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If you’re an Instacart shopper, you might recognize this as a familiar start to a bad day: You open the app and find that no batches are available.
No batches = no money!
Just look on Instacart forums, and you’ll immediately find panicked shoppers posting about a shortage of batches:
“Has anyone else been getting literally no batches for the past hour?”
“Not seeing any batches. Is it my rating or are you guys having the same issue?”
“Is Instacart down? Not seeing any batches”
Why are batches plentiful one day and then missing the next?
There are a few common reasons for no batches: Low shopper ratings (below 4.7), low order volume in your market, or the Instacart app is experiencing technical difficulties.
Read on to learn why you might not be seeing batches and what you can do to see more.
So many stores, so few orders
Is Instacart down? How to check
Instacart is a fairly reliable app (at least compared to DoorDash, which seems to go down practically every week), but like any other internet service, it does go down occasionally.
If you think Instacart is having a service outage, head over to Down Detector or the Instacart shopper subreddit to see if there are reports of outages.
But app outages aren’t typically the reason for the low batch volume: If the app is down, you’re more likely to see error messages in the app, get kicked out if you’re already logged in, or not be able to log in at all.
If you can log in and use other app features, a lack of batches is likely due to another reason.
Solution to app outages: Check Down Detector and Reddit. If Instacart is down, hop onto another app.
Business is slow, or your market is oversaturated
Sometimes business is slow. There is no such thing as constant demand in any industry, and many factors can combine to create a slow day, a slow week, or even a slow month.
For example, veteran shoppers know that business slows down during winter months and other times of the year when people cut down on spending.
Another market factor is that your area could be oversaturated with shoppers.
Instacart frequently onboards new shoppers, so there may be too many shoppers competing for too few batches.
Instacart tries to balance customer demand with the appropriate shopper supply, but it’s not an exact science.
Solution to slow days: Check if the app is down (tips below), then move on to a backup delivery app.
Low ratings: Lose batch priority below 4.7 stars
Your ratings can determine the batches that you see. If your average rating drops below 4.7, you can lose batch priority.
Losing batch priority means that other higher-rated shoppers will see batches before you.
Many shoppers report that the number of batches they see declines significantly after their ratings drop below 4.7.
It feels unfair that a drop in your ratings can seriously harm your earnings. And the added uncertainty is frustrating: Are you not getting batches because of your ratings, or is it something else?
All you can do is try your best to improve your ratings and hope that batches come your way.
Solution to low ratings: Try to improve your ratings. Here’s our guide to the Instacart rating system. It goes over ratings in detail and advises how to turn your ratings around.
You can also unlock priority batch access with the Diamond Cart level in the Cart Star rewards program.
More Instacart Essentials
Proximity: You might not be close enough to stores
In addition to your ratings, your physical location also determines which batches you see.
You won’t see batches if you’re too far away from stores. Make sure location services are turned on for the shopper app, and position yourself closer to stores.
Solution to not being close enough to stores: Drive closer to stores. Learn your market, see which stores offer the most batches, and start your days close to those stores.
You might not be approved for all order types
Aproblem for newer shoppers: You haven’t taken all the steps to make every type of order batch available.
Special batch types include alcohol delivery, cooler bag deliveries, and prescription deliveries.
If you’re a new shopper, activate your Intacart payment card. Then head to the batch screen and tap on ‘Get access to more batches.’
Follow the steps to unlock more batches. Typically you’ll have to watch a few training videos.
Solution to locked batches: Complete any remaining steps listed in the batches screen.
Check the batches area to see if you can unlock any opportunities
How to get more batches on Instacart
You can’t control larger market forces like order demand and driver supply, but there are a few things you can do to get more batches.
- Keep your shopper rating as high as possible
- Check the app frequently for new batches and accept them quickly
- Position yourself close to busy stores
- Take note of busy times of day and work those hours
- Follow all steps to be approved for all order types
Our Full Guide: How to Pick Good Batches and Avoid Bad Ones
Still not seeing Batches? Contact Instacart support
If none of the above issues seem to apply to you and you still are experiencing a long period without batches, contact Instacart support.
An issue with your account may be preventing you from seeing batches. Back-end glitches aren’t too common, but they’re not unheard of.
A shopper’s least favorite screen: No batches!
Always have a backup app!
Like any other gig app, you can’t entirely rely on Instacart for consistent work. Even if you figure out why you’re not getting batches, there’s not usually a way to quickly bring the batches back.
Having a backup plan is the best way to guarantee a steadier income. Not getting any batches on Instacart? Try DoorDash. DoorDash having a slow day too? Try to pick up a block on Amazon Flex.
Between all the available gig apps, you should be able to find work somewhere!
The best backup apps for Instacart shoppers are:
- DoorDash (Our guide)
- Uber Eats (Our guide)
- Shipt (Our guide, signup link)
- Amazon Flex (Our guide)
Luke says
A ‘low rating’ on Instacart would be considered a high rating on other gig apps, and customers are not communicated this by Instacart. If your Uber driver was rated a 4.5, you would think, fine, no problem. On Instacart, if you drop below 4.7, it is like death. And the system is inexplicable. One day I was at a 4.61, and the next, after two orders, a 4.56. I have no idea what I did.
Also, few customers actually rate. This means that a handful of people can have a very disproportionate effect on your ability to earn. And what you generally earn is about half of minimum wage.
Basically, Instacart is a poor app and job. Decent side gig, never accept this as a full-time job. I’m doing it just as a stopgap measure until I get some stuff in my life figured out. Then onto more stable and sane employment.
sergio marazo says
Friend I’ve been going through the same problem, I was already imagining that it would be something on my account, I talk to support, they don’t know anything, but one thing is funny, when you open a complaint for not seeing batch, soon after you get it visualize, then add it all up again, it really all started in January after the updates, I’ve spent the whole day without seeing any batch, no one gives an explanation and a total lack of respect with the service provider, so I’m always hiring many are leaving and migrating to other applications