Recently, Instagram has been making it easier for brands to advertise on its platform. From sponsored posts to specialized tags that direct you to a purchase link, more and more brands are targeting Instagram users to increase engagement and sales.

Now, some small business owners are taking to the social media channel to sell straight to its followers. Rather than shopping on a website, people are selling goods on a first-come, first-served basis. 

They post a photo of what's for sale and the first person to comment their zipcode reserves the item for purchase. You have one hour to pay the invoice, or else they move on to the next person in line. This method is used mostly for vintage and handmade one-of-a-kind items, making it a sort of eBay-style shopping method.

 

Out of curiosity (and I found this really cute pair of overalls), I just purchased my first item via Instagram. I commented my zip code and promptly received a direct message, congratulating me on reserving the item. Payment is handled via PayPal, so it's safe and secure. I simply gave them my PayPal e-mail address and quickly received an email invoicing me for the amount + shipping.

It was at this moment that I got slightly wary -- what if I pay and never receive my item? The account I purchased from has 45K followers and I've never seen a bad comment on their posts warning me against purchasing, so I proceeded.

After living in fear for a couple days, I received a notification that my item has shipped! I hope to have only good things to report back once the package arrives, but so far so good.

I'm not sure I'd use this method of shopping very often, and I would definitely be careful about which accounts I purchase from (verify number of followers, do a little digging to make sure people actually get their items and can vouch for the quality, etc).

Is this the way of the future? I can't say for certain, but I just bought a pair of overalls on a photo-sharing website and that's pretty neat.