I cant seem to open a facebook business account ??? Keeps getting deleted

[afrika]

Hello
I have a personal fb account I have used since 2007. I hardly post anything or login

I just registered a business name, website and opened a business bank account as well as setting up emails. So i tried using my corporate email via both developers.facebook.com and business.facebook.com to try to open a business account and everytime it keeps getting blocked, demands a selfie and then directs me to my personal account saying my appeal failed and i can resort to the courts

I sent an email to their support and never got a reply and their community forums refused to approve my request.

I want to keep my personal acccount out of my business, as it would be used by other developers

How do I go about creating STRICTLY A BUSINESS ACCOUNT, Without my personal details

many thanks

 

[fisicx]

You can’t. If you want the business account it needs to be linked to your personal account.

 

[afrika]

Still makes things very difficult, as the videos only walk you through account creations

Even though I am not a everyday social media user, I have a few very sensitive personal info, I uploaded there years ago and dont want to delete it, so i cant see myself logging into the account while in the office at any means

Does anyone know if there is a support group or forum I can speak to. I have tried in vain

1. https://developers.facebook.com/support/
2. I sent a request to join the developers group 3 days back and not approved, as strangely its set to private ????

https://www.facebook.com/groups/fbdevelopers/

 

[WaveJumper]

In which case set up a separate personal account and then link this to you business and forget the community forums on there and just use the FB support team. I had an issue with one of my accounts on Friday they could not have been more helpful - so speak as you find was all sorted within 24 hours

 

[fisicx]

As an aside @afrika why do you think you need a business FB as a software developer?

 

[zomex]

I can relate to this one. Had massive issues creating a Facebook business account. It kept declining my application at various stages.

In the end I had to contact Facebook support. It took a good 2 months to finally create the account. Turns out it was a issue on Facebooks end but trying to contact support is a nightmare.

 

[afrika]

As an aside @afrika why do you think you need a business FB as a software developer?

I am very season developer and my business is an online startup business for ECommerce, banking and payment systems, I have worked in the payment industry for years and understand it very well and have an MSc also in computer and finance. So I need the suite of facebook applications they bought, after becoming a sucess e.g. SSO ( Single Sign on), AuthO and OAuth ( Ability to login seemlessly with your social media accounts, and the likes of WhatsApp business ( To communicate from the web to phones) etc etc

My business is one, which I built from scratch, so when users make payments via my platform, it can notify the users via whatsapp or their social media accounts and allow users to login seemlessly either with fb, google, microsoft, paypal etc

I have setup the others without issues, but fb seems to have moved the goal post and offering llittle or no support

 

[afrika]

I can relate to this one. Had massive issues creating a Facebook business account. It kept declining my application at various stages.

In the end I had to contact Facebook support. It took a good 2 months to finally create the account. Turns out it was a issue on Facebooks end but trying to contact support is a nightmare.

I think the govts should regulate thier support. Its very poor or non existent

 

[zomex]

I think the govts should regulate thier support. Its very poor or non existent

Yes it is very bad.

I was using Shopify for this particular site (never again - junk software) and started by contacting Shopify support via the Facebook app integration. From Shopify I was able to get in touch with Facebook staff (who were outsourced so it was hard to talk to anyone who could actually take action).

 

[afrika]

Yes it is very bad.

I was using Shopify for this particular site (never again - junk software) and started by contacting Shopify support via the Facebook app integration. From Shopify I was able to get in touch with Facebook staff (who were outsourced so it was hard to talk to anyone who could actually take action).

I am very curious, what challenges did u have with shopify ? My brother too dumped it, after complaining. They seem to be the facebook success story of shopping software

 

[fisicx]

I think the govts should regulate thier support. Its very poor or non existent

Why?

Should governments regulate the support you provide for your software?

In any case it’s all irrelevant. You won’t get a FB business page without connecting it to your personal page. If you try to create a new personal account you will get discovered and then banned.

You do not need a FB business page.

 

[zomex]

I am very curious, what challenges did u have with shopify ? My brother too dumped it, after complaining. They seem to be the facebook success story of shopping software

This is my take as a developer of over 15 years. I think Shopify is good for someone who's new to ecommerce and wants to get their store online fast to test the market.

Now my take:

- No control: Your store is completely in the hands of Shopify. They can (and have) take your store offline at anytime.

- Expensive: Base Shopify is expensive in my opinion. £20/month and charged per transaction.

