Instagram shopping denied: Product Unavailable on Your Website

[AkaneY]

Hi everyone! I've been having an issue on connecting Istrangram shopping with my Shopify store. I've tried many solutions that I found online but nothing worked so far. I'm hoping to find someone would lead me in the right direction or in a similar situation.

I opened my Shopify store which connected to print-on-demand order fulfilment company Printful. I connected the Shopify Catalog with Facebook via Shopify app. It works perfectly and all items from the catalogue are available on my Facebook page. However, I couldn't get it approved from Instagram and they keep declining produced tagging. The reason is:

Product Unavailable on Your Website (To use Instagram Shopping, your products must be sold on the website connected to your account.)

My understanding of 'The website connected to your account' is that the website link on my Instagram profile. I put the correct shop link which is the same as the one connected to the Facebook page. All products are available on the shop with the direct purchase and I'm not really sure why I keep receiving the same results. I follow all guidelines and policies and I'm sure my shop qualifies for Instagram shopping.

I'm guessing an issue might be the website domain in which my own (not Shopify's), but already got it verified from Facebook. Once I disconnected everything and started it again, but I still keep receiving the same result from Instagram.

If someone knows the best solution please let me know, I would be greatly appreciated your help!

[bambina]

same with me. i have disconnected and reconnected my instagram countless times. anyone who has solution for this?

[Tumilu]

I can now confirm that the issue lies firectly in third party domains.

For tests I changed to the myshopify.com domain, edited links in the catalog to match and applied with that. I was approved.

Naturally it does not solve the issue for me, it's not as if I could stay on the myshopify.com domain forever, so I will start testing whether I can somehow transition to my domain without the whole mess of unlinking. I will let you know how it goes. What a mess this is...

[TheBee]

Very good discovery, like all of you here have been trying to discover the root with FB & Shop helpdesks with the same frustration as you guys.

For me one FB agent told that the reason is URLs not pointing to correct location in my Shopify and suggesting also about the domain verification which was correct and working in FB shopping experience just fine.

Waiting for your valuable update if you can move to private domain now or there needs to be support case opened for the Shop-IG integration.

[Tumilu · Accepted solution]

Hey All,

So I am writing with the promised update.

Right now I have my FB Shopping working AND my private domain. If the situation changes or Instagram suddenly denies me again, I will update this again. 

It IS a workaround and might seem like a bit of a hassle, BUT after 3.5 months of trial and errors and battles with FB support, this is the only way that worked for me. Noone on Facebook or Shopify has a working alternative, so I think that is better than nothing anyway 😉 

This is the (hopefully temporary) solution to the issue "Product Unavailable on Your Website. To use Instagram Shopping, your products must be sold on the website connected to your account."

0. Before you begin check that you:

- have Instagram set to a Business profile

- have Instagram and FB Page correctly added to your Business Manager

- have a "Shop" profile enabled on your FB Page

1. In Shopify change primary domain to your myshopify one

2. Verify it via HTML tag in your Business Manager on Facebook

3. Organize your FB product catalog:

- change the links in your catalog to point to your myshopify.com domain. If you have too many products, simply delete the FB App from Shopify and reinstall it. This will create a new Commerce Account and a new product catalog with correct links in your FB.  Even if you reinstalled, double check that the product links point to the myshopify.com domain. Also: You might check the Flexify app for that if your portfolio is too big, please see a note at the bottom.

4. Write to FB IG Partner Support here: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/644690422793138  and ask them to UNLINK your Instagram account from your private domain by choosing the option: "I have not been approved, but want to change my domain". After 1-3 days, an e-mail will arrive for you to reply with a text of "I consent to...." blablabla. You copy the text they send you and e-mail them back. After 12-36 hours you will get a confirmation that the Instagram Shop is unlinked from your private domain

5. Via INSTAGRAM APP go to Settings -> Business -> Set Up Instagram Shoopping.  There the system will propose a domain for you to submit. Choose the catalog you created/updated, and if you changed the links in your catalog correctly, you will see the "myshopify.com" domain on the list. Choose that, proceed with verification.

6. Hopefully after 24 hours Instagram verifies that, yes, you are approved.  🙂 And THEN to get back to your private domain...

7. Go back to Shopify. Change the Primary Domain back to your private one.

8. DELETE the FB App from Shopify. That is because Shopify will, after a while, overwrite the links in your catalog with your private domain ones... And that will make the products unusable on Instagram.

