Commerce — catalogs & connecting
In one sentence
Commerce lets you show your product catalog right inside a WhatsApp chat, so customers can browse items and build a cart without ever leaving the conversation.
First, a quick disambiguation
“Product” means two different things in MsgBuddy. This chapter is about Commerce products — items in your Meta catalog, shown in chats. The Subscriptions chapter has its own “products” (items in a recurring plan). They’re unrelated features that happen to share the word.
Where the catalog lives
Your product catalog is stored at Meta, not in MsgBuddy. MsgBuddy mirrors it — it reads your Meta catalog so it can show products in chats and keep them in sync.
What you need to connect
To let MsgBuddy read your catalog, you connect a System-User access token from Meta — a special credential that grants catalog access. This is a one-time setup by an Owner/Admin.
A System User is a Meta Business concept — a non-human “service account” with specific permissions. You generate its token in Meta Business settings and paste it into MsgBuddy. It’s how MsgBuddy is authorised to see (and manage) your catalog on your behalf.
Step by step (connecting)
- Go to Commerce → Settings.
- Follow the instructions to create a System-User token with catalog access in your Meta Business settings.
- Paste the token into MsgBuddy and connect.
- MsgBuddy discovers your catalogs — continue to syncing.
Catalog features depend on Meta granting your business the right catalog permissions, which can involve a review on Meta’s side. If a catalog doesn’t appear after connecting, it’s usually a permission still pending in Meta Business Manager — resolve it there, then re-sync.
The three Commerce screens
| Screen | What it’s for |
|---|---|
| Catalogs | Your Meta catalogs, mirrored into MsgBuddy |
| Products | The individual items across those catalogs (search & filter) |
| Settings | Connect the System-User token; choose which catalog your number uses |
How this connects
- Once connected, you sync products and send product messages in the Inbox.
- Product messages can also be built into templates (catalog templates).
Next: sync your products →.