- What a Facebook shop does for you now
- What you need before you start
- How to set up a Facebook shop, in Meta's order
- Delivery speeds you can offer
- The optional extras worth switching on
- After the shop goes live
- Where the shop sits inside Commerce Manager
- My verdict on a Facebook shop
- Frequently asked questions
A Facebook shop is a storefront on Facebook and Instagram where people browse your products, add them to a basket and then check out on your own website. You build it in Meta's Commerce Manager, and it only becomes visible once your commerce account passes review and you've added a checkout URL.
Here's the catch. As of October 2026, Meta's own help pages for Shops open with a notice that some features related to Shops and checkout on Facebook and Instagram are no longer supported. The setup that still works sends buyers to your website to pay, which is why the checkout URL is a required step, not an optional one. And the review of your commerce account can take up to 4 weeks, so don't plan a launch around a shop you haven't submitted yet.
What a Facebook shop does for you now
Meta describes a shop as a customised digital storefront across Facebook and Instagram. Once it's published, people find it in the Facebook or Instagram app on Apple or Android devices, and it opens as a full-screen experience with your collections shown as personalised products. When you add new products, people can see them in their Feed, on the Facebook Shop tab, or get a notification nudging them to visit.
Two points from Meta's help are worth knowing before you decide. First, a shop is required for Shops ads, which use machine learning to send each person to the destination Meta thinks is most likely to convert: your website or your shop. Second, you don't need a shop to create ads with product tags or to boost posts with product tags. If tagged ads are all you're after, the shop is optional.
Shop customisation is unified across apps. If you have a shop on both your Instagram profile and your Facebook Page, your collections may show on both.
What you need before you start
| Your situation | What Meta says you need, as of October 2026 |
|---|---|
| Starting from scratch | A Commerce Manager account. You can create a Facebook business Page and a catalogue during setup. |
| Using an existing Page and catalogue | Full control of the business portfolio that manages them, plus full control of the Page and the catalogue |
| Want the shop visible on Instagram | An Instagram business account in your business portfolio |
| Selling on Instagram only | No Facebook business Page needed when you create the shop |
| Selling through Shopify | Shopify sellers can create shops and Shops ads from Ads Manager |
The access rule trips people up. If someone else in your team set up the business portfolio and you only have partial access, finish sorting permissions before you start, or you'll stall at the first screen.
How to set up a Facebook shop, in Meta's order
Go to Commerce Manager. If your commerce account was created, you'll see Set up your shop at the top, with a list of tasks to finish. Here they are in order.
- Create shop. This should already show as completed, because the shop is made when you create the commerce account.
- Checking your shop info. Not completed means your commerce account is in review, which can take up to 4 weeks. Meta updates the status in Commerce Manager and emails you if there's anything you need to do.
- Optimise your catalogue. Click View details to pick which catalogue to use, add product variants by uploading a data feed so you don't lose product events data, and optionally add, replace or keep a dataset.
- Set up delivery profile. Name the profile, choose the countries and states you deliver to, and add at least one delivery speed. Click Save.
- Add checkout URL. This moves customers from your shop to the checkout on your website. Your shop isn't visible until you add it.
- Optimise your shop. Choose any of the optional extras below.
- Publish shop. Once every task above is complete, click Publish shop.
Delivery speeds you can offer
You must add at least one delivery speed, and each can be customised with estimated delivery days and a basket minimum for free delivery if you offer it. Meta gives these as typical times.
| Delivery speed | Typical time, including handling |
|---|---|
| Standard | 5 to 8 days |
| Expedited | 3 to 5 days |
| Rush | 2 to 3 days |
Be honest with these. The estimate you set is what a shopper sees before they click through, and a promise you can't keep is worse than a slower one you can.
The optional extras worth switching on
Under Optimise shop, Meta offers three enhancements. You can let it personalise your shop's home page layout based on each person's shopping history and interests. You can display ratings and reviews from your website and third-party sources. And you can let Meta crawl your website and ads to detect offers and show them in your shop. I'd turn on ratings if your reviews are strong, and check what the offers crawl picks up before you rely on it.
After the shop goes live
Once it's approved and published, your shop shows a footer with its name, a featured image, customer ratings, and Follow and Shop all products buttons. People can also tap View shop to see delivery and secure payment details.
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Every product in your catalogue is included in the shop by default, but you can control which ones appear. You can group products into collections to feature, add promotion banners to the home page, and choose whether the shop is visible on Facebook, Instagram or both.
Where the shop sits inside Commerce Manager
| Commerce Manager tool | What you use it for |
|---|---|
| Overview | Your catalogue, issues to fix and suggested actions, plus a sales summary if you have a shop |
| Catalogue | Products, sets, data sources and events connections |
| Shops | Setting up and customising your storefront |
| Ads | Ways to advertise products from your catalogue |
| Insights | Sales and product performance, shown only if you have a shop |
| Settings | Catalogue settings and certain commerce settings |
One detail from the Events tab matters for ads: you must connect a Meta pixel or app SDK to your catalogue to run Advantage+ catalogue ads, which used to be called dynamic ads. If you haven't installed it yet, here's my guide to the Meta pixel. And for the tool itself, my walkthrough of Facebook Commerce Manager covers it in more depth.
My verdict on a Facebook shop
I'd set one up if you sell physical products and already run Meta ads, because a shop is what makes Shops ads possible and it gives your tagged posts somewhere to land. Do the setup in Meta's order, add the checkout URL straight away, and submit early so the review clock starts. If you only want product tags on ads or boosted posts, you don't need a shop at all, so don't let it hold you up.
A shop gets your products in front of people already on Facebook and Instagram. Getting your business named when people ask an AI tool what to buy is where I come in. I run AI training and workshops for teams, and help businesses with AI enablement, AI automation and GEO, which is about getting your business seen and cited in AI answers. Most of that work is with SaaS marketing teams and small businesses. Here's how we can work together.
Frequently asked questions
How long does Facebook shop review take?
Meta says the review of your commerce account can take up to 4 weeks. It updates the status in Commerce Manager and emails you if there's anything to fix.
Why isn't my Facebook shop visible?
Check the checkout URL first. Meta says you must add a checkout URL, which sends customers to the checkout on your website, for your shop to be visible.
Do I need a Facebook Page to sell on Instagram?
No. If you only want to sell on Instagram, you don't need to create or provide a Facebook business Page, but you do need an Instagram business account in your business portfolio.
Do I need a shop to tag products in ads?
No. You don't need a shop to create ads with product tags or to boost posts with product tags. A shop is required for Shops ads.
Are Facebook Shops still supported?
Shops still exist, but as of October 2026 Meta's help pages say some features related to Shops and checkout on Facebook and Instagram are no longer supported.
