Facebook followers seeing posts "[Shop name] added an item to their shop"

Matthew_Harper1
Excursionist
32 0 18

My Shopify store (www.eduzone.co.uk) is connected to Facebook via the old Facebook Shop integration (not the new Facebook sales channel). Recently I've noticed thatin Shopify when I add an item, or change an item from being in stock to out of stock, our followers on Facebook see a post saying "Eduzone added an item to their shop" containing the item details. Is there a way to stop this from happening?

Replies 61 (61)

JHResolutionMed
Visitor
1 0 1

Bumping this topic! My client has notcied the same thing. This appears to have started happening in the last couple of weeks. If anyone uncovers a solution to disable this, let me know 🙂

Matthew_Harper1
Excursionist
32 0 18

Yes, I first noticed it about a week ago. Strange that it seems to have started around the same time Facebook introduced their new Shopify channel - even thought we've not set it up yet.

Is there anyone at Shopify that can help?

Matthew_Harper1
Excursionist
32 0 18

In case anyone else has the same query, I've been on chat with Facebook support today and they've said that these notifications are a standard feature and cannot be changed or stopped - no matter whether you use the new or old Facebok channel integration.

I've also queried with them why we get no notification that these are being sent out, and they don't appear on the page's activity log. I haven't had a good reply on this yet!

The annoying thing is that it's not just when new products are added, it's also when out of stock products are put back into stock - I assume that's because Shopify halts sending them through the data feed to Facebook, and then resumes them, so from Facebook's point of view it assumes they're new. At the moment with Covid we have items quite frequently going in and out of stock - the only way I can think to reduce the messages being made is to set the item as unavailable on the Facebook channel, and only make it available again once the item is permanently back in stock.

I look forward to hearing if there's anything Shopify can do from their side as a solution.

SuperBeachy
Visitor
2 0 0

Hi - Has anyone on this thread found a solution to this ? On my first update to my Shopify items, I turned off the option in FB Page Settings/Page Updates and that stopped the new item postings. Then yesterday Oct 9, 2021 I made some shopify item changes and the automatic postings are appearing again, over and over and over.  TIA.

MidCenturyStyle
Tourist
5 0 5

No solution. All the ones I've found online don't work. And of course, NOWHERE to ask, complain, or get support. And it's getting worse. Now, Facebook is even adding the "Conversations" icon below my store's posts, in an attempt to promote their "groups" initiative, but sometimes it's promoting competing products!!! I think FB is getting ou of hand...

SuperBeachy
Visitor
2 0 0

Thank you for confirming what I've found.  What's evern stranger is that the posts appear, then disappear.  I check on my alternate FB account and I see them show up, then when I go to check on them later they're gone.  I'm still trying variations of product changes in Shopify to see if there are certain "changed" variables which trigger this.  Seems like adding a new product does it, now I'm going to try changing a price, then color options and see if these trigger the darn things.

EmilyLS23
Visitor
2 0 0

This is NOT  a Shopify issue.  It is a FACEBOOK issue.  I use Square (not Shopify) and have the same problem.  No setting in Square or Shopify is going to fix it.  Facebook is automatically doing this with no option to turn it off.

JennRossDesigns
Visitor
1 0 1

I hope updates don't keep showing up on my follower's news feeds every time I add a new item to my Shopify store. It's embarrassing! Once in a while is fine, but every freakin' item? Come on!

blankcanvas
Tourist
5 0 0

This is an absolute joke.  I need to add about 50 items to my website and I’m afraid to even do it because of people getting annoyed and will unfollow my page!  

Everything about Facebook is a convoluted mess. Integration period… Google, FB, Instagram, trying to synchronize everything is a nightmare.  Google has separate Ad management, product management, analytics, Facebook has all their different pages…. I consider myself fairly tech savvy, but all of these user interfaces are terrible! 

shopsuperbeachy
Tourist
7 0 2

I completely agree.  I can only image what META will bring us in terms of control over our products.  I have found that many shops which I follow have this happen, thus knowing this happens when I add a new item, I am more tolerant of seeing "new" items.  I'm like you though and not sure my followers are so tolerant.  

