Vela | AI, optimization & more

I have used Vela for many years. Unfortunately, my experience with Justin from customer service/developer has often been frustrating. Whenever there is a problem with the app, I feel that he tends to blame the user first instead of considering whether there may be an issue with the app or its design.

If you read some of the other poor reviews here, you will see that other users have complained about similar experiences.

I tolerated this for years, including the repeated price increases, but recently I had a much more serious billing issue.

I was continuously charged $23.95/month for Vela Lite, but repeatedly could not access my Shopify store and was shown a message telling me to select an “UPGRADE” plan again “to retain access.” I did not want to upgrade, so I stopped using Vela. Since I could no longer access my store, I naturally believed my subscription was no longer active.

Yesterday, I checked my billing and was shocked to discover that I had actually continued to be charged for almost six months.

Justin claimed this happened because my listing count changed pricing tiers, which required me to confirm a new price. However, my store had around 2,200 listings and remained within the same 1,000–2,500 listing tier that I was already paying $23.95 for. So I still do not understand what price change required an upgrade.

More importantly, whether I confirmed an upgrade or not does not explain why I could not access the service while Vela continued charging me every month.

My latest billing period was paid through August 11, yet on August 9 I still could not access my store. Justin refused to refund the months I was charged and did not clearly address these contradictions or restore my access.

How is it reasonable to continuously charge a customer for a subscription while they cannot access the service they are paying for?

I believe there is a serious problem with the way Vela handles subscription access and billing. What concerns me most is that if I had not noticed the charges myself, it appears the billing would have simply continued.

This experience made me feel extremely misled, and I think other Shopify sellers should be aware of it and carefully check their Vela billing.

I've been using Vela for years. It's very effective and has saved me days of manual labor. Justin is a remarkable service person. The app also keeps evolving regularly. It's a must for large catalog shops.

Love, love, love this app! It was a game-changer for us! We have shops on Shopify and Etsy, so being able to update, modify, and create listings in one place saves us tons of time.

Recently, Vela made an upgrade to their platform that uses AI to optimize copy, create product images, and write SEO ehanced alt tags. I had the privilege of speaking to Justin, one of the creators, and he clarified how it works.

When you click the button to optimize tags, titles, descriptions, etc., it tailors everything based on whether you’re listing for Shopify or Etsy. The score it gives you is based on each platform’s specific algorithm—not a generic one-size-fits-all system.

So basically, Vela uses different criteria depending on where you’re selling, which makes it way more accurate—and means we don’t have to write everything outside of Vela anymore.