After you connect your online store to Meta you can sell your catalog across Facebook and Instagram. Both platforms have their own native checkout that is mandatory for US-based stores. That means, customers will complete their purchase on Facebook or Instagram instead of your online store.
New orders made directly on Facebook and Instagram do not appear on the Orders page in your store admin and the stock is not reduced automatically.
You have to process orders in the Commerce Manager in your Facebook account, and manually update stock in your store admin.
Getting orders from Instagram and Facebook Shop
New orders made directly on Facebook or Instagram will not appear in your store admin. Instead, they appear on the Orders page in your Commerce Manager. From there, you will see:
- the order ID
- the date the order was placed
- the quantity and items ordered
- the source of the sale (Facebook or Instagram)
- the shipping address and the estimated order total
- the order status that you can change
Facebook places a hold on all new orders. This hold allows for Facebook's payment authorization, and fraud analysis, and you can't fulfill the order until the hold is removed. The hold is typically removed within 5 minutes, but in rare cases might be in place for up to 24 hours.
When an order is released from the hold, you can start to fulfill the order. Learn more about order fulfillment in Commerce Manager →
Managing stock for orders made from Instagram and Facebook Shop
Orders made directly on Instagram or Facebook will not appear in your store admin and the stock will not be reduced in your online store catalog. To keep your inventory up to date and avoid overselling items, you need to update the stock manually from your store admin.
To manage the stock in your store admin:
- From your store admin, go to Catalog → Products.
- Find the product that was purchased on Facebook or Instagram and click Edit Product.
- In the Quantity in Stock section on the right-hand side of the admin, enter a new number.
- Click Save.
In case of returns, you will also need to manually update the stock level in your store admin.
Shipping orders made on Instagram and Facebook
Shipping methods from your store do not sync with Facebook or Instagram. To provide customers with shipping options, you need to set up your shipping profile in the Commerce Manager.
When you get a new order that was made directly on Facebook or Instagram, you must ship the order within a default of 3 business days or within the handling time you specified in your Commerce Manager.
Be sure to provide tracking information for each shipment. If you don't include a valid tracking number for orders, Meta is not able to confirm shipment. This may delay payment.
Meta cancels any orders not marked as shipped after 30 days.
Getting paid in Instagram and Facebook shop
To get payouts for orders made through Checkout on Facebook or Instagram, you need to provide information about your bank account in your Commerce Manager.
Meta’s payment processors handle your transactions and appear as Merchant of Record. Payouts will be received within 30 days after you've marked the order as shipped. You can receive faster payouts for continued demonstration of product delivery as expected.
You can view payout details and payout history in the Commerce Manager.
Learn more about payouts on Facebook and Instagram →
Handling returns and refunds for Instagram and Facebook shop
When a customer buys directly from Facebook or Instagram, they can initiate a return request in-app. After that, you will get a notification about their request.
You will have 2 business days to process the refund from your Commerce Manager. The full refund amount is deducted from the overall shop balance. If you have insufficient funds, Facebook may use funds from future sales to cover the refund.