You built something real. Instagram made it fragile.
- You wake up to a notification:
"Your account has been restricted." - No warning. No explanation. Thousands of followers, gone. Every DM, every order history, every customer relationship. Inaccessible.
- And even on a good day, before any of that happens:
- A customer DMs you. You're in the middle of packing another order. You miss it. They go somewhere else.
- Another customer sends a screenshot:
"I've paid already" - You're scrolling through 47 DMs trying to match it to an order. You can't remember if it was the blue one or the black one they ordered.
- Someone messages at midnight:
"Is this still available?" - You're asleep. By morning they've bought from someone who had a real website and a checkout button.
This is what it costs to build on a platform you don't own.
