WhatsApp Commerce Policy

Last Modified: October 25, 2022

1. If you use Commerce Catalogs on the WhatsApp Business app, or provide any other commerce experiences to sell goods or services, you must comply with the policies and prohibitions listed below, as well as all applicable terms, laws and regulations.
2. You are solely responsible for your transactions and providing any sales terms, privacy terms or other terms applicable to your interactions with users.
3. We are not responsible for processing, paying for, or fulfilling any sales relating to your transactions.
4. You are solely responsible for determining, collecting, withholding, reporting, and remitting all applicable taxes, duties, fees and additional charges for sales relating to your transactions.
5. Examples listed below are representative, but not exhaustive.
6. The following are prohibited under this policy:

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the operations or exchange of illegal products or services.

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of illegal, prescription, or recreational drugs. Manufacturers and healthcare services who do not engage in direct sale are allowed.
• Examples:
  • Drugs, including marijuana and marijuana products
  • Drug paraphernalia, including pipes and bongs
  • Prescription drugs

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of tobacco products or tobacco paraphernalia.
• Examples:
  • Apparel featuring a tobacco brand logo
  • Cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco
  • Tobacco pipes and paraphernalia
  • Tobacco rolling machines
  • Hookahs
  • Bongs
  • Rolling papers
  • Electronic cigarettes (E-cigarettes) or tobacco devices

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of alcohol.
• Examples:
  • Books or DVDs about alcohol
  • Alcohol-related items, including glasses, coolers, and wine bottle holders
  • Alcoholic beverages
  • Kits for producing alcohol

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of unsafe ingestible supplements, as determined by WhatsApp in its sole discretion.
• Examples:
  • Anabolic steroids
  • Chitosan
  • Comfrey
  • Dehydroepiandrosterone
  • Ephedra
  • Human growth hormones

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale or use of weapons, ammunition, or explosives.
• Examples:
  • Promoting safety training or licenses for legal weapons
  • Firearms and firearm parts
  • Paintball guns
  • BB Guns
  • Fireworks
  • Pepper spray
  • Tasers
  • Gun ranges
  • Gun shows

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of any animals.
• Examples:
  • Animal cages
  • Products for animals (toys, collars, etc.)
  • Veterinary services
  • Grooming services
  • Boarding services
  • Pet adoption services
  • Live animals
  • Livestock
  • Prohibited animal parts, including but not limited to bone, teeth, horn, ivory, taxidermy, organs, external limbs, secretions, or carcasses
  • Any product or part, including but not limited to leather, skin, hide, fur, wool, or hair from any dogs, cats, and endangered or threatened animals

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale or use of adult products or services.
• Examples:
  • Products promoting family planning and contraception, which focus on the contraceptive features of the product, and not on sexual pleasure or sexual enhancement
  • Sex toys
  • Videos or live shows for adult entertainment
  • Sexual enhancement products
  • Sexually suggestive services

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of human body parts or fluids.
• Examples:
  • Blood donation centers
  • Blood
  • Hair extensions and wigs
  • Urine
  • Body parts
  • Organs
  • Human tissue
  • Teeth

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in certain healthcare products, including medical devices, and smoking cessation products containing nicotine. Manufacturers and healthcare services who do not engage in direct sale are allowed.
• Medical Devices - Examples:
  • Lifestyle and fitness accessories
  • Contact lenses
  • Bandages and braces for physical injuries
  • Thermometers
  • Testing kits for medical conditions or diseases
  • Breast pumps
  • First-aid kits
• Smoking Cessation Products - Examples:
  • Nicotine patches
  • Nicotine gum

• Policy: Businesses may not position products or services in a sexually suggestive manner.
• Examples:
  • Implied nudity
  • Implied sexual acts
  • Zoomed-in sexual images

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in or facilitate gambling, games of skill, or lotteries, including online casinos, sports books, bingo, or poker if it costs money.

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in or facilitate online dating services.

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of devices that facilitate or encourage streaming digital content in an unauthorized manner or interfering with the functionality of electronic devices.
• Examples:
  • Add-on equipment for streaming devices such as keyboards and remotes
  • Sale of streaming devices loaded with software that facilitates unauthorized access to content
  • Jailbroken or loaded devices
  • Jamming or descrambling devices
  • Wiretapping devices

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale, including renewals and upgrades, etc., of digital content, digital subscriptions, or digital accounts.
• Examples:
  • Authentic audio or video CDs, DVDs, and Blu Ray
  • Digital devices, including Smartphones, video game consoles, and TVs
  • Downloadable content, including PDFs, music, games, movies, etc.
  • Digital accounts, including games accounts
  • Digital subscriptions and internet streaming services, including TV, Mobile, etc.
  • Digital coupons

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in deceptive, false, misleading, or offensive offers or products.
• Examples:
  • Multilevel marketing
  • Penny auctions
  • ICOs and binary options
  • Payday loans, paycheck advances, P2P lending, debt collection, and bail bonds
  • Diet, weight loss, or other health related products that imply or attempt to generate negative self-perception

• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of real, virtual, or fake currency.
• Examples:
  • Real money (cash or cash equivalent instruments and coins)
  • Replica or prop money
  • Digital or cryptocurrency
  • Active bank credit or debit cards
  • Store credit cards or coupons
  • Pre-paid credit or debit cards
  • Checks or checkbooks
  • Equipment to create counterfeit currency or financial instruments

• Policy: Transactions may not contain content that infringes upon or violates the intellectual property rights of any third party, including copyright or trademark. This includes, but is not limited to, the sale of counterfeit products, such as goods that copy the trademark (name or logo) and/or distinctive features of another company’s products to imitate a genuine product.
• Examples:
  • Counterfeits, knockoffs, or replicas of branded goods, or posts offering goods that are likely to confuse consumers about the source, sponsorship or affiliation of those goods.
  • Unauthorized or pirated copies of copyrighted works, such as videos, movies, TV shows and broadcasts, video games, CDs or other musical works, books, etc.