WhatsApp Catalog and Product Messages: Setup and Limits

How do carts and orders work?

A customer adds items to a cart in the chat and sends it, and WhatsApp triggers an order webhook that describes the contents. You then confirm, collect payment and fulfil in your own systems.

Meta's cart rules matter for your design:

• Customers can add up to 99 units of each catalog item and there is no limit on distinct items.
• A cart belongs to one customer, one business chat thread and one device; it does not follow them to another phone.
• A cart has no expiry; it stays until the customer sends it, then it is cleared.
• A sent cart cannot be edited, so the customer sends a new one to change an order.
• Businesses cannot send carts to customers.
• Messages sent through the Cloud API do not show a shopping cart icon in the chat header, unlike the Business app, so tell customers how to order ("tap Add to cart on a product, then send your cart").

Customers who tap a "Message business" button on a product arrive as a text message with a context object that describes the product they were viewing. Use it to start the conversation at the right item.

What should happen after an order arrives?

1. Acknowledge with a message that restates the items and the total.
2. Check stock and delivery details against your store.
3. Take payment (see the next section).
4. Send a confirmation template. An order confirmation is a utility example in Meta's categorisation, for instance "Your order {{order_number}} is confirmed."
5. Send shipping updates. A message with a tracking number and expected delivery date is another utility example.
6. Hand over to an agent for substitutions, sizes or complaints.

Keep promotional content out of these confirmations; adding offers or recommendations turns the message into marketing. Our conversational commerce guide shows the wider journey.

Can customers pay inside WhatsApp?

Only where Meta provides payment features for the market, and then with conditions. In other markets, send a payment link or direct the customer to your checkout.

From Meta's documentation:

• India: Meta describes payments through UPI apps, cards, NetBanking and wallets, with several integration modes that depend on your payment gateway, and some modes need allowlisting. Businesses based in India must also comply with online selling laws.
• Brazil: A business sends an order details message with a unique reference ID and receives payment status by webhook. Methods named include Pix, payment links and boleto. Meta states that WhatsApp does not reconcile payments: you do that with your payment service provider.

Meta's documentation index lists other payment pages, but we have only described the two above because those are the ones we could verify. Always read the current page for your country, and do not assume in-chat payment exists where you sell. Where it does not, a typical pattern is: order arrives, you send a payment link in a message, the customer pays on your gateway, and a utility template confirms. Do not ask customers to type card numbers into the chat.

How do you set up a WhatsApp catalog?

Setting up takes four stages: upload inventory, configure commerce settings, share products and receive responses. Meta describes the same four stages.

1. Create or choose a catalog in Commerce Manager or prepare to use the Commerce API.
2. Upload items in Commerce Manager or through the Commerce API. Give each item a clear title, price, image, description, availability and a SKU, because the SKU (retailer ID) is what you reference in product messages.
3. Fix review issues. Meta reviews items automatically against its commerce policy; disapproved items can be appealed in Commerce Manager.
4. Connect the catalog to your WhatsApp account.
5. Set commerce settings per business phone number. Cart (is_cart_enabled) defaults to true and catalog visibility (is_catalog_visible) defaults to false, so switch visibility on if you want the storefront icon and catalog button. If you disable the catalog, catalog links and "View catalog" buttons show an "Invalid catalog link" message.
6. Send test messages to your own number: a single product, a multi-product message, then a full catalog link.
7. Handle order webhooks and connect them to your order system.
8. Create catalog templates if you want to start conversations; submit them for approval.

If you run Shopify, WooCommerce, Salla or Zid, see our integrations for how store events reach the messaging platform. Your platform account team can also advise on catalog sync from your store.

What are good use cases?

Catalogs work best where the customer can choose from a visual, structured range and where questions are quick.

• Fashion and beauty retail: multi-product messages by occasion, carts for repeat orders.
• Restaurants and groceries: menu categories as sections, with a delivery flow after the cart. Our restaurant guide shows the full flow.
• Services: appointments and consultations listed as items, followed by a booking confirmation.
• B2B reorders: a multi-product message with the customer's usual items.
• Post-purchase cross-sell: a marketing template to opted-in customers that opens the relevant range.

For a deeper commerce view, see the WhatsApp marketing ecommerce guide.

What mistakes should you avoid?

• Stale prices and stock. Out-of-date availability is the most common complaint in chat commerce; sync from your store.
• Wrong product IDs. If none match the catalog, the API returns an error and sends nothing; if only some match, unmatched items are dropped.
• Sending a product message cold. It can only go into an existing thread; use an approved template to start.
• Dumping the whole catalog when one product would convert better.
• Mixing offers into utility messages. Meta reclassifies promotional utility content.
• No human option. Provide a way to reach an agent for sizing, delivery and returns.
• Ignoring commerce policy. Meta restricts certain goods and reported products are reviewed.

How do you measure catalog performance?

Measure the funnel from message to paid order, and attribute it to the entry point.

Compare a group that gets a catalog template with a holdout group that does not. Use the WhatsApp pricing calculator and our WhatsApp pricing pages for Meta's per-message rates, and measure revenue per delivered message, not clicks.

How OmniChannels.ai helps

OmniChannels.ai, powered by BroadNet Technologies, an official Meta Business Solution Provider, connects your WhatsApp Business account through Meta Embedded Signup and supports catalogs, interactive messages, templates and WhatsApp Flows. Conversations, carts and orders from WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger sit in one Omni Inbox; campaigns send approved templates to opted-in lists; and AI agents hand over to humans. See the e-commerce solution or book a demo to plan your catalog.