SC60
Tourist
6 0 1

I've been told to give their engineering team that feedback as there's nothing they can do at this time. https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/268228883256323?ref=cr

 

highcenburg
Shopify Partner
37 1 2

Have you already upgraded to the latest version? In my understanding of software, there are only 2 ways to get errors, first is a developer's code(programming error) and the second is through outdated software.

Website: https://vicentereyes.org
Matthew_Harper1
Excursionist
32 0 18

Hi vgreyes

When I first noticed the messages going out I was using the old version of the Facebook shop integration. Since then I've upgraded to the new version, but the messages are still going out.

The problem is that it's not an error or bug exactly... it seems it's a feature that Facebook have put into the software that sends messages without asking permission and with no way to turn off.

Thanks

Matt

highcenburg
Shopify Partner
37 1 2

Hi Matthew_Harper1

Website: https://vicentereyes.org

graham_co
Visitor
2 0 1

Mine is doing the same thing and it's frustrating. It seems to do it anytime a stock adjustment is made to an item, including selling it. 

 

Example, I just sold this item at POS about 45 minutes ago, and was later scrolling through FB and saw the post: 

IMG_0873.PNG

 

I've noticed it a few other times happening to items I've just sold. I really hope every item I'm selling isn't popping up on all of my followers pages?! 

CharlesBG
Tourist
5 0 3

Has there been a solution that's come up? We still have this happening randomly and without rhyme or reason.

Lorelai
Visitor
1 0 0

This has been happening to me too, several times a day for the last few days. I have had no sales and I haven't altered any products or stock numbers since Friday.

Facebook just seems to be picking items at random to post and there doesn't seem to be a way of getting rid/stopping it happening. My Facebook followers are all going to end up unfollowing, it's so spammy!

 

 

aelmhorst
Visitor
2 0 6

Happening to us as well. This might be worth turning the Facebook integration off

CharlesBG
Tourist
5 0 3

Yeah it's very aggravating.

EveL
Visitor
2 0 0

I was having a similar issue and it was a huge and embarrassing pain for me as I did some repricing and all price changes popped up involuntarily on my facebook feed. 

However, I figured that if I put the products to DRAFT, then update the product descriptions / prices etc, then change them into ACTIVE again, the changes won't be highlighted on the news feed. 

I have not figured out a way to avoid new products showing up though. 

shopsuperbeachy
Tourist
7 0 2

Thank you for this tidbit.  At least it will help with updates on existing items.   This is appreciated.

Rachel_Zylstra
Tourist
9 0 2

Following this as well and hoping someone comes up with a solution!

AliRae
Excursionist
15 0 11

I'm following for a solution as well! I have a very structured way I handle social media posts. I *hate* social posts that are very clearly automated and seemingly pointless (as a business AND as a consumer). They not only look lame, they can affect your algorithm negatively. These random shop posts going up all willy nilly is driving me nuts, it looks so unprofessional. Hopefully there is a solution soon. For now, disabling the facebook channel may be the only way to go. What a let down.

CharlesBG
Tourist
5 0 3

To be honest, even disabling the Facebook channel didn't curb the problem for us.

AliRae
Excursionist
15 0 11

Well now that is frustrating, CharlesBG. *sigh*.... So I guess it looks like to solve it, I'll have to remove every single one of my 900+ products ("items") from my catalog on FB entirely. Ridiculous.

It's funny, when searching about this issue, I came across this reddit thread from about a month ago, and on the consumer end people were complaining about these posts clogging their newsfeed. Often enough that these people were thinking it was a glitch on their accounts LOL.

One even said 75% of his news feed was filled with these "added to shop" notifications. Another said he "unfollowed a ton of brands I wouldn’t have otherwise unfollowed because of this. Stop it f***ing garbage facebook"

So I wonder how many of us businesses have been affected negatively by this icky auto-post that we have no control over, wonder how many followers we have lost due to this random "feature" rolling out without our approval or knowledge, posting as our shop without us wanting it to. Is the trade off for the occasional sale by having products on FB worth p*ssing off your fans with what looks and feels so spammy???? What a bummer, truly.

