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The Public Catalog Page, explained
A shareable, read-only version of your catalog at a link you can post anywhere — your Instagram bio, WhatsApp status, or a Linktree. Customers can browse your products and add them to a cart, but every order still finishes inside your Instagram DMs exactly like it does today. This page reads from a snapshot of your catalog, not your live data — this guide explains exactly when that snapshot updates.
What the Catalog screen means →
A snapshot, not a live view
What this page is
Turning on the Public Catalog Page (from the toggle on your Catalog screen) publishes a read-only storefront at your own link. It is not a live query against your database on every visit — a background job pre-builds a single JSON snapshot of your store (products, pricing, and — depending on your plan — branding, social links, and active discounts) and saves it to a cache table. Every visitor sees that saved snapshot, which is what makes the page fast even under heavy traffic, but it also means changes you make in your dashboard don't appear until something rebuilds that snapshot.
Use it for
Sharing one link that shows your whole catalog to people who aren't ready to DM you yet — your Instagram bio, a WhatsApp broadcast, a Linktree page.
Check it when
A customer says they can't see a product, image, price, or discount you know you've already set up — the cause is almost always that the snapshot hasn't rebuilt since your change, not that the change didn't save.
One per business
Your link
What you'll see, field by field
URL format
checkoutdm.com/store/your-instagram-username — the same Instagram username connected to your account, so there's nothing extra to set up.
Example
checkoutdm.com/store/thehappycandleco
Turning it on
Toggle it on from the card at the top of your Catalog screen. Turning it on for the first time immediately builds the snapshot, so your page is live with current data right away.
Free plan
Not available on Free — the toggle isn't shown, and the link itself returns nothing for a Free-plan business even if someone guesses the URL.
More unlocks as you go up a tier
What shows, by plan
The snapshot only ever includes what your current plan is entitled to — this is decided at the moment the snapshot is built, from your plan at that time.
What you'll see, field by field
Creator
Your digital products (name, price, description, main photo, category) with extended descriptions and FAQs on a basic storefront — no business address footer, extra photos, or coupons.
Creator
Your digital products (name, price, description, main photo, category) with extended descriptions and FAQs on a basic storefront — no business address footer, extra photos, or coupons.
Starter
Everything in Creator, plus physical products, 1 extra photo per product (2 total with the main image), and your business address in the footer.
Growth
Everything in Starter, plus a 2nd extra photo per product (3 total), your social media links, and any active coupons/discounts.
Pro
Everything in Growth, plus a 3rd extra photo per product (4 total with the main image), your logo, footer tagline, website link, and phone number in the footer.
Only specific actions rebuild the snapshot
When the page actually updates
Only a handful of actions rebuild the cached snapshot behind this page. If your change isn't in this list, the public page will keep showing the old data until something else on this list happens — there's no automatic timer that refreshes it on its own.
What you'll see, field by field
Adding a new product
Always rebuilds — whether added one at a time or via Pro's bulk photo upload.
Deleting a product
Always rebuilds.
Editing a product
Only rebuilds if the price or the main photo changed. Editing just the name, description, or a Pro merchant's additional photos does NOT rebuild the snapshot on its own.
This is the most common cause of "I added photos but they're not showing" — see Troubleshooting below.
Turning the toggle on
Rebuilds once, at the moment you switch it from off to on.
Turning the toggle off, or other settings
Does not rebuild anything — there's nothing to rebuild since the page stops serving once it's off.
Calculated live, not baked into the snapshot
The "New" badge
A product shows a 'New' badge for exactly 14 days from the date it was added to your catalog. Unlike everything else on this page, the badge isn't decided when the snapshot is built — it's calculated fresh in the visitor's browser every time the page loads, by comparing the product's original add-date (which IS stored in the snapshot) against the current date.
What you'll see, field by field
What counts as "new"
Less than 14 days since the product was first added to your catalog — not since it was last edited.
It expires on its own
Because the 14-day check runs live, the badge disappears exactly on schedule even if the snapshot hasn't rebuilt in a month. You don't need to trigger a rebuild to make an old badge go away.
The one thing that does need a rebuild
The product has to be in the snapshot in the first place. Since adding a product always triggers a rebuild (see above), a brand-new product's badge shows correctly from the start.
Growth and Pro only
Coupons on this page
Active discounts are included in the snapshot the same way products are — as a saved copy, not a live check. Creating, editing, deleting, or toggling a coupon does not rebuild the snapshot by itself.
What you'll see, field by field
A brand-new coupon
Won't appear on the public page until the next rebuild happens for some other reason — e.g. you also edit a product's price or photo, or you use the manual rebuild option.
A coupon that just expired
The expiry date is only checked at the moment the snapshot is built. If a time-based coupon expires and nothing else rebuilds the page afterward, it can keep showing as active on the public page past its real expiry — even though it will correctly be rejected if a customer tries to actually use it at checkout in DMs.
Common "it's not showing up" cases
Troubleshooting
What you'll see, field by field
I added extra photos to a product but can't see them
Editing a product's additional photos alone doesn't rebuild the snapshot. Make a small price change and change it back (or re-save the main photo), or ask us to trigger a manual rebuild for your store.
My new coupon isn't showing
Coupon changes don't rebuild the snapshot on their own. It'll appear the next time something else triggers a rebuild.
An expired coupon is still showing
Expected until the next rebuild — the expiry check only runs when the snapshot is built, not on every page view. It won't actually apply for the customer at checkout.
The page shows nothing / 404s
Either the toggle is off, or your plan doesn't include this feature (Free plan). Check the toggle on your Catalog screen first.
Still stuck?
If something about the Public Catalog Page still doesn't make sense after reading this, reach out and we'll add it here for the next person too.