A WhatsApp AI agent for durian and fruit sellers: today's price, what is in stock, delivery areas and orders, answered in Malay, Chinese or English
Durian season is two months of the same five questions a hundred times a day: what varieties today, how much per kilo, can deliver to my area, how many kilos minimum, got Musang King or not. The price changes daily and the stock changes hourly, which is exactly why a chatbot with fixed answers fails and an agent that reads a note you update does not.
Quick answer
Keep a short daily note in the agent's knowledge: varieties available, today's price per kilo, minimum order, delivery areas and fees, cut-off time, and what is sold out. Update it when the lorry arrives and again when something runs out. The agent answers from that note only, takes the order details (variety, kilos, address, time), and hands over anything it cannot confirm. ReplyKit does this from $29 a month, replies in Malay, Chinese and English, and understands the voice notes and photos customers send.
The daily status note that does the work
Everything depends on one note, written each morning in exact words the agent will quote:
Today 5 Oct. Musang King RM 48/kg, D24 RM 28/kg, Black Thorn RM 68/kg (limited). Minimum 2 kg. Delivery Klang Valley RM 10, free above RM 150. Cut-off for same-day delivery 3 pm. Sold out: Red Prawn. Dine-in open 11 am to 11 pm.
The agent reads this before every reply, so a customer at 4 pm is told the same-day cut-off has passed and offered tomorrow. When Black Thorn runs out, edit the note and it stops quoting it within a minute. Nothing else in the knowledge base changes during the season. The pattern is the same one in seasonal businesses and peak days.
Taking the order
- The agent asks for variety and kilos, then the delivery address or collection, then a time window, one question at a time.
- It repeats the order back with the total at today's price and your payment instructions (DuitNow, bank transfer, cash on delivery) from the knowledge base; see taking payments on WhatsApp.
- The order lands in your leads list with every detail captured, in arrival order, which becomes the packing list.
- Anything it cannot confirm, such as a request for exactly 2.3 kg of a specific fruit opened on video, is handed to you with the chat so far.
Durian buyers send voice notes and photos: "this one how much?" with a picture of a fruit. The agent transcribes the voice note and describes the photo, answers if the knowledge covers it, and hands over if it is a judgement call about a specific fruit.
Rules worth writing down
- Weight and price tolerance. "Final weight may differ by up to 10%; you pay the weighed amount." Stops disputes.
- Opening guarantee. Whether you open on the spot, replace a bad fruit, or refund. In exact words.
- Delivery areas. A list by town or postcode prefix; the agent declines areas outside it politely and offers collection.
- Off-season. A note saying the season has ended and when the next is expected, so the agent does not take orders for fruit you do not have.
One honest note before the setup. ReplyKit connects to your number by QR pairing, the same linked-device mechanism as WhatsApp Web. It is live in minutes and needs no Meta approval, but Meta does not sanction automation this way, so a number can be restricted. We enforce limits of 30 replies an hour and 200 a day per number with a warm-up ramp for new numbers, reply to inbound messages only, and recommend a dedicated number rather than your main line. The full picture is in our ban guide.
Cost and the honest limits
A busy stall sends a few hundred replies on a peak weekend day. Each number is capped at 200 replies a day with a warm-up for new numbers, so a high-volume seller pairs a second number on the Growth plan and puts it on the delivery posters; the daily limits guide explains why the cap exists. The agent cannot judge a specific fruit, cannot haggle, and should not promise a delivery time you have not set. It can absorb the ninety percent of messages that are the same five questions, which is the point.
Starter at $29 a month covers one number, one agent and 1,000 replies; Growth at $49 adds two more numbers, five agents and follow-up nudges; the 7-day free trial needs no card. Replies you receive and messages you send yourself are free; only the agent's own messages count. What it costs in practice.
Frequently asked questions
Can the agent quote a price that changes every day?
Yes, from a daily note you edit in the knowledge base. It quotes only what the note says and stops quoting varieties you mark sold out.
Does it understand voice notes and photos?
Yes. Voice notes are transcribed and photos described, so "this one how much?" with a picture gets an answer or a hand-over.
Can it take orders with delivery details?
Yes. It collects variety, kilos, address and time, repeats the order with the total, and records it in your leads list.
What about customers who want to haggle?
It holds your price politely and offers what the note allows, such as free delivery above a threshold. Discounts are yours to give; see the haggling guide linked below.
Does it work off-season?
Yes, if you leave an off-season note. It tells customers when the next season is expected and collects their number for the leads list.
Sell the fruit, not the explanations
Daily price note, orders captured, cut-offs enforced, in three languages. 7-day free trial, no card.
Sources and further reading
- DataReportal, Digital 2025: Malaysia · WhatsApp is the most used messaging platform in Malaysia
- WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy · opt-in, opt-out and prohibited-use rules every business must follow
- ReplyKit, Will WhatsApp ban my number for automation? · our own account of the risk and the limits we enforce
ReplyKit is an independent product and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Meta or WhatsApp. This article is general guidance for running a small business, not legal, financial or regulatory advice.