How to sell on WhatsApp: a step-by-step guide for small sellers, with costs and the products you cannot sell

This is for a small seller starting from a personal phone and a few loyal customers: a home baker, a reseller, a crafter, a one-person service. You get nine steps in order, the product rules most guides leave out, a first-month cost example, and a short script for the conversation that turns a question into an order.

By Ritchie, ReplyKit · Published 17 October 2026 · 7 min read

Can you sell on WhatsApp?

Yes. WhatsApp's free Business app is built for it, with a product catalog, a cart customers can send you, quick replies and labels, according to WhatsApp's own features page. Two limits apply: some product categories are banned, and you can only message people who contacted you or opted in.

WhatsApp is the shop counter, not the whole shop. It does not handle payment in most countries, it does not track stock, and it does not deliver. You bring those pieces, and WhatsApp is where the customer talks to you.

How to sell on WhatsApp in nine steps

Do them in this order. The steps that seem dull, like the profile and the confirmation message, prevent most of the problems sellers write to us about.

1. Get a dedicated number. Use a separate number for the business so customer chats, labels and history stay with the business, not your personal life.
2. Install WhatsApp Business and complete the profile. Add your business name, logo, hours, address or service area, website and a one-line description of what you sell.
3. Check what you are allowed to sell. Read Meta's Commerce Policy and the restricted list in the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy before you list anything.
4. Build the catalog. Add your best sellers with a clear photo, a price, and the details people always ask about, such as size, ingredients or turnaround time.
5. Share your chat link everywhere. Put your wa.me link in your Instagram and TikTok bios, your Google profile and website, and print a QR code for packaging and your stall.
6. Answer fast with a price and a question. Reply to every enquiry with the price in the first line and one question that moves toward an order, using saved quick replies.
7. Confirm each order in writing. Send one message with items, options, delivery or pickup, date and total, and ask the customer to reply YES.
8. Send a payment method and confirm receipt. Send your bank QR or a payment link, check the payment yourself, and send a short receipt with the next step.
9. Update until delivery, then ask for a review. Message when the order ships or is ready, deal with any problem in the same chat, and ask happy buyers for a review.

Steps 5 and 6 are where sales are won. A buyer who asks about three sellers usually buys from the one who answers first with a price. A catalog helps buyers browse, but most still ask in the chat before they order, so keep a one-page price list with your delivery areas, lead times and payment methods ready to paste or forward. That list is also what you would give an AI agent later. Templates for steps 7 and 9 are in order confirmation templates and delivery update templates.

What can you not sell on WhatsApp?

You cannot use WhatsApp's commerce features to sell goods banned by Meta's Commerce Policy, including alcohol, tobacco, weapons, drugs, medical and healthcare products, animals, adult products, counterfeits, and digital downloads or subscriptions. Services are allowed on the WhatsApp Business app.

The WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy says that if you use catalogs or other commerce features to sell goods prohibited by Meta's Commerce Policy, WhatsApp may stop you using some or all of WhatsApp for Business. This is the part of the policy that catches small sellers by surprise, so we summarize it here as we read it in October 2026.

Separately, the Business Messaging Policy prohibits using WhatsApp for Business to buy, sell or promote certain goods and services, including dating services, multi-level marketing, payday loans and, with narrow exceptions, real-money gambling, whatever local licences you hold. If your product is on either list, WhatsApp is not the channel to build on.

What does it cost to start selling on WhatsApp?

The app is free. Your real costs are payment fees, any ads you run, delivery, and your time. Here is a worked first month for a hypothetical home baker in Malaysia selling 60 cakes at RM120, with half paid by card through a payment link and half by DuitNow QR bank transfer.

Card fees and transfer fees vary by country and provider, so check your own. Our guide to accepting payments on WhatsApp compares the options by country.

The first-conversation script that turns questions into orders

Answer, ask one question, offer the next step, confirm. Here is the pattern with a cake order (illustrative):

Four messages from you, each one moving forward. No price list PDF, no "please refer to our catalog", no waiting until tomorrow. For tricky moments, see handling haggling and our sales message templates.

What should you do when one person cannot keep up?

When chats start waiting hours for a reply, you have three options: hire help, accept fewer orders, or let an AI agent answer the routine questions. The third is the cheapest, if the questions are mostly price, availability, delivery and booking.

ReplyKit is one such agent. It answers WhatsApp and website chats from your own price list, product catalogue CSV and website, in over 30 languages, understands voice notes and photos, collects the customer's name and what they want, and hands the chat to you in one click to confirm and take payment. It does not take payments in chat, track stock, send order updates or send promotions; those stay with you. It connects through Quick Connect, an unofficial QR pairing that Meta does not sanction, so a number can be restricted; you see one plain notice and pressing Connect is your acceptance of section 3 of our terms. That is one more reason to sell from a dedicated number. If you sell fewer than a few orders a day, quick replies in the free app are probably enough. If you are losing orders to slow replies, try it free for 7 days.

Frequently asked questions

ReplyKit is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta or WhatsApp. Prices for other vendors and payment providers are taken from their public pages as checked in October 2026 and may change. This article is general guidance, not legal advice; the platform policies are the authority.