How to collect UPI payments on WhatsApp: the in-chat order card, payment links, the setup in WhatsApp Manager, and the rules worth having
The customer taps Pay on an order card and the money lands in your own gateway account. What it needs — a Platform number, a payment configuration on Razorpay or PayU — what the customer sees, when a link is better, and why the amount is always a catalogue price.
A business in India can take a UPI or card payment inside a WhatsApp chat: the customer sees an order card, taps Pay, chooses their UPI app or card, and the money lands in the business's own payment gateway account. It needs a WhatsApp Business Platform number with a payment configuration set up in WhatsApp Manager on a supported gateway; where that is not in place, a payment link from the business's own Razorpay account does the same job one tap further away. The business's software should never hold the money.
On this page
Two rails
| Payment in the chat (WhatsApp Pay for business) | Payment link | |
|---|---|---|
| What the customer sees | An order card in the chat with the items and total, a Pay button, then their UPI app or card | A message with a link; the gateway's page opens in the browser |
| Needs | A Platform number with a payment configuration in WhatsApp Manager; India; the customer's 24-hour window open | A gateway account — Razorpay — and a template if the window is closed |
| Where the money goes | The business's gateway account, named in the configuration | The business's gateway account |
| Fees | The gateway's; Meta charges the message as usual | The gateway's; Meta charges a utility template if sent outside the window |
| Best for | A customer who is in the conversation right now | A reminder, a balance, a customer who went quiet |
Setting up payment in the chat
- Have the WhatsApp Business Platform on the number (how to get it) and a verified Business portfolio.
- In WhatsApp Manager › the WABA › Payment configurations › India, add a configuration on a supported gateway — Razorpay or PayU today — and complete the gateway's KYC. The configuration has a name; that name is what your software uses.
- Your provider's app must be enabled for the Payments API by Meta; it is a per-app permission granted through Meta's support, not something the business switches on.
- In your software, choose the configuration by name. The software should read the list from Meta and refuse a name Meta does not list — a configuration that cannot be verified is a setting that configures nothing.
What the customer's side looks like
The assistant or a rep sends a payment request for the items and quantities. The customer sees an order card — the items, the total, a Pay button. Tapping it opens the UPI app picker or a card form inside WhatsApp; they approve; the card shows paid. The business's software receives a payment webhook, marks the request paid, writes a "Paid ₹2,499 by UPI" line into the thread and closes the deal. The whole thing is thirty seconds, and the customer never left the chat.
Rules worth having
- The amount is a catalogue price times quantity, never a number typed into a chat by the customer or the AI. A rep may type a custom amount; a model may not.
- One request at a time, claimed atomically. A request that a retry, a rep's resend and the assistant could all send is a customer charged twice.
- A payment is not a message. It must not reopen the 24-hour window or count as the customer writing.
- Never hold the money. The business's own gateway account, its own keys; the software's job is to ask and to record.
- Reconcile from the gateway's events, not from the customer saying "paid". "Already paid" is a prompt to look, not a status.
In Linkubit
A payment request names product keys and quantities and is priced from the catalogue. It goes out on the in-chat card where the number has a payment configuration, the currency is INR and the window is open, and as a Razorpay link from the tenant's own account otherwise. The row is claimed before it sends, the gateway's events advance it monotonically, the paid line is written without reopening the window, and the deal closes at the paid amount. Linkubit holds no gateway key for the card rail and is never in the flow of funds.
Can customers pay by UPI on WhatsApp?
Yes, on a WhatsApp Business Platform number with a payment configuration set up in WhatsApp Manager on Razorpay or PayU, inside the customer's 24-hour window. The customer pays from their own UPI app without leaving the chat.
What does it cost?
The gateway's normal fee on the transaction and Meta's normal message charge. Linkubit charges half a credit per payment request and takes no share of the payment.
What if I do not have a payment configuration?
A Razorpay link from your own account, sent in the chat. Same catalogue price, same reconciliation, one more tap for the customer.
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Try it on your own number. Linkubit answers, qualifies and quotes on WhatsApp from your catalogue, and adds nothing to Meta’s per-message price. Start free — fourteen days of Pro, no card — or read the pricing.