- Functionality limited: Base Shopify has very limited functionality. To create a store that has good functionality in most cases it requires a paid theme and addons (most of which charge monthly)

- Hugely limited customisation: Shopify keep complete control to the point where customisation is very limited. It's like comparing Apple to Linux. Apple/Shopify want every user to have a uniform experience. All Shopify stores function/look the same. There's been many times where I have wanted to customise a page (such as checkout) and Shopify do not allow you to do so. In that case specifically they do not allow even CSS customisations on the checkout page.

- Poor SEO: No control over Shopify URLS. You can always tell a shopify store by their /collections category URL. All stores the same. No control over that. I was also seeing indexing issues in Google caused by Shopify. No solution or even reply from Shopify:

Re: Shopify .atom URLs are a problem and needs to be addressed

Having the same issue, thinking about creating a redirect on Cloudflare to handle them.

community.shopify.com

- Poor support: Shopify rely on their community handling support for them. Their community forum does not have a system which can bump threads. So when you post it very quickly gets buried in the forum. A lot of the time threads get 0 responses before being buried. This also stops active problems from being raised. E.g my thread above will always be buried. Responses do not push it to the top of the forum.

------------

I only gave Shopify a chance due to all the hype and the fact Gymshark are using it. I've seen and used so many ecommerce platforms over the years from OSCart, Zen Cart, Prestashop, Magento etc etc. For my latest store I have gone back to Woocommerce and I personally believes it's the best solution in 90% of cases. It's open source, full control, full customisation ability, no cost, biggest community etc.

 

[afrika]

Why?

Should governments regulate the support you provide for your software?

In any case it’s all irrelevant. You won’t get a FB business page without connecting it to your personal page. If you try to create a new personal account you will get discovered and then banned.

You do not need a FB business page.

fb is not only about fb, but after being so successful, they have gone to buy out the competition and any successful software e.g. Instagram, whatsapp and they also have implemented a suite of software standards e.g. SSO ( Single sign on), AuthO, and OAuth etc

So it has become a standard for everyone to have access to such services, if they want to run a modern day 21st century business. Its like having a bank and not being regulated by FCA or having a car dealership or franchinse and getting people to sign up to a service, product or contract and not having a support or complaint department

Its just ludicrous

 

[afrika]

This is my take as a developer of over 15 years. I think Shopify is good for someone who's new to ecommerce and wants to get their store online fast to test the market.

Now my take:

- No control: Your store is completely in the hands of Shopify. They can (and have) take your store offline at anytime.

- Expensive: Base Shopify is expensive in my opinion. £20/month and charged per transaction.

- Functionality limited: Base Shopify has very limited functionality. To create a store that has good functionality in most cases it requires a paid theme and addons (most of which charge monthly)

- Hugely limited customisation: Shopify keep complete control to the point where customisation is very limited. It's like comparing Apple to Linux. Apple/Shopify want every user to have a uniform experience. All Shopify stores function/look the same. There's been many times where I have wanted to customise a page (such as checkout) and Shopify do not allow you to do so. In that case specifically they do not allow even CSS customisations on the checkout page.

- Poor SEO: No control over Shopify URLS. You can always tell a shopify store by their /collections category URL. All stores the same. No control over that. I was also seeing indexing issues in Google caused by Shopify. No solution or even reply from Shopify:

Re: Shopify .atom URLs are a problem and needs to be addressed

Having the same issue, thinking about creating a redirect on Cloudflare to handle them.

community.shopify.com

- Poor support: Shopify rely on their community handling support for them. Their community forum does not have a system which can bump threads. So when you post it very quickly gets buried in the forum. A lot of the time threads get 0 responses before being buried. This also stops active problems from being raised. E.g my thread above will always be buried. Responses do not push it to the top of the forum.

------------

I only gave Shopify a chance due to all the hype and the fact Gymshark are using it. I've seen and used so many ecommerce platforms over the years from OSCart, Zen Cart, Prestashop, Magento etc etc. For my latest store I have gone back to Woocommerce and I personally believes it's the best solution in 90% of cases. It's open source, full control, full customisation ability, no cost, biggest community etc.

Interesting

I am a software dev as well with over 20+ years as a Microsoft full stack web. I have never used shopify, but from what you said. I am quite surprised as they seem to have made a huge household name for themselves

I am guessing their tech stack is a monolith, hence no customization

I am working on something similar to launch this dec, but mine is built on micro-services and highly customizable. I also have my own payment platform, built from scratch

 

[fisicx]

I have never used shopify, but from what you said. I am quite surprised as they seem to have made a huge household name for themselves

Marketing. It's all about marketing.

