OnWhats.App Policy
Last Modified: July 22, 2020
When you offer goods or services for sale, we consider all messages and media related to your goods or services, including any descriptions, prices, fees, taxes and/or any required legal disclosures, to constitute transactions. You must comply with the policies listed below, and applicable terms, laws and regulations.
You are solely responsible for your transactions and providing any sales terms, privacy terms or other terms applicable to your interactions with users.
We are not responsible for processing, paying for, or fulfilling any sales relating to your transactions.
You are solely responsible for determining, collecting, withholding, reporting, and remitting all applicable taxes, duties, fees and additional charges for sales relating to your transactions.
Examples listed below are representative, but not exhaustive.
Offers to sell and sales of the following are prohibited:
Illegal products or services
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the operations or exchange of illegal products or services.
Drugs, whether prescription, recreational, or otherwise
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of illegal, prescription, or recreational drugs.
• Examples:Drugs, including marijuana and marijuana products
Drug paraphernalia, including pipes and bongs
Prescription drugs
Tobacco items and related paraphernalia
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of tobacco products or tobacco paraphernalia.
• Examples:Apparel featuring a tobacco brand logo
Cigarettes, cigars, and chewing tobacco
Tobacco pipes and paraphernalia
Tobacco rolling machines
Hookahs
Bongs
Rolling papers
Electronic cigarettes (E-cigarettes) or tobacco devices
Alcohol
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of alcohol.
• Examples:Books or DVDs about alcohol
Alcohol-related items, including glasses, coolers, and wine bottle holders
Alcoholic beverages
Kits for producing alcohol
Unsafe ingestible supplements
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of unsafe ingestible supplements, as determined by WhatsApp in its sole discretion.
• Examples:Anabolic steroids
Chitosan
Comfrey
Dehydroepiandrosterone
Ephedra
Human growth hormones
Weapons, ammunition, or explosives
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale or use of weapons, ammunition, or explosives.
• Examples:Promoting safety training or licenses for legal weapons
Firearms and firearm parts
Paintball guns
BB Guns
Fireworks
Pepper spray
Tasers
Gun ranges
Gun shows
Animals
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of any animals.
• Examples:Animal cages
Products for animals (toys, collars, etc.)
Veterinary services
Grooming services
Boarding services
Live animals
Livestock
Prohibited animal parts, including but not limited to bone, teeth, horn, ivory, taxidermy, organs, external limbs, secretions, or carcasses
Any product or part, including but not limited to leather, skin, hide, fur, wool, or hair from any dogs, cats, and endangered or threatened animals
Adult products or services
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale or use of adult products or services.
• Examples:Products promoting family planning and contraception, which focus on the contraceptive features of the product, and not on sexual pleasure or sexual enhancement
Sex toys
Videos or live shows for adult entertainment
Sexual enhancement products
Sexually suggestive services
Body parts and fluids
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of human body parts or fluids.
• Examples:Blood
Hair extensions and wigs
Urine
Body parts
Organs
Human tissue
Teeth
Medical and healthcare products
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in certain healthcare products, including medical devices, and smoking cessation products containing nicotine.
• Medical Devices - Examples:Lifestyle and fitness accessories
Contact lenses
Bandages and braces for physical injuries
Thermometers
Testing kits for medical conditions or diseases
Breast pumps
First-aid kits
• Smoking Cessation Products - Examples:Nicotine patches
Nicotine gum
Items or products with overtly sexualized positioning
• Policy: Businesses may not position products or services in a sexually suggestive manner.
• Examples:Implied nudity
Implied sexual acts
Zoomed-in sexual images
Real money gambling services
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in or facilitate gambling, games of skill, or lotteries, including online casinos, sports books, bingo, or poker if it costs money.
Dating services
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in or facilitate online dating services.
Products or items that facilitate or encourage unauthorized access to digital media
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of devices that facilitate or encourage streaming digital content in an unauthorized manner or interfering with the functionality of electronic devices.
• Examples:Add-on equipment for streaming devices such as keyboards and remotes
Sale of streaming devices loaded with software that facilitates unauthorized access to content
Jailbroken or loaded devices
Jamming or descrambling devices
Wiretapping devices
Digital and subscription services, including links to or processing of any subscription sales, renewals, or upgrades
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale, including renewals and upgrades, etc., of digital content, digital subscriptions, or digital accounts.
• Examples:Authentic audio or video CDs, DVDs, and Blu Ray
Digital devices, including Smartphones, video game consoles, and TVs
Downloadable content, including PDFs, music, games, movies, etc.
Digital accounts, including games accounts
Digital subscriptions and internet streaming services, including TV, Mobile, etc.
Digital coupons
Business models, goods, items, or services that we determine may be or are fraudulent, misleading, offensive, or deceptive, or may be or are exploitative, inappropriate, or exert undue pressure on targeted groups
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in deceptive, false, misleading, or offensive offers or products.
• Examples:Multilevel marketing
Penny auctions
ICOs and binary options
Payday loans, paycheck advances, P2P lending, debt collection, and bail bonds
Diet, weight loss, or other health related products that imply or attempt to generate negative self-perception
Real, virtual, or fake currency
• Policy: Businesses may not transact in the sale of real, virtual, or fake currency.
• Examples:Real money (cash or cash equivalent instruments and coins)
Replica or prop money
Digital or cryptocurrency
Active bank credit or debit cards
Store credit cards or coupons
Pre-paid credit or debit cards
Checks or checkbooks
Equipment to create counterfeit currency or financial instruments
Third-Party Infringement
• Policy: Transactions may not contain content that infringes upon or violates the intellectual property rights of any third party, including copyright or trademark. This includes, but is not limited to, the sale of counterfeit products, such as goods that copy the trademark (name or logo) and/or distinctive features of another company’s products to imitate a genuine product.
• Examples:Counterfeits, knockoffs, or replicas of branded goods, or posts offering goods that are likely to confuse consumers about the source, sponsorship or affiliation of those goods.
Unauthorized or pirated copies of copyrighted works, such as videos, movies, TV shows and broadcasts, video games, CDs or other musical works, books, etc.