Blog · Integrations and data
How to handle Shopify orders on WhatsApp with AI in Latin America
Connect Shopify and your official WhatsApp line to an AI agent: stock by variant, order status, quotes and cash on delivery, with their limits.
How do I handle my Shopify store's WhatsApp orders with AI in Latin America?
To handle Shopify orders on WhatsApp with AI you need three things: your store connected to an agent, a line on the official WhatsApp Business API, and rules for what it may do alone. In Meteor that agent is called a Met and it works with 17 tools on your store: it answers stock by variant, says how an order is going, instructed to check first that it belongs to whoever asks, creates a quote with a payment link, and creates real orders with payment pending for cash on delivery. It does not charge on its own, issue refunds or create shipping labels inside Shopify. It works the same in any country where you have the line; what changes is Meta's rate per message.
A Shopify store gets almost the same questions on WhatsApp every day: is this size available, what does shipping cost, where is my order. Every answer is already in Shopify. What is missing is someone who fetches it without leaving the customer waiting, and who does not tell one person about another’s purchase.
The three pieces you need
| Piece | What you bring | Who bills it |
|---|---|---|
| Your connected store | Authorizing the store under Connections in Meteor | Shopify, on your usual plan |
| The WhatsApp line | A number on the official WhatsApp Business API, in your company’s name | Meta, per message |
| The agent | A Met with its instructions and the actions you allow | Meteor: the plan and the Energy it uses |
Step by step
- Connect the store. In Meteor go to Connections, Shopify. Connect it with the Client ID and Client Secret of an app for your store. Shopify no longer lets you create new custom apps from its admin, so a token from those apps only helps if your store already had one.
- Connect your WhatsApp line. It uses Meta’s embedded signup, and the account and number stay in your name. If you do not have one yet, start with what the WhatsApp Business API is.
- Give the Met the Shopify skill and assign it to the channel. Without the skill, the Met does not see the store’s tools. Assigned to the channel, it answers whoever writes to that line.
- Decide which actions stay on. If you only want it to answer, turn off the write actions, such as creating quotes or orders, and leave it reading.
- Write your rules. Up to what amount it closes alone, when it hands off to a person, which shipping methods it offers and what it charges for each.
- Test with your own real orders. Ask about an order that does not belong to the contact you are writing from and check that it tells you nothing.
What it handles at each point of an order
| Moment | What the Met does | Where it stops |
|---|---|---|
| Before buying | Finds the product and answers price and units by variant | It reads what Shopify has right now; saying there is stock does not hold it |
| Deciding | Creates a quote after a confirmation in a new message and shares the checkout link | The total can change at checkout through taxes, discounts or shipping |
| Cash on delivery | Creates a real order with payment pending and the contraentrega tag | It does not charge, create the label or deduct inventory |
| Where is my order | Instructed to check the order belongs to whoever asks, it separates payment, fulfillment and each tracking entry | If Shopify has no tracking it says so; it only says delivered if Shopify records it. Orders older than 60 days can require an extra Shopify permission |
| Afterwards | Can register an existing tracking number and mark the order fulfilled; Shopify notifies the customer by default | It does not create labels or operate a carrier |
| Your team | Adds a product, adjusts stock at one location or annotates an order from internal chat | It does not change the financial status or issue refunds |
What changes from one country to another
The connector is the same. What changes is what Meta charges for each message, by the country of the receiving number. These are the rates from Meta’s rate card effective October 1, 2026, in US dollars per delivered message, read on November 2, 2026:
| Market | Marketing | Utility, such as an order notice | Service, your replies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colombia | 0.0125 | 0.0008 | 0.0008 |
| Mexico | 0.0397 | 0.0085 | 0.0085 |
| Chile | 0.0889 | 0.02 | 0.02 |
| Peru | 0.0703 | 0.03 | 0.03 |
| Argentina | 0.0618 | 0.026 | 0.026 |
| Rest of Latin America | 0.074 | 0.0113 | 0.0113 |
The first 1,000 service replies each month are free for each number. The detail is in what the WhatsApp Business API costs.
Colombia has one more piece: if you ship with Aveonline, a Shopify order can create the label as soon as it comes in, with the right cash collection amount. That option is turned on per workspace and needs Shopify’s order webhook, so it does not happen just by connecting the store. The Aveonline profile explains what that connector does.
What it costs in total
There are three separate bills, and they are worth seeing apart:
- Shopify: your usual plan. Meteor does not resell it.
- Meta: the messages in the table above, with no resale or markup from Meteor.
- Meteor: the plan, from US$99 a month with US$10 of Energy included, and the Energy the Met’s replies consume. Every new account starts with a 7-day trial and US$5 of Energy, no card needed. The plans are on Pricing.
If your store is on Tiendanube and not Shopify, the flow changes quite a bit, because there the connector does not create orders: see how to connect Tiendanube to an AI assistant on WhatsApp.
The limits
What this article does NOT answer
We would rather say it here than leave you hunting for something that is not there.
-
It does not explain selling through the Shopify Inbox app or compare apps from the Shopify store. It only covers what a Meteor Met does on your store.
-
It does not tell you your total spend. That depends on your message volume and on the Energy the replies consume, and that number comes from your operation.
-
It does not settle taxes or freight calculation. Shopify decides the final total at checkout and the connector does not query carrier rates.
Keep going
What this article mentions, in detail
The integrations, the Mets and the automations named above, each with its own page.
- Integration
Shopify
The profile lists the 17 tools by their real name, what the connector does not do and how it connects.
- Automation
Responder el estado de un pedido de Shopify por WhatsApp
The detail of how the Met checks an order belongs to whoever asks before saying anything.
- Automation
Crear un pedido de Shopify por WhatsApp con pago contra entrega
The cash on delivery flow, from the variant to the order with payment pending.
- Automation
Crear una cotización de Shopify y compartir el enlace de pago
How the quote is built, who confirms it and what happens to the total before checkout.
- Industry
E-commerce
The full view of an online store, with WooCommerce, marketplaces and logistics alongside.
- Section
Pricing
What the platform costs, which is a separate bill from Meta's and from Shopify's.
Where it comes from
Sources
Everything this article claims that we did not measure ourselves, with its origin.
Frequently asked
Questions on this topic
No. It creates a Shopify quote and shares the checkout link. The customer pays in Shopify, through your store's gateway, and the connector never touches the money or confirms payment.
The Met is instructed to search by exact number or by an email already on the contact record, and to answer only if that record's email or phone matches the order. A buyer's name does not count as proof. This is an instruction to the agent, not a block in the connector, which is why the test step in this guide is not optional.
Yes. The Met creates a real order with payment pending and the contraentrega tag, without deducting inventory. If you also use Aveonline, the shipping label can be created when the order comes in: that option is turned on per workspace and needs the Shopify webhook set up.
The connector does not depend on the country: it works with your store's products and variants at the price they have there. What changes is Meta's rate: a utility template costs US$0.0085 in Mexico, US$0.02 in Chile and US$0.03 in Peru, against US$0.0008 in Colombia.
Yes, but outside the 24-hour window only a template approved by Meta can go out, and you pay for it. A reminder the Met schedules does not watch Shopify: it goes out at the agreed time and invites the person to check again.
Not necessarily. With coexistence the same number stays in the phone app and is connected to Meteor, if Meta enables it for your number.
The Met is instructed to confirm before deleting a product, and if you do not want that risk you turn the action off. It cannot change the price of an existing product: the connector has no such action. If you leave it read actions only, it changes nothing in the store.
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