What a pain........

aelmhorst
Visitor
2 0 6

My recommendation to anyone affected by this issue is to go here https://apps.shopify.com/facebook and leave a review. I'm not sure how else to convey to Shopify that this is broken. I was on a support chat with them today and they said it was Facebook's fault. I asked them if they had a partner manager for Facebook who could do a deep dive on this issue with the integration with Facebook, and then Shopify told me that they didn't even develop this app, but it was owned by Facebook. Not quite sure what that meant, but please go leave a review so at least other people know to be aware of this issue.

AliRae
Excursionist
15 0 11

Great suggestion. Done. 

EmilyLS23
Visitor
2 0 0

I signed up for Shopify JUST to tell you all that this is not a Shopify issue.  I work with Square (integrated with Facebook) and I'm having the exact same problem.  I've dug around all over the internet and this string is the one of the only discussions I could find about the issue.  Shopify wouldn't let me respond to this string without signing up, so here I am.  It is indeed a FACEBOOK PROBLEM and as far as I've been able to tell, there is no way to turn it off.  VERY FRUSTRATING.  I have posted in the Facebook help community and gotten no response.

graham_co
Visitor
2 0 1

Update: I left a review on the Shopify Facebook Integration App on Shopify's app page, hoping to get the issue resolved. They replied to my review with this:

 

Thanks for sharing your feedback! We deeply appreciate your patience for this reply. The issue that you've described stems from a setting within your Facebook notifications. Meaning, this occurs entirely on Facebook without any relationship to our app. The way you would solve this is to go to your Business Page Settings > Page Updates > click on Edit > and turn off post notifications so that they don't automatically update every change. This should resolve your feed issue. Thank you! - Abdalla, Shopify Support

 

I just tried it, so I'm hoping it helps!

Matthew_Harper1
Excursionist
32 0 18

Hi Graham, thanks for the details. I have just made the settings change on my page too, so fingers crossed 🙂

Rachel_Zylstra
Tourist
9 0 2

Please update us if changing this setting seems to work for you.  I just checked my settings, and we already had this option turned off, and we were still having the issue with the store posts, so I'm a little skeptical that's the fix.  That being said, I haven't seen these posts from our Facebook page recently, and we've been adding a ton of new products the last few weeks.

Shocking_Store
Tourist
6 0 6

Hi Matthew,
could you please share the change you made on your settings?

Thanks!
Elia

 

CharlesBG
Tourist
5 0 3

I changed nothing at all. There was apparently an update on Shopify and somehow this disconnected my account (without affecting the status of our shops, etc.). And I haven't seen the issue pop up again. I also haven't reconnected my Facebook account just because I'm scared to see the issue start again.

Matthew_Harper1
Excursionist
32 0 18

Hi Ella

Here's the change I made in my Facebook page settings, as advised by graham_co:

Business Page Settings > Page Updates > click on Edit > and turn off post notifications so that they don't automatically update every change

Thanks

Matt

Rachel_Zylstra
Tourist
9 0 2

Sadly, turning off the notifications doesn't work.  My Facebook page has had notifications turned off the entire time, and we still get these "added to shop" posts showing up.  I hadn't seen one in a while, so I was hopeful they had stopped, but I just added some new products the other day and had a bunch of them go out.

Shocking_Store
Tourist
6 0 6

Thanks Matt!
It seems this is a setting to turn off generic updates like store hours, address...let's hope this includes also item updates on shop, but I'm not so sure.
Let's hope anyway Facebook will introduce soon a dedicated option.

Best,
Elia

 

MidCenturyStyle
Tourist
5 0 5

Same problem here. It started noticing yesterday: added 5 new products and had prepared a campaign of posts to go with them but Facebook did it before me so followers started liking those empty bland posts, rendering mine completely useless. This is VERY annoying and stupid. "Pages updates" option has been already unchecked for a long time so it is NOT the solution. I hope someone at Facebook is monitoring this and FIX IT!!!

ScottyFreezen
Visitor
1 0 0

Same Issue for me with a client.

Hopefully facebook rolls out a fix or perhaps someone knows a work around to turn this off?

Greenco
Visitor
2 0 1

Same problem here! Was excited to announce a new product and saw the horrid post that my store was updated before I could announce. So frustrating. Have tried the edit suggested and no change - still seeing the posts go out. 

