A WhatsApp catalog link is a web address, usually a wa.me link, that opens your product catalog or a single item directly inside a customer's WhatsApp chat. You build the catalog once, in the WhatsApp Business app or the Business Platform, then share the whole catalog or one item as a link, a message, or a public cart link.
A WhatsApp catalog link is a web address, usually a wa.me link, that opens your product catalog or a single item directly inside a customer’s WhatsApp chat. You build the catalog once, in the WhatsApp Business app or the Business Platform, then share the whole catalog or one item as a link, a message, or a public cart link.
What is a WhatsApp catalog link?
A catalog link is how a customer reaches your products without you sending photo after photo in chat. On the WhatsApp Business Platform, Meta’s own documentation describes exactly this: businesses “assemble wa.me links to share their entire catalog via standard text messages,” meaning the link itself is a normal web address that opens directly inside WhatsApp, no separate app or login required.
The same idea exists inside the WhatsApp Business app for smaller sellers: you build your catalog once inside the app, then share the whole catalog or a single item into any chat, including one that started from a comment on your last live. For a live seller, that link is what turns “check my catalog” in a comment reply into something a customer can actually tap and browse, still inside WhatsApp.
What does a WhatsApp catalog example look like for a boutique?
A catalog for live selling usually mirrors how you actually sell during a live: one entry per piece or per size run, not one generic entry per style. A typical structure looks like this:
| Catalog field | What a boutique puts there |
|---|---|
| Name | Style name plus size or colour, for example “Elena dress, size M, terracotta” |
| Price | The live price, kept the same as what you said on camera |
| Description | Fabric, fit note, and the claim code used during the live |
| Image | A clear photo of that exact piece, not a stock or generic photo |
| Availability | Marked unavailable as soon as it is reserved or sold |
Meta’s documentation confirms a catalog item can carry a name, description, price, images and availability, and that a catalog can list either physical products or services. The example above uses every one of those fields deliberately, because a live seller’s catalog is really a live stock list first and a shop window second: what is shown as available should match what you actually still have on the rail.
How do you create a catalog in WhatsApp Business?
There are two official routes, matching the app-versus-Platform split. Inside the WhatsApp Business app, you build the catalog directly on your phone: open the app’s business tools, add an item, attach photos, and fill in the name, price, description and an optional link or code. It is manual, but it needs no separate account.
On the WhatsApp Business Platform, Meta’s developer documentation describes catalogs being connected differently: a business uploads inventory to Meta and connects it to its WhatsApp Business Account, either through the Commerce API or through Meta’s Commerce Manager, rather than adding items one by one inside a chat app. This route suits a seller who already keeps a product feed or spreadsheet and wants the catalog to update itself, rather than one who is happy adding each piece by hand after every live.
What is the right image size for a WhatsApp catalog?
Meta publishes exact minimum and recommended pixel dimensions and file-size limits for catalog images on its own commerce help pages, and these are the numbers to check before you upload, since Meta updates them from time to time. This guide does not repeat a fixed figure here for that reason: verify the current minimum size, recommended size and maximum file size directly on Meta’s catalog image help pages rather than trusting a number copied from elsewhere.
What matters in practice for a live seller is simpler than the exact pixel count: a photo taken on a recent phone camera, in daylight, square or close to it, of the actual piece and not a stock photo, comfortably clears Meta’s stated minimums. Blurry screenshots pulled from the live itself usually do not.
Can you download a WhatsApp catalog?
Not as a single exportable file from WhatsApp itself: a catalog lives on Meta’s side, connected to your WhatsApp Business Account, and customers browse it inside the chat rather than downloading it. What a customer, or you, can save is an individual product image, or the catalog link itself, which can be copied, sent elsewhere, or kept for later.
For a live seller who wants a stock list outside WhatsApp too, the practical answer is to keep your own record, in a spreadsheet or your selling tool, and treat the WhatsApp catalog as the version customers see rather than the version you manage from. That way a “download” is not really needed: your own list is the source of truth, and the WhatsApp catalog and any cart link are just how customers reach it.
How LiveShopia does it
LiveShopia does not only rely on a static WhatsApp catalog: it reserves stock in the order comments arrive during the live, recognising claim codes, sizes and colours as they are typed, so a size that sold out mid-live stops being offered before the catalog would ever catch up. The confirmed order becomes a WhatsApp cart sent through the WhatsApp Business Platform’s Cloud API, with Meta-approved templates and buttons for delivery and payment, plus a public cart link for a customer without an account. All texts are editable, in English and Romanian.
Frequently asked questions
What is a WhatsApp catalog link? A web address, typically a wa.me link, that opens your whole catalog or a single item directly inside WhatsApp, without the customer leaving the chat.
What does a WhatsApp catalog example look like? For a live seller it usually lists one entry per piece or size, with the live price, a claim code in the description, a clear photo of that exact item, and availability updated as soon as it is reserved.
How do you create a catalog on WhatsApp Business? In the app, by adding each item’s photos, name, price and description by hand; on the Business Platform, by connecting a product feed through the Commerce API or Meta’s Commerce Manager.
What image size does WhatsApp require for a catalog? Meta publishes its own minimum and recommended dimensions and file-size limits on its commerce help pages, and updates them, so check the current figures there rather than a number quoted secondhand.
Can you download a WhatsApp catalog? Not as one exported file; the catalog lives on Meta’s side and customers browse it in chat, though individual images and the catalog link itself can be saved or shared.
The next step is turning that catalog into a WhatsApp cart, so a shared link does not just show your products but takes the order too.
Frequently asked questions
What is a WhatsApp catalog link?
A web address, typically a wa.me link, that opens your whole catalog or a single item directly inside WhatsApp, without the customer leaving the chat.
What does a WhatsApp catalog example look like?
For a live seller it usually lists one entry per piece or size, with the live price, a claim code in the description, a clear photo of that exact item, and availability updated as soon as it is reserved.
How do you create a catalog on WhatsApp Business?
In the app, by adding each item's photos, name, price and description by hand; on the Business Platform, by connecting a product feed through the Commerce API or Meta's Commerce Manager.
What image size does WhatsApp require for a catalog?
Meta publishes its own minimum and recommended dimensions and file-size limits on its commerce help pages, and updates them, so check the current figures there rather than a number quoted secondhand.
Can you download a WhatsApp catalog?
Not as one exported file; the catalog lives on Meta's side and customers browse it in chat, though individual images and the catalog link itself can be saved or shared.