Start Strong
Sell Smart
Manage with Ease
Market to Success

Smart Feed (New): Creating a Meta Product Feed (Limited Access)

This article provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to help you create and manage a Meta product feed using Smart Feed (New). It covers product synchronization, account connection, product filtering, field configuration, product submission, scheduled updates, error troubleshooting, and the feature for automatically syncing SHOPLINE product categories to Meta Product Sets.

Note: This feature is currently available only to whitelisted users. If you are interested in using it, please contact SHOPLINE Support to request access for your store.

 

 

Before You Begin

To successfully create a Meta Product Feed, ensure that:

  • Your products are created and maintained in the SHOPLINE Admin.
  • You have access to a Meta personal account and a Business Manager (BM).
  • A Meta product catalog is available or can be created during the setup.

 

Creating and Managing a Meta Product Feed

Step 1: Connect Your Meta Account and Choose a Sync Method

Smart Feed offers two ways to sync your products to Meta. Choose the method that fits your setup before proceeding:  once a sync method is selected and the feed is generated, it cannot be changed.
 

Sync Method Details
API (Recommended)
  • Faster sync speed. Recommended if you can complete Meta Business Extension (MBE) authorization.
  • Requirements: The Facebook account used for authorization must have Full control permissions for all of the following:
    • Business Manager (BM)
    • Facebook Page
    • Catalog
    • Ad Account
    • Pixel (Dataset)

If your Ad Account is managed by an agency, your BM must also receive sharing authorization from the Ad Account Owner BM — Full control access alone may not be sufficient. 

For more information about obtaining access from the Owner BM, refer to: Meta Official Help Center 

Important: During MBE authorization, do NOT select Instagram Account.
XML
  • Slower sync speed. Use this method if you are unable to complete MBE authorization.
  • After setting your product sync scope, click Generate XML to create your feed link. Copy the link and add it as a data source in Meta Catalog Manager.

Important: The Auto-Sync Product Categories feature is not available with XML sync.

 

To connect your Meta account:

  1. In Smart Feed, go to Manage channels > Channel connection > Meta, then click Add Channel.
     


     

  2. When prompted, select your preferred sync method: API (Recommended) or XML.



     
  3. If you selected API: Click Connect now to start MBE authorization. Follow the prompts to select your Business Manager, Facebook Page, Catalog, Ad Account, and Pixel. When finished, you will be redirected back to the Meta channel details page in Smart Feed.


     
  4. If you selected XML: Click Next to go to the Meta Feed Management page. You will generate your XML link after defining your product sync scope in Step 2.

Important Notes:  

  1. Switching from XML to API sync:  If you previously used XML sync and want to switch to API, you must pause or remove the original XML data source in Meta Ads Manager before completing API authorization. Leaving the XML source active while API sync is running may result in duplicate or conflicting product data in your Meta Catalog.
  2. Once the sync method is selected and the Feed is generated, it cannot be changed.


Step 2: Define Product Sync Scope

Product filtering rules determine which products will be synced to your Meta catalog. You can filter by:

  • SKU ID
  • SPU ID
  • Product title
  • Bulk upload using a spreadsheet with SPU ID or SKU ID

To set up your sync scope:

  1. In your Meta channel settings, locate the Product Sync Scope section.
  2. Add filters based on the products you want to sync.
  3. Click Sync products to apply your changes.

Note: These rules apply only to the Meta channel and do not affect other channels. Products that no longer match your rules will be automatically removed from your Meta Catalog.


XML sync users only: After defining the sync scope, click the Generate XML button to generate your XML feed link. This link can be copied with one click and used in Meta's catalog setup. 
 

Important: If you reuse this XML link in other channels, check whether those channels use the same product ID rules. If the rules differ, Meta will treat your products as new items — they will need to go through review again before appearing in ads, and any performance data tied to the original product IDs will be lost.


Step 3: Configure Product Fields

Smart Feed allows you to customize how product attributes map to Meta catalog fields.

Core field settings

Core fields are pre-configured based on Meta best practices. We recommend keeping them enabled. You can adjust the data source for fields such as:

  • Product category name
  • Product type
  • Custom attributes from SHOPLINE

Advanced mapping (macro settings)

For fields such as color, size, material, and pattern, you can set custom macro values.

Example: If you set the macro value as colour, Smart Feed will read the corresponding attribute value (e.g., "red") from your SHOPLINE product data and sync it to the matching Meta field.

After configuring your fields, click Preview Product to verify that values are correctly mapped before submitting.


Step 4: Preview Products

The preview displays the exact product data that will be submitted to the Meta catalog.

We recommend previewing several familiar products to confirm:

  • Field values are correct
  • Variants are displayed as expected
  • Product IDs remain consistent (especially for migrated stores)

Step 5: Submit Your Products to Meta

To sync your latest product data from SHOPLINE to Meta:In Smart Feed (New), click Sync products to fetch product data via API.

Estimated Sync Time

  • Up to 10,000 variants: ~30 minutes
  • Up to 50,000 variants: ~2 hours
Note: We recommend running a sync after bulk product updates or when key product details have changed. If a sync takes longer than 2 hours, please contact SHOPLINE Support.

