Commerce

Commerce gives one Fetchply agent a shared product catalog and order desk. It is optional and off by default. If you leave it off, visitors and teammates see no Commerce changes.

Turn Commerce on

1. Open the agent's Settings.
2. Find Commerce and turn it on.
3. Expand Commerce in the agent sidebar.
4. Open Products and add at least one active product.

Turning Commerce off hides Products, Orders, Analytics, and Settings. It also stops new recommendations and orders. Existing confirmed orders remain in your records. Unconfirmed drafts are cancelled.

Store settings

Open Commerce → Settings to set the defaults your store uses:

• Store currency: the three-letter currency code your whole store uses. Set it once here; every product and order uses it, and you cannot set a different currency per product.
• Tax rate: a percentage applied to each order's item subtotal.
• Flat shipping rate: a fixed shipping charge added to every order.
• Free shipping over: an order value above which shipping is waived. Leave it blank to always charge shipping.
• Default status for manual orders: the status new orders you create get, either Confirmed or Processing.
• Notify customers automatically: when on, Fetchply messages the customer whenever you create or update their order.

Shipping and tax are added on top of the item subtotal to produce the order total. This happens for every order the same way — orders placed in chat, orders placed through a guided flow, and orders you create yourself — and the shipping and total appear in the order review before anything is placed. Changes apply to new orders and to updates you make afterward; they do not rewrite the totals of past orders.

Build and find products

Each product needs a name and price. You can also add a description, SKU, image, and tracked stock. The currency is your store currency from Commerce → Settings and is shown on the product form for reference only — you set it once for the whole store, not per product. Select Add product to open a panel on the right, fill in the details, and save.

To add a picture, select Upload image on the product form and choose a file from your device. Fetchply stores the image and shows a preview right away. Use Replace image to swap it or Remove to clear it. Accepted formats are PNG, JPG, GIF, and WebP, up to 5 MB. The image appears when the agent recommends the product.

• Leave stock empty when you do not want Fetchply to count it.
• Set stock to 0 to make the product unavailable to visitors.
• Hide a product to stop new recommendations without changing past orders.
• Every product uses your store currency from Commerce → Settings; change it there and it applies across your catalog and new orders.

Use the search, visibility, stock, and sorting controls on Products to find catalog items quickly. The agent searches active products using their current names, descriptions, and SKUs.

Customer and delivery details

Before an order can be confirmed, Fetchply requires:

• customer name;
• valid email address;
• full delivery address.

A phone number is optional.

In web chat, the shopper receives a form inside the conversation. They complete all delivery details together, review the order, then choose Place order or Cancel.

In WhatsApp and Instagram, Fetchply asks for one missing detail at a time. WhatsApp can use the shopper's WhatsApp number automatically. Instagram can offer the email saved on the shopper's profile when Meta makes it available, and does not require a phone number.

How chat orders are confirmed

A shopper first asks for products, then tells the agent they want to buy one. They can name the product, refer to its position such as "order the second one," or simply reply naturally like "yes, order it" after the agent shows a match. Fetchply creates a pending draft and collects the required customer details.

After the details are complete, Fetchply shows the product, quantity, shipping, the total including shipping, delivery destination, and update email so the shopper can review. In web chat, the shopper places the order with the Place order button or by clearly confirming in the conversation. In WhatsApp and Instagram, the shopper replies confirm order. The shopper can cancel while the order is pending. Nothing is placed until the required customer details are complete and the shopper confirms.

At confirmation, Fetchply checks that Commerce is still on, the product is still active, the customer details are complete, and enough stock remains. If anything changed, no order is placed and the shopper receives a safe explanation.

Create an order yourself

You can place an order for a customer without waiting for a chat. On Orders, select Create order, then:

1. Search your catalog and add products, adjusting quantities as needed.
2. Enter the customer's name and, when you have them, email, phone, shipping address, and notes.
3. Choose the starting status: Confirmed, Processing, Shipped, or Completed. Use Shipped or Completed to record a sale you already fulfilled.
4. Review the subtotal and select Create order.

Shipping and tax from your store settings are added automatically, and stock is reduced for the products you add. Every product uses your store currency. If the customer has an email or a connected WhatsApp or Instagram conversation, and automatic notifications are on, Fetchply sends them an order message right away.

Update an order

Open any order to manage it. Order statuses move forward through Confirmed, Processing, Shipped, and Completed, and you can jump ahead to any later stage — for example, straight from Confirmed to Shipped. An order can be Cancelled any time before it ships; once it is Shipped or Completed it can no longer be cancelled. Cancelling a confirmed or processing order returns its items to stock. Statuses never move backward.

