Instagram Live Shopping's in-app checkout is gone, but selling during Lives still works. Here is what changed, how it compares to TikTok, and the method now.
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TL;DR
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Sell during the Live without leaving the camera
Set a keyword before you go live, and every comment gets the product link by DM in real time while you stay on camera. Free plan, no card.
Instagram Live Shopping, the feature that let you tag products with in-app checkout during a live broadcast, is gone. Meta removed product tagging from Live in March 2023, and by 2025 it had wound down native in-app checkout across Shops generally, so purchases now complete on your own website. But selling during an Instagram Live still works, and arguably works better than the old native version for most brands. The method changed: instead of tagging products in-stream, you drive viewers to comment a keyword and send them the product link by DM in real time.
Two different things get confused here, so it is worth separating them cleanly.
Instagram Live Shopping was the specific feature that let sellers tag products during a live broadcast and check out in-app. Meta removed product tagging from Live broadcasts in March 2023. That feature is gone.
Instagram Shop is the wider commerce layer: product catalogs, shoppable posts, product tags in feed and Stories, and shop storefronts on profiles. That still exists in 2026. What changed for it separately is checkout: as of 2025, Meta phased out native in-app checkout for most markets, so a purchase from an Instagram Shop now sends the buyer to your website to complete it.
So the honest answer to did Instagram get rid of shopping is: it removed native in-app checkout and it wound down Live product tagging, but shoppable posts, product tags and storefronts are all still there. What is gone is the ability to complete a purchase without leaving the app. How the checkout change works in practice is covered in the Instagram Shop guide.
If you are deciding where to run live commerce, the two platforms are good at genuinely different things, and it is not close on either axis.
TikTok wins on checkout and discovery. TikTok Shop puts checkout directly in the video feed, so an impulse buy never leaves the stream, and its algorithm pushes live content to people who do not follow you. That combination, frictionless buying plus cold reach, is why TikTok dominates live shopping by volume.
Instagram wins on trust and value. Instagram Live mostly reaches people who already follow you, which is a smaller audience but a warmer one. And its audience skews older and higher-income: Pew's data shows Instagram use reaches around 60% of adults in $100k+ households, where TikTok sits closer to 30%. For higher-ticket or considered purchases, that matters, someone might discover you on TikTok but come to Instagram to check your reviews and legitimacy before spending real money.
The practical read is not to pick one but to use each for what it does. TikTok for impulse buys and cold reach; Instagram for premium products, trust and converting an audience that already knows you.
Worth a quick reality check, because the format earns the attention. Live commerce converts far above standard ecommerce: McKinsey has put live-commerce conversion rates near 30%, against the 2 to 3% typical of regular online shopping. The reason is structural, a Live compresses discovery, demonstration, questions and purchase into one moment while urgency is still present.
The US market is growing fast off a still-small base. Per an eMarketer forecast, US livestream ecommerce sales grew nearly 50% in 2025 to reach $14.64 billion. That is a fraction of China's live-commerce market, but the growth rate is the point: the format is moving from experiment to real channel. For an Instagram brand, the opportunity is real, it just needs different plumbing than the old native-checkout playbook.
The mechanism moved from in-stream product tags to a comment-to-DM flow. Four steps.
Use the Live to create demand. Demonstrate the product, run a Q&A, handle objections, co-host with a creator. This is what Live has always been good at and it has not changed. The broadcast builds the trust and urgency that make someone want to buy.
Give one clear action. Ask viewers to comment a keyword to get the product link, code or bundle by DM, and repeat it several times during the stream. The comment is the signal; the DM is the path to purchase.
The gap between those two is where sales are usually lost. During a live broadcast comments arrive fast, and if two hundred people comment your keyword in a few minutes, you cannot DM each one by hand while staying on camera. By the time you reach a handful, the stream is over and the intent has cooled. This is why the keyword has to be automated: you set the trigger before going live, and each matching comment gets its DM within seconds while the person is still watching. The setup is in sending links in Instagram DMs, and why the comment-first mechanic reaches the inbox rather than the Requests folder is in why DMs land in requests.
Move the transaction to your site. The purchase completes on your website, since in-app checkout is gone. Higher friction than TikTok's in-feed checkout, which is exactly why the real-time DM matters: it carries the person straight to the buying page while they are still warm.
Follow up after the stream. Most buying intent from a Live evaporates within minutes of it ending. The people who commented but did not buy are a warm list: send the replay, the link, or a time-limited reminder before they move on.
The same comment-to-DM mechanic fits a range of formats. A few that work:
Before: set the keyword trigger, promote the session in Stories and feed at least a day ahead, and tell people exactly what they get for showing up.
During: open by saying what the session is and what to comment for the offer, demo and handle objections, repeat the keyword call to action at least three times, and interact with commenters by name.
After: review who engaged, share the replay for people who missed it, and follow up anyone who showed interest but did not buy.
Instagram Lives Automation
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Set a keyword before you go live and auto-DM every commenter the product link.
Use this automationSet a keyword before you go live, and every commenter gets the product link by DM while you stay on camera. Free plan, no card.
The native version, product tagging with in-app checkout during a Live, was removed in March 2023 and is gone. You can still sell during Instagram Lives by asking viewers to comment a keyword, sending each one the product link by DM, and completing the purchase on your website.
Instagram Live Shopping was the specific in-Live product tagging feature, now discontinued. Instagram Shop is the wider commerce layer, product catalogs, shoppable posts, product tags and storefronts, which still exists, though its checkout now sends buyers to your website rather than completing in-app.
Not entirely. It removed native in-app checkout in most markets and wound down Live product tagging, but shoppable posts, product tags and shop storefronts that link to your website still work. What is gone is completing a purchase without leaving the app.
Instagram removed the dedicated Shop tab from the main navigation in a 2023 redesign that shifted focus back toward content and discovery. Shopping features still exist across the platform; they are just no longer anchored to their own tab.
TikTok has in-feed checkout and an algorithm that reaches new audiences, which makes it stronger for impulse buys and discovery. Instagram Live mostly reaches your existing followers but skews older and higher-income, which makes it better for premium products and for converting an audience that already trusts you.
Ask viewers to comment a keyword during the broadcast, use a comment-to-DM tool to send each commenter the product link automatically and in real time, and complete the purchase on your website. Then follow up after the stream with anyone who engaged but did not buy.
For the right products, yes. Live commerce converts far above standard ecommerce, McKinsey has put it near 30% against 2 to 3% for regular online shopping, because it combines demonstration, real-time questions and urgency. The US market is still small but growing fast. Which platform and what follow-up you use decide the result.
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