 

Checking Sync Status

After submitting, you can monitor your sync in two places:

  • Push Logs: View task start time and number of successfully submitted products
  • Submitted Products: Lists all products successfully written to your Meta Catalog. Also available under Product Management > Submitted.

 

Step 6: Automatic Scheduled Updates

To keep product information up to date, Smart Feed automatically updates the Meta catalog once per day.

You can review update records and execution times in Push Logs.


Step 7:  Troubleshoot Failed or Rejected Products

Products that fail submission or are disapproved by Meta can be found under Error Messages.

Common causes include:

  • Missing required fields
  • Invalid field formats
  • Incomplete product data in SHOPLINE

Recommended troubleshooting steps

  1. Check Field Settings to ensure required fields are correctly mapped.
  2. Verify product attributes in SHOPLINE Admin > Products.
  3. Filter errors by type to identify patterns and resolve issues efficiently.

Automatically Syncing SHOPLINE Product Categories to Meta Product Sets

Note: This feature is only available when using API sync. It is not available for XML sync.

Smart Feed (New) can automatically sync your SHOPLINE product categories to Meta Product Sets, reducing the manual work of maintaining your catalog in Meta Ads Manager.

What this does

When enabled, Smart Feed will:

  • Create corresponding Product Sets in Meta based on your SHOPLINE categories.
  • Automatically update those Product Sets when products are added, removed, or changed.
  • Use your SHOPLINE category names as the Product Set names in Meta.

Enabling category sync

To enable this feature:

  1. In your Meta channel settings, go to Manage Meta Feed.

  2. Turn on the Auto-sync product collections toggle (off by default).
     

  3. Select the SHOPLINE categories you want to sync.

When sync runs

Category sync is triggered when:

  • Products are synced for the first time.
  • Products are added to or removed from a category.
  • A category is created, deleted, or renamed.
  • Product attributes such as price or inventory are updated.

Smart Feed also runs automatic sync every 4 hours, starting from 00:00 daily.

Limits and rules

  • Maximum categories: Up to 1,000 categories can be synced.
  • Priority: Manual categories sync before smart categories.
  • Per-category product limit: If a single category exceeds Meta's API size limit (15,000 products), that category will not be synced. You will see a notification to create that Product Set manually in Meta.
  • One-way sync: Changes made in Meta (adding, editing, or deleting Product Sets) do not affect your SHOPLINE categories.
  • Deleted categories: If you delete a category in SHOPLINE, its corresponding Meta Product Set is not automatically removed. If you do not want it to be re-synced, uncheck it in the category sync settings.
  • Duplicate names: If a Product Set with the same name already exists in Meta, Smart Feed will update that set instead of creating a new one. If multiple sets share the same name, the first matched set is updated.

Upgrading from Smart Feed (Classic) to Smart Feed (New)

If your store has been upgraded from a previous version of Smart Feed to the new version, a notification banner will appear, prompting you to set up your Meta channel sync method.

For complete step-by-step setup instructions for upgraded stores, see: 

Upgrading from Smart Feed (Classic) to Smart Feed (New)

Note: For stores previously migrated from Shopify, WooCommerce, or Shoplazza: when generating an XML feed, product IDs and product group IDs follow the rules defined at the time of migration for the Meta channel. This ensures continuity so Meta does not treat your products as new items.

FAQ

Q: Why does Meta API authorization fail?

A: Authorization failures are usually caused by insufficient permissions. To successfully complete Meta Business Extension (MBE) authorization, ALL of the following conditions must be met:

  • Your Facebook account has Full control access to the Business Manager (BM)
  • Your Facebook account has Full control access to the following assets:
    • Facebook Page
    • Catalog
    • Ad Account
    • Pixel (Dataset)
  • Your Facebook account must either:
    • Be the Owner of the Ad Account, OR
    • The Ad Account Owner BM must share the Ad Account to your BM with Full control permissions

During authorization, do NOT select Instagram Account.


Q: How can I verify whether my BM has Owner access or shared access?

A: In Meta Business Manager:

  1. Go to the Ad Account settings page.
  2. Find the Ad Account you plan to authorize.
  3. Check whether:
    • The account shows an “Owner” label, OR
    • The account has already been shared to your BM by the Owner BM

If you only have Full control access but the Ad Account is still owned by another BM, you must request sharing authorization from the Owner BM.


Q: How can I obtain sharing access from the Ad Account Owner BM?

A: You may use any of the following methods (all require Full control permissions):

Method 1 (Recommended for CN merchants)

If your Ad Account was opened through an agency platform:

  • Ask the agency to associate your BM ID with the Ad Account through their agency account management backend.

Method 2

Request access directly from the Owner BM through Meta Business Manager: urlMeta Official Help Center — Request access to a partner's business assets https://www.facebook.com/business/help/408759743051505


Method 3

Contact your agency partner and ask them to:

  • Open their Business Manager
  • Locate the Ad Account
  • Share the Ad Account to your BM with Full control permissions