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!
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