SC60
Tourist
6 0 1

I've been told to give their engineering team that feedback as there's nothing they can do at this time. https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/268228883256323?ref=cr

 

Shocking_Store
Tourist
6 0 6

Hello to everyone,

just a quick update: of course after turned off generic updates, nothing happened and this annoying situation still stand.
I then opened a ticket in the "Facebook Concierge Support" and I'm currently having emails exchange with them in order to understand if there's something they can do about it.
Honestly I'm not so confident:  I underlined more then once this is an automatic feature from Facebook but they asked me to perform a screencast for showing them what I do when this "bug" appears.
The latest reply from them is I submitted the request to our Internal Team in order for them to have a further look of the case. We will keep you posted for updates.

Anyway, I'll keep you posted as well...it won't be quick for sure!

Ciao!
Elia

 

Shocking_Store
Tourist
6 0 6

So, after days of emailing/screencasting and more I've eventually received an answer from Facebook:

Hi Elia,

Thank you for contacting Facebook Concierge Support. My name is Abby and I'm replying in behalf of Kevin about the Case ID: 264853335109020 about automated post that is being created in relation to item updates.

We wanted to let you know that this half, Facebook is testing various ways to help people discover Shops and products on Facebook.

There are several ways we are doing this:
We are showing people suggested Shops and products in News Feed. Upon click, people will land on the Shop storefront or the product details page.
When a Shop adds a new product, we might show followers of that Shop the added product as a unit in News Feed. Upon click, people will land on the product details page of that product.
When a Shop adds a new collection, we might send followers of that Shop a notification to check it out.

All these are being tested throughout the half and your Shop could be featured in some of these units.

I would like to thank you for your patience as we worked on your concern.

We will proceed to close this ticket now. Thanks for your tremendous understanding and patience while we are in the midst of checking on your concern. You may receive a quick automated survey via email and it will be evaluated based on the service provided by the related agent only. Please do not hesitate to find our best support via facebook.com/business/help (https://facebook.com/business/help) for future inquiries.

We look forward in making your journey with Facebook better.

Again, thank you for contacting Facebook Concierge Support. We wish you and your business well. Have a great day!

Warm Regards,
Abby

According to them, we're a selected list of Facebook business pages that are currently under test for some new features!!!
It seemes so not related to Shopify.

I then asked to them to be removed from that test list, not sure I'll be so luck...

I'll keep you posted in case of any future updates from my end.

Ciao!
Elia

rebeccabax
Tourist
7 0 1

Having the same issue here. Page updates is disabled and has always been. FB not replying. Now it seems to be flooding followers' feeds with different product variants, in my case baby clothes sizes, not just S, M and L. 

What an absolute abomination. Bye FB channel.

Elena22
Visitor
1 0 0

I am having the same issue which is so annoying as it's very spammy for my followers and considering getting rid of FB channel all together. Has anyone figured out any solution around this?

Shocking_Store
Tourist
6 0 6

Hi @Elena22 ,
probably you're in my same position: our Facebook accounts have been flag as "test account" and, according to Facebook, this is the reason of these unwanted posts (take a look of my latest post in this discussion).

Facebook support team says there's no way to unflag our accounts to be test account because we accepted their policy where it's reported our accounts can be randomly selected by Facebook for testing new features.

I hope you can get more luck then me.

Ciao!
Stefano

Online_Seller
Shopify Partner
50 1 88

"

Hi Ella

Here's the change I made in my Facebook page settings, as advised by graham_co:

Business Page Settings > Page Updates > click on Edit > and turn off post notifications so that they don't automatically update every change

Thanks

Matt"

 

@Matthew_Harper1 @graham_co 

 

Any idea how to do this in November 2022.  All the menus on facebook have changed.

 

Thanks,

 

Online_Seller

raeloos
Visitor
1 0 0

Replying to see if anyone has found a solution to this as I am still having this issue over 2 years later.

panaru
Visitor
1 0 0

Unfortunately this won't help. Is very annoing !

CharlesBG
Tourist
5 0 3

Apparently my facebook profile got disconnected on Shopify due to a channels update on the platform's backend. And whether it's related or not, we haven't seen this issue come up since that was disconnected.