Telegram shop bot

A store that lives inside Telegram: customers browse the catalog, pay, and get their order confirmation in the same chat, while your team gets every order in a group.

What is a Telegram shop bot?

A Telegram shop bot shows your products in a chat, takes payment and passes the order to you. Customers press Start, browse categories with buttons, add to cart and pay with a native Telegram invoice. For physical products the invoice can charge cards through a provider such as Stripe and ask for a shipping address; for digital products Telegram requires Telegram Stars. Every paid order lands in your team's group with the items, the address and the customer's handle.

What the shop bot does, step by step

1. The customer opens the bot from your channel, a QR code or a link with a source tag.
2. Categories and products appear as buttons, with photos, prices and stock.
3. The cart is kept in the bot's database, so it survives if the customer leaves and comes back.
4. Checkout is a native Telegram invoice. For physical goods it can collect a shipping address and offer delivery options; the bot answers the shipping query with the prices you set.
5. The paid order goes to your staff group, and the customer gets a confirmation and, later, a shipped message.
6. Admin commands let you change prices, mark items out of stock and see the day's orders.

Card or Stars: the rule that decides your checkout

• Digital goods and services sold inside a bot must be paid in Telegram Stars (Bot Developer Terms, section 6.2; the Stars payments guide says the same). Physical goods and real-world services may use other currencies and payment providers such as Stripe.
• Every bot that takes payments must answer /paysupport and handle payment complaints (Bot Developer Terms, section 6.2.1).
• Invoices have hard limits: a product title of 1-32 characters and a description of 1-255 (Bot API, createInvoiceLink). Long product names are shortened in the invoice, not in your catalog.
• A Stars invoice has exactly one price line, so shipping and tips are folded into the price for digital items.

So a clothing store charges cards; a store selling templates, courses or access charges Stars. A store selling both runs two checkouts, and the bot picks the right one per item.

What a shop bot won't replace

Search engines don't index a bot, and first-time buyers often want a website before they trust you. Treat the bot as the fast lane for people who already follow you on Telegram, not as your only shop. If you already run Shopify, the Shopify Telegram bot connects the two instead of duplicating your catalog.

Telegram shop bot FAQ