While an order is Confirmed or Processing you can select Add items to add more products. Fetchply reduces stock for the new products and recalculates the shipping, tax, and total. You cannot add items once an order is Shipped, Completed, or Cancelled.

Whenever you change an order's status or add items, Fetchply messages the customer over the best available channel, their original WhatsApp or Instagram conversation, or their email, as long as automatic notifications are on and the customer has a reachable contact.

Recommend products from the inbox

When you are replying to a customer in the inbox and a store is connected, a Products button appears above the message box. Select it to search your connected stores, choose one or more products, and add them to your reply. Fetchply drops a short product summary into the message so you can edit it before sending. The message reaches the customer on whatever channel the conversation uses.

The button appears only when a store is connected. It searches your built-in Fetchply catalog and a connected Shopify store together. If a Shopify store needs to be reconnected, its live results are unavailable until you reconnect, while your Fetchply catalog still returns results.

See a customer's orders in the inbox

When you open a conversation in the inbox, the details panel shows an Order history section for that customer. It lists every order placed with the same email or phone number saved on the conversation, not only the orders mentioned in the current chat.

The customer's total paid appears at the top of the conversation, next to their name, so you can see their value at a glance without opening the details panel. It stays hidden until the customer has at least one paid order.

If the customer's name and email are not detected automatically, add them in the Customer section of the details panel. Fetchply then matches their past orders and shows their name in the conversation list instead of "Visitor".

Order history counts confirmed, processing, shipped, and completed orders toward the total paid. Drafts and cancelled orders are shown in the list but do not count toward the total. If no orders match yet, the Order history section explains that orders placed with the same email or phone will appear there.

Look up an order in chat

A shopper can ask about an order they already placed — for example "where is my order" or "track FP-1A2B3C4D". The agent asks for the order number if it does not have one, then shows that order's current status and items as an order card. This works in web chat, WhatsApp, and Instagram.

To protect a shopper's details, if the order has an email or phone number on file the agent asks the shopper to confirm one of them before showing anything. A matching email or a matching phone number is enough, and the agent does not reveal the order when neither matches. Order numbers look like FP-XXXXXXXX; the shopper can paste it with or without the # or FP- and the agent still finds it.

Channels

The same catalog, stock, drafts, customer details, confirmation rules, and order numbers are used in:

• web chat and the embedded widget;
• connected WhatsApp conversations;
• connected Instagram direct messages.

WhatsApp and Instagram may display products differently from web chat. Fetchply's catalog is not automatically copied into a Meta catalog.

Troubleshooting

A product is not recommended

Confirm Commerce is on and the product is active. A product with tracked stock at 0 is unavailable.

A product image will not upload

Check the file type and size. Fetchply accepts PNG, JPG, GIF, and WebP files up to 5 MB and shows a message when a file is too large or the wrong format. If the upload still fails, wait a moment and try again; the product keeps its previous image until a new upload succeeds. Turn Commerce on before uploading, since the option is only available while Commerce is enabled.

The shopper entered an invalid email

Fetchply asks for a valid email and keeps the order as a draft. The shopper can correct it without starting over.

The web form was closed or the page reloaded

The draft remains attached to the conversation. The shopper can continue by typing the missing detail or asking to order the product again. A new draft replaces the older unconfirmed draft.

A shopper repeats "confirm order"

The same pending order cannot be confirmed twice. If there is no pending order, Fetchply says so instead of creating a new one.

Two shoppers request the last item

Stock is checked again at confirmation. Only the shopper whose confirmation succeeds first receives the confirmed order.

Commerce was turned off during a conversation

Pending drafts are cancelled. Turn Commerce on again and ask the shopper to start from a fresh product recommendation.

The customer was not notified about an order

Automatic messages are sent only when Notify customers automatically is on and the customer has a reachable contact: a connected WhatsApp or Instagram conversation, or an email address. Add the customer's email to the order, or turn notifications on in Commerce → Settings, then make a change to send an update. The order is still created or updated even when no message can be sent.

I cannot add items to an order

Items can be added only while an order is Confirmed or Processing. Shipped, Completed, and Cancelled orders are closed to new items.

The Products button is missing in the inbox

The button appears only when a store is connected to this agent. Turn on your built-in store in Commerce → Settings or connect Shopify, then reopen the conversation.

A manual order will not save

Every order needs at least one product. If you entered a customer email, make sure it is a valid address. Products with tracked stock must have enough units for the quantities you choose.