9. From now on, even after the domain is changed to a private one, Instagram will still think your domain is the myshopify one. A note here: Your BIO link can lead to your private domain. Bio links are not analyzed in the reviews.

10. To add a new product use links with the MYSHOPIFY.COM domain. Sure, they will redirect to your private domain (after all, you set it to "primary "two steps back)... BUUUT for Instagram that is enough, that the Product you add points to the domain Instagram approved (the myshopify.com) one. 

Is this solution ideal? No, especially if you have a vast product portfolio... HOWEVER, I think what might be worth exploring further is the Flexify app - it generates product links to the myshopify.com domain no matter whether you have a private domain or not. So I believe that in step 3 you might just delete the default Facebook App in Shopify and use Flexify (and keep it), since the only links it will provide and update are the myshopify.com ones. I did not test that (I only sell 6 products ;)), but you might give it a try.

I hope this update will prove helpful to you, good luck! 

[AkaneY]

Thank you so much for sharing this! I've got loads of products in the catalogue already so I'm a bit hesitant to do that, but will follow the process and update once it's successful. Hope this will save many of us. 

[Tumilu]

I'm crossing my fingers 🙂 try and check out the Flexify app - it will create a catalog with the myshopify.com domain links (no matter which domain you set as primary), so you can simply connect THAT catalog to your commerce account on Facebook in step 3 and thus have an updating product feed :-))

[TheBee]

Thanks for the full update Tumilu.

I cannot try the work-around you found in my live shop, but really appreciate your work here to find the root.

I opened support case to Shopify to look into your findings and finding an permanent fix. Hope everyone would do the same so that it would get priority in the fix backlog.

[FranciscoHuaman]

@Tumilu thanks a lot! you really gave us the real tutorial here. I was struggling for 3 weeks, checked all of the comments and try a few suggestions from @TheBee and @bambina but finally decided to try the longest path ( the right one for me). I am approved now and would recommend others to try directly @Tumilu approach.  have a nice weekend all!

[kzytaruk]

Hi @Tumilu, I have the same problem.  I am trying your recommentation.

How do I update the links in my Facebook catalogue?

I know very little about Facebook.  I set up my catalogue in Shopify and linked the catalogue to Facebook.

Thanks

[Tumilu]

You do that in your business' Facebook Commerce account under Catalog -
Items.

[BYOVIE]

Hi! I can give you someone to contact, they are from Bangladesh and charged me $60 but fixed the problem. Do you want her contact information? I found her through an app called Fiverr

[RobMDC]

BYOVIE, do you mind sharing the details of the lady that fixed it for you.

thanks.

[RobMDC]

Hi Tumilu,

i have followed your steps. now the store is approved. i am at step 8 of the process. do i just delete FB app and not install it again? how would my shop sync with IG catalogue when adding new products, change pricing etc.. thanks for your help.

[kfinesjewels]

We have been unapproved for the same issue but now I can't submit any more reviews. What can I do, I really need Instagram shopping.

[AsukaAkita]

6 months of terrible Shopify customer service and no solution to an issue that is now hundreds of thousands are experiencing. 

Facebook blames shopify, Shopify blames Facebook and on and on it goes. 

Anyone searching for "shopify reviews" or "pros and cons of shopify" or "best Ecommerce platform" please read this discussion so that you won't suffer like we did. Shopify is no longer compatible with Instagram which means you will have to spend thousands to move your store to somewhere else. You will not be able to properly run ads or tag your products, and above all: no one will help you.

Proof that no one will help you? Look at this forum discussion right here, do you see a Shopify customer service rep anywhere trying to help resolve the issue? No. 

[BYOVIE]

did you get this resolved? can you help me please.

[Tumilu]

Please read the entire thread - I wrote a step by step guide how I got approved. Others shared their experience too.

Counting on Shopify or Facebook to fix the issue will get you nowhere to be honest... 😞 

[Shutter-Jack]

HI, 

I wanted to share with you my discovery not sure if it is the solution or luck but I got approved by Instagram.

Basically, I Unlinked my domain by contacting IG support like Tumilu mentioned in one of his posts.

and connected it again with https://www.shutterjackphotography.com/ 

Looks like https:// was the problem because before they were mixed in Instagram was http:// and website was https://

Not sure if that is the solution or not but it worked for me!

