"Instagram Shopping isn't Available for Your Account" Error and How To Fix it.

I ran into this really annoying problem when trying to link my Instagram to my online Wix store via Ecwid. No matter what I tried I could not link my Instagram Account to my Facebook Store page. I had already: 1. Already linked my Ecwid catalogs to Facebook. How to link Ecwid catalogs to Facebook Shop or How to link Shopify store to Facebook Shop 2. Switched my Instagram account from a personal to a business account.

3. Made sure to review all the requirements on Instagram's website and they were useless.

But when I tried to link my Instagram account to my Facebook store, I got this message:

"Instagram Shopping isn't available for your account. Learn more about set up requirements."

WTF? WHY? I followed all your stupid rules Instagram.

But don't worry y'all, I figured out how to fix this.

SOLUTION: Ask the Facebook Help Reps to approve your Instagram account. Of course, Instagram continues to insult its power-users by not offering any customer support whatsoever while making millions of dollars in ad revenue off of the content people produce there, but at least we can pester Facebook.

Here is the link you should use: https://www.facebook.com/business/help

1. Select "Business Pages"

2. At the bottom select "Chat with a Representative"

3. You will be asked to fill out a form. You will need your Ad Account ID which you can find next to your name in the nav bar of your Facebook Ads Manager page. You may have to create an ads manager account if you have not already. The ID should be 8 numbers long. 4. Under "What is your question about?" Select "Other" and then explain the issue you are having with your Instagram account being linked. 5. Include a link to your instagram account in this explanation as that is the first thing they will ask for.

6. Click "Start Chat" and hope for the best. My tech support person was able to get my account approved within the hour.Yay! Great you say, but... WHY wasn't I approved?

My best guess is that Instagram has an automatic filter that misses out on smaller sellers who post more pictures of artwork than they do of merch. If you don't have the words, "BUY BUY BUY SALE 50% OFF FREE SHIPPING NOW IN STOCK" plastered all over your stories and posts my guess is that Instagram thinks you linked your Shopify store by... mistake? somehow? Even though that's a 10 step process????? I'm not really sure. Anyways until Instagram gets their shit sorted out (based on their past record they probably won't for a good decade) this is the best way I've found to fix this issue. Hope it helps!