time. Of course, this is just an example for better understanding—you should analyze actual data trends and integrate the logic accordingly for each region.
-
-
API queries don’t always return results, which is a reality you need to handle. Consider how to display data when an API request fails—this directly affects user experience.
- This instruction might require you to handle and display previously cached/stored data or notify users so they can manually refresh the information.
Minimizing unnecessary data queries is the key point of this instruction. I believe this is not a directive from an Envato reviewer, as you’ve already received a hard rejection notice. If this instruction comes from the API provider, then these optimizations are exactly what you need to integrate into any system that queries third-party APIs.
In the WordPress environment, set_transient() is a function worth considering and exploring for implementing these caching mechanisms.
Finally, if you do not fully understand the instruction, it is best to contact the support team from the source that provided it before proceeding with the next steps.
2 Likes
That’s why you don’t see new items everyday. Most of the plugins are being rejected even uploads from experienced authors. Approx 1 plugin gets approved every 2-3 days now.
1 Like
This looks useful, try to use the same CSS that Wordpress is using so that it looks part of WordPress I think it will be good touch.
2 Likes