To run an Instagram group buy with comment-to-DM, post the sale, ask followers to comment one word, and let the automation send each of them the purchase link by DM. You set it up once, before the sale opens: pick the post, choose the keyword, write the DM with the store link, and test it from another account.

A group buy fits comment-to-DM because the sale runs for a short time and many followers ask for the same link together. This page covers how to set one up in inDM, what happens when the comments arrive in a burst, and how an agency runs the same sale for many sellers.

What is a group buy, and who runs one?

A group buy is a time-limited sale, usually a few days long, where a creator offers followers a product at a group price. In Korea it is called 공구, short for 공동구매, and it is one of the most common ways Korean creators sell.

Brands, sellers and agencies run them. The brand or vendor supplies the product and the price, and the creator posts about it on Instagram, often as a reel. Followers are told to comment a word to get the purchase link. The sale itself happens on a shop page, for example a Naver Smartstore page.

A DM puts the link in front of the follower at the moment they ask for it. Four things follow from that:

  • The follower asks when they want the link. They comment while they are looking at the post, so they do not have to open the profile and find the right link.
  • The link stays findable. It sits in the follower's DMs, where they can open it again later, for example when they come back to buy.
  • Each sale gets its own link. One keyword on one post sends one campaign's link, so two sales running together never share a single link in the bio.
  • The creator can see who asked. The account's contacts record who commented, and on Growth the creator also sees who clicked each link and the country they clicked from.

How do you set up a group buy in inDM?

You set up a group buy in inDM by picking the post, choosing a keyword, writing the DM with your link and testing it, in seven steps. The opening DM and the follow gate are optional.

  1. Pick the post. Open the post that announces the sale and build the automation on it. If the post is not published yet, Growth can make the automation wait for your next post, so it is attached the moment the sale goes up. The comment-to-DM setup guide walks through the whole screen.
  2. Choose the keyword. Pick one short word that followers can say aloud and type without a mistake, and name it in the caption, in the video and in a pinned comment. In inDM, the automation fires when a word in the comment starts with your keyword, so check that no common word begins with it. How to choose a DM keyword explains how.
  3. Write the DM with the store link. The DM is your own message, and it sends exactly as you write it. Add the link to the sale page: a Naver Smartstore link or any other shop link works. Growth allows up to 3 links in one automation, for example the product page, a size guide and a second product from the same sale. In one or two short lines, say what the follower needs: the price and the day the sale closes.
  4. Optional: add a plain-text opening DM. An opening DM is a first greeting with no button. Any reply the follower sends moves them to the next step, which is the message that carries your link. It adds one step between the comment and the link, so use it only when the greeting has a job to do.
  5. Write the public reply. The reply under the comment, such as "Sent, check your DMs", posts only after the DM has gone out. A follower never reads that the link was sent before it was.
  6. Decide on the follow gate. A follow gate asks the person to follow your account before the link arrives. It is optional. For a sale with a closing date, you may prefer to skip it, because every extra step sits between the comment and the link.
  7. Test it from a second account. Comment the keyword on the post from another Instagram account, then check three things: the DM arrives, the link opens the right sale page, and the public reply appears after the DM. The automation skips comments from the connected account itself, so a test from the seller's own account looks as if nothing happened. When the test passes, set the automation live.

What happens when hundreds of people comment at once?

A group-buy post can draw a burst of comments in its first hours, and inDM sends the DMs in order at the pace Instagram allows. Instagram lets each account send private replies, which are the DMs that answer comments, at a fixed pace. Instagram's DM limits lists the figures Meta publishes.

When more people comment than that pace allows at one time, some DMs wait their turn and go out in order. The public reply waits for its own DM, so no follower is told to check their DMs before the link is there, and nobody opens an empty inbox.

A line in the caption helps with this. Say that the link arrives by DM and say when the sale closes, so a follower who waits a little knows what they are waiting for.

How does a 공구 agency run group buys for many sellers?

A 공구 agency or vendor connects each seller's Instagram account to one inDM workspace, then runs the same campaign on every seller's account. The agency does four things:

  1. Connect each seller with a link. Someone on the agency's team types the seller's Instagram handle and creates a connect link, then sends it by email, a chat app or a DM. The seller opens it on their own phone, logs in on Instagram's own login screen, and approves. The seller never shares a password and does not need an inDM account. A link is for one handle, works once, and expires after 7 days. Connect a client's Instagram without the password shows both sides of this.
  2. Save the campaign as a template. Build the sale automation once on the first seller's post, then save it as a template. Saved templates are part of Growth and the agency plans.
  3. Start it on each seller's account. Switch to the next seller's account from the top bar and start the template there. Only the post and the link change, so each seller's followers receive that seller's own link.
  4. Read the clicks for each seller. On Growth and up, the agency sees who clicked each seller's link and the country they clicked from.

The plan decides how many sellers fit in one workspace. Growth, at $4.99 for the first month and then $14.99 a month, holds up to 5 Instagram accounts. Agency Lite holds up to 15 for $39 a month, and Agency Pro holds 30 for $99 a month, then $3 a month for each account after that. Agency Pro also includes a dedicated account manager. No plan counts messages or contacts, and the pricing page has every plan in one table. Instagram DM automation for agencies covers the rest of what an agency workspace includes.

Messages go out in Korean, and the dashboard is in English

Everything you write sends exactly as written, in Korean or any other language. That covers the DM, the link message and the public reply.

The few messages inDM writes itself, the follow ask and the email ask and their buttons, follow one language setting for the workspace, and 한국어 is one of the 14 languages available. The setting applies to the whole workspace, not to each seller. On Growth and up you can rewrite those asks in your own words.

The inDM dashboard itself is in English. The screens where you build automations and read results are English, and the messages your followers receive are in the language you wrote them in.

What does inDM not do in a group buy?

inDM delivers the link and the conversation. It does not take orders, payments or stock counts, and it does not connect to a store's order system. The sale happens on the store's own page, which is the page the link opens.

These limits matter to an agency:

  • Instagram only. inDM works with Instagram and with no other app, and each seller's account must be a Business or Creator account.
  • One account on screen at a time. inDM has no combined dashboard across sellers, so the totals across sellers are yours to add up.
  • No permissions for each seller. Everyone in the workspace sees every connected account, so an agency cannot give one team member one seller and hide the rest.
  • No seller portal. Sellers connect their account from a link and never log in to inDM.

Before the sale opens

Set up the automation on the sale post and test it from a second account, and the link is ready for the first follower who comments the keyword.