What does it mean that businesses cannot use WhatsApp Business Solutions to transact in the sale of goods and services prohibited by the Commerce policy?
The Commerce policy will be used to govern whether businesses can sell their products/services within message threads, Business Profile and the API’s message templates.
Businesses that sell goods and services prohibited by the Commerce policy can still use the WhatsApp Business API for messaging as long as they only use them for pre and post sales activities.
The following are considered restricted sales activities that are not permissible:
- Promoting prohibited items/services on their Business profile
- Submitting message templates on the API about selling prohibited items/services
- Engaging in the purchase of or transaction of prohibited items/services in-thread on WhatsApp, such as completing an order in-thread, collecting payment to initiate a purchase, update an order, share a receipt, etc.
The following are examples of allowable and non-allowable interactions for businesses that sell items/services prohibited by the Commerce policy:
- Examples of allowable interactions
- Awareness: Sharing more information a product or service (ex: more description about a product, answering customer questions about a product)
- Awareness/Consideration/Care: Business shares a coupon or promotion with the user in-thread
- Consideration: Business shares a website link or phone number with a user who is interested in purchasing the product/service
- Examples of non-allowable interactions (Messaging to Resolve Purchases)
- Purchase: User selects the items/services they want to purchase in-thread and business collects payment information in-thread or off of WhatsApp
- Purchase: Sending a notification for a receipt following the sale of a prohibited good or service
In regards to specific verticals, such as games and pharma, they can still use the API but as mentioned above, they cannot use the platform to sell their products. For example, a business in the games vertical can use the API but cannot use it to sell a digital subscription or service, which is prohibited by the Commerce policy.
Similarly, a pharmaceutical manufacturer may be able to use the API to communicate with their distributors and doctors. But they will not be able to use it to sell the drugs they manufacture, as the sale of drugs (prescription or otherwise) is prohibited by the Commerce policy.