How to Order on Instacart

Last Updated: January 10, 2022

The shopping service Instacart allows for home delivery of your groceries. Shoppers can pick and pay for the items at the grocery store then deliver it to your address. If you're not sure how to place an order, this wikiHow will help.

Part 1

Part 1 of 4:

Preparing for the Order

1
Open up the Instacart app. The app looks like a carrot and may have a white background.
- If you have a white Instacart carrot icon on a green shopping bag, this is Instacart's Shopper app. It has no effect on the customer role.
- Log in to the app if you haven't already done so. You can log in with your email and passcode, or using Facebook or Google-connected login.
2
Ensure the delivery zip code matches your location at the delivery time. At the top of every market page, you'll spot a "Shopping in (zip code)". Tap this market listing and then tap the "Stores in (zip code)" and tap the delivery address.
- In this resultant page, you can also change to a different delivery address if necessary.
- The delivery address matters at this stage, because store types may differ from area-to-area.
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3
Select the store you'd like to order from. Although areas may be different from city/town to city/town, most will contain at least one supermarket, but there will be a mix of other markets that you can buy from which may vary. Instacart has a long list of pharmacies, pet care chains and even wholesale or membership club stores. Tap the store's name you'd like to shop at.
- Instacart probably knows the best and closest location to pick up your order at, but you won't be able to specify which location it is, and won't be told exactly where you're shopping from.
- Keep in mind that some warehouse stores only allow those with membership to place an order; if you don’t have a card set, your order won’t be placed.
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Part 2

Part 2 of 4:

Adding Items to the Order

1
Search for your item. Tap the "Search (store name)" bar and type your item into the box. You will find this just below the store icon and/or "Shopping in (zipcode) and store name lines.
- Instacart gives you some common searches after you tap the search box, but you can be as vague or succinct as you want.
- Recognize what's not able to be ordered and delivered. Per Instacart's policy these things are unable to be ordered and delivered: live and feeder animals, furniture, non-alcoholic age restricted and over the counter items containing nicotine, items containing pseudoephedrine, ephedrine, phenylpropanolamine and dextromethorphan, holiday trees, currency, photos, lottery tickets, gift cards, weapons and weapon supplies, dry ice, hazmat chemicals, and helium tanks. ^{[1]
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- Browse through the list on the store's page to view item options.
- Instacart allows you to bookmark items for later purchasing, if you want to.
2
Add your item. Tap the + sign from the top right corner of the product's picture to add one of each item to your Instacart shopping cart. Successive taps without letting the dialog box timeout will result in adding additional quantities of the item. Don't worry too much about the product's picture - but watch for its name and size. As you add items to the cart, you'll see a small banner display "Added to cart" at the bottom of the screen, and you'll see a tiny balloon with the number of items in the cart icon at the top of the screen.
- If you see a "Save (price)" button below the item, these are Instacart coupons which will allow you to save money. Tap them before adding your quantity to the cart. If there is a Buy 1 item-Get 1 Free offer, make sure that you have at least a quantity of two in the cart, and on final totaling, your total will change to reflect the price difference for the adjusted "Get 1 Free" portion.
- During a shopping session on the Instacart website, once you add an item to your cart, your cart list will fly out from the right side of the page to show all the items.
- If you'd rather review the items via the item's page itself (not in the search page), you can tap the units switch in the bottom left corner, then tap "Add to Cart".
- Fruits and produce sold in bunches (such as bananas) should be placed in an approximate multi quantity. A quantity of 1 for bananas will get you just that - 1 banana (not one bunch of bananas). You can chat with your Shopper explaining your decision towards the beginning of your order and they will try to comply with your decision, but keep this in mind when ordering these types of items from Instacart.
- Meats and some produce generally sold by the pound will be sold starting at 1 lb. These items are sold at .25 lb intervals beginning as low as .25 lbs. Instacart prefills the starting weight at 1 lb, but you can tweak this using the + and - signs to adjust the weight. (The minus sign will be available if you tap the item first. If you tap the item from the search page, you will have to tap the + sign before seeing the - and tweak from there.
- You can quickly add the product to your shopping list right from the search page by pressing the + sign. However, if you decide to tap the item to open the product's page, you'll find the two quantity and ""Add to Cart" buttons at the bottom of the screen for additional details.
  - In item view, at the bottom of the screen, you'll have a +/- switch with an Add to Cart button to find the units. If you need to change its quantity to a lower number, press the - button then tap "Change qty". If you need to remove the item entirely, tap the - until 0 displays then tap "Remove".
- Add items until you reach at least the minimum order threshold of (generally $10, not counting the delivery charge), but there are some exceptions to this rule.
3
Add items that aren't in Instacart's database using the " Add a special request " button. Search for the item using any possible combination of search terms and if you can't find the item, scroll the page all the way up and tap the "Add a special request" button.
- Although commonly used for special items not currently available at delis, seafood bars, and butcher counters, special requests can come from anywhere in the store.
4
Review your order.
- Tap the shopping cart in the top right corner of the screen. This will open your order list. (This will only be necessary on mobile devices such as phones and tablets.)
- At the top of this page, it'll list the store name and logo, as well as the total.
- Below that, you'll see your list of items you are about to order complete with the product's picture, name and size, quantity box and subtotal for each item, followed by a total box towards the bottom of the screen for totals for complete item cost.
- Use the Instructions button for supplying your Shopper with things to look for when they pick the items from the shelf such as how you'd like deli and produce items to be, or for something else such as to watch for dates or something different altogether.
- The Remove button will remove all units of the item altogether in one press of the button. Although not irretrievable if you make a mistake, it's harder because you have to search for that item once again to add it back.
- You may see ads above and below your items for Instacart Express; Instacart Express is a paid membership service that can provide yourself free delivery if you have delivery orders totaled over a certain amount.
5