 

[zomex]

Marketing. It's all about marketing.

Yep this. They have done an amazing job of marketing and most of that marketing has been user generated (how to start a dropshipping business and become a millionaire). They have also made ecommerce accessible to non-tech consumers.

But honestly I have never been so disappointed comparing the hype to the result.

 

[AlanJ1]

I won't 100% stick up for Shopify, I have my gripes as well but we have a very successful platform move just under 12 months ago, conversion rate has increased significantly as well as a lot of other positive experiences.

Maybe we are in a different boat though as we are on Shopify +, we have custom rates for card transactions and we don't overly rely on APPs, we developed a solution / our own in-house APP for a lot of what we needed before launch.

- Poor SEO: No control over Shopify URLS. You can always tell a shopify store by their /collections category URL. All stores the same. No control over that.

There is a way around this, I would need to dig through my emails but we spent hours working with our SEO guys on a solution and we had one but felt it was easier to 404 and redirect.

- Poor support

I guess my side might be totally different on this as we are Shopify + but the support we get is really good.

 

[zomex]

I won't 100% stick up for Shopify, I have my gripes as well but we have a very successful platform move just under 12 months ago, conversion rate has increased significantly as well as a lot of other positive experiences.

Maybe we are in a different boat though as we are on Shopify +, we have custom rates for card transactions and we don't overly rely on APPs, we developed a solution / our own in-house APP for a lot of what we needed before launch.


There is a way around this, I would need to dig through my emails but we spent hours working with our SEO guys on a solution and we had one but felt it was easier to 404 and redirect.



I guess my side might be totally different on this as we are Shopify + but the support we get is really good.

It's nice to hear your take. I want to add that I'm not a Shopify hater. They have had an overall positive impact on ecommerce as they have made it more assessable to non-tech people.

Shopify have a very very well done checkout. That checkout has been optimised and split/AB tested over and over. It's a very clean checkout that is optimised for conversions. But with that said they don't allow any customisations to it, even CSS changes.

My honest take is if you or your team have someone with development experience you can create a much better setup with Woocommerce (and many other solutions). There's nothing that Shopify does that Woocommerce can't. Woocommerce gives you full control over URLs, customisations, it's free and open source, doesn't take a cut of transactions and the community is easily 10x the size of Shopifys. There's thousands of free plugins to add functionality unlike Shopify where they are mostly a monthly cost for sometimes very basic functionality.

I started a new ecommerce site using Woocommerce and honestly it outdoes Shopify in all areas. My one Shopify site I will be moving over to Woocommerce this month and can't wait to be rid of them.

 

[AlanJ1]

Shopify have a very very well done checkout. That checkout has been optimised and split/AB tested over and over. It's a very clean checkout that is optimised for conversions.

Was part of the reason we moved, another part of ease of use, moving from Magento > Shopify, we have sped up so many day-to-day tasks.

Totally get what you are saying with Woo, however when we weighed it up Shopify was the best option for us. Looking at that last 24 months since the decision was made, would I change over to something else like Woo, maybe but the sales side of things on Shopify have been really positive.

 

[zomex]

Was part of the reason we moved, another part of ease of use, moving from Magento > Shopify, we have sped up so many day-to-day tasks.

Totally get what you are saying with Woo, however when we weighed it up Shopify was the best option for us. Looking at that last 24 months since the decision was made, would I change over to something else like Woo, maybe but the sales side of things on Shopify have been really positive.

I understand moving from Magento. Magento is so complicated you almost need a team of developers to handle it. I wouldn't touch it myself even after 15 years of development.

Another good point for Shopify I would say is the apps for integrations are very good. So the apps to hook up with Facebook, Google Merchant account, accounting software, carriers/shipping etc. But some of these you will end up paying monthly and woocommerce also have the same.

Sounds good, I wish you all the best with your business.

 

[zomex]

About 15 hours of work and it's goodbye to Shopify. I've moved my shopify store over to Woocommerce.

The default Woocommerce product import was not great. I found a plugin for just $25 which saved me hours of time.

 

[HFE Signs]

You don't open the account in the name of the business, you create a page for the business that you manage. You can open an ads manager account for the business though.