How to Sell on Instagram

After you connect your Instagram account to your Facebook shop, your products can be individually tagged within Instagram posts. Here's how to sell items on Instagram by activating Shoppable tags on your Instagram posts.

How to Sell Products on Instagram

After you set up your Instagram Business account and open an active Facebook shop on your Facebook business page, you're ready to link all three together and make shoppable posts on Instagram.

1. Open the Facebook Products Catalog page and select the name of the Facebook shop you want to sell from on Instagram.

   

   The Facebook business page must be the same one that's connected to your Instagram Business account.

2. Select Settings.

   

3. Select Connect next to Business Manager Account.

   

4. Choose the Facebook account from the drop-down menu that you want to manage your Facebook shop and select Connect.

   

5. Open the Instagram app on your iOS or Android device.

6. Tap the menu icon in the upper-right corner.

7. Tap Settings > Business.

   

8. Tap Sign up for shopping.

9. Tap Continue.

10. Tap Submit for Review. Instagram staff reviews your application and either approves or rejects it within a few days. You'll receive a notification within the Instagram app after a decision is made.

    

11. Once approved, you can add product links. Tap the new Tag Products field when creating a new Instagram post, then enter the product's name. It works the same way as tagging people in an Instagram post.

    Products must be approved and live on your Facebook page before you can tag them on Instagram.

What You Need to Sell on Instagram

Creating a shop on Instagram is a little more complex than manually entering a product name, description, and link. Before you start, you'll need the following:

• An Instagram Business account: You can switch to an Instagram Business account at any time. Tap Settings > Account > Switch to Business Account.
• A Facebook business page: A Facebook business page can be created for free by anyone on Facebook.
• An active shop on your Facebook business page: This can be a shop you manually created or a Facebook shop powered by Shopify.

What Can't You Sell on Instagram?

Instagram shops are primarily intended for selling physical products, not services. The sale of products must comply with the laws and regulations of their base country and that which the merchandise is being sent to.

The following products are banned on Instagram:

• Drugs or medicines.
• Tobacco and tobacco-related products.
• Health supplements and healthcare products.
• Guns or other weapons, ammunition, and explosives.
• Animals.
• Alcohol.
• Human or animal body parts.
• Digital products and services.
• Money, digital money, or cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin.

Other Ways to Sell Stuff on Instagram Without a Store

If you don't have an online store on Facebook and have no interest in setting one up, you can sell products and services on Instagram by promoting them in a Facebook post and placing a link to where your followers can purchase your item on your Instagram profile.

Another good strategy for selling things on Instagram is to post a photo or video of your product in an Instagram Story. If you have over 10,000 followers, add a link to your Story, which your followers can visit by swiping up on the screen.