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Fix: I Can't Tag Products on Instagram Posts Anymore!

A step-by-step fix if Instagram product tagging stops working.

Written by Rob

The Symptom

You're trying to tag products in an Instagram post (or a Reel, Story, or carousel), and either:

  • The Tag products option no longer appears in the post composer

  • You can tap Tag products, but the search returns no results

  • Some products show up but the ones you want to tag are missing

  • You get an error like "Products are unavailable" or "Catalog not connected"

But... You used to be able to do this without any problem! Frustrating!

The good news: This is almost always a feed issue we can fix together in about 10 minutes, no developer needed.

Why This Happens

Meta (Facebook + Instagram) constantly updates their product catalog requirements. CONSTANTLY. The Run Free Project currently provides two product feed options to keep up with these changes:

  • Facebook Feed URL: https://[YOUR DOMAIN]/api/export/facebook.csv - older, being deprecated

  • Facebook Market Feed URL: https://[YOUR DOMAIN]/api/export/facebook-market.csv - current, recommended ✅

If you set up your Instagram Shop a while ago, you're probably connected to the older feed. Both can be accessed from your Run Free Project admin dashboard under Settings > Integrations > Feeds.

Recently, Meta has tightened their validation rules and the older feed format no longer meets their requirements (missing size data, simplified inventory counts, etc.). So products silently get suppressed from the tagging interface. The fix is to switch your Meta catalog to the newer feed URL and reconnect Instagram.

Division of Responsibility (Important Context)

We get this question a lot, so let's be clear about what Run Free handles and what Meta handles.

What Run Free Project handles

  • Generating the product feed in the format Meta requires

  • Keeping inventory, pricing, descriptions, and images current

  • Providing both feed URLs in your admin → Integrations → Feeds area

What Meta handles

  • The Commerce Manager interface where you connect your catalog

  • The Instagram Shopping setup and approval process

  • The actual product tagging UI in the Instagram app

  • Catalog validation rules (which they change often)

What you (the merchant) handle

  • Pointing your Meta catalog at the correct Run Free feed URL

  • Connecting Instagram to that catalog

  • Submitting your shop for Meta's review

  • Meeting Meta's commerce eligibility requirements (active account, no policy violations, eligible country, etc.)

For Meta's official documentation on product tagging, see: Meta — Add shopping tags to Instagram posts.

Before You Begin

Make sure you have:

  1. Admin access to your store's Facebook Business Page (the one your Instagram account is connected to). If you only have Instagram-side access, loop in whoever owns the Page.

  2. A computer for the Meta Commerce Manager steps. Some of this can be done on a phone, but it's much easier on a desktop.

  3. Your shop URL (e.g. shop.yoursite.com), you can find this by asking your store's Run Free admin or visiting your shop's Run Free dashboard and checking the settings page if you're not sure.

Step-by-Step Fix

Step 1: Confirm Your Instagram Account Has a Shop

  1. Open Instagram on your phone

  2. Tap your profile picture (bottom right)

  3. Tap the hamburger menu (☰) in the top right → Settings and privacy

  4. Look for Business tools and controls → Shopping

  5. If you see your existing shop: Great, continue to Step 2.

  6. If you see "Get Started" / "Set up a Shop": Your shop got disconnected entirely. Check out the Meta Commerce feed setup instructions in our support pages here or just reach out to Run Free support via the chat at the bottom right corner of this screen and we'll walk through the full setup with you.

Step 2: Open Meta Commerce Manager

On your computer, go to business.facebook.com/commerce and sign in with the same Facebook account that owns your Instagram business Page. You should see your store's catalog listed.

💡 If you don't see a catalog at all: Click your profile in the top right and confirm you're signed into the correct business account. Catalogs are tied to the Business Manager that owns the Facebook Page connected to your Instagram.

Step 3: Find Your Current Feed URL

  1. Click on your store's catalog

  2. In the left sidebar, click Data sources (sometimes called Data feeds)

  3. Click on the existing feed that's listed

  4. Look at the URL it's pulling from. It will end in one of these:

    • …/api/export/facebook.csv - the OLD feed (likely the cause of your problem)

    • …/api/export/facebook-market.csv - the NEWER feed (what we want)

If you're already on the newer feed and tagging still doesn't work, skip to Troubleshooting at the bottom of this article.