Hope it does for you as well.

[AkaneY]

Hi @Shutter-Jack, thanks for sharing your experience! May I ask if you had changed URLs of your catalogue as myshopify.com one, before getting approved IG with your own domain? I'm in the process of removing verified domain to switch myshopify.com domain but if I can keep my own domain it'd be best!

[Shutter-Jack]

Hey,

Nope, I use my own domain not .myshopify.com one

just double check this https and HTTP  worth trying 

[Tumilu]

Is your custom domain managed by Shopify? In my case https/http change did not work, but I am crossing my fingers for you guys!!

[Shutter-Jack]

@Tumilu yes, bought it with them. 

[Tumilu]

Ah, that is a different issue then. My domain was registered with another service.

Just to update you guys once more - when i transfered one of my additional domains to Shopify (so it is now Shopify-managed), I reconnected it to Instagram without a problem. My specific issue is I cannot transfer THE main domain I use, but I went around the issue again with the steps I provided a few replies back. Worked like a charms again (phew).

So it seems to me the problem lies primarily in submitting to IG domains that are not managed by Shopify.

[Erintidey]

Hello, how did you contact Instagram support and change your domain?

I am experiencing all the issues you guys are 2 months on now, just don’t know what to do!

[Shutter-Jack]

4. Write to FB IG Partner Support here: https://www.facebook.com/help/contact/644690422793138  and ask them to UNLINK your Instagram account from your private domain by choosing the option: "I have not been approved, but want to change my domain". After 1-3 days, an e-mail will arrive for you to reply with a text of "I consent to...." blablabla. You copy the text they send you and e-mail them back. After 12-36 hours you will get a confirmation that the Instagram Shop is unlinked from your private domain

[Erintidey]

Thank you so much! So you suggest unlinking your domain and going again
should work?

[Shutter-Jack]

It worked for me so I can't guarantee it will work for you but worth trying!

Copy your website from the browser and apply with the copied address.

Good Luck!

[Tumilu]

If your domain is shopify-managed, it might work. If it is not, try the guide I wrote a few posts back.

[TheBee]

Hi all,

Seems to be some differences how this problem manifests to each of us. I also read (and this is something true in my case) that use of some Instagram scheduling/management apps like Later etc. can be behind of these issues. No confirmation of course if this is the real root cause or part of it.

I got a step forward and got my catalogue approved, though still stuck as I cannot complete the integrations next step. After the catalogue is approved next step is to configure "set up Instagram Shopping" in the mobile Instagram app, but this brings me to random "no internet connection"- error. Struggle continues with FB support.

How the approval finally worked for me was:

1. Removed Catalogue in Facebook Business https://business.facebook.com/settings/ -> Data sources -> Catalogues

2. Removed the Facebook sales channel in Shopify -> "manage sales channels" after pressing the + icon in admin dashboard

3. New set-up of the Facebook sales channel in Shopify and thus creation of new catalogue in Facebook side

4. Using the IG Shopping Partner Support (facebook.com) to ask un-linking and copy pasting the URL of my 3rd party domain with the https

Hope this helps

[liallal]

Hi everyone!

Problem! Problem! Problem!

Product unavailable on your website to use Instagram shopping, your products must be sold on the website connected to your account. if you think this is a mistake, you can request another review. or, you can submit a different website for review. 

Don't worry! I will do Solve 'Product unavailable on your website to use Instagram shopping, your products must be sold on the website connected to your account" Problem. 

Please contact me!

Thanks

[TheBee]

Hi all,

A final update from my part as well. I got finally approved directly with Facebook/IG integration using the steps from my previous post without any other feed apps.

Few additional steps taken after the previously described:

- Removed connections to any publishing apps to Facebook

- Continued working with FB support & final request to re-approve the Shopping has to be (as per FB support) done using Mobile Instagram App

When re-requesting the Shopping after all the steps & using Mobile App I finally got approved after months of headache.

[BYOVIE]

has anyone resolved this issue for you? No one is helping me. FB Support and Shopify support are completely lost as to why my shop is getting rejected. Can anyone advise anything?

[DanielSR]

I finally got the approval from IG without having to change much of my domain information. What I did was to add the "myshopify" domain to the domain verification in the Facebook Setup inside Shopify. I added both domains (mi private and the "myshopify") and submited an appeal again. Finally I got this working!