Tap the "Checkout" button. This will send your information into checkout mode.

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Part 3

Part 3 of 4:

Checking Out

1
Tell Instacart when you'd like to receive your goods. Instacart generally asks when you'd like to receive your goods. Although most responses include "Within 2 hours" and "Within 5 hours", there are hour-long blocks below these choices, but you'll need to trust your shopper to be On-Time or a minute or so late when chosen in these hour block choices. Tap the radio checkbox to the left of the delivery time.
- After selecting your choice, you may receive a dialog box asking you if you'd like to start Instacart Express for a year and save on the delivery costs for this order. To move through, just tap the X button in the top right corner of this dialog box.
2
Look over your order's delivery details and payment methods. Make sure that the delivery address is right, and that there's a phone number on file- there's a current credit/debit card on file and that a tip is set (if you'd like to digitally tip them- much preferred).
- Sometimes Instacart offers tip choices as a scale of percentages, but sometimes the tip choices are given in even dollar amounts.
- If something is off, you can tap the line on the screen and this will "drop down" to fix the problem or chose another method. There is a Change button to change the tip.
3
Review the payment breakdown and grand total. It'll show a subtotal and a delivery fee, along with a service fee. But more importantly, understand and read their statement about the authorization amount for the order.
- In states where there's bottle recycling for a cost, Instacart may end up charging you for these bottles - but be careful as if you buy only one, Instacart may charge you for more than just that one bottle.
4

Peruse over the paragraph below the Total's line. It'll start with "By placing your order," and will continue with what you agree to in the legal pages of orders. It'll also mention the amount that Instacart will charge as a Temporary Authorization -generally about $10-15 more - which can help look for additional money in the event that you ask your shopper to buy more of the item or change the order. Instacart will give you the remainder back a short time after delivery has concluded - most given within a few hours.
5

Tap the "Place Order" button once you are ready to place your order. Your order screen will begin initializing and you will either get a screen mentioning which products commonly go out of stock that isn't officially marked on Instacart as "out of stock" just yet, or it might exit you to the Instacart home screen with an additional dialog box designating your order delivery time and link to Shopping and delivery order information.

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Part 4

Part 4 of 4:

Following Up

1

Watch the screen after the order is placed. You'll see a new box that begins with "Delivery (date)" and ends with "You can still add items before the order is delivered".
2

Invite other new customers to Instacart using the following dialog boxes - if applicable.
3

Watch your Instacart Shopper as they pick your items off the store shelves (scanning your items into their mobile app as they go), substituting items if not found, or giving you refunds when necessary.
Shoppers should have courtesy and knock on your door or press the doorbell (if possible) as they arrive - bags in hand. Greet them. Use exterior lighting at night in the delivery area's porch or receiving area.
5

Rate your shopper substitutions and Shopper themselves. This is described in greater detail here. Follow the process.

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Tips

Instacart's webpage also allows you to place orders, but doesn't have all the same functions as their mobile apps - including the non-ability to add or change instructions for items as mentioned above for mobile platform orders, and a few others.

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Some Instacart stores have loyalty (rewards) cards that can be entered prior to making the purchase to accumulate points and earn in-store savings (or some, at the gas pumps). Check your account to ensure you are getting points for these trips.

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Warnings

If there is more than one store of that brand available in your Instacart city (Instacart Shoppers know these cities as "zones"), be careful not to place items in more than one cart at a time (especially if you aren't a Instacart Express customer yet)! When you have items totaling the minimum amount threshold in two different stores, these orders will both be placed. Instacart will ping two Shoppers to shop both orders, and likely your delivery will increase due to this mistake. The tip will be split between the two Shoppers. Instead, use the Bookmark button for the store you'll be ordering from next until after the order is placed at the first store.

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How to Order on Instacart

Steps

Preparing for the Order

Adding Items to the Order

Checking Out

Following Up

Expert Q&A

Tips

Warnings

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References

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