Step 4: Add the New Feed

In Meta Commerce Manager → Data sources:

  1. Click Add items → Data feed → Next

  2. Choose Use a URL (not Google Sheets, not file upload)

  3. Paste this URL, replacing [YOUR DOMAIN] with your shop's URL (e.g. shop.yourstore.com): 

    https://[YOUR DOMAIN]/api/export/facebook-market.csv

  4. Leave the username and password fields empty, no authentication is required

  5. Click Next

  6. Name the feed something recognizable like "Your Store Name - Inventory Feed v2"

  7. Set the upload schedule:

    • Frequency: Daily

    • Time: Early morning (4–5 AM in your local time zone is ideal)

    • ⚠️ Don't choose hourly or every-few-hours. Meta will throttle the requests and your feed will fail.

  8. Click Upload

Meta will start processing the feed. Depending on how many products you have, this can take 5–30 minutes. Refresh the page periodically.

💡 You'll likely see an "Issues" report after the upload completes, listing things like missing GTINs, image warnings, etc. Most of these are informational, not blockers. As long as the bulk of your products imported successfully, you're fine.

Step 5: Remove the Old Feed

Once the new feed has finished processing and your products are showing up:

  1. Go back to Data sources

  2. Click on the OLD feed (the one ending in facebook.csv)

  3. Click Remove or Delete data source → confirm

⚠️ Don't skip this step. If Meta sees two feeds with overlapping products, it can get confused about which is authoritative and may suppress products from the tagging UI. One feed only.

Step 6: Reconnect Instagram to the Catalog

  1. On your phone, open Instagram

  2. Go to your profile → ☰ menu → Settings and privacy

  3. Tap Business tools and controls → Shopping

  4. Tap Continue and select your store's catalog

  5. Submit for review

Meta typically approves within 24–48 hours. Some accounts get instant approval. You'll get a notification when it's done.

Step 7: Test It

Once Meta has approved your catalog connection:

  1. Open Instagram → tap + to create a post

  2. Pick a photo of one of your products

  3. Tap Next through the editing screens

  4. Tap More options → Tag products

  5. Tap on the photo where you want to place the tag

  6. Search for a product by name — it should appear in the search results

  7. Select it → Done → share

🎉 You should be back in business. Meta business.

Troubleshooting

"I'm already on the new feed and it still doesn't work"

Possible causes:

  • Catalog approval is still pending. Wait 24–48 hours after reconnecting Instagram before troubleshooting further.

  • Account-level policy strike. Meta requires you to have 2 or fewer policy violations in the last 30 days. Check Instagram → Settings → Account Status.

  • Eligible country check. Instagram Shopping is only available in certain countries. The US is supported.

  • Account not active. Your Instagram account needs to have been active in the last 30 days.

  • Branded content / partner permissions. If you're tagging on behalf of another business, that business needs to grant you permission. Check Settings → Branded content.

"Some products show up but not the ones I want"

Most common reason: Those specific products got rejected during catalog review. In Commerce Manager:

  1. Go to your catalog → Items

  2. Filter by Status: Rejected

  3. Click any rejected item to see the specific reason

  4. Common rejection reasons: Missing or poor product image, prohibited product type (e.g. weight-loss supplements), policy violations, broken link URL

"I see a 'Checkout on Facebook/Instagram' option I don't want"

When setting up shops, Meta sometimes defaults to their checkout system (where they take a percentage of each sale and bypass your point-of-sale system). Run Free Project does NOT suggest this. Always select "Checkout on another website" during setup if Meta still allows it.

If you accidentally enabled Meta-hosted checkout, change it in: Commerce Manager → Settings → Checkout method → Checkout on another website.

"I can't find any of these menus"

Meta changes their UI constantly. If a menu name or location doesn't match what's in this article, please screenshot what you see and reach out to Run Free Project support using the chat box in the bottom right. We'll walk you through it on your specific screen. However, our team spends as much time in Meta Commerce as you do (i.e. not much). Besides the gotchas associated with our feeds you see here and a few other lore-related pieces of commentary, it's unreasonable to expect the Run Free support team to step in as Meta Commerce support to troubleshoot Meta's platform. They always try their best, but please maintain reasonable expectations!

Need More Help?

When you contact us, please include:

  • A screenshot of the screen where you're stuck

  • The error message (if any) you're seeing

  • Whether you've completed Steps 1–6 above and which step you're stuck on

  • The URL of the feed you're currently using with Meta Commerce

We'll get you tagging products again lickety split. No s**t!

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