How to create a WhatsApp deals channel and make money with it

A WhatsApp deals channel can earn money through affiliate links: you share bargains with your Amazon or AliExpress link, and the store pays you a commission on every qualifying purchase. WhatsApp documents no payment for opening a channel or for having followers; your income depends on the sales you bring in.

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• What you need, in short
• Channel, group or broadcast list: which one works for deals
• Create the channel step by step
• Pick a topic and a name
• How you make money with a WhatsApp channel
• Amazon's rules for sharing links in your channel
• Post every day without losing your evenings
• WhatsApp or Telegram for deals
• Mistakes that cost you the channel or the number
• Frequently asked questions

We summarize the terms of WhatsApp, Amazon and AliExpress as published in November 2026. They can change, so every official source is linked for you to check.

What you need, in short

• A phone with WhatsApp, or WhatsApp Web, to create and manage the channel.
• A specific topic and a posting rhythm you can keep up for weeks.
• A sign-up with a program such as Amazon Associates or AliExpress, so every deal carries your tag.
• If you post with a tool, a number to link to it (a secondary number is better than your own), on a phone where you open WhatsApp at least once every 14 days.

Channel, group or broadcast list: which one works for deals

• A channel is one-way: you post and followers read, react with emojis or vote in polls, but they cannot reply or write to you. Updates live in a separate tab and the audience is unlimited.
• A group holds up to 1,024 members, but any deal quickly gets buried in the conversation.
• A broadcast list reaches 256 contacts per list, who must also have your number saved, and each message arrives as a direct message. With affiliate links, this is tricky: Amazon allows links in direct messages only to people who asked for them, as you will see in its rules.

For publishing deals, a channel is the right choice: nobody has to save your number, and followers cannot see who else follows. They can't see the admins' phone numbers either, because each update goes out in the channel's name.

Create the channel step by step

On Android and iPhone, creating a channel takes four steps:

1. Tap Updates, then the + button.
2. Tap Create channel > Continue.
3. Type the name. The description and the icon are optional, but they help newcomers know what to expect.
4. Tap Create channel. If you do not want to invite your contacts yet, tap Skip.

On WhatsApp Web and the desktop app, the steps are the same from the Channels icon (link the device you use for channels first). In each update you can share formatted text, emojis, links with a preview, photos, videos, stickers and voice notes, but not PDF files. Channels also work in WhatsApp Business, although its help center still carries an old notice saying that creating one might not be available to everyone.

Before you launch, keep in mind:

• All channels are public. There are no private or password-protected channels, you cannot remove a follower, and anyone can see the last 30 days of updates without following you.
• You can bring in help. A channel has a single owner, who can add up to 16 more admins; whoever receives the invitation can see the owner's phone number. WhatsApp recommends turning on two-step verification on all those accounts.
• There is a minimum age of 13, or higher if your country's law requires it. WhatsApp's terms of service apply, and so do the channels' own terms.

To spread the word you get a link and a QR code ready to share in statuses, chats and other apps.

Pick a topic and a name

A general deals channel competes with everyone. Focusing on one topic (tech, baby gear, DIY, groceries) attracts followers who want exactly those categories.

Think about how people will find you. Besides clicking your link, users browse the channel directory, organized by category and filtered by their country and language. If you do not show up, they can search for the exact name. So a name that makes the topic clear in two or three words ("Tech Deals", "Baby Bargains"), easy to remember and with no odd characters, works best.

Your content has to follow the channel guidelines: suitable for all ages, no regulated goods, no deception, and not "too many or low-quality updates". Also, channel verification "is not yet publicly available": WhatsApp shows a badge on channels it verifies, but you cannot apply, so do not count on it to build trust.

How you make money with a WhatsApp channel

Affiliates, the main route

You post a deal with your affiliate link and, if someone buys through it, the store pays you the commission of its program.

Amazon Associates. It works in a WhatsApp channel: many of the biggest deal channels have been posting with its links for years. Its operating agreement counts what you post on social media as part of your "Site", so it is best to add the channel's address to the sites in your affiliate account. The rules you must follow are in the next section, and the sign-up process is in How to create your Amazon affiliate link.

AliExpress Affiliates. Its program includes people who share on social media and in "chat groups", with a base commission of "up to 9%". To check the rules on where you may place links, you have to log in to its portal.

WhatsApp's paid features, if they reach your country

On June 16, 2025, Meta announced three business tools: channel subscriptions, where followers pay a monthly fee for exclusive content through Google Play or the App Store; promoted channels, paid to gain visibility in the directory; and ads in Status for advertisers.

The follower pays for a subscription, while promotions and ads are paid by whoever advertises. None has an official list of countries: the help says subscriptions roll out "gradually to specific countries and channels" and that ads might not be available in your region yet, and neither Meta's announcement nor the help names the United States. They may not exist in your country yet, so do not build your business model on them.

Why "get paid to answer WhatsApp messages" is not a thing

The real routes are affiliate commission or, where available, your followers' subscriptions. If someone asks you for money upfront in exchange for paying you to answer messages, be suspicious.

