Meta Ads show website discounts despite disabled promotion: the hidden switch

Meta can automatically take discounts from a shop website into Facebook and Instagram ads – even into the copy of an ad whose original promotion was switched off. Advertising specialist Bram Van der Hallen has been drawing attention to this account setting since 6 2026 November. For merchants, the discovery comes at a particularly bad time: Black Friday promotions start in a few weeks, often with several parallel prices and audiences.

Why "promotion off" in the ad is not enough

The focus is the "Detected offers" feature in Meta Commerce Manager. There, advertisers can set under Settings → Offer merchandising whether Meta may automatically use offers from their website and existing ads for advertising.

Van der Hallen published screenshots and a warning on LinkedIn. One of the notices shown appears when duplicating ads: a new ad can contain eligible promotions even though they are disabled on the original. The decisive approval therefore doesn't sit solely in Ads Manager, but also in shop management.

PPC Land analysed both screen views in detail. The option for detected offers is located in the "All ads" area. Additional switches control sale events and seasonal offer names for ads that lead to the shop or to a product view.

Important: The observation is documented based on specific account views; Meta has not yet said in which accounts the feature is enabled by default.

From a technical switch to a price promise

For an e-commerce team, the difference can become expensive. A shop might advertise a sale price only to newsletter subscribers while running a regular product campaign at the same time. If Meta automatically uses the website discount in another ad, the public advertising message may not match the intended promotion.

The timing is especially notable: Black Friday falls on 2026 27 November, Cyber Monday on 30 November. Many shops duplicate working ads in these weeks, switch landing pages and test numerous creatives. It is exactly this routine that an offer feature activated in Commerce Manager can affect.

The development fits into Meta's automation course. The company is increasingly leaving decisions about ad components, delivery and audiences to AI systems. How far control already extends at API level is shown in Srocke's overview of the Meta Marketing API v27 and automatic product ads. The agentic Ads Manager also shifts work from manual settings to automated suggestions.

What advertisers should concretely check

Before the next campaign wave, a quick audit is worthwhile: in Commerce Manager, open Settings → Offer merchandising, check the "Detected offers" setting and disable it if needed. Then review duplicated ads and their preview. For shops with numerous promotions, the discount texts actually being served should also be compared with the currently valid conditions.

A second look should go to shop and product data. After all, Meta can only work with those offers that it receives from a data source. Anyone using exclusive codes or time-limited discounts should check where this information appears publicly.

And because new settings can affect several campaigns, control belongs in a repeatable approval process, rather than just a checkbox when creating individual ads. The debate over Meta's new business terms and the reading of product information on websites shows why the origin of advertising data is also moving more into focus.

The practical lesson: Automatic creative optimization needs an equally clear process for price and offer approvals. Otherwise, a small reach feature turns into a wrong message right at the product.

Image: CardMapr.nl / Unsplash.