How to take orders on WhatsApp (without an app)

Most WhatsApp orders start the same way: a customer scrolls up to find a photo, screenshots it, types "this one, 2 pieces", then asks the price. You reply, they change their mind, and by the time it's settled the order is buried under twenty messages across three days. Nothing is written down in one place. You re-read the thread to pack the order, you miss a line item, and there's no clean record of what was agreed or at what price.

The fix isn't a bigger phone or a spreadsheet on the side — it's giving the buyer a way to assemble the order themselves and hand it to you complete. That's what a shareable catalogue link does. You keep selling on WhatsApp, but the order arrives written, priced and ready to work.

Here is the whole loop, start to finish. You do the first two steps once; buyers do the middle, and the last two are back in your hands.

1. Build the catalogue. Photograph your products, clean up the shots, and add a name, price and any details buyers ask for. Pick a layout that suits your range — Cards, Lookbook, Price List or Spotlight — and add a branded cover. See catalogues and the full catalogue guide.
2. Share the link or QR code. Send the catalogue link straight into any WhatsApp chat or broadcast. It shows a branded preview instead of a bare URL, so it looks like your shop, not a random link. Print the QR code for your counter, packaging or a WhatsApp status. More on sharing on WhatsApp.
3. The buyer picks products. They open the link in their browser — no app, no account, no login. They tap through your catalogue, add the items they want, set quantities, and see the running total (or "price on request" where you've set that).
4. The order lands in WhatsApp and your inbox. The buyer enters their name and phone number and sends. The order arrives on your WhatsApp number as a ready-written message — every item, quantity and price laid out — and at the same time it appears in your Orders inbox on the app and web, marked new.
5. Confirm and quote. Reply to confirm, move the order from new to confirmed, and the buyer's live status link updates on their side. Need to put it on your letterhead? One tap turns the order into a branded quotation PDF you can send straight back on WhatsApp. Mark it completed when it's done.

• Use price modes per catalogue. Show prices to regular retail buyers, hide them for a public-facing range, or set "price on request" for negotiated trade lines — each catalogue can behave differently, so you don't leak wholesale rates to walk-in customers.
• Set quantity-tier pricing. Give wholesale buyers a lower rate above a certain quantity. The catalogue applies the right tier as they build the order, so the total they send you is already correct — no back-and-forth on "what's the rate for 100?".
• Put a QR code at the counter. A printed QR on the shop wall, the bill book or the product tag lets a customer standing in front of you pull up the catalogue and order later from home. It also works on packaging so a happy buyer can reorder in seconds.
• Keep one catalogue current, not five. Update a price or retire a sold-out line once; every shared link points at the same live catalogue, so buyers always order from today's range and prices.

Be clear about the boundary so it fits your business honestly. ScanPix hands you the order and lets you send a quotation — it is not a payment gateway or a checkout. Buyers don't pay inside the link; you take payment the way you always have. It's also not a billing or accounting tool: a quotation is a priced proposal on your letterhead, not a GST tax invoice. If you need GST invoicing, stock accounting or online payments, keep your billing software for that — ScanPix's job is turning a WhatsApp conversation into a clean, written order and a professional quotation.