Amazon's rules for sharing links in your channel

These terms apply to Amazon.com (United States); if your audience shops at another Amazon store, check that store's agreement. The rules in its operating agreement and its program policies apply just the same in a WhatsApp channel:

• Say you are an affiliate, clearly and prominently, with the official statement: "As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases." Apart from that sentence and what the law requires, you may not publicly communicate about your participation or suggest that Amazon sponsors you without written permission. Amazon counts a breach of that section as a serious breach of the agreement.
• Handle prices with care. Show price and availability only if they come from Amazon's API or from links Amazon serves. If that data is refreshed less often than hourly, the API license, which speaks of your "application", asks for a date and time next to the price.
• No private links to anyone who hasn't asked for them. Amazon allows links in emails, SMS, and direct messages only if the recipient explicitly opted in. A channel doesn't send private messages to anyone: followers chose to join and can leave whenever they want. A broadcast list, on the other hand, does. Amazon may also ask you for samples and written certification, and marketing laws treat you as the "sender" of each message.
• Your tag in the link, and no misleading claims. Each link must carry your tag in the URL and be directly accessible from your Site, with no inaccurate or misleading statements about Amazon's products, policies or prices.
• No price alerts. Unless Amazon agrees otherwise, your Site may not offer price tracking or price alerts.

Our Telegram deals channel guide covers these conditions in more detail, along with AliExpress's.

Post every day without losing your evenings

A deals channel needs consistency, and the manual process eats time: find the deal, copy the URL, add your tag, format price and discount, include the affiliate statement and post. Doing that for every offer takes a while, and if you also run a Telegram channel, you double the work.

The options for sharing an update don't include scheduling, so on WhatsApp you post in real time. To avoid being tied to your phone all day, publishers rely on publishing tools.

It's worth understanding the risk before linking anything. WhatsApp offers no official way to post to a channel from a tool, so those that do, like Codingram, connect as another linked device, just like WhatsApp Web. This is an unofficial method and WhatsApp can block the linked number, though that isn't typical: its help mentions suspending accounts for spam, automated or bulk messaging, and posting to your own channel doesn't involve messaging anyone. To avoid risking anything important, we recommend:

• A separate number, instead of your main one.
• A channel admin, not the owner. Only the owner can invite and remove admins, transfer the channel, or delete it. If WhatsApp blocks the admin number, you assign another one from your main number and keep the channel.

WhatsApp or Telegram for deals

Having a Telegram deals channel does not stop you from opening one on WhatsApp: you can reuse the same deals to reach people who do not use Telegram. The difference is the workload: by hand you post every deal twice; with a tool that syncs both channels, you prepare it once.

Key differences for a deals channel:

• Who posts. On Telegram, a bot you make a channel admin handles the posting, as we explain in the Telegram deals channel guide. On WhatsApp, there are no bots for channels: tools like Codingram post using a linked number through an unofficial method, because WhatsApp offers no official one.
• Privacy. On WhatsApp every channel is public; on Telegram you can make a channel public or private.
• Interaction. In a WhatsApp channel followers can only interact with emojis or poll votes.
• How people find you. WhatsApp has a directory filtered by country and language; Telegram has a search that lists public channels.
• How you earn. Both through affiliates. Telegram adds official ads for public channels from 1,000 subscribers (where enabled) and paid subscriptions with Stars, as we explain in How to create a Telegram channel and make money with it. On WhatsApp, paid subscriptions are rolling out gradually, with no list of countries.

Mistakes that cost you the channel or the number

• Connecting your personal number to a tool. You can, but if WhatsApp blocked the line, you would lose the number you use every day.
• Making the tool's number the channel owner. Only the owner can invite admins or transfer the channel: if that line falls, nobody is left who can.
• Sending affiliate links privately or through broadcast lists to people who did not ask. Amazon allows links in private messages only if the recipient agreed to receive them beforehand.
• Posting too much or carelessly. WhatsApp's penalties for breaking its guidelines range from removing the channel from the directory to revoking the invite link or suspending the channel.
• Inflating prices or discounts or forgetting the affiliate statement: the channel guidelines forbid deception, while Amazon requires the statement and does not allow inaccurate claims about its prices.

Frequently asked questions

Can you make money with a WhatsApp channel?

Yes, mainly with affiliate links: you earn a commission when people buy through your Amazon, AliExpress or other platform link. WhatsApp announced paid channel subscriptions in 2025, but it is rolling them out gradually with no confirmed list of countries, so they may not be active in your region.

Is it free to create a WhatsApp channel?

The process described in WhatsApp's documentation is free; you only pay if you decide to promote the channel in the directory, where that feature is available. Posting to it with Codingram is also included in the free plan, where the number gets unlinked if it goes 30 days without posting.

Can you schedule posts in a WhatsApp channel?

WhatsApp's official help doesn't include any feature for scheduling messages in channels. You need an external tool; in Codingram, the queue handles this from the Solo plan, with the intervals and times you set.

Can WhatsApp block my number?

It can happen, though it isn't typical. WhatsApp can remove the link or shut down channels that break its rules, as well as hide them from the directory, and it suspends accounts for spam, automated or bulk messaging. If you connect the number to a tool that works as a linked device, like Codingram, the method is unofficial and the risk exists, though posting to your channel doesn't involve messaging anyone. We recommend using a second number only as an admin, so you keep the channel if it gets blocked. We explain this in detail in the